BRIGADIER GENERAL DAVID SARNOFF - TYPED LETTER SIGNED 11/21/1950 - HFSID 202370

DAVID SARNOFF
He signs a typed letter of invitation to a Red Cross luncheon honoring General George Marshall.
Typed Letter signed: "David Sarnoff" as National Chairman of the 1951 Red Cross Fund, 1 page, 7x8. New York, N.Y., 1950 November 21. On personal RCA Building letterhead to "Dear Mr. Fletcher". In full: "I hope very much that you may be able to accept this invitation to attend a relatively small luncheon I am giving in honor of General George C. Marshall and Mr. E. Roland Harriman on Friday, December 8th at 12:30 p.m., at the Bankers Club, 120 Broadway, New York City. General Marshall, as you doubtless know, relinquishes the Presidency of the American National Red Cross on December 1 st and will be succeeded in that post by Mr. Harriman. I want to share with you this opportunity to welcome General Marshall in New York City and to express to him our appreciation for his past services to the Red Cross and at the same time to extend our good wishes to Mr. Harriman on the responsibilities he will assume in succeeding General Marshall as the head of this great organization. I shall be grateful for your early reply. With cordial greetings, Sincerely yours". DAVID SARNOFF (1891-1971, born in Minsk, Russia) was an American radio and television executive and pioneer. He studied to be a Jewish Talmudic scholar in Russia, but left school in 1906, after moving with his family to Albany, New York, to be a messenger for a telegraph company. He became proficient enough at Morse code that he was hired as a radio operator for the Marconi Wireless Telegraph Co. On April 14, 1912, the 21-year-old Sarnoff was the first to pick up distress signals from the sinking Titanic; he remained at his post for 72 hours, receiving and passing along news, and was hailed for his dedication. In 1921, he became general manager of the newly-formed Radio Corporation of America, and attracted national interest when he broadcast a bout between Jack Dempsey and Georges Carpentier on July 2, 1921. In 1926, Sarnoff founded the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) and established an experimental television station two years later; his television was demonstrated at the New York World's Fair in 1939. During World War II, Sarnoff, who had been made President of RCA in 1930, served as a communications consultant to General Dwight D. Eisenhower and was promoted to the rank of Brigadier General. He was Chairman of the Board of RCA from 1947 until his retirement in 1970. GEORGE C. MARSHALL (1880-1959), Army Chief of Staff during World War II, Secretary of Defense and Secretary of State under President Truman, architect of the European Recovery Program which bears his name, and the first general to win the Nobel Peace Prize, headed the American Red Cross 1949-1950. Investment banker and philanthropist E. ROLAND HARRIMAN (1895-1978), the brother of New York Governor W. Averill Harriman, succeeded Marshall at the Red Cross and was reappointed by President Eisenhower in 1953. Binder holes at left blank margin. Horizontal mailing fold crosses capital letters of signature. Otherwise, fine condition.