President Franklin D. Roosevelt Signature - How exactly did this happen?

President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed a resolution to award civilians an uncompensated service merit during WWII through SSS on July 2, 1945 - almost 3 months after his sudden death. This is my Certificate of Appreciation to a doctor that is also signed by Roosevelt instead of Truman. Notice that it is undated. It is also signed by Coker Stevenson, Governor of Texas, and Lewis B. Hershey, Army General. I don't know the 4th man, J. Matt Gage - yet. So evidently Roosevelt signed the resolution and some of the awards ahead of time in preparation? How many did he sign? How did they (legally) do this? The certificate is behind glass which may affect the way you see it. I'm going to get it authenticated and preserved correctly. Thank you for any help you can share.

 

Rastella, I'm wondering if these were pre-printed with FDR's signature on them(?)

Here's one that sold last April on eBay:
https://picclick.com/PRESIDENT-FRAN...CERTIFICATE-OF-APPRECIATION-262924730615.html

 

It is a stamped signature. Never went near Roosevelt. Valuable to recipient but not collector.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autopen

Debora

 

Thank you for this link. I thought you were onto something - and you may be. But, after a side-by-side comparison, the Roosevelt signatures have some noticeable differences (as do the Hershey). The one in the link appears all-over noticeably "thicker." Also, the middle line crossing the F in mine is thinner. The first o in Roosevelt is not closed in mine and it is in that one. So it makes me wonder if the one in the link is a fake or a sleeper? On the surface, mine looks very authentic to me but I certainly can't guarantee it since I've not had it confirmed yet. I haven't viewed it through a loupe yet. That's probably what I should do next. Again, thanks for this link!

 

Oh, got it! Thank you! I was right in the middle of replying to SBSVC. Hmmmm, that brings up another question then. What about the Governor's signature? Editing again (just for sequence): In the Wikipedia link, it says that Truman was the first President to use the autopen as a way of responding to mail and signing checks. If he did use it, it doesn't make sense that he would sign Roosevelt's signature and not his own? At that time, this was an important award (though later it became a little controversial). Don't want to appear to beat a dead horse, though. These are just thoughts that are surfacing. Thanks for helping me understand this!

 

BTW, you guys rock!!!

 

Yeah... That's one of the reasons I thought it might well be a pre-printed item. (The President is dead, and you still have a couple of boxes of the certificates left? Heck, why not just use them up? Who'll notice, right? [I'm only sort of kidding...])

Whether FDR signed the first one himself (with copies then printed of the form with his name already on it) is another question!

 

Haha! Yeah, it was a sudden death so maybe people enjoyed having them "signed" by Roosevelt.