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Old February 3, 2013, 01:53 PM   #4
James K
Member In Memoriam
 
Join Date: March 17, 1999
Posts: 24,383
Reminds me a bit of Kerry the hunter, and FDR the target shooter. Most of us are familiar with the former, but not many remember the FDR photo.

FDR, one of the most anti-gun presidents we have had up to President Obama, once had himself driven to the Marine rifle range at Quantico, where he was dressed in a shooting jacket and laid on a mat.* A Springfield target rifle was put in his hands. Then he turned part way around and produced his famous smile. Shutters clicked.

The rifle was taken away, FDR put back in his car and driven back to the White House. Not a shot was fired. The photo appeared in the general press and in the outdoor magazines of the day, to “prove” that the president was a target shooter and gun fancier.

I suspect that was the only time FDR ever held a gun; unlike his cousin, Teddy, he was no soldier, outdoorsman or hunter even before he contracted infantile paralysis.

*The American public was not generally aware of FDR’s handicap, which was a closely guarded secret, a secret well maintained by an adoring press corps.

Jim
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