Curtis Bean Dall

Curtis Bean Dall (24 October 1896 - 28 June 1991) was a stockbroker, banker, investor, vice-Presidential candidate, first husband of Anna E. Roosevelt, and author most remembered today for his work ''F.D.R.: My Exploited Father-in-Law'' which claims a hidden One-World "internationalist" agenda for many of the policies put through under Roosevelt's presidency.

Note: This article is still being worked on, it is not yet complete.

Curtis Bean Dall was born 24 Oct 1896 in Manhattan^{[[#Footnotes 1|A]]}, New York City, [[New York]], the son of Charles Austin Dall^{[[#Footnotes 2|D]]} and his wife Mary Bean.  In 1900, the family lived in Montclair, Essex County, [[New Jersey]], but by 1910 they lived on a farm in Piscataway, Middlesex County, [[New Jersey]].^{[[#Footnotes 1|B]]}  His uncle Cornelius "Neely" Agnew of the Farmer's Loan and Trust Company (see [http://www.smokershistory.com/Farmers.html Farmers]) having been a member of Princeton's Class of 1891, influenced him to go there as well. (''F.D.R.'', p. 15)  He attended Princeton University^{[[#Footnotes 1|A]]}, and later served in the Navy [Naval Aviation Corps - ed.] during World War I, in England and in France. (''F.D.R.'', p. 12)  He was stationed as an ensign at Guipavas, and was present as one of the many spectators in Dec 1918, when then-president [[Woodrow Wilson]] arrived in Brest for the Peace Conference. (''F.D.R.'', p. 13-14)  He returned to the U.S. by Jun 1919 although just "recently".^{[[#Footnotes 3|L]]} On 28 Aug 1920, an engagement was announced in the ''New York Times'' between "...Miss Virginia Van Ingen [daughter of] Mr. and Mrs. McLane Van Ingen of Fifth Avenue and Sea Bright, NJ... [and] Curtis B Dall, son of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Austen Dall of this city."^{[[#Footnotes 3|J]]}  However a few months later ''The New York Times'' is reporting, on 3 Mar 1921, "Van Ingen-Dall Troth Broken" : "...by mutual consent."  In May 1921, she appears once more, referred to as "...Mrs McLane Van Ingen, Miss Virginia Van Ingen...."^{[[#Footnotes 3|K]]}  In 1926 Curtis was working for the banking firm Lehman Brothers, organizing a department "...which involved the wholesaling of new stock and bond issues...." (''F.D.R.'', p. 13)

Curtis met his future first wife Anna "Sis" Roosevelt, nine years his junior, in Dec. 1925 at a dinner party, given by Mr. and Mrs. Walter Douglas in their home on Fifth Avenue, New York for their two daughters Elizabeth and "Kay".  Anna was the eldest child and only daughter of [[Franklin Delano Roosevelt]] and his wife [[Eleanor Roosevelt]], would several years later become the 32nd U.S. president and the first lady.  At the time however, F.D.R. was Vice-President of the Fidelity and Deposit Company of Baltimore.

Curtis and Anna had "two tow-headed children": Anna Eleanor "Sistie" Dall on 25 March 1927, and Curtis Roosevelt "Buzzie" Dall on 19 April 1930.^{[[#Footnotes 2|F]]}  

About 1930, the firm that Curtis has been working for, O'Brien, Potter, Stafford decided to merge with, or sell off to Goodbody and Company.  Curtis represented Goodbody on the floor of the exchange from 1930 to early 1933. About this time, Dall wanted to buy into a certain brokerage and needed $100,000 to do so, so he and Anna put a mortgage on their house.  This was probably Goodbody and Company, but the article does not state that explictly.

Anna worked during the marriage, mostly in promoting her father's run for governor of New York, and later for U.S. President, and Dall claims to have also done his part. In 1932, when the Democratic Convention met in Chicago, Curtis Dall decided to go there. He claims that he boldly went up to the room where the Pendergast delegation was pow-wowwing and told Mr. Pendergast that if he were smart, he'd get on the Roosevelt bandwagon, because Roosevelt had it all sewed up! (''F.D.R.'', pg 61-62)  Dall takes a few pages to discuss a chance meeting with Huey Long and comments on how he feels Long's assassination was planned because he came to be regarded as a "real threat and political danger to some pundits in the Washington Democratic Administration" (''F.D.R.'', pg 64) Curtis then takes a few pages to relate how he met Professor Felix Frankfurter then of Harvard Law School, in Dec 1932 at a dinner at the home of Sarah Roosevelt.  He and Frankfurter did not get on well, and he concludes this section by stating that Bernard Baruch and Felix Frankfurter (1882-1965) shortly afterward became "the two most powerful political operators in this country....They were without doubt the 'Gold Dust Twins'". (''F.D.R.'', pg 66-70) Frankfurter in 1938 was appointed to the Supreme Court.

<table><tr><td>http://freepages.history.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~wjhonson/CurtisDall2.jpg<br>Curtis Bean Dall</td><td> Falling behind in payments, Anna did some more serious work to try to meet them.  An article in the ''Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tribune'' dated 25 Feb 1933 states that Anna was, just then, the associate editor of "Babies &mdash; Just Babies".  This was a magazine of "advice for mothers" for which her mother Eleanor was editor. (Cook, p. 472)  The ''New York Times'' on 15 May 1933 reports that : "Mrs Curtis Dall...has signed a contract with ''Liberty Weekly'' and will become a member of the staff and a regular contributor...." Curtis and Anna were apparently at this time, splitting their time between their Tarrytown estate and "...the Roosevelt town house on East Sixty-fifth street, New York"^{[[#Footnotes 3|H]]} Anna casting about for some further employment, took up her mother's mantle and decided to do some radio talks, for which she was paid perhaps as much as $3,000 each.^{[[#Footnotes 3|I]]}

Curtis although elected Governor of the Associates of Stock Exchange Firm in 1932, resigned his position on the New York stock exchange at the end of 1932, but a few months later joined the Cotton Exchange, and then the Chicago Board of Trade dealing in stocks and grain.  Newspaper articles at this time show that Anna, "Sistie" and "Buzzie" were frequent visitors at the White House where a playground had been installed on the south lawn for them.  Since Anna and her children were apparently staying days at a time in the White House with her parents, some tongues were wagging about the Dall's drifting apart.</td></tr></table>

Six months after her divorce, on January 18, 1935, Anna married former journalist John Boettiger, now assistant to Will Hays head of the Motion Picture Producers Association.  John had also just divorced his wife.  John's "...former wife and two children reside in Glencoe, a suburb of Chicago." (see [http://www.newspaperarchive.com/PdfViewerTags.aspx?img=40239433&firstvisit=true&src=search&currentResult=16 ''Syracuse Herald'', 18 Jan 1935], page 11)   

<table><tr><td>http://freepages.history.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~wjhonson/Dall3.jpg<br>"Sistie" and "Buzzie" visit their father Curtis Dall, during a vacation April 1935 at White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia</td><td>John and Anna had a small private ceremony with a few members of the family.  There were no bitter feelings as the ''Oelwein Daily Register'' on 18 Jan 1935 reports, "Dall Congratulates His Ex-Wife". ^{[[#Footnotes 4|N]]} Initially John, Anna and the two children lived in New York.  A rather long article about Anna occupied half of [http://www.newspaperarchive.com/PdfViewerTags.aspx?img=87017731&currentResult=14&src=search&firstvisit=true page 4 in the 30 Jun 1936 issue of the ''Waterloo Daily Courier'']. John and Anna moved to Seattle in the latter-half of 1936 "...where he became manager of a Hearst-owned newspaper."^{[[#Footnotes 4|M]]}  Her two children joined them, just after Christmas.  The newspaper was identified in a May 1937 article in the ''Nevada State Journal'' as the ''Seattle Post Intelligencer'', for which John was the publisher and Anna the "women's editor".  By John, Anna had her third child John Roosevelt Boettiger on 29 Mar 1939. In a 1944 article, Curtis Jr is called "Curtis R Boettiger", but in 1949 [http://www.newspaperarchive.com/PdfViewerTags.aspx?img=40605314&firstvisit=true&src=search&currentResult=0 here] he appears again as "Curtis Dall". Finally Leonard Lyons (NY Post Syndicate) reporting in ''The Times'' of San Mateo 3 Jan 1950 : "F.D.R.'s grandson 'Buzzy' whose name first was Curtis Dall Jr., and then was changed to Boettiger, will be known henceforth as Curtis Roosevelt."  When Sistie married in 1948, her father Curtis Dall was not at the wedding and many articles falsely reported that the children took the name of their step-father when Anna remarried.  In fact they are called "Dall" in many newspaper articles, at least until Sistie was 12 to 13 years old.</td></tr></table>

John took a leave of absence from his position in Seattle to become an Army captain, and left the editorial direction of the paper in his wife's hands.  But her policies did not square with those of the interim publisher named by Hearst.  So at this time Anna came to the White House once more, handling some of the correspondence and hostess functions.  John meanwhile was transferred from Italy to the "Civil Affairs Division at the Pentagon Building". (see [http://www.newspaperarchive.com/PdfViewerTags.aspx?img=85884973&currentResult=1&src=search&firstvisit=true ''Chester Times'', 15 Feb 1945, page 6])  In 1945 John and Anna moved to Phoenix, Arizona to launch the ''Arizona Times'', Boettinger relinquished his interest in it, and Anna sold it in 1948 to a group of buisnessmen. (see [http://www.newspaperarchive.com/PdfViewerTags.aspx?img=85049232&firstvisit=true&src=search&currentResult=16 ''Tucson Daily Citizen'', 6 Jul 1949, page 6)  John and Anna seperated in 1947, then divorced Jul 1949 and he later committed suicide on 31 October 1950 in New York City, by jumping from his seventh-floor hotel suite. Anna married thirdly on 11 November 1952 at Malibu, [[California]], as his second wife, to James Addison Halsted.

Curtis appears frequently in newspapers several being brief mentions mostly in relation to an article on Anna or the Roosevelt family, or mentioning some occasional trip or visit he made with his children.  In Jul 1934 he is being called "Curtis Dall of Chicago", but by 1936 he is again "Curtis Dall of New York".  Several times it's mentioned that he is visiting Governor Herring of Iowa.  There is the barest mention that Curtis is suing ''Time Magazine'' for libel in 1935 or '36 but with no details, but then in 1937 we get the details.  The [http://www.newspaperarchive.com/PdfViewerTags.aspx?img=12255275&firstvisit=true&src=search&currentResult=25 ''Frederick News-Post'', 6 May 1937, page 5, "Turns Down Verdict Against Curtis Dall"]^{[[#Footnotes 4|O]]}   

<table><tr><td>Curtis married secondly in 1938 to Katharine Miller Leas^{[[#Footnotes 5|P]]} (1917-2000), they had four surviving children: Katharine, Mary, Stephen and James.  From this point, I see no more mentions of Curtis spending time with his first two children, and by 1944 his son is being called "Curtis R Boettiger".  Additionally, when "Sistie" got married in 1948, Curtis was not in attendence. (see [http://www.newspaperarchive.com/PdfViewerTags.aspx?img=68016218&currentResult=22&src=search&firstvisit=true ''San Antonio Light'', 8 Jul 1948, page 24])  It would appear likely because of this that there was some kind of strain in, or even severing of the relationship.  This would have apparently happened sometime between 1939 and 1944. Possibly Curtis' second marriage was the trigger.

In the 1930's Curtis Dall "...helped to organize what later became the Tennessee Gas and Transmission Company of Houston, one of the largest corporations in the country.  But he sold his interest before the company's real growth began."^{[[#Footnotes 1|A]][[#Footnotes 5|Q]]}  He served as a Col in the "Army Air Force" from 1942 until the close of World War II. </td><td>http://freepages.history.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~wjhonson/Dall4.jpg<br>Curtis Dall and Katherine Leas Dec 1938</td></tr></table>

In 1950 or 1951, Curtis and his wife Katherine moved from San Antonio, Texas to Chestnut Hill, a suburb of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  On 13 Dec 1959 the ''Big Spring Daily Herald'' reports "Curtis Dall Named D&E Board Member" : "Curtis B. Dall, Philadelphia has been named to the board of directors of the Big Spring Exploration Company."

Dall became involved with the "...racist Right's ill-fated efforts at forming a third party..."^{[[#Footnotes 5|S]]}. In 1960 the Texas-based Constitution Party put-up retired Marine Corps Brigadier General Merritt B. Curtis for president. (see [http://www.newspaperarchive.com/PdfViewerTags.aspx?img=84087345&currentResult=18&src=search&firstvisit=true ''Logansport Pharos-Tribune'', 25 Apr 1960, page 7], "Constitution Party Picks Its Candidates") Dall the then-editor of ''Task Force'' magazine in Washington, had his name put in for vice-presidential nominee, but lost to B.M. Miller. In the 1960s Curtis, an ardent conservative, was a member of the Christian Crusade National Advisory Board, and a member of the Executive Board of "We The People".  Dall testified in Washington in May 1963, in front of the Senate Finance Committee, and against President Kennedy's trade policies. Syndicated columnist Drew Pearson, in an editorial, 1 Jun 1963 (see ''Ogden Standard-Examiner'') reports that "...Dall charged that Kennedy's trade policies were dreamed up by his 'political bosses and mentors' whom he identified ominously as 'the political Zionist planners for absolute rule, via one world government....[They] have gained the power to influence while remaining themselves in the shade..."

On 21 Jul 1964, the ''Advocate'' of Victoria, Texas reported that the "Constitution Party Seeks New Standard Bearer".  It "threw open its presidential nomination to anyone who is willing to promote the principles of constitutional government." This happened because George Wallace withdrew his name as their favored candidate.  Of three persons mentioned as possible candidates, were "Curtis Dall of Philadelphia, national chairman... P.A. Del Valle retired Marine Corps lieutenant general... and W Frank Horne publisher".

In 1966/7 he wrote the book for which he is most cited today, ''F.D.R. My Exploited Father-In-Law'', in which he speaks of his ex-father-in-law, Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Franklin's relationship with, as Curtis saw them, the corrupt power of the banking elite of the time. In 1968, his name was filed for the Presidential primaries in New Hampshire. In 1971, he was Chairman of the Liberty Lobby^{[[#Footnotes 5|T]]}  He retired as chairman in 1982.

He died at the Hospice of Northern Virginia in Arlington, [[Virginia]] on 28 Jun 1991, aged 95.  His obituary states that he lived in Alexandria,^{[[#Footnotes 1|A]]} but the Social Security Death Index states that he had last been a resident of Beaufort, Beaufort County, [[South Carolina]] ^{[[#Footnotes 1|C]]} which is where one of his daughters, Katherine lived.  He left to survive him, his second wife Katharine; Eleanor Seagraves of Washington and Curtis Roosevelt Dall of Majorca, Spain, both from his first marriage; and from his second marriage, Katharine Bolton of Beaufort, S.C., Mary Dunham of Newport, R.I., Stephen of Devon, Pa., and James of Portland, Ore.  in addition to 10 grandchildren and one great-grandson.