TLS signed “Jack Kennedy,” one page, 7.25 x 10.5, North Ocean Boulevard, Palm Beach letterhead, December 9, 1946. Letter to Bill Kelly in Boston, in part: "I received your letter in regard to the celebration of the 75th Anniversary of the first Branch Library in the United States. I am very much pleased to find that you are the secretary of the committee in charge of the celebration. As you know, for the last year or so this Kennedy family has been channeling all its resources into the Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr. Foundation, which gave its first donation to the Archbishop last August and will give a large gift to some organizations every year on the anniversary of my brother's death. For this reason, I have been forced to turn down most requests because I think it more important to help the Foundation on a few big projects than to disperse the money on a number of small ones, at least for the next two or three years. However, because I recognize that this district has in it the first Branch Library, which is certainly something which we should all be proud of, I shall be glad to make some personal contribution to the project. If you will tell me how much you are planning to pay for the victrola, I will work out some sort of contribution which I hope will be helpful." In fine condition, with two file holes to the top edge.
Kennedy was elected to Congress as a representative for Massachusetts's 11th district on November 5, 1946, and would take his seat in the House of Representatives on January 3, 1947. The recipient of this letter, William F. Kelly, served as district secretary for East Boston during John F. Kennedy's first congressional campaign in 1946, and his first Senate campaign in 1952. Here, the newly elected Kennedy pledges to donate in recognition of the anniversary of the Boston Public Library's East Boston branch, which was the first branch library in the United States. It also boasts a significant reference to his late brother, Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr., who was killed in action during World War II. An interesting, early, and highly desirable letter by the young John F. Kennedy.
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