New-York tribune., 1919-07-03
Col. Roosevelt Out
For Assembly From
Second District
Announcement Made After
Conference of Friends at
Oyster Bay; Mass Meeting
Scheduled for Saturday

Lieutenant Colonel Theodore Roose-
velt made his formal entrance into
politics yesterday when he announced
that he would be a candidate for the
Republican nomi9ation for assembly
in the Second Assembly District, Mas
sau County, which embraces the town
ships of Oyster Bay and North Hemp
stead.
The announcement followed a con-
ference of Oyster Bay Republican
leaders which took place in the Nassau
County Court House. None of the
leaders from North Hampstead &C.
cepted' the invitation of the Oyster
Bay men to attend the conference
Their absence, it was explained, was
due to belief that their fellow towns
man, Franklin A. Coles, the present
member of assembly from the district,
should be renominated.
That this situation will be ironed
out within the next couple of weeks
was the belief of those who attended
the conference yesterday, and Colonel
Roosevelt made it plain he would not
be a candidate unless Assemblyman
Coles withdrew.
81 shall not be a candidate if it
means primary ight," said Colonel
Roosevelt.
Coles Former District Attorney
Assemblyman Coles, who has served
two terms in the lower house Of the
Legislature, served a term as District
Attorney prior to his election to the
Legislature.
The Oyster Bay men, in the belief
that Assemblyman Coles and his sup
porters in North Hampstead will fol-
low suit, have called a meeting of
local Republicans to be held Saturday
in Oyster Bay, at which the Roosevelt
candidacy will be indorsed.
Should the North Hampstead Repub-
licans follow the lead of their parti-
sans in Oyster Bay, it will mean the
election of Colonel Roosevelt to the
Assembly, as the district is over
whelmingly Republican. The late Col
onel Roosevelt was first elected to pub
lie office in 1882, when the old
Twenty first Assembly District of
Manhattan, now the fifteenth, sent him
to the Assembly.
New Workers Disappointed
Yesterdays announcement was a
disappointment to some New York Re-
publican leaders who wanted Colonel
Roosevelt to run for the Presidency of
the Board of Aldermen. They believed
that with his war record and with the
reaction of local Democrats to the Hy-
Ian administration, he would have little
trouble in overcoming the normal Dem
ocratlc majority in greater New York
On Colonel Roosevelt's return from
France he was first spoken of as pos
sible candidate for the Assembly from
his fathers old district, in which he
has home, and which is represented
by Assemblyman Joseph Steinberg.
Assemblyman Steinberg was willing to
withdraw in Colonel Roosevelts favor,
and local leaders agreed to get behind
Mr. Steinberg for the Republican nom
ination for City Judge.
Colonel Roosevelt was at first will
ing to take up his legal residence in
New York City, but, on advice Of some
of his fathers friends and political
associates at Oyster Bay, he decided to
make Sycamore Hill his domicle.
Colonel Wounded at Cantigny
Colonel Roosevelt is thirty-one years
old. Long before the United States
entered the war he qualified as a major
of infantry after an intensive training
at the Plattsburg camp. He and his
three brothers were among the first
Americans to leave for France, and he
was gassed and wounded at Cantigny
about the same time his brother, Quen-
tin was shot down in an aerial, battle
with four Hun planes, and another
brother, Captain Archibald Roosevelt.
was seriously wounded
Since his return to the United States
the Colonel has taken an active part
in organizing the American Legion,
national body composed solely of re-
turned soldiers and sailors and ma
rines. He was offered the presidency
of the association, but declined it. He
married, nine years ago, Miss Eleanor
Butler Alexander They have three
children.