Excellent TLS, two pages, 7.25 x 10.5, personal letterhead, July 5, 1966. Ike writes to Tom H. Parks in Gardena, California. In part: “You observe that the prospect of a third war scares you—it does me also, even though I do not think one is likely. You also wonder whether or not our national morals are slipping as a result of the uncertainties of our age. Undoubtedly every good citizen asks himself this question often. Every era has had its problems and, undoubtedly, many people have observed, long before our time, that the conditions of their particular generation were more tense and foreboding than any previous one.... Our task is to meet the problems of now, and so to live and work that we will instill in our immediate successors the fundamental truths that will provide guideposts for them, so that they, in turn, will pass on the heritage received from us. To do this we cannot get too deeply immersed in details—we must help our youngsters understand that life has a meaning—likewise it has responsibilities that are equal to every right or privilege enjoyed. We must never succumb to the ambitions and power of dictators or become completely bewildered by the rapidity of technological advance. We must cling to basic faiths and sense of values, even as we tackle with enthusiasm all the problems of the day. No man can foresee his own future or that of the world, but one thing is certain. Each has to live his life in such fashion as to earn, as best he may, the approval of his own conscience. We must take a positive attitude toward ourselves, our capabilities in the world and, so doing, leave a record—as so many millions have done before us—of striving for the success of those things in which we deeply believe and the defeat of those things that tend to degrade humanity....” Accompanied by the original mailing envelope. Mild marginal soiling (mainly to first page), light handling wear with a few bends, and slight smudge to final letter of the bold, dark signature, otherwise fine condition. Superb and significant! Auction LOA John Reznikoff/PSA/DNA and R&R COA.
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