James Roosevelt.

Born on December 23, 1907 in New York City to Franklin D. Roosevelt and Eleanor Roosevelt, James Roosevelt attended St. Albans School and then Harvard College, graduating in 1930. He studied law at Boston University School of Law while selling insurance. He left law school to found his own insurance agency, Roosevelt & Sargent, and worked as a radio announcer in 1933. His close relationship with his father led him to serve as a political adviser during FDR’s 1932 presidential campaign.

In 1936, James Roosevelt became a Marine Corps lieutenant colonel and served as a military aide to his father. He resigned in 1939 to become a captain in the Marine Corps Reserves. After the Pearl Harbor attack, he joined the Marine Raiders and earned the Navy Cross for the August 1942 raid on Makin atoll. He won the Silver Star during the U.S. Army invasion of Makin in November 1943 and retired as a brigadier general.

Before the war, he worked as a vice president for Samuel Goldwyn Productions and founded Globe Productions, which produced the 1941 feature film Pot o’ Gold starring James Stewart and Paulette Goddard. After the war, he entered politics, losing the 1950 California gubernatorial election to Earl Warren, but winning a seat in Congress in 1954. He served six consecutive terms, voting against funding the House Un-American Activities Committee and working on the 1964 Civil Rights Act.

James Roosevelt married Betsey Cushing in 1930. He divorced her in 1940, and she later married John Hay Whitney. He then married Romelle Theresa Schneider in 1941, divorcing in 1955. His third marriage to Gladys Irene Owens ended in 1969 after she stabbed him during an argument in their Geneva home. He married Mary Lena Winskill later that year, remaining with her until his death. He had six children: Sara Wilford, Kate Whitney, Michael Roosevelt, Anna Roosevelt, Hall Delano Roosevelt, and Rebecca Roosevelt.

Though often remembered as the eldest son of Franklin D. Roosevelt, James Roosevelt forged his own record of military valor and political service. He earned the Navy Cross and Silver Star as a Marine in World War II. In Congress, he stood against McCarthyism and championed civil rights, working on the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Later, he faced controversy over his role at Investors Overseas Services and his leadership of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare. He died in 1991 at age 83, the last surviving child of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt.