Samuel Irving Rosenman was a U.S. lawyer, judge, Democratic

Democratic Party (United States)

The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...

 political figure, and presidential speechwriter

Speechwriter

A speechwriter is a person who is hired to prepare and write speeches that will be delivered by another person. Speechwriters are used by many senior-level elected officials and executives in the government and private sectors.-Skills and training:...

.

Personal life and political career

Rosenman was born in San Antonio, Texas

San Antonio, Texas

San Antonio is the seventh-largest city in the United States of America and the second-largest city within the state of Texas, with a population of 1.33 million. Located in the American Southwest and the south–central part of Texas, the city serves as the seat of Bexar County. In 2011,...

, son of Solomon and Ethel (Paler) Rosenman. He served in the U.S. Army during World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

 and graduated From Columbia Law School

Columbia Law School

Columbia Law School, founded in 1858, is one of the oldest and most prestigious law schools in the United States. A member of the Ivy League, Columbia Law School is one of the professional graduate schools of Columbia University in New York City. It offers the J.D., LL.M., and J.S.D. degrees in...

 in 1919. He was a member of Phi Beta Kappa and Delta Sigma Rho.

He became active in Democratic politics, and was elected to the New York State Assembly

New York State Assembly

The New York State Assembly is the lower house of the New York State Legislature. The Assembly is composed of 150 members representing an equal number of districts, with each district having an average population of 128,652...

 (New York County 11th District in 1922-26); and the New York Supreme Court

New York Supreme Court

The Supreme Court of the State of New York is the trial-level court of general jurisdiction in thestate court system of New York, United States. There is a supreme court in each of New York State's 62 counties, although some smaller counties share judges with neighboring counties...

 (1st District, 1936–43).

Rosenman was an advisor to Presidents Franklin Roosevelt and Harry S. Truman

Harry S. Truman

Harry S. Truman was the 33rd President of the United States . As President Franklin D. Roosevelt's third vice president and the 34th Vice President of the United States , he succeeded to the presidency on April 12, 1945, when President Roosevelt died less than three months after beginning his...

. Under their administration he was a leading figure in the war crimes issue. He was also the first official White House Counsel

White House Counsel

The White House Counsel is a staff appointee of the President of the United States.-Role:The Counsel's role is to advise the President on all legal issues concerning the President and the White House...

 -- then called Special Counsel—between 1943 and 1946.

He was a speechwriter under both presidents, helping Roosevelt with his speeches from his days as governor. While he was not heavily involved in speechwriting during FDR's first term, he started traveling to Washington to help out with important talks during the 1936 campaign and was a key speech aide for the remainder of FDR's life. He officially joined the White House after ill health forced him to have to choose between his judicial work and his presidential work.

He submitted his resignation as Special Counsel upon FDR's death but Truman asked him to stay on, initially through V-E Day, then through V-J Day, and finally into 1946. Even after leaving the White House he would periodically return to aid the president with major speeches, including his acceptance speech to the 1948 Democratic convention.

Editor

Rosenman edited The Public Papers and Addresses of Franklin D. Roosevelt published in 13 volumes from 1938 to 1950. They have been immensely influential in the study of the New Deal and FDR's policies, and, given the enormous mass of data at the Roosevelt Library in Hyde Park, it is used by historians as a guide, a conceptual framework, and a source. His selections have given rise to some accusations of partisan selectivity and of deviations from a delivered speech, the work still holds up remarkably well as an important piece of scholarship, and Rosenman will long be remembered as the Thucydides of the Roosevelt era, according to Hand (1968).

Later career

From 1964 to 1966, Rosenman served as president of the New York City Bar Association.

Primary sources

• Rosenman, Samuel I. Working with Roosevelt (1952).
• The Public Papers and Addresses of Franklin D. Roosevelt by Franklin D. Roosevelt; edited by Samuel Irving Rosenman; Random House, 1938 online edition of vol 5