Lot #67

George Bush Autograph Letter Signed

Description

On the death of his daughter: "As I read about Robin the tears literally flowed. You understood"

ALS as president signed “George Bush,” one page on a 6.25 x 4.25 presidential stationery card, May 16, 1991. Letter to Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Richard Ben Cramer, about his article 'How He Got Here.' In full: "Yesterday I read Esquire. As I read about Robin the tears literally flowed. You understood. Thank you for your compassionate treatment of our still beloved 4 year old." In very fine condition.

A large section of Cramer's piece was dedicated to George and Barbara Bush's daughter, Pauline Robinson 'Robin' Bush, who died of leukemia as a young child. Cramer observed how the tragedy affected both Bush parents: 'Barbara was lost in her grief. It was only George who kept her moving. After Robin’s death, he was released, to act, to keep moving. He knew so well how to do that. And he would not let his wife sink into her mourning. They had to go on, he told her. But for a while, she did not know how. He was like a man holding onto her at the cliff’s edge: They had to keep moving, to live…there were the boys…there was him! There was their life, still, to live!…In later years, she always gave him credit for saving her, for saving them. Somewhere, she learned a statistic: Two thirds of the couples who lose a child, as they had, end up divorced from the strain and the loss, the guilt and blame…but not George and Barbara Bush, they were stronger, and she always blessed him for that.'

Auction Info

• Auction Title: Fine Autograph and Artifacts, Ft. Art and Literature
• Dates: #610 - Ended June 16, 2021

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