Franklin Delano Roosevelt Holding A Gun – 1920

This 1920 photo shows the future president holding a rifle. For gun enthusiasts the rifle is most likely a Remington M91 Mosin Nagant. The uncropped but blurrier photo below shows the scene and the gun in full view.

In 1920 Democrat Presidential nominee James Cox along with Franklin Roosevelt running for Vice President were defeated by Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge. In 1921 Roosevelt contracted polio, putting a hold on Roosevelt’s future political ambitions. Roosevelt was elected Governor of New York in 1928 and later defeated Herbert Hoover in the 1932 Presidential election.

Some of Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s admiration for his hunter / preservationist cousin Theodore Roosevelt must have rubbed off on him. This may have been a photo-op but it’s not like Roosevelt did not know how to handle a gun. An avid outdoors-man before contracting polio, there are other photographs of F.D.R. shooting, evidence of his capability with firearms.