Ray Chase wrote to Edward Nicholson shortly after Franklin D. Roosevelt’s decisive victory over his Republican rival Alf Landon. As he explained to Harry Vedder, Chase now planned to set up a business where he could continue to use all of the information he had collected “on our radical friends” during the 1936 election. Chase’s letter to Nicholson suggests that they share an ongoing relationship of offering “help” to one another by sharing information and doing “favors” as well. Chase offers to help with political influence in exchange for past favors. It is unclear who Alexander Wolcott is, or if this a misspelled reference to the well-known writer Alexander Woolcott.

The letter does indicate an interest in the Minnesota Legislature’s appropriations for the University of Minnesota. This issue will be addressed in subsequent correspondence between them.