GENERAL DOUGLAS MACARTHUR - AUTOGRAPH - HFSID 217801

DOUGLAS MacARTHUR
Douglas MacArthur signed this letter from a high school student, which was written one day after MacArthur's farewell speech to Congress in 1951. Matted to 15¾x11¾ purple-and-white matte with a full-length b/w photo of MacArthur in uniform and jodhpurs and accompanied by original mailing envelope.
Signature: "Douglas Mac Arthur". Red pencil marks in unknown hand. 1 page, 5¼x6½ (visible), on flowered stationery from Miss Patty Hammond, Norwood, Pennsylvania. Matted in 15¾x11¾ purple-and-white matte with 6½x9 b/w photo of MacArthur. Signature on an autograph letter addressed to MacArthur by Patsy Hammond. In full: "Dear General MacArthur, I was deeply moved by your speech to Congress yesterday. I'm sure the nation as a whole is loosing [sic] the invaluable knowledge of a great man. I am a Senior Scout and a Freshman in the Glen [illegible] High School. Both in scouting and in school we are taught to benefit by the experience of others. Your experience would be invaluable to our nation, right now. General Mac Arthur you are not 'an old soldier who will fade away.' You will always be held in great esteem as one of the best loved leaders of our land. My hobby is, collecting autographs of famous people. I would be honored to have yours'. Sincerely yours,". Letter is lightly toned and creased. Red pencil marks touch handwriting but not signatures. Folded once horizontally and vertically. Errors in negative were reproduced in photo. Matte has rounded top corners. Otherwise in fine condition. Accompanied by: Original mailing envelope on Department of the Army stationery. Postmarked New York City, Aug. 27, 1951. Addressed to Miss Patsy Hammond, Norwood, Pennsylvania. Lightly toned and creased. Rounded top right corner. Neatly torn open at right edge and top right corner. Otherwise in fine condition. This letter appears to have been written to MacArthur one day after MacArthur's farewell address to Congress on April 19, 1951. He had been relieved of command by President Harry S. Truman eight days before his address. MacArthur (1880-1964, born in Little Rock, Arkansas) commanded U. S. Army forces in the Far East (1941-1942), becoming Allied Supreme Commander in the Southwest Pacific in 1942. In December 1944, he was promoted to 5-star General of the Army. General MacArthur later accepted the surrender of Japan aboard the battleship Missourion September 2, 1945. MacArthur became Supreme Commander of United Nations forces in Korea in 1950. After he issued an unauthorized statement containing a veiled threat to expand the war into China if the Communist side refused to come to terms and continued to support an expansion of the war, President Truman relieved MacArthur of his command on April 11, 1951. Matted by unkown individual. Items were not evaluated outside matte. "As is" matting purchase.