Endicott Peabody, FDR's
headmaster at Groton School, who emphasized "manly
Christian character," had a profound influence
on young FDR.
Peabody, the son of a wealthy Salem, Massachusetts,
financier, graduated from Cambridge University and
returned to America to enroll in a Massachusetts seminary.
In 1884, he was ordained an Episcopal priest. The
same year, he and two colleagues founded the Groton
School for Boys in Groton, Massachusetts, approximately
forty miles outside Boston. He modeled Groton after
strict English boarding schools and emphasized "religious
observance, vigorous exercise and spartan living."
(1) Under his leadership, Groton challenged
its students and staff to embrace their civil and
religious responsibility, declaring in 1884 that "if
some Groton boys do not enter political life and do
something for our land it won't be because they have
not been urged." (2)
FDR took Peabody's lessons to heart, especially
his advocacy of strenuous Christianity. While at
Groton,
Roosevelt attended Peabody's confirmation class,
joined a society that helped underprivileged boys
at summer
camp and a club in Boston, and one winter was responsible
for helping to care for a local African American
woman,
to whom he brought food and fuel. FDR later recalled
"as long as I live, the influence of Dr. and Mrs.
Peabody means and will mean more to me than that
of
any other people next to my father and mother."
(3)
Peabody officiated at FDR and ER's wedding and at
the private religious services FDR held before his
inaugurations and major events. Peabody died January
20, 1945, the day of FDR's fourth inauguration.
Notes:
- "Peabody, Endicott" in Franklin
D. Roosevelt, His Life and Times. Otis L.
Graham, Jr., and Meghan Robinson. (New York:
Da Capo Press, 1985),
316.
- Frank Freidel. Franklin
D. Roosevelt: A Rendezvous with Destiny. Little,
Brown and Company: New York, 1990, 8.
- "Peabody, Endicott" in Franklin
D. Roosevelt, His Life and Times,
316.
Sources:
Freidel, Frank. Franklin D. Roosevelt: A Rendezvous
with Destiny. New York: Little, Brown & Company,
1990, 8-10, 573.
Graham, Otis L., Jr., and Meghan Robinson Wander,
eds.
Franklin D. Roosevelt, His Life and Times.
New York: Da Capo Press, 1985, 316.
For more information on Peabody and Groton
School, visit the following website: