The Pittsburgh Press (October 26, 1940)
MAN HELD FOR THREAT ON PRESIDENT’S LIFE
Crockett, Cal., Oct. 26 (UP) –
U.S. Secret Service agents yesterday arrested Willard Whiting, 33-year-old sugar refinery worker, on a charge of threatening the life of President Roosevelt in a letter to the White House.
Thomas Foster, chief of the Secret Service in San Francisco who arrested Whiting, said he sent a letter to the President which read in part:
If you are elected in November, your life won’t be worth a cent, because this time we will get you and not the man in front of you. Remember?
SENSIBLE CITIZENS
After Mr. Roosevelt’s first election to the Presidency, but before he was inaugurated, a man shot and fatally wounded Mayor Anton Cermak of Chicago while he was with Mr. Roosevelt at Miami, Fla.
Mr. Foster said Whiting denied writing the letter but admitted writing his name and address on the envelope in which the note was sealed.