Signature doodles
I had an opportunity to check out the Signature Moments: Letters From the Famous, the Infamous, and Everyday Americans exhibit at Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum recently. (Playing it casual here, but I was so excited the stars all aligned.)
Coincidentally, I just doodled a bunch of signatures while reading my last book. I thought this would be a fun excuse to use some of my new doodles with fake historic signatures. Turns out, there’s some overlap (George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, John Hancock, and John Adams), but not enough to share many of them. Fortunately, I make the rules around here. I’m gonna go ahead and add them anyhow:
Here’s a mix of photos from the exhibit, doodles from my sketchbooks, and related (or unrelated, if I’m so inclined) bits of trivia.
Theodore, Amelia, and Gore
I saw Theodore Roosevelt’s signature, along with Amelia Earhart’s and Gore Vidal’s … which reminded me that Amelia was Gore’s dad’s lover. (Ew, gross word.) Didn’t realize I had a doodle that includes all three of them! Hooray!
Bill Paley
Speaking of lovers (ew) and whatnot… seeing a telegram from Bill Paley reminded me that I made a booty board a while back (like a murder map or conspiracy map, but with… you get the idea). In any case, he’s on it.
Joseph Stalin
I love that these guys were like “hey, remember that time we did that thing? Here’s a giant framed picture of me! You’re welcome.” I’m going to try that sometime. See how weird it is. (“Hey, remember that time we both worked concessions at the swim meet? Here’s a giant framed photo of me.”)
The actual note read: “To President Roosevelt, in memory of the day of the invasion of northern France by the allied American and British liberating armies — from his friend, Joseph V. Stalin, June 6, 1944.”
OK, maybe I should save my whole giving-away-a-giant-framed-picture-of-me thing until I actually do something notable or important.
In any case, while looking for a doodle of Stalin I found this handy chart that I’d completely forgotten about.
Though the original chart doodle was typo-free, I managed to insert a mistake in the middle of a time-consuming motion graphic (wolverines instead of wolves). If anyone has evidence that Stalin doodled wolverines, I’d love to remove my asterisk. Wolverines are not only real, but they can apparently hold their own against wolves. Wolverines are smaller but aggressive — and they have more stamina. Not only that, but they live in Russia. These facts lead me to believe that if Stalin happened to be hypothetically doodling wolverines, it would likely indicate a bad mood.
Hearst and Mussolini
I saw William Randolph Hearst and Benito Mussolini’s signatures.
Fun* fact: Hearst hired both Mussolini and Hitler as columnists! He only fired one of them — Mussolini, because he was a fascist. HAHAHA! I kid, I kid! He fired him because he was boring, expensive, and troublesome. You can be two of those things, max.
*By “fun” I mean “deeply disturbing.”
Was William Randolph Hearst related to those Randolphs? I’m not sure, but I’d like to know!
Joe Louis, J. Edgar Hoover, Huey Long, Bob Hope, Princess Juliana
Whenever Huey Long appears, Randy Newman’s rendition of Every Man A King plays on repeat in my head. Click the link to join me!
Douglas MacArthur
He was “too busy to bother with a lady” when he found out Eleanor was coming to town, but not too busy to reach out to FDR on his “birth anniversary.”
Douglas MacArthur’s birthday is four days before FDR’s — I was surprised to learn he was two years older than the president.
Pauli Murray & MLK, Jr.
When I went to crop my doodle with Pauli Murray, I noticed Martin Luther King, Jr. right next to her. Very convenient.
The Duke of Windsor
(the royal formerly known as Prince Edward of York … and also King Edward VIII)
The Duke of Windsor abdicated the throne in 1936 to marry Wallis Simpson, an American divorcee. (Watch his crown below fly over to his brother, King George VI in my very sophisticated royal family tree!) In any case, during the war he was Governor of the Bahamas and wrote to President Roosevelt about plans for an American base.
Have you watched A Thousand Blows?? Prince Albert in season two becomes King Edward VII … King Edward VIII The Duke of Windsor’s grandfather!
George Washington Carver
I happen to be working on a collection of George Washingtons and this one was already in it. (NOTE: two other George Washingtons are mentioned in this post!)
Aaron Burr
I recently learned that little bitty baby Burr basically lost everyone close to him. He was raised by his young uncle, who may not have been up to the task. One can’t help but wonder how things may have turned out if his mother had lived. Or his father. Or grandmother. Anybody, really.
Robert Fulton
I spent way more time on Robert Fulton than I expected, have nothing to show for it, and accidentally saw a TURN spoiler.
Damn it.
No doodle of Nicholas James Roosevelt, who partnered with Robert Fulton (!!) and was also an inventor. I knew there was a Livingston / Fulton connection, through steamboats. And also through marriage. And I knew there was a Livingston / Roosevelt connection through marriage. I did not know there was a Roosevelt / Fulton steamboat connection.
My photo of the plaque was cut off, because I was mostly interested in the Charles Lee bit… guess what?! General Charles Lee and Attorney General Charles Lee are not the same person.* I can’t use my Charles Lee doodle.
Attorney General Charles Lee was General Harry “Light-Horse” Lee’s younger brother. (Light-Horse was Robert E. Lee’s dad… and father-in-law to George Washington’s step-grandson, Washy. Got that?)
*I’d like the record to show that I know the difference between generals and attorney generals. I thought maybe Charles Lee was both.
John, John, John, John…
Guess which Johns were in FDR’s collection of historic signatures and which he actually corresponded with!
23-year-old JFK published While England Slept and sent a signed copy to FDR in 1940. (JFK’s book makes me want to reread Erik Larson’s In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin.)
In closing…
The Signature Moments exhibit at FDR Library and Museum is open through July 7, 2026.
Here’s my signature, for no reason whatsoever. The giant framed photo of me is in the mail…
DOODLES INSPIRED BY
Founding Mothers: The Women Who Raised Our Nation, by Cokie Roberts
Black Americans, Civil Rights, and the Roosevelts, 1932-1962, by Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum
The First Lady of World War II: Eleanor Roosevelt’s Daring Journey to the Frontlines and Back, by Shannon McKenna Schmidt
Roosevelt Sweeps Nation: FDR’s 1936 Landslide and the Triumph of the Liberal Ideal, by David Pietrusza
1920: The Year of the Six Presidents, by David Pietrusza
The Daughters of Yalta: The Churchills, Roosevelts, and Harrimans: A Story of Love and War, by Catherine Grace Katz
The Fish That Ate the Whale: The Life and Times of America's Banana King, by Rich Cohen
FDR: A Biography, by Ted Morgan
Upstairs at the White House: My Life with the First Ladies, by J. B. West and Mary Lynn Kotz
MORE FIELD TRIPS
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