A nationwide birthday celebration was planned for FDR’s 52nd birthday. 150 radio stations were scheduled to broadcast highlights of the White House’s “Birthday Ball.” In 1934, the President began using the occasion of his birthday to encourage Americans to hold “Birthday Balls” to raise funds for the Georgia Warm Springs Foundation, which operated the polio rehabilitation center he had established in 1927.

FDR celebrated his January 30, 1934 birthday with a toga party-themed dinner at the White House. Here are two pictures from the occasion. The first shows FDR, dressed as Caesar, with his “vestal virgins”: (standing l-r) Nancy Cook, ER, Marion Dickerman, Malvina Thompson; (kneeling l-r) Grace Tully, Marguerite LeHand, daughter Anna Roosevelt in FDR’s lap, and Margaret Durand.

The second shows FDR, surrounded by some of his closest friends, family and advisers: (l-r) Marvin McIntyre, Grace Tully, Tom Lynch, Marguerite LeHand, Kirke Simpson, Nancy Cook, Malvina Thompson, Eleanor Roosevelt, Irwin McDuffie, Anna Roosevelt, Charles McCarthy, Margaret Durand, Stanley Prenosil, James Sullivan, Marion Dickerman, Louis Howe, and Stephen Early.