14th October, 1943.
 
      
 
 
To Franklin D. Roosevelt,
 
      
 
 
President of the United States of America.
 
      
 
 
Dear Mr. President,
 
      
 
 
The Royal College of Surgeons has just celebrated the Centenary 
      of the institution of its High diploma of Fellow and the Council 
      marked the occasion by awarding several Honorary Fellow ships.
 
      
 
 
Mr. Winston Churchill, who, by virtue of his Office as First 
      Lord of the Treasury, is one of the Trustees of our unique Museum, 
      honoured the College by allowing us to add his name to our Roll 
      of Honorary Fellows. As a token of our gratitude we asked him 
      to accept two works by Rudyard Kipling which have not been published. 
      Mr. Churchill was very interested in these literary curios and 
      suggested that you, Sir, would like to possess copies. I am, 
      indeed, proud that the Prime Minister has given me the opportunity 
      of offering you those two works, I ask you to accept them as 
      a token of our admiration for the great contributions that your 
      countrymen have made to the advancement of the science and art 
      of Surgery and of our gratitude for their comradeship and help 
      in this war and in the war of 1914-19. On this memorable occasion 
      in the history of our College we have tried to show our appreciation 
      of their work by conferring the Honorary Fellowship on four American 
      Surgeons - Colonel Elliott Carr Cutler, Professor Evarts Ambrose 
      Graham, Professor Robert Bayley 0sgood and Professor Howard Christian 
      Naffziger.
 
      
 
 
I had the privilege of being a friend of Rudyard Kipling and 
      of looking after him during his last illness. After his death 
      Mrs. Kipling, as literary executor, had a great responsibility 
      in regard to those of his writings which had not been published. 
      She feared that the two works which I have the honour of offering 
      to you, might lead to some controversy and she decided not to 
      publish them. She evidently shrank from destroying them, however, 
      for she entrusted copies to me. After her death I felt it my 
      duty to ensure their preservation, although natu %rally respecting