Vintage matte-finish 9.75 x 13 Miller of Washington (copyright 1948) presidential portrait, signed and inscribed in fountain pen “To Hon. Basil O’Connor, with kindest regards and best wishes, from his friend Harry Truman.” The portrait is mounted to a slightly larger board. In fine condition, with neatly trimmed edges, strip of adhesive residue along the right margin from a previous mounting. Though asked to join the Roosevelt administration in 1932, Basil O’Connor chose to remain in private practice and to work with the Georgia Warm Springs Foundation, a private center for polio victims that he and FDR founded when the president contracted the disease in 1921. World War II was at its peak when Roosevelt asked O'Connor to assume the Chairmanship of the Red Cross. O'Connor took over the administration of a worldwide program. After the war, he oversaw the restructuring of the American Red Cross that resulted in the replacement of the Central Committee by a Board of Governors. Following his Red Cross service, the vital but sometimes abrasive O'Connor continued to promote public health, most significantly by supporting the development of polio vaccines by Drs. Jonas Salk and Albert Sabin. COA John Reznikoff/PSA/DNA and R&R COA.
