PRESIDENT CALVIN COOLIDGE - TYPED LETTER SIGNED 06/15/1923 - HFSID 16957

CALVIN COOLIDGE
As Vice President, he signs a typed letter regretting that he cannot leave the country for the Belleau Wood Memorial dedication in France.
Typed Letter Signed: "Calvin Coolidge" as Harding's Vice President, 1 page, 7x9. On Vice President's stationery but written from Northampton, Mass., 1923 June 15. To Mrs. James Carroll Frazer, Washington. In full: "Your favor enclosing an invitation to the Belleau Wood dedication has been received. It would be a great pleasure if I could be present, but it is, as you will appreciate, impossible for me to leave the country for such a journey. I want to congratulate you on the success with which you have met. It is, of course, due to your efforts that this work has been going so well. I trust you may bring it to an entirely successful conclusion." The Battle of Belleau Wood took place June 6-25, 1918. It was part of the second Battle of the Marne in World War I in which a brigade of U.S. Marines, with French support, halted five German divisions. MRS. JAMES CARROLL FRAZER (Elizabeth Van Rensselaer Frazer) was one of the sixteen incorporators of the Belleau Wood Memorial Association. The group was granted a charter on March 3, 1923. Five days after Coolidge wrote this letter, President Harding left Washington for his ill-fated visit to Alaska and the West Coast, dying on his return in San Francisco on August 2, 1923. Folds, one vertical touches the upper flourish of the "C" and the "i" in Calvin. Lightly creased. Overall, fine condition.