ON HIS LAST DAY IN THE WHITE HOUSE, A REFLECTIVE TRUMAN THANKS A TRUSTED AIDE WHO PLAYED A KEY ROLE IN HIS FAMOUS UPSET VICTORY OF 1948. HARRY TRUMAN Typed Letter signed: "Harry Truman", 1p, 7x8¾ with blank integral leaf. Washington, D.C., 1953 January 19. On White House letterhead to Donald S. Dawson, Administrative Assistant to the President, The White House. In full: "I want you to know, before I leave the White House, how grateful I am for your extremely loyal assistance. I remember very well how, in my search for a topnotch personnel advisor in the Government, I found a fellow Missourian in you. You have demonstrated consistently your knowledge and ability in the Government personnel field and deserve the thanks of all of us for your efforts to promote the merit system in the United States Government. You are entitled to pride for your assistance to me in the selection of individuals for Presidential appointments, your efforts to modernize the federal compensation system, especially the Classification Act of 1949 and the Executive Pay Bill, your read more...

JAMES GARFIELD The 20th President of the United States signed this 5¾x2¾ piece of paper less than two months before being assassinated in office. Signature: "James A. Garfield/May 21 1881" 5¾x2¾ piece of paper. James Abram Garfield (1831-1881) rose to the rank of Major General in the U.S. Army during the Civil War, participating in the battles of Shiloh and Chickamauga, before resigning his commission to take a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives (1863-1880). A political moderate, Garfield was the compromise choice of a deadlocked Republican Convention in 1880, nominated on the 36th ballot and elected President by a narrow margin. Garfield's assassination by a disappointed office seeker helped advance the cause of civil service reform which he had advocated. Shot on July 2 1881, Garfield died on September 19, only 200 days into his term. Signatures of Garfield as President, are thus extremely rare. Fine condition. Previously authenticated by PSA/DNA. read more...

WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON As the Whig Party candidate for President, Harrison devotes 3 pages to defending his conduct at the Battle of the Thames (War of 1812). He is so anxious to vindicate his military record that he is traveling to Cincinnati to have copies of depositions made and published! Harrison's signature is rare, especially so close to the date of his brief Presidency! Autograph Letter signed: "W. H. Harrison", 3 pages with integral address leaf, 7¼x12½. North Bend (Ohio), 1840 February 14. To Moses B. Corwin, House of Representatives of Ohio. In full: "Your letter of the 10th was brought to me yesterday from Cincinnati. I had seen an article in the journal that Flood was charged with having written in his place, an assertion that I was not in the sortie of the Thames. I immediately addressed a note to him which I enclosed to General [Joseph] Vance demanding to know whether he had made such an assertion and the ground upon which it was made. In answer to my letter to him, the general expressed an opinion that I gave too much importance to the matter and declined delivering my note to Flood until he would hear from me again. read more...

WARREN G. HARDING Rare signed, 4-page autograph letter to his wife during a vacation with Senate colleagues in Augusta, Georgia, describing the good food and his golf and poker winnings and losses Rare ALS: "W.G.", 4 pages, 6x9½, separate sheets. On pictorial stationery of the Hotel Bon Air, Winter Resort, Augusta, Ga., picturing golfers and motorists. Friday eve, no date but circa 1917-1920. To his wife, Florence. In full: "Am tired tonight. Played 36 holes again today - a foursome over the hill course this morning and two threesomes in match play over the Lake course this p.m. Made a good score this morning and gathered in $17.50. Played like a dub this pm and lost $12.50. Only five to the good for the day. We had poker last night. I fared well. No complaint to make. My luck came back for one evening. We see very little of Mrs. Frelinghuysen - only at lunch. She breakfasts and dines in her room, and spends her time with the nurse. So far as I can observe, she sees little of Joe except when he sleeps. Really we are busy all the while. We go to golf after breakfast, return for lunch, start again at 5, and get in time for a bath, then dinner. After dinner & scribble you a line, then it is cards till bed time, and so it goes. read more...

JOHN PAUL JONES The military hero's signature on a 1¾x1 slip of paper. Extremely Rare! Signature: "Jno P Jones" 1¾x1. Scottish-born John Paul Jones (1747-1792) was commissioned a first lieutenant in the new Continental Navy in December 1775. Serving aboard Esek Hopkins' flagship Alfred, Jones was the first to hoist the Grand Union flag on a continental warship. Elevated to Captain, Jones commanded the 12-gun sloop Providence during the summer and fall of 1776, capturing and sinking several British ships. In 1779, now commanding the Bonhomme Richard, a ship loaned by France and named in homage to Benjamin Franklin's Poor Richard's Almanack, Jones raided English shipping and fought his most famous engagement, a long and bloody duel with the superior British frigate Serapis. Refusing English Captain Pearson's request for his surrender, Jones made his famous retort, "I have not yet begun to fight." The Bonhomme Richard was sunk, but Jones won the battle, transferring his command to the vanquished Serapis. In 1781 Jones returned to the U.S. to supervise the formation of the American Navy. In 1788, he accepted service in the Russian navy under Catherine the Great, engaging in several naval battles against the Ottoman Empire. Then, in 1792 he was appointed U.S. read more...

CALVIN COOLIDGE Rare Presidential signature on a Thanksgiving Proclamation, 1928. Rare Printed Proclamation signed: "Calvin Coolidge" as President, 1 page, 8x13. Washington, 1928 October 23. Countersigned in type: "Frank B. Kellogg" as Secretary of State. President Coolidge proclaims Thursday, November 29, 1928 "as a day of general thanksgiving and prayer...." In part: "The season again approaches when it has been the custom for generations to set apart a day of thanksgiving for the blessings which the Giver of all good and perfect gifts has bestowed upon us during the year. It is most becoming that we should do this, for the goodness and mercy of God which have followed us through the year deserve our grateful recognition and acknowledgment...our industries have flourished; our commerce has increased; wages have been lucrative, and comfort and contentment have followed the undisturbed pursuit of honest toil...." President George Washington set aside Thursday, November 26, 1789, to thank God for the newly formed government. The first national Thanksgiving Day proclamation was issued by President Abraham Lincoln. read more...

NAVY SECRETARY GIDEON WELLES ORDERS THE NAVY TO TRANSPORT CAPTURED FUGITIVE JOHN SURATT BACK TO THE US TO STAND TRIAL FOR CONSPIRING TO ASSASSINATE PRESIDENT LINCOLN GIDEON WELLES Telegram, unsigned, 1 page, 8½x11. 1866 December 6. Telegram partly printed in Portuguese, received from Gideon Welles in Washington, D.C., for transmittal to Admiral Goldsborough, American Squadron at Lisbon, Portugal. Manuscript text of Welles' message (unknown hand): "Send steamer to Alexandria, Egypt to receive Surautt [sic] from Consul Hale and bring him to Washington." [Welles' name has also been misspelled by the telegraph office.] Docketed on verso: "Hon. G. Welles/Secy of the Navy/6th Dec. 1866/Send steamer to/Alexandria, Egypt". Gideon Welles (1812-1878), a Jacksonian Democrat who joined the new Republican Party in 1854 because he detested slavery, was Secretary of the Navy throughout the Presidencies of Abraham Lincoln (who called him "Neptune") and Andrew Johnson (1861-1869). John Suratt (1844-1916) was the son of Mary Suratt, convicted of conspiracy in the assassination of President Lincoln and the first woman executed (hanged) by the US government. read more...

FRANKLIN DELANO ROOSEVELT'S THIRD INAUGURATION Oversize black and white photograph showing FDR being inaugurated for his third term, signed by the President, his Vice President and Secretary of State, Chief Supreme Court Justice Charles E. Hughes and Supreme Court Clerk Charles Elmore Cropley, who held the President's family bible while the oath was administered. Handsomely framed to 17½x15. Photograph signed: "Franklin D Roosevelt", "Charles E. Hughes, Jan. 20, 1941", "Charles Elmore Cropley/January 20, 1941.", "Cordell Hull" and "H.A. Wallace", B/w 13¼x10¼, framed to 17½x15. On Monday, January 20, 1941, Franklin Delano Roosevelt became the nation's first and only president to be inaugurated to a third term in office. FRANKLIN DELANO ROOSEVELT (1882-1945, born in Hyde Park, New York) is an American politician who served as president during two of the most difficult times in world history, the Great Depression and World War II. He also served as president for four terms (1933-1945), longer than any other president in history. read more...

ABRAHAM LINCOLN While defending a woman accused of murdering her husband (1857), the future President added six lines of text in his own hand to the written deposition of a witness. Autograph Statement unsigned at the conclusion of Manuscript Document Signed: "J.L. Springgate", 2 pages, 7¾x12¼. Woodford County, [Metamora, Illinois], c. 1845-1857. AT THE CONCLUSION, SIX LINES IN THE HAND OF LINCOLN DIRECTLY ABOVE SPRINGGATE'S SIGNATURE, NOT SIGNED BY LINCOLN WHO WROTE, IN FULL: "Re-cross examination by defendants- The morning of the sale, Laws said that he wanted to go and buy horses, and wanted Vandike to go with him and be his security, and then they both, and this witness went to the sale together (The plaintiff objects to the last piece of evidence)". The names of the plaintiff and defendants are spelled differently throughout the document. Headed: "Deposition of Witness to be used in evidence on the trial of the case now pending in the Circuit Court of Woodford County where John A. Minahan is Plff & J J Lass & Wm G Vandike are defts pursuant to agreement representative of the parties. read more...