Sold For $1,251
*Includes Buyers Premium
Hand-edited typed draft letter from President John F. Kennedy, unsigned, one page, 6.75 x 8.75, White House letterhead, February 1, 1962, sent to Norman Cousins, the longtime editor of the weekly magazine Saturday Review. Kennedy has made several corrections to the text in his own hand, which include changes to punctuation, striking through words, and adding alternative phrases to the borders. The letter, in its corrected form, reads: “I appreciate your sending me the latest copy of Saturday Review. The article on the Congo was excellent. Although things have gone better recently the matter continues to be of great concern because of the widespread economic and social misery. Laos is still full of danger. There is no place where the policy in recent years has been more shortsighted. To extricate ourselves without war or surrender is a most difficult operation, but we shall persist.” In very fine condition.
This hand-corrected letter dates to a little less than six months before Kennedy and a host of 13 other countries signed the International Agreement on the Neutrality of Laos on July 23, 1962, at a conference more commonly known as the 1962 Geneva Accords.
Per the JFK Library: ‘After the surrender of the Japanese in World War II, the French attempted to reassert dominion over Laos and the rest of French Indochina, which included Vietnam and Cambodia. The Communist Laotian nationalist movement, the Pathet Lao, was an ally of the Vietnamese in the struggle with France. After the French were defeated by the Vietnamese, the Geneva Accords of 1954 established the sovereignty of Laos. Civil war soon broke out, however, as the Royal Lao government, supported by the United States, fought Pathet Lao insurgents, supported by the Communists in neighboring North Vietnam.
The Eisenhower government committed millions of dollars in aid and teams of military advisers to prevent the takeover of Laos by the Pathet Lao. Shortly before John F. Kennedy's inauguration, President Eisenhower warned his successor that the effort was on the verge of failure and that the US military might need to intervene.
Kennedy moved cautiously. He rejected a variety of proposals to send American forces and concluded that a negotiated settlement with the Soviet Union and other interested parties was the best he could achieve. A 1962 peace conference in Geneva produced a Declaration on the Neutrality of Laos and a three-part coalition government divided between pro-American, pro-Communist, and neutral factions. From Washington's standpoint, the arrangement was flimsy, but it was the best of unattractive options.
Soon after the accord was reached, civil war resumed. As American military involvement in Vietnam grew, Laos became another battlefield in that region. Running through eastern Laos, the Ho Chi Minh Trail was a crucial North Vietnamese supply route for Communist forces in South Vietnam. To disrupt the flow of supplies, the United States bombed parts of Laos for nearly a decade, until a ceasefire agreement was reached in 1973. In 1975, the Pathet Lao took control of the country.’
This item is Pre-Certified by PSA/DNA
Buy a third-party letter of authenticity for
$200.00
*This item has been pre-certified by a trusted third-party authentication service, and by placing a bid on this item, you agree to accept the opinion of this authentication service. If you wish to have an opinion rendered by a different authenticator of your choosing, you must do so prior to your placing of any bid. RR Auction is not responsible for differing opinions submitted 30 days after the date of the sale.
