REAR ADMIRAL RICHARD E. BYRD - TYPED LETTER SIGNED 03/27/1953 - HFSID 297291

RICHARD E. BYRD
Lengthy typewritten letter on Department of the Navy letterhead, discussing aid to refugees from East Berlin, labor-management cooperation in the airline industry, with "a fine talk with Vice President Nixon on the subject of our basic mistake and what can be done about it."
Typed Letter signed: "Dick", 2 pages, 8x10½. On Department of the Navy letterhead to Charles J. Faulkner, Boydville, West Virginia. In full: "It is a strange thing but I was thinking about you all day yesterday; and in the afternoon I got your note. You can't imagine how much Marie and I enjoyed it. We went up in the living-room and sat down to read it. I usually write you oftener than I have lately. The fact is I haven't had a single Saturday or Sunday off for two months. I will tell you briefly what I have been doing. I have been working with the International Rescue Committee to raise money for the refugees who have escaped from East Berlin into West Berlin. Of course these escapees arrive in West Berlin completely destitute because they cannot bring anything with them. It looks as if we are going to raise our quota, which is a million dollars. The International Rescue Committee has to do with international unity. I have also been working with several groups that have to do with national unity. Take one example. Sunday a week ago I flew to Florida after meeting in New York Ernst Reuter of West Berlin, and I gave three or four talks down there. And in each place I talked the labor leaders and the management of airlines were with us sitting side by side as real friends. (I didn't get a chance even to look at the sun down there.) As you know, some of the main airline bases are in Florida on account of the climate there. There were presidents of commercial airlines as well as top labor leaders. They meet once every week or so to talk things over; and at the dinners they talked like brothers. If this can be done in the airlines, it can be done in all other industries. I had a fine talk with Vice President Nixon on the subject of our basic mistake and what can be done about it. He may go on a committee with me (which will consist of about eight or nine well known Americans). The plan is to transmit a letter signed by this group to every newspaper in the United States. I believe it will do some good. There is too much to it to explain in a letter. But I am glad that Nixon was so interested. A number of senators are also interested. (Incidentally, Nixon wanted to talk this matter over with the President. It is, therefore, possible that he may not go on the committee on account of policy, but he wants to do so.) I am working on several other committees. And the response to my poor efforts is far greater than I have any right to expect. I fear, however, that I must drop some of these things, because I haven't had but one Saturday and one Sunday off in over two months. I must try to get better organized. I told the Vice President that even if we achieved the unity we sought, that unity would probably be obsolescent. Things are so complicated we need a kind of integration. I also told several of the leaders around Washington that I thought we should have a new Cabinet post that had to do with integrating our effort. Marie joins me in love and best wishes to you both, Affectionately". On May 9, 1926, Richard E. Byrd (1888-1957) and Floyd Bennett claimed the first flight over the North Pole. Byrd's claim to have reached the North Pole has since been challenged, but he and Bennett were honored with a New York ticker tape parade and with Congressional Medals of Honor. After the flight, Byrd was promoted to Commander and there was an outpouring of public support for his proposed expeditions to Antarctica. The first, funded by the National Geographic Society as well as private donations, took place from 1928-1930; the second in 1933-1935. In 1929, during his first expedition, Byrd established the "Little America" Antarctic base. On November 28-29, 1929, he and three others crossed the South Pole in a 1,600-mile airplane flight. On Byrd's second Antarctic expedition, he discovered Marie Byrd Land and the Edsel Ford Mountains. The polar explorer made three additional Antarctic expeditions through 1956. His South Pole achievements are undisputed. When he wrote this letter, Byrd, with the Navy grade of Rear Admiral was about to be appointed Officer in Charge of Antarctic Programs by the newly inaugurated President Eisenhower. Richard Byrd's brother was powerful Virginia Governor and Senator Harry F. Byrd. Toned. Multiple mailing folds. Otherwise, fine condition.