Former TRA Executive Under Federal Investigation

The Theodore Roosevelt Association’s former executive director is being federally investigated by the National Park Service in connection to the theft and sale of property owned by the TRA.
The NPS is looking into Edward Renehan, Jr. who served as the executive director of the TRA from 2005-2006, and his involvement in three letters that were stolen from the vault at Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace National Historic Site in Manhattan. The three letters in question are one written by Abraham Lincoln to his law partner in 1840 and two by George Washington. The letters were sold through Swann Galleries, a Manhattan auction house.
Renehan has been under investigation by the Nassau County district attorney’s office since last fall for the theft and attempted sale of a 1918 letter written by Roosevelt about his son Quentin in World War I. The National Park Service became involved with the latest investigation because the papers were removed from a national historic site.
The initial investigation started after Swann Galleries received the 1918 Roosevelt letter and questioned its ownership. Once the auction house realized that the document belonged to the TRA it returned the letter and authorities were notified. The auction records have been subpoenaed.
TRA President Jim Bruns could not talk about the investigation but did affirm that the TRA’s main objective “at this point is to recover the stolen property and to get back any additional items [Renehan] has in his possession.” Norman Parsons, immediate past president of the TRA acknowledged that, “We don’t know how many documents are missing. It is still under investigation.”
Bruns also explained, “The theft was internal. In many cases internal theft is hard to safeguard anything-documents, cash. We do have stronger procedures in place now to secure our historic items.”
Renehan, who grew up in Valley Stream but now resides in Wickford, Rhode Island, is the author of The Kennedys at War: 1937-1945, The Lion’s Pride: Theodore Roosevelt & His Family in Peace and War, The Secret Six: The True Tale of the Men Who Conspired with John Brown, John Burroughs: An American Naturalist, Dark Genius of Wall Street: The Misunderstood Life of Jay Gould and Commodore: The Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt.
On his blog, located at renehan.typepad.com, Renehan mentions that he was diagnosed bi-polar/manic depressant during the summer of 2007, but makes no mention of ever having any association with the Theodore Roosevelt Association. Before being appointed as executive director for the TRA, Renehan was a member of it Board of Directors for six years.
-Faith Rackoff reprinted from 3/28/08 Oyster Bay Guardian