“My Dear Major Roosevelt” Churchill Assists Teddy’s Son

When Kermit Roosevelt first arrived in London in the fall of 1939, it was believed that he would accept a position in the ministry of shipping, since he had been vice president until 1938 of the United States Lines and a friend of Winston Churchill, the First Lord of the Admiralty. Like his celebrated father, however, Roosevelt, expressed a preference for action. In October, Roosevelt saw Churchill at the Admiralty and asked for his assistance in obtaining a regular commission in the British Army. With Churchill’s help, Roosevelt was commissioned as a major in the Middlesex Regiment, where he trained as a machine gun expert.

Roosevelt’s British commission soon raised questions about his American citizenship. Under the headline “Kermit Roosevelt in British Army,” reported from Washington on 3 November: “An official said Nov. 3 Kermit Roosevelt would not lose his American citizenship by serving in the British Army. American citizenship is lost,