Use Restrictions

Public Domain. There are no known restrictions.

Access Restrictions

There are no access restrictions.

Alternative Form Available

This collection has been digitized and is available to view here.

Preferred Citation

Letter from Harry F. Byrd to Samuel Tuzzo regarding Presidential inauguration materials, C0370, Special Collections Research Center, George Mason University Libraries.

Acquisition Information

The donor is unknown.

Processing Information

Reprocessing completed by Amanda Brent in July 2019. EAD markup completed by Amanda Brent in July 2019.

Biographical and Historical Information

Harry Flood Byrd, born June 10, 1887, was a U.S. Senator and politician from West Virginia. Byrd served as both governor and senator for the Commonwealth of Virginia. Though a staunch Democrat, Byrd is famously known as the major proponent of "Massive Resistance," or the resistance of desegreation in schools and the support of the societal structures that allowed segregation to continue. Byrd, who coined the term, maintained his desegregationist stance well after the segregation laws were overturned. Byrd retired from the Senate in 1965 and died on October 20, 1966.

The Presidential Inauguration of 1945 was unique in American history. Extending his unprecented length of service, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) won a fourth term of the American presidency in 1944, and was inaugurated on January 20, 1945. However, this success was overshadowed by FDR's visible ill-health, though there were continued efforts to cover it up. Just over two months later on March 29, 1945, the president died from health complications.

Scope and Content

Letter from Harry F. Byrd to Samuel Tuzzo, a resident of Brooklyn, NY, written on December 18, 1944. In the letter, Byrd apologizes to Tuzzo for being unable to acquire an invitiation and program to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's upcoming fourth inauguration, and suggests he write directly to the White House to obtain them.

Arrangement

This is a single item collection.

Related Material

The Special Collections Research Center holds other collections with records pertaining to Harry F. Byrd, including the C. Harrison Mann, Jr. papers and the Oliver F. Atkins photograph collection.

Subjects and Indexing Terms

• Correspondence
• Presidents -- United States
• Presidents -- United States -- Inauguration
• United States. Congress. Senate