MELVIN R. LAIRD - TYPED LETTER SIGNED 01/24/1974 - HFSID 214803

MELVIN R. LAIRD
Letter written as Counselor to the President for Domestic Affairs, responding to a school teacher with his autograph
Typed Letter signed: "Melvin R Laird" as Counselor to the President for Domestic Affairs, ¼p, 6¼x9¼. Washington, D.C., 1974 January 24. On White House letterhead to Ms. Jakie Pruett, Clute, Texas. In full: "Many thanks for your note requesting my autograph. I believe my signature below will serve that purpose. With best wishes to you and the students and faculty of your school." Written the month before he resigned his post due to the growing Watergate scandal. Melvin Robert Laird, Jr. (1922-2016) was U.S. Secretary of Defense under President Richard M. Nixon from 1969-1973, the first Congressman appointed to the post. Committed to only a four-year tenure, Laird publicly supported Nixon's course in Vietnam but opposed the Cambodian invasion and the bombing and land mine operations of the spring of 1972. On January 27, 1973, two days before he left office, the Vietnam settlement was signed in Paris. Laird, who had previously served as a Republican in the Wisconsin state senate (1946-1948) and as a U.S. Representative from Wisconsin (1953-1969), then became a domestic advisor to Nixon (1973-1974). In 1974, the year he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, Laird resigned to become senior counselor on national and international affairs for "Reader's Digest". Lightly creased with folds, not at signature. Light ink smudge at lower blank margin. Fine condition.