I dug out Cyril Clemens' book on FDR (MT and FDR, 1949) and in it Cryil
gives an account of his Dec 8, 1933 White House interview with FDR, in which
FDR says he met Twain in April, 1891 when his father took him out to the
Hartford house (just before the Clemenses closed it down and moved to Europe
in June). Twain gave FDR a double-autograph. FDR says that it was the keeper
of books at the British Museum (now BL) who at some later date suggested
that he read CtY, and he then goes to explain quite accurately from memory
the passage about the "New Deal" and why he borrowed that phrase. Cyril also
includes a brief intro by Eleanor Roosevelt confirming her late husband's
love of MT and that CtY was his favorite book. I also glanced through
William Gibson's THEODORE ROOSEVELT AMONG THE HUMORISTS (1980) and found no
mentions of FDR, just a good discussion of MT's attitudes toward TR.

Kevin Mac Donnell
Austin, TX