POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. -- Franklin Delano Roosevelt Jr., 74, the third son of President
began his political career in 1948, three years after his father's
death. As the candidate of the Liberal Party, he defeated the Tammany
Hall-backed Democratic candidate for New York's 20th Congressional
District seat. He served three terms in the House, retiring in 1955.
When first elected to Congress, Mr. Roosevelt said his victory was
"proof that we are experiencing a revolution in American politics" and
predicted the end of "big-city party organizations formerly held by
irresponsible clubhouse loafers."
Mr. Roosevelt lost the Democratic nomination for governor in 1954 to
Averell Harriman, who was supported by Tammany boss Carmen Di Sapio. As
a consolation, he was nominated for attorney general but lost that race
to the popular Republican Jacob K. Javits.
During the race for the 1960 Democratic presidential nomination, Mr.
Roosevelt was an early and enthusiastic supporter of Sen. John F.
Kennedy (D-Mass.). This was of great importance to the Kennedy campaign
because of what was perceived as the hostility of Eleanor Roosevelt to
Kennedy.
Mr. Roosevelt devoted much time and energy to the cruicial West
Virginia primary, where he helped transfer some of the enormous
popularity of his late father to the junior senator from Massachusetts.
Kennedy's victory in this primary over Sen. Hubert H. Humphrey was
probably the most important event of the campaign for the Democratic
presidential nomination.
After Kennedy's victory, Mr. Roosevelt was named undersecretary of
commerce and was a frequent visitor at the White House. During the
Johnson administration, he was named the first chairman of the Equal
Employment Opportunity Commission. In 1966, he ran for New York governor
on the Liberal ticket and was defeated.
At the time of his death, Mr. Roosevelt was chairman of the executive
committee of the Mickelberry Corp., and chairman of the board of the
Park Avenue Bank in New York. A former New York lawyer, he also had been
a farmer and car distributor.
Mr. Roosevelt was born on Campobello Island, off the coast of Maine.
It was on this island that his father was stricken with polio. Franklin
Jr. was the fourth of five children. His sister, Anna Roosevelt
Halstead, the eldest, died in 1975, and John, the youngest brother, died
in 1981. Two of his brothers survive, James Roosevelt, who served six
terms as a California representatives, and Elliott, a writer and
rancher.
Mr. Roosevelt was a 1937 graduate of Harvard University and received
his law degree from the University of Virginia in 1940. He served in the
Navy during World War II. As a destroyer gunnery officer and executive
officer, and later as skipper of the destroyer escort Ulvert M. Moore,
he took part in the invasions of North Africa and Sicily, the
Philippines, Iwo Jima and Okinawa. He also participated in the last two
convoys to Murmansk. He was awarded the Silver Star, the Purple Heart
and the Legion of Merit.
His marriages to Ethel duPont, Suzanne Perrin, Felicia Warburg
Sarnoff and Patricia Oakes ended in divorce.
In addition to his brothers, survivors include his wife, the former
Linda Stevenson Weicker, whom he married in 1984 and who lives at the
home in Millbrook, N.Y.; five children by previous marriages, and eight
grandchildren.
