EDWARD "TED" KENNEDY - FIRST DAY COVER SIGNED CO-SIGNED BY: DEAN RUSK, JOHN B. CONNALLY JR., ROBERT STRANGE MCNAMARA - HFSID 153377

A TRIBUTE TO JOHN F. KENNEDY: EDWARD "TED" KENNEDY, JOHN CONNALLY, ROBERT S. McNAMARA and DEAN RUSK. First Day Cover signed: "John Connally", "Robert S. McNamara", "Ted Kennedy" and "Dean Rusk", 6¼x3½. Republic of Dahomey FDC honoring J.F.K., 100-franc stamp affixed, pictorially postmarked President John F. Kennedy/(1917-1963)/22 Nov. 65/PREMIER JOUR COTONOU (FIRST DAY OF ISSUE). This FDC honoring U.S. President John F. Kennedy was issued by the West African nation of Dahomey (now Benin) on November 22, 1965, exactly two years after Kennedy's assassination in Dallas, Texas. EDWARD "TED" KENNEDY, JFK's youngest brother, first made a political name for himself by successfully managing JFK's 1958 Senate re-election campaign. Ted's political acumen later proved essential in securing the 1960 Democratic presidential nomination - and the presidency itself -- for his brother. Kennedy has been a U.S. Senator from Massachusetts since 1962. JOHN B. CONNALLY (1917-1993), appointed Kennedy's Secretary of the Navy in 1961, was the Governor of Texas (1963-1969) and a passenger in JFK's limousine at the time of Kennedy's assassination. Connally, who was badly wounded by one of the assassin's bullets, later served as Secretary of the Treasury (1971-1972). DEAN RUSK (1909-1994), as Secretary of State under JFK and his successor, Lyndon B. Johnson (1961-1969), advised President Kennedy during confrontations with the Communist world at the Bay of Pigs (April 1961) and the Berlin Wall (June-August 1961). ROBERT McNAMARA was Secretary of Defense under JFK and LBJ (1961-1968). During the Cuba Missile Crisis (October 1962), when the presence of Soviet offensive nuclear missiles in Cuba brought the world to the brink of war, McNamara advocated the use of naval quarantine. This strategy was ultimately adopted by Kennedy to bring the crisis to a peaceful solution. Lightly rippled. Slightly soiled at lower right edge. Fine condition. Framed in the Gallery of History style: 30¼x26¾.