Elliott Roosevelt Elliott Roosevelt ( September 23 , 1910 – October 27 , 1990 ) was a United States Army Air Forces officer and an author . He was also a son of President Franklin D . Roosevelt ( 1882 — 1945 ) and First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt ( 1884 — 1962 ) . After World War II , Roosevelt was called by a Senate subcommittee to testify about financial irregularities in which he had taken part regarding a contract for the experimental Hughes XF - 11 reconnaissance aircraft . Subsequently , he had an extraordinarily varied career , primarily in broadcasting , ranching , politics and business . Early life . Elliott was named after his maternal grandfather , Elliott Bulloch Roosevelt ( 1860 — 1894 ) . His siblings were : Elliott attended the Hun School of Princeton and went to Groton School , as did his brothers , but refused to attend Harvard University . Instead , he worked a series of briefly held jobs , beginning with advertising and settling in broadcasting in the 1930s , including a management position in the Hearst radio chain . Military service . Elliott Roosevelt had always been interested in flight , and in 1933 he briefly served as general manager of Gilpin Airlines of Glendale , CA , a small airline owned by Rep . Isabella Greenway ( D - AZ ) , a close friend of the family . Later that year he became aviation editor for the William Randolph Hearst papers . After controversial involvement in the Air Mail Scandal and a secret attempt to sell bombers in civilian disguise to the USSR , he was hired as vice president of the Aeronautical Chamber of Commerce ( see Aerospace Industries Association ) , a post he held until 1935 , when he moved to Fort Worth , Texas , and involved himself in broadcasting . His eyesight did not permit him to hold a pilot ’ s license . Roosevelt received a captain ' s commission in the United States Army Air Corps on 23 September 1940 , his 30th birthday . Elliott ’ s appointment in the middle of the 1940 election campaign caused a furious political row , although General Henry H . Arnold , the Chief of the Air Corps , asserted that there was no pressure or nepotism involved . After brief service at Wright Field , Ohio , Elliott took an intelligence course and served with the 21st Reconnaissance Squadron at the new U . S . facility in Gander , Newfoundland . In the summer of 1941 , he searched for and located air base sites in Labrador , Baffin Island , and Greenland and reported on conditions in Iceland and along the rest of the embryonic North Atlantic ferry route . During this time he coordinated closely with FDR , Prime Minister Winston Churchill , and General Arnold . Elliott was the first to interest Churchill in American bases in Africa ( first , Bathurst in the Gambia , now Banjul ) , a step for which his father was not yet ready . He served as a procurement specialist , navigator , and intelligence and reconnaissance officer and rose to brigadier general by January 1945 . Despite having poor eyesight and being classified 4 - F ( unfit ) , he also became a pilot and reportedly flew 89 combat missions by the time of his inactivation from the United States Army Air Forces ( USAAF ) in August 1945 . While Elliott operated from Gander in August 1941 , FDR detached him and brother Franklin D . Roosevelt , Jr . to attend the Argentia ( Atlantic Charter ) summit between Churchill and FDR . In January 1943 , Roosevelt accompanied FDR as a military attaché to the Casablanca meeting and the subsequent Cairo and Tehran Conference s in November – December 1943 . At an alcohol - drenched dinner during the Tehran Conference , Elliott Roosevelt applauded Joseph Stalin ' s proposal for large - scale executions of German POWs , which earned him Churchill ' s vocal and lasting hostility but Stalin ' s cheers . Following a navigator / bombardier course in the fall of 1941 and a brief stint on antisubmarine patrol duty with the 6th Reconnaissance Squadron at Muroc AAB , Elliott received a top - secret assignment to carry out clandestine reconnaissance flights over the Sahara , with emphasis on French West Africa , with which the United States was not at war . Having been successful with this ( Project Rusty ) , he was given command of the new 3d Reconnaissance Group at Colorado Springs . From Gibraltar and then Oran , Algeria , he led this unit in Operation Torch , the invasion of Northwest Africa in early November 1942 . Elliott ( with a pilot ) flew the first U . S . reconnaissance missions over the theater in a borrowed RAF de Havilland Mosquito . This led to a long campaign for the U . S . adoption of this British aircraft , as Elliott held the American counterparts ( modified Boeing B - 17 Cs and early Lockheed P - 38 s ) to be inadequate and unlikely to survive in contested airspace . From Maison Blanche , Algeria , and after the fall of Tunis , La Marsa near Carthage , Elliott pioneered new tactics , including night aerial photography , and obtained before and after imagery of Rome during that city ’ s first heavy bombing on 19 July 1943 . During this period , top Allied commanders recognized him as the leading air reconnaissance expert in the European Theater . After his detachment to investigate reconnaissance issues in the United States ( see the Hughes scandal section below ) , Elliott received command of the 8th Air Force ’ s reconnaissance wing in England : the 8th Provisional RW , later renamed the 325th Reconnaissance Wing . During this period , Elliott worked on the shuttle - bombing project with the USSR , and participated in the May 1944 mission to the USSR which inspected the new American bases at Poltava , Mirgorod , and Piryatin . His units also supported the invasion of Normandy and the bombing campaign against V - weapon sites . Following threats of resignation and pressure from “ very high topside , ” in January 1945 General Arnold ordered General Carl Spaatz in England to appoint Elliott a rated pilot , and the president submitted his son ’ s name to the Senate for promotion to Brigadier General . By standard rules , Elliott was eligible for the rank , but not for the pilot ’ s wings . Elliott continued in that rank in Europe until his father ’ s death on 12 April 1945 . After VE - Day , the Air Forces could no longer find a “ suitable vacancy ” for him , and he was on leave and had staff duties in the United States . By coincidence , his last day of service was VJ - Day . Roosevelt commanded the following units : Roosevelt stated that he flew 89 combat missions and 470 combat hours prior to being called back for his father ' s funeral in April 1945 ( he did not return to active theaters ) . These numbers were disputed at the time . His decorations included the Distinguished Flying Cross . He also received the Order of the British Empire , the Croix de Guerre and Legion d ' Honneur , the Moroccan Order of Ouissam Alaouite , and the U . S . Legion of Merit . He ended the war holding the Air Medal with reportedly eleven clusters . As a chase pilot for the Operation Aphrodite flights in 1944 , Elliott said he witnessed the death of Joseph P . Kennedy , Jr . over Blythburgh , England . ( There is no evidence in Aphrodite files that Elliott participated in this project , nor did he fly as chase pilot and witness the death of Joseph P . Kennedy . reference : 519 . 428 - 1 Aphrodite . Reel No . A5687 , Air Force Historical Research Agency , Maxwell AFB , Alabama ) After the war , Elliott Roosevelt no longer played a significant role in aviation , although he maintained a private pilot ’ s license and owned a small aircraft . He briefly served as president of short - lived Empire Airlines of New York ( 1946 ) , citing his influence with the Civil Aeronautics Board ( CAB ) , which however did not result in route awards . Reported attempts to assist Howard Hughes ’ s TWA in obtaining air routes to the USSR also did not succeed . Warplanes purchasing scandal . In August 1943 , Colonel Roosevelt was asked by the Chief of the Army Air Forces , General Henry H . " Hap " Arnold , to investigate several reconnaissance aircraft under development to select a successor to the Lockheed P - 38 ( F - 4 and F - 5 in the recon version ) , though the reason for Arnold ' s choice of Roosevelt was not made public . Roosevelt assembled a group of five air officers including veteran RAF reconnaissance pilot Wing Commander D . W . Steventon . Upon their arrival in Los Angeles Roosevelt and his group were met by eight limousines arranged by John W . Meyer , a publicist and former nightclub owner who was employed by Hughes Aircraft . On his first day in town , Roosevelt was taken by Meyer to the Hollywood film studio of Warner Bros . and introduced to Faye Emerson , an actress with whom Roosevelt was soon linked romantically . Over the next three days , Roosevelt and his group were seen with Meyer in Hollywood nightclubs and at parties in luxurious mansions in the company of aspiring actresses paid $ 100 – 400 per night by Meyer , the higher figure equivalent to $ in current value . On August 11 , Howard Hughes showed the group his Culver City aircraft factory , then personally flew them to see the private - venture Hughes D - 2 , an experimental twin - engine , wooden aircraft then being test - flown at a Hughes facility at Harper Dry Lake in the Mojave Desert . The aircraft had already been turned down ten months earlier by Chief of Army Air Forces Material Division , Oliver P . Echols , for being inadequate to military service ; it was considered unlikely to become successful for numerous reasons , wooden construction and Hughes ' s limited facilities among them . Roosevelt and his committee , however , fervently recommended the D - 2 . When Roosevelt returned to the East Coast , Meyer hosted another round of parties and nightclub outings in Manhattan , and arranged for Faye Emerson to accompany Roosevelt . Among many favors , Meyer gave Emerson $ 132 worth of nylon stockings , a rare treat during wartime rationing . On August 20 , Roosevelt sent a report to General Arnold recommending immediate purchase of the D - 2 . On September 1 , Arnold ordered Echols to contract with Hughes for an all - metal reconnaissance aircraft " against my better judgment and the advice of my staff . " During these two weeks , Arnold , Elliott and FDR conferred frequently at the White House and it is documented that Elliott complained to his father about Arnold ' s reluctance to order the F - 11 . Major General Charles E . Bradshaw wrote to Arnold to suggest that the Lockheed XP - 58 Chain Lightning was much farther along in development and could outperform the D - 2 in every important aspect , but was unsuccessful in halting the Hughes contract . Implicating Roosevelt and United States Secretary of Commerce Jesse H . Jones , Assistant Secretary of War Robert A . Lovett noted to Major General Bennett E . Meyers that " Hughes has got powerful friends here in Washington " and that , if the background of the contract were uncovered , " there ' s going to be an awful smell . " Nonetheless , Hughes was given $ 43 million ( worth $ million today ) to build 100 all - metal aircraft , to be designated the Hughes XF - 11 . In 1947 , Roosevelt telephoned Hughes to warn him that a Senate subcommittee ( the " Brewster Committee , " formerly the " Truman Committee " ) intended to call them both to account for financial irregularities regarding the XF - 11 as well as for Hughes ' s H - 4 Hercules , popularly known as the " Spruce Goose " . As part of the ongoing " Investigation of the National Defense Program " , on August 4 , 1947 the subcommittee called Roosevelt and Meyer to testify about the Hollywood and Manhattan parties and women that Meyer had arranged and paid for . Meyer ' s extensive financial records during such parties showed him paying $ 200 for " presents for four girls " and $ 50 for " girls at hotel ( late ) . " At one point , Roosevelt asked Meyer whether " any of those girls who were paid , were they procured for my entertainment ? " Meyer responded " I don ' t like the word ' procured , ' because a girl who attends a party and is given a present is not necessarily ' procured . ' " The committee found that Meyer had spent at least $ 1 , 000 in picking up Roosevelt ' s hotel bills as well as his nightclub and party checks , and Faye Emerson ' s bets at Agua Caliente Racetrack , and that Meyer had arranged for weekends in Palm Springs and Washington , D . C . for Roosevelt and Emerson , who eventually married in December 1944 after Roosevelt divorced his second wife in March 1944 . The wedding at the Grand Canyon was also paid for by Meyer . All told , Meyer reported to the committee that he had spent $ 5 , 083 . 79 ( $ in today ' s dollars ) on entertainment for Roosevelt . In his own defense , Roosevelt testified that he had never heard of the XF - 11 until " Hap " Arnold let him know about it , and that several of the parties appeared to have taken place on days when he was out of the country on active duty . Roosevelt said " If it is true that for the price of entertainment I made recommendations which would have in any way endangered the lives of the men under me . . . that fact should be made known to the public . " Later life . After FDR ' s death in 1945 , Roosevelt and his family moved to Top Cottage to be near his mother , who considered him her favorite child . She gave him financial assistance throughout her life . In 1947 she bought from the FDR estate Val - Kill farms , the home she lived in after FDR ' s death , and deeded the property to Roosevelt . After Elliott moved to Miami Beach and Habana with his fourth wife , in 1952 , Roosevelt ' s brother John bought the Hyde Park tract . Later , the property became Eleanor Roosevelt National Historic Site . Roosevelt pursued many different careers during his life , including owning a pre - war radio station network ( Texas State Network ) in Texas and living as a rancher . After brief ventures in Cuba and Colorado , he was involved ( not criminally ) with a bank embezzlement scandal in Sheldon , Iowa ( 1960 ) . He again moved to Florida and was elected mayor of Miami Beach , Florida ( 1965 ) , being unseated two stormy years later . After a business career marked by ties to organized crime , he was investigated by the Senate ( " Jackson Committee " ) in 1973 . He emigrated to Portugal in 1972 , but left for England after the revolution in 1975 . He moved back to the United States , living in Bellevue , Washington , Indian Wells , California , and finally Scottsdale , Arizona . As Roosevelt approached his eightieth year , his final ambition was to " outlive James . " However , Roosevelt died at age 80 of congestive heart failure . His brother James Roosevelt survived Roosevelt by one year . Author and biographer . Elliott authored numerous books , including a mystery series in which his mother , Eleanor Roosevelt , is the detective . However , these murder mysteries were researched and written by William Harrington . They continued until Harrington ' s death in 2000 , ten years after Elliott ' s death . Roosevelt described his experiences with his father during five important war conferences in his best - selling book " As He Saw It " . He also edited " FDR : His Personal Letters " , published after the war in four volumes . With James Brough , Roosevelt wrote a highly personal book about his parents called " The Roosevelts of Hyde Park : An Untold Story " , in which he revealed details about the sexual lives of his parents , including his father ' s unique relationships with mistress Lucy Mercer and secretary Marguerite ( " Missy " ) LeHand as well as graphic details surrounding the illness that crippled his father . Published in 1973 , the biography also contains valuable insights into FDR ' s run for vice - president , his rise to the governorship of New York , and his capture of the presidency in 1932 , particularly with the help of Louis Howe . A sequel to " An Untold Story " with James Brough , published in 1975 and titled " A Rendezvous With Destiny " , carried the Roosevelt saga to the end of World War II . " Mother R . : Eleanor Roosevelt ' s Untold Story " , also with Brough , was published in 1977 ; " The Conservators " , a political book , in 1982 . " Eleanor Roosevelt , with Love : A Centenary Remembrance " , came out in 1984 . Historical controversy . While all FDR ’ s sons attracted public controversy , James and Elliott were scandal - plagued throughout their lives . When ( in 1946 ) Elliott Roosevelt published his defense of his father ’ s foreign policy , " As He Saw It " , he triggered a long - standing historiographical dispute over the truthfulness of his recollections of the wartime summits . Many historians were very dubious of the strident anti - British and pro - Soviet tone , and some ( including the FBI ) thought Elliott used a ghost writer , who “ was a communist . ” A young Arthur M . Schlesinger , Jr . opined that other memoirs would have to confirm Elliott ’ s accounts before they could be taken at face value . When Winston Churchill published his history of the war five years later , he pronounced Elliott ’ s stories “ rubbish . ” Still , the frequent absence of detailed minutes leads historians to rely considerably on " As He Saw It " , and even the official " Foreign Relations of the United States " ( Foreign Relations Series ) sometimes fills in the gaps with Elliott ’ s details . The controversy was rekindled when Elliott ’ s trilogy about the FDR years came out in the 1970s , even though Elliott again used a professional writer and many of the anecdotes were clearly drawn from secondary references . The row was exacerbated by Elliott ’ s frank writings about his parents ’ sex lives , although these accounts were also not news to historians . Elliott Roosevelt ’ s wartime recollections became demonstrably more dramatic and heroic as the decades passed . Thus , shortly before his death he wrote in " Remembering War " ( Keyssar , Posner , 1990 ) that he had been shot down three times , had been taken captive by the Germans and , after a week , escaped riding a burro ; that a Russian pilot mistakenly shot him down , and that the Russian was promptly shot ; and that he negotiated the shuttle - bombing project directly with Stalin in May 1944 . None of this is supported by official records . However , some of these things did happen to pilots under his command . Most famously , Elliott claimed that he nearly lost his life when flying through the fireball of the explosion that killed Joseph P . Kennedy , Jr . in August 1944 . Air Force records show that a Mosquito photographic airplane did indeed suffer this dramatic fate , but its crew was a pilot and a photographer under Roosevelt ’ s command , and Elliott ’ s participation is unmentioned in official accounts . Elliott ’ s " New York Times " obituary claimed that he had been twice wounded , and his widow had written ( " I Love a Roosevelt " , 1965 ) that he had received four purple hearts ( “ for each of the four times he was wounded ” ) . His discharge papers explicitly state that he was not wounded ( although he had close calls in aircraft ) . Consequently , the Veterans Administration rejected his disability claims . The question of Elliott ’ s veracity in his wartime conference memoirs belongs in context with the many other scandals and controversies he was involved in throughout his career . Congress investigated Elliott numerous times : for the attempted sale of bombers to the USSR ( 1934 ) ; for allegations of broadcast industry corruption ( 1937 – 45 ) ; for the " Blaze " affair ( his dog ’ s travel on emergency war priority , 1945 ) ; for his promotion to general , demanded by his father ( 1945 ) ; for the Hartford loan scandal ( 1945 ) ; for his denunciation of U . S . foreign policy during a visit to the USSR ( capped with a visit with Stalin ) ( 1946 ) ; for the Hughes F - 11 purchase ( 1947 ) ; and for involvement with organized crime and securities fraud in Miami and the Bahamas ( 1973 ) . Of Elliott ’ s wide - ranging activities , many others attracted political or law enforcement interest , but charges were never referred to the Justice Department . Marriages and children . Roosevelt was married five times :