Highlighted Artifact: FDR’s Third Inauguration Invitation at Rutherfurd Hall
Invitation to President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s unprecedented third inauguration. (Photo courtesy of Morgan Gardiner © 2025)
- Artifact: Invitation to Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Third Inauguration
- Date: January 20, 1941
- Recipient: The Honorable and Mrs. Frank L. Polk
By JOAN SALVAS | Rutherfurd Hall Historian
ALLAMUCHY TOWNSHIP, N.J. (Feb. 12, 2025) — Today, we introduce a new feature showcasing remarkable artifacts from the Rutherfurd Hall Museum archives. Our first selection offers a glimpse into a historic moment in American history: an invitation to President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s unprecedented third inauguration.
“In the face of great perils never before encountered, our strong purpose is to protect and to perpetuate the integrity of democracy,” Roosevelt declared on Monday, Jan. 20, 1941, in his third inaugural address. No American president before or after him would complete a third term, let alone win a fourth.
The invitation was sent to the Honorable and Mrs. Frank L. Polk. Polk served as assistant secretary of state during the Wilson administration (1913-1921), overlapping with Roosevelt’s tenure as assistant secretary of the Navy. Over time, Frank and his wife, Lily, became close friends of the Roosevelts and eventually in-laws of Winthrop Chanler Rutherfurd Jr.