THOMAS J. DODD - TYPED LETTER SIGNED 11/09/1967 - HFSID 157367

THOMAS J. DODD
Recently censured by the Senate, he signs a typed letter to retiring Internal Security Subcommittee research director Benjamin Mandel, calling Mandel "one of the great men of our time."
Typed Letter signed: "Tom Dodd" as US Senator, 1 page, 8x10½. Headed Washington, D.C., but written elsewhere, 1967 November 9. On Senate letterhead to Benjamin Mandel, Washington, D.C. In full: "I was dismayed to learn of your retirement as of November 1st. As you know, I was hospitalized for a short time and so was unaware of it. Ben, I really think you have been one of the great men of our time. Your devotion and dedication to the best interests of this country is something that I shall never forget. Besides all this, you have also been of enormous assistance to me. Grace and I wish for you a happy and contented retirement and I do hope I have a chance to see you when I get back to Washington. For now, God's blessing on you, Sincerely". THOMAS J. DODD (1907-1971) was a special agent for the FBI and assistant to 5 US Attorneys General before serving as executive trial counsel at the Nuremberg war crimes trials, where he cross-examined several Nazi leaders and drafted indictments. Dodd, a Democrat, represented Connecticut for two terms in the US House (1953-1957). He lost a Senate bid to Republican Prescott Bush (George Bush's father) in 1956, but won the first of two Senate elections in 1958. Dodd had understandable reasons for having overlooked Mandel's retirement, in addition to the hospitalization he mentions here. On June 23, 1967, the Senate had voted 92-5 to censure Dodd for financial misconduct: appropriating campaign funds for his personal use. Denied re-nomination as a Democrat in 1970, he ran as an independent, losing a 3-way race to Republican Lowell Weicker. His son, Christopher Dodd, has been a US Senator since 1980. BENJAMIN MANDEL, a former communist turned anti-communist, had been a staffer of the House Un-American Activities Committee from the early 1940s, under its first Chairman, Martin Dies of Texas. In the 1950s, Senator Pat McCarran of Nevada hired him as research director of the Senate Internal Security Subcommittee, later chaired by Thomas Dodd. Normal mailing folds. Lightly toned and soiled at lower edge. Otherwise, fine condition.