JOSEPH CHRISTIAN LEYENDECKER | PORTRAIT OF FLEET ADMIRAL WILLIAM D. LEAHY

Sold: Dixon's Auction, Crumpton, Maryland, February 17, 1999

Acquired by the present owner at the above sale

After the United States entered World War II in 1941, Leyendecker created a series of war bond posters featuring American military leaders, of which the present work is likely an example. Fleet Admiral William D. Leahy graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 1897 and served as the senior-most U.S. military officer on active duty during World War II. He was assigned to the USS Oregon during the Spanish-American War and rose through the ranks of the Navy, achieving the title of Admiral in 1936. He served as the Chief of Naval Operations from 1936-39 and after a brief retirement was appointed as the governor of Puerto Rico in 1939 and the ambassador to Vichy, France in 1941. Admiral Leahy was recalled to active duty and named Chief of Staff to President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1942; the braid worn on his right shoulder indicates that he is an aide to the President. He was promoted to Fleet Admiral in 1944, the most senior of the Navy's five star admirals.