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Lot 32
Roosevelt, Franklin D. An archive of five Typed Letters Signed as President, all on "The White House" letterhead, total of 5½ pages, Washington, dated from July 9, 1934 to January 25, 1935. All are addressed to Frank McNinch, Chairman of the Federal Power Commission. All pertain to FDR's desire to create a national power grid policy. As he states in his first letter to McNinch on July 9, 1934, "I wish to establish in the Public Works Administration a Committee to be called the 'National Power Policy Committee.' Its duty will be to develop a plan for the closer cooperation of the several factors in our electrical power supply - both public and private - whereby national policy in power matters may be unified and electricity be made more broadly available at cheaper rates to industry, to domestic and, particularly, to agricultural consumers."
In the second letter, written Sept. 8, 1936, FDR tells McNinch that construction on the Bonneville Dam (on the Columbia River between Washington and Oregon) is advanced and directs him to create a rate schedule for electricity from that dam. "…a system like the English grid or that adopted by the Tennessee Valley Authority would be desirable…." Nine days later, on Sept. 17, FDR states his desire for "a Power Pool or Grid System in the Southeastern States through the cooperation of the Tennessee Valley Authority and the private utility interests in that region…." and notes that contracts between the TVA and a private utitility "for interchange of power and common use of some transmission lines - a rudimentary form of power pooling" will soon expire.
In his efforts to bring affordable electric power to the entire country, FDR came up against opposition from private industry, one of whose leaders was corporate lawyer Wendell Wilkie, who would oppose FDR in the 1940 presidential election. Even though the Supreme Court had ruled in February 1936, in Ashwander v. Tennessee Valley Authority, that the Federal Government had the authority to produce and sell electricity from its land reclamation dam projects, FDR still had to deal with private utilities in his efforts to pursue rural electrification.
When a District Court issued an injunction (December 22, 1936) against the TVA from signing any more contracts with towns or individual customers, FDR ended discussions with the private utilities. On January 16, 1937, he writes McNinch regarding drafting legislation for distributing power and setting rates rom the Bonneville project, and adds, "this policy once established will apply to existing projects, such as Boulder Dam and portions of the TVA and to all new power developments as they are completed during the next few years." Nine days later, on January 25, he writes that "…a sweeping preliminary injunction has been issued against the Tennessee Valley Authority upon the application of nineteen utility companies," which "under the circumstances…makes it advisable to discontinue these conferences."
In spite of these setbacks, FDR perservered and succeeded in generating cheap electricity from the great dam projects. This correspondence with McNinch reveals the determination of the President to carry out his plan. The letters are overall fine; there are some old staple marks at upper left and some wrinkling to the first letter. Accompanied by related copies of letters and statements.
Estimated Value $8,000 - 10,000.
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