VICE PRESIDENT LEVI P. MORTON - AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED 11/25 - HFSID 321034

LEVI P. MORTON
Writing to a Mrs. Thurber about a committee "composed entirely of gentlemen using the names of ladies as Patronesses".
Autograph Letter signed: "L. P. Morton", 3 pages (integral leaf), 4½x7. No place, "Nov. 25", no year. To "Dear Mrs. Thurber", in full: "I enclose a note to W. McLean who may feel disposed to serve on your committee, which should - it strikes me - be composed entirely of gentlemen using the names of ladies as Patronesses. I should think your own laboring experience would lead you to this conclusion. The names you mentioned, Mrs. Hubbard, Pollock, Professors Langley & Bell, are excellent. I shall be pleased to aid you, as far as I can in view of my official position. Very truly yours". Levi Parsons Morton (1824-1920) was Benjamin Harrison's Vice President from 1889-1893 and Governor of New York from 1895-1897. He was elected to the House of Representatives in 1879, but resigned when President James Garfield appointed him Minister to France from 1881 to 1885. While Minister to France, he drove the ceremonial first rivet into the Statue of Liberty in 1881, the 100th anniversary of General Lord Cornwallis' surrender at Yorktown, which ended the Revolutionary War. Morton accepted the statue on July 4, 1884 and, on that day, became the first American to climb the statue to the top. He was a staunch defender of the gold standard, a major plank in Republican platforms of that era. Multiple folds. Tears on center horizontal fold on opposite sides. Toned. Light surface creases. Corners lightly worn. ¾ inch tear on bottom margin. Stained on top margin of verso. Otherwise, fine condition.