# FDR paraphrasing Mark Twain **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 19, 2019, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fdr-paraphrasing-mark-twain/837282 "2019-07-19T01:37:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2019, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fdr-paraphrasing-mark-twain/837282/1 "2019-07-19T01:37:43Z")
I am reading American Warlords, about Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s generals and admirals. US intelligence read Japanese codes, found that Yamamoto was flying from one place to another, and intercepted his aircraft with P-38s and killed him. Yamamoto had told his superiors that the only way to win the war was to be able to march up to the White House and deliver terms. FDR supposedly wrote this letter, related to one by Mark Twain: Dear Widow Yamamoto: Time is a great leveler and I never expected the old boy at the White House anyway. Sorry I can’t attend the funeral because I approve of it. Hoping he is where we know he ain’t. Yours very sincerely, Franklin Delano Roosevelt. How is this related to Samuel Clemens? ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2019, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fdr-paraphrasing-mark-twain/837282/2 "2019-07-19T01:50:00Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > I am reading American Warlords, about Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s generals and admirals. > US intelligence read Japanese codes, found that Yamamoto was flying from one place to another, and intercepted his aircraft with P-38s and killed him. Yamamoto had told his superiors that the only way to win the war was to be able to march up to the White House and deliver terms. > FDR supposedly wrote this letter, related to one by Mark Twain: > > Dear Widow Yamamoto: > Time is a great leveler and I never expected the old boy at the White House anyway. > Sorry I can’t attend the funeral because I approve of it. > Hoping he is where we know he ain’t. > Yours very sincerely, > Franklin Delano Roosevelt. > > How is this related to Samuel Clemens? The relationship is that a lot of people think that Twain once wrote > [@](#): > > I didn’t attend the funeral, but I sent a nice letter saying I approved of it. It certainly _sounds_ like Twain. Alas, the quote hasn’t been found among his writings. Evidently the real author was Ebenezer Rockwood Hoar: [https://quoteinvestigator.com/2011/05/07/funeral-approved/](https://quoteinvestigator.com/2011/05/07/funeral-approved/) (I wonder if Ebenezer was related to Roger Sherman Hoar. Both were lawyers, politicians, and Attorneys General and from Massachusetts. Roger went on to write early science fiction under the name “Ralph Milne Farley”) I could believe FDR writing that under the impression that Twain had said it. FDR was a Twain fan, and got the term “New Deal” from _A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court_. Actually, I was suspicious about the FDR letter, but it’s quoted in this book: > **[American Warlords](https://books.google.com/books?id=SDlTDQAAQBAJ&pg=PA249&lpg=PA249&dq=Mark%2BTwain%2BFDR%2Bletter%2BYamamoto&source=bl&ots=n-fWqzXKAH&sig=ACfU3U1jrGUfzMxqCJbccjjALtLP-SZ_3g&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi96NnK7b_jAhWCm-AKHda-DF0Q6AEwDXoECAkQAQ#v=onepage&q=Mark%20Twain%20FDR%20letter%20Yamamoto&f=false)** > > From New York Times bestselling author Jonathan W. Jordan—author of Brothers, Rivals, Victors—comes the intimate true story of President Franklin Roosevelt’s inner circle of military leadership, the team of rivals who shaped World War II and... ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2019, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fdr-paraphrasing-mark-twain/837282/3 "2019-07-19T01:51:40Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > Time is a great leveler Twain’s actual line was, “Death is a great leveler.” > [@](#): > > Sorry I can’t attend the funeral because I approve of it. Twain’s actual line was, “I didn’t attend the funeral, but I sent a nice letter saying I approved of it.” ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2019, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fdr-paraphrasing-mark-twain/837282/4 "2019-07-19T02:31:11Z")
> [@Kent\_Clark](#): > > Twain’s actual line was, “I didn’t attend the funeral, but I sent a nice letter saying I approved of it.” Read the link in my post. Twain didn’t even write _that_. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2019, 10:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fdr-paraphrasing-mark-twain/837282/5 "2019-07-19T10:25:25Z")
Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2019, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fdr-paraphrasing-mark-twain/837282/6 "2019-07-19T12:58:51Z")
There are many quotes wrongly attributed to Mark Twain - here are a few: “It is better to keep your mouth shut and appear stupid than to open it and remove all doubt.” “If I had more time, I would have written a shorter letter.” - apparently by Blaise Pascal. “Never put off until tomorrow what you can do the day after tomorrow.” - predates Twain by a century or two. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2019, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fdr-paraphrasing-mark-twain/837282/7 "2019-07-19T13:27:09Z")
Twain, Benjamin Franklin, Shakespeare, and the Bible said _everything_. Even the things they didn’t. But Yogi Berra never said half the things he said. ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2019, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fdr-paraphrasing-mark-twain/837282/8 "2019-07-19T13:43:30Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > But Yogi Berra never said half the things he said. He did say "“I’m smarter than the av-er-age bear!” though, right? ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_T](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Gary\_T](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_T)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2019, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fdr-paraphrasing-mark-twain/837282/9 "2019-07-19T15:29:14Z")
> [@Slash1972](#): > > He did say "“I’m smarter than the av-er-age bear!” though, right? Almost – it was “I’m smarter than the av-er-age Berra!” Probably said while playing the Rangers. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2019, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fdr-paraphrasing-mark-twain/837282/10 "2019-07-20T13:14:26Z")
> [@bob\_2](#): > > There are many quotes wrongly attributed to Mark Twain - here are a few: > > “It is better to keep your mouth shut and appear stupid than to open it and remove all doubt.” > > “If I had more time, I would have written a shorter letter.” - apparently by Blaise Pascal. > > “Never put off until tomorrow what you can do the day after tomorrow.” - predates Twain by a century or two. “Don’t believe everything you read on the internet.” - -Abraham Lincoln\* ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2019, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fdr-paraphrasing-mark-twain/837282/11 "2019-07-20T13:16:14Z")
> [@Gary\_T](#): > > Almost – it was “I’m smarter than the av-er-age Berra!” Probably said while playing the Rangers. > 😉 I think it was his sidekick who played hockey who said “But Yogi, the Rangers won’t like it.”