PHIL (PHILIP M.) CRANE - TYPED LETTER SIGNED 07/17/1972 - HFSID 131831

PHILIP CRANE
Crane signed this letter, on his letterhead from the House of Representatives, in 1972. It accompanied an autographed card, not included, sent to Doug Voegler.
Typed letter signed "Philip M. Crane". 1 page, 7¾x10¼, on Crane's letterhead from the Congress of the United States, House of Representatives, Washington, DC. Affixed to 8½x11 sheet of black paper. July 17, 1972. Addressed to Mr. Doug Voegler, Schuyler, Nebraska. In full: "Dear Mr. Voegler: Thank you very much for your recent letter. As you requested, I am enclosing a card [not included] with my autograph. It is a pleasure to be of assistance to you. Cordially, Philip M. Crane, M.C. PMC/rz". Crane, born in Chicago, Illinois in 1930,was a member of the U. S. House of Representatives in three of Illinois' congressional districts from 1969 to 2005, making him the longest serving Republican congressmen in history as of this biography. His first seat, from the 13th Congressional District, was held by Donald Rumsfeld, future Secretary of Defense under Gerald Ford and George W. Bush; he won the seat in a special election after Rumsfeld was appointed to a position in the administration of president Richard Nixon. Crane quickly established himself as a bastion of conservativism in the House, serving as the first chairman of the Republican Study Committee, a caucus group for conservative Republican congressmen, and chairman of the American Conservative Union, a conservative citizen's lobby. Crane also opposed president Jimmy Carter's cession of the Panama Canal and the SALT II nuclear treaties. He ran for president in 1978, but dropped out early during the primaries. The 1980 presidential elections marked the zenith of Crane's power, and he was soon eclipsed by other conservative congressmen. Crane was defeated by Democrat Melissa Bean in the 2004 election, losing the 8th Congressional District seat. Lightly toned and rippled. Five binder holes on right edge of mounting paper. Tape and adhesive remnants on verso of black paper (no show-through). Folded once and unfolded. Lightly soiled in fold. Otherwise in fine condition.