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ALS as president, two pages on two adjoining sheets, 7.75 x 9.75, Executive Mansion letterhead, October 13, 1869. Addressed collectively “To the Members of the Cabinet,” an unusual handwritten letter in which President Grant endorses a proposed government publication by journalist and publisher William C. Church, co-founder of the Army & Navy Journal. In full: “I have examined the programme laid down by Mr. W. C. Church, of the Army & Navy Journal, for a new paper which he proposes to start, called the Official Gazette of the Civil Service of the United States. It strikes me very favorably. I think it will be a certain and speedy and uniform means of communicating to all the officers in the Civil Service of the Govt. changes, orders, and regulations for their government, and may therefore be very serviceable. If these views are entertained by the different Ministers I hope they will give the necessary facilities for giving proper information to the Civil Service Gazette.” In very fine condition.
Written during the first year of Grant’s presidency, the letter reflects his interest in improving communication and administration across the rapidly expanding federal bureaucracy in the years following the Civil War. The recipient of Grant’s endorsement, William Conant Church, was a prominent journalist, Union veteran, and co-founder of the Army & Navy Journal. Two years after this letter was written, Church would co-found the National Rifle Association and serve as its second president. Although the proposed Official Gazette of the Civil Service of the United States appears not to have become a lasting publication, the letter reflects Grant’s support for improving communication within the federal government during Reconstruction. An uncommon presidential communication directed to the Cabinet as a whole rather than to a single official.
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