Nixon To Ehrlichman: Miss You and Haldeman, Love You, We Were RIght

by Stephen J. Gertz

Two letters from President Richard M. Nixon to John Ehrlichman, his counsel and Assistant to the President for Domestic Affairs, are coming to auction at Christie's-NY in its Fine Printed Books and Manuscripts Including Americana sale, December 9, 2013. One, a typed letter signed, is estimated to sell for $10,000-$15,000, the other, an autograph letter signed, for $30,000-$50,000

Both composed during the Watergate scandal and sent less than a month apart in May and June of 1973, the first is Nixon's formal acceptance of Ehrlichman's resignation, the second a hand-delivered follow-up note from Nixon's pen of a more personal nature. In both, Nixon gives thanks for Ehrlichman's service, expresses his regrets and, in the first letter, confidence in the final outcome, and,  with a tip o' the hat to Rev. Adam Clayton Powell Jr., in the second letter advises him to "keep the faith" (without the controversial Congressman's signature  tag, "baby!") and assures him that "all will be OK because we are right."

He was wrong. All would not turn out okay. It was a disaster for the President, all who closely worked with him and pledged their personal loyalty, and the country.

On April 30, 1973, President Nixon made a televised address to the nation announcing the "resignation" of three top aides, John D. Ehrlichman, H. R. Haldeman and John Dean, arguably the most powerful figures in the administration after the President.  Eighteen days later, Nixon wrote  the  Dear John letter to Ehrlichman:

May 18, 1973

Dear John:

It is with the deepest regret that I write to acknowledge your letter of resignation.

This letter will be brief, though my heart is full. I believe you know, better than I could say, just how much your loyal assistance has meant to me in the crucible of the Presidency, how deeply I respect the courage and self-sacrifice that now prompt your leaving, and how sorely missed you will be.

Since the days that I first came to the White House, you have been close adviser, companion, and friend. These have been critical years for our country -- years when decisions were made that will benefit America and the world for the rest of this century.

When our children look back on these times, they will know, just as I do now, that your contribution to building a better America has been enormous. Few men have done so much good in so short a time. And no President has ever been more grateful for that service.

Pat joins me in saying, from our hearts, that we wish only the best for you and Jeanne and your family in the time ahead -- as  you so well deserve.

Sincerely,

[signed] RN

[post-script in holograph]:

I have every confidence in the final outcome - love you

John Erlichman.

The second letter is one of the great rarities of presidential autograph material, a Nixon autograph letter signed while President. Here, less than four weeks after accepting Ehrlichman's forced resignation, a wounded Nixon tries to be encouraging:

6-12-73

Dear John -

Your letter was honest, candid and direct in the Erlichman style! I appreciated it very much + will look into every item you raised.

I'm sure you know how much I miss Bob and you. No President ever had two more able + loyal advisers. I feel for you both in this difficult time. And I feel for your families - for your lovely wife for example and your fine family.

I only wish I could help.

Keep the faith - ! After reading the material you sent me I'm inclined to join up! I see and know how Bob + you have been sustained in this difficult time. All will come out OK because we are right.

We will pass over Nixon's wish; of course he couldn't help, he'd have to confess his culpability in the Watergate cover-up. I do not know what material Ehrlichman sent the President or what group Nixon was then inclined to join but, given the circumstances, his enlistment in the French Foreign Legion would have satisfied all concerned except, perhaps, for the French general staff who prefer that enlistees without a soupçon of élan working K.P. duty in the middle of the desert not be ex-U.S. Presidents. Tellement embarrassant! A stain on esprit de corps and all that.

The firing of Ehrlichman, Haldeman and Dean was intended by Nixon to staunch the political bleeding of the Watergate scandal, and to sell the idea that culpability stopped with those three aides. Neither Congress nor the public believed it, and throughout the summer of 1973 a Senate investigative committee under Senator Sam Ervin revealed an ongoing pattern of corruption and law breaking within the administration, dating from its earliest years, i.e.  the so-called “Plumbers” group under Ehrlichman, designed to plug press leaks; the compilation of an “enemy’s list” to harass political opponents with IRS audits and other such “dirty tricks.” The break-in at the Democratic National Committee in the Watergate complex on June 17, 1972 proved to be only one example in a pattern of lawlessness. The House Judiciary Committee, using the Oval office tapes that were disclosed by the Ervin committee, voted articles of impeachment against Nixon. With conviction in the Senate and removal from office a near certainty, Nixon resigned on August 9, 1974 - the only U.S. President ever to do so.

In January 1975 a jury convicted Ehrlichman of perjury, conspiracy and obstruction of justice. He served eighteen months in Federal prison in Arizona.

Near the end of his sentence, on April 12, 1978, Ehrlichman wrote a letter (included here with Nixon's hand-written note) to William Frates, his lawyer in his criminal trial. Ehrlichman was trying to find evidence of Nixon’s involvement in the break-in at the office of Daniel Ellsberg’s psychiatrist,  Lewis J. Fielding:

Doubtless you noted the passage in Haldeman’s book...that...Nixon said he ‘might have’ personally authorized the Fielding break-in...Yesterday I was able able to establish beyond doubt that he (Nixon) said that not only to Haldeman but to others...” 

Ehrlichman remained bitter towards Nixon for not granting him a pardon before (he also petitioned Ronald Reagan for a pardon). But he came to understand the profound mistake he made by blindly following Nixon’s orders to implement break-ins and other “dirty tricks.” At around the same time Erlichman wrote this letter to Frates, he admitted to the judge in his trial that “I abdicated my moral judgments and turned them over to somebody else. And if I had any advice for my kids, it would be never - to never, ever defer your moral judgments to anybody."

Nixon did not have that advice in mind when he wrote to Ehrlichman, "When our children look back on these times, they will know, just as I do now, that your contribution to building a better America has been enormous" but Ehrlichman's advice to his kids - and by extension to all of us - is his true lasting and enormous contribution to building a better America - or anyplace else, for that matter.

I am reminded of the late Senator Bob Dole's delightfully sardonic remark characterizing a meeting among ex-Presidents Carter, Ford, and Nixon:"See no evil, hear no evil - and evil!"

Only one other Nixon autograph letter as president has appeared at auction, a polite thank-you note to Gen. and Mrs. Aldrich dated December 14, 1971 which sold at Christie’s-New York Dec 19, 2002 for $24,000.

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Letter images courtesy of Christie's, with our thanks.
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George Washington's Original Thanksgiving Proclamation $8-$12 Million

by Stephen J. Gertz

The original manuscript proclamation establishing the first federal Thanksgiving Day in the United States of America is being offered by Christie's-New York on Thursday evening November 14, 2013 in a  single-lot special event sale. Signed by George Washington on October 3, 1789 it is estimated to sell for $8,000,000 - $12,000,000.

The proclamation reads in full:

By the President of the United States of America, a Proclamation

    Whereas it is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor, and whereas both Houses of Congress have by their joint Committee requested me "to recommend to the People of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness."

    Now therefore I do recommend and assign Thursday the 26th day of November next to be devoted by the People of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be. That we may then all unite in rendering unto him our sincere and humble thanks, for his kind care and protection of the People of this Country previous to their becoming a Nation, for the signal and manifold mercies, and the favorable interpositions of his providence, which we experienced in the course and conclusion of the late war, for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty, which we have since enjoyed, for the peaceable and rational manner, in which we have been enabled to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national One now lately instituted, for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed; and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and in general for all the great and various favors which he hath been pleased to confer upon us.

    And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech him to pardon our national and other transgressions, to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually, to render our national government a blessing to all the people, by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed, to protect and guide all Sovereigns and Nations (especially such as have shown kindness unto us) and to bless them with good government, peace, and concord. To promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the encrease of science among them and Us, and generally to grant unto all Mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as he alone knows to be best.

    Given under my hand at the City of New York the third day of October in the year of our Lord 1789.

Prior to its sale, the proclamation will be on tour, exhibited October 17-20 in Los Angeles at the Reagan Library; October 22 in Dallas at the Harlan Crow Library; October 24 at Christie's-Chicago; October 30 in Boston; November 4 in Washington, D.C. at the Library of Congress; November 5 in Philadelphia at the National Constitution Center; and November 7-13 in New York at Christie's Galleries.

The proclamation followed the request to President Washington by the House and Senate, on the day after ratification of the 1st Amendment to the Constitution, to proclaim a day of thanksgiving for “the many signal favors of Almighty God." Congressman Elias Boudinot of New Jersey said that he “could not think of letting the session pass over without offering an opportunity to all the citizens of the United States of joining, with one voice, in returning to Almighty God their sincere thanks for the many blessings he had poured down upon them" (The Annals of the Congress, The Debates and Proceedings in the Congress of the United States 1, Washington, DC: Gales and Seaton, pp. 949–950).

Massachusetts Centinel, October 14, 1789.

This was not the first time that a day of thanksgiving had been proclaimed. On October 11, 1782, John Hanson, first president of the newly independent United States under the Articles of Confederation, declared the fourth Thursday of every November to be a national Thanksgiving Day. The holiday, however, was by the authority of each state, not the national government. Under the new Constitution it was to be a federal holiday.

But not an annual observation. George Washington again proclaimed a Thanksgiving Day in 1795. John Adams declared Thanksgiving Days in 1798 and 1799. In response to resolutions in Congress at the close of the War of 1812, James Madison renewed the tradition in 1814 and 1815. But it was not until Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a national Thanksgiving Day on October 3, 1863 to occur in November of that year that the holiday has been annually celebrated.

Washington's proclamation is a foundational document in the history of the United States of America's grand national tradition of Thanksgiving. One of the great documents of Americana, it's no turkey.

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Document images courtesy of Christie's, with our thanks.

Newspaper clipping courtesy of the Washington Post, with our thanks.
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John Quincy Adams, The Sleeping-Pill Poet

by Stephen J. Gertz

American diplomat, Harvard professor, Secretary of State, member of the House of Representatives, Senator, son of a President, and himself President of the United States, sure. But John Quincy Adams, poet?

"Could I have chosen my own genius and condition, I would have made myself a great poet," he once declared, as cited in Nagel's John Quincy Adams: A Public Life, A Private Life (1997). Actors want to be musicians; musicians want to be actors; writers want to be athletes; everyone wants to be what they aren't, except, perhaps, to be an insurance salesman, a species, I imagine, that would like to be anything but what they are. We all dream about what we wanted to be and might have been if only life hadn't gotten in the way.

John Quincy Adams read copiously and wrote poetry throughout his lifetime. He enjoyed composing secular and inspirational verse, hymns, translating poetry into English, and writing his own versions of the Psalms.

His poems, when published, were not well-received. When Dermot MacMorrogh or the Conquest of Ireland was issued (Boston: Carter, Hendee, 1832), a reviewer ripped him a new canto:

"This work consists of three parts, each very remarkable in its way. These parts are, first, the Title Page; second, the Dedication and Preface ; and, third, four Cantos of Rhyme. The most noticeable part of the title-page is the announcement of the author's name. Indeed, it is that short sentence of four words, By John Quincey Adams, to which Dermot Mac Morrogh will be solely indebted for all the attention it will receive. Were it not for this magic sentence, we doubt if many readers would get further than the middle of the first Canto; and we are quite certain that none would ever reach the end of the second. But as it is we are sure the work will be read through; for, in spite of yawns innumerable, and a drowsiness most oppressive, we have read it through, ourselves; and whatever effect it may have produced upon us, or whatever may be our opinion of it, we dare say, there will be found quite a number of persons, who, by the help of the author's name, will discover this Historical Tale of the Twelfth Century to be full of all manner of wit, genius, and ingenuity, and a striking proof that talent is not a mere bent towards some peculiar style of excellence, but an inherent power, which qualifies its possessor to succeed alike, in the closet and the council chamber, in politics and poetry, in business and philosophy.

"So much for the title page…" (The New-England Magazine,  Volume 3, Issue 6, Dec 1832).

That review was written a few years after Adams' Presidency and while he was a member of the House. He may have been President, he may have been a sitting Congressman, but that didn't stop the New-England Magazine's litterateur from lambasting the former President's literary ambitions.  Politicians can do many things when they leave office but entering the arts is not one of them; the waters are more treacherous than the Bermuda Triangle, which is to say, more dangerous than Beltway gossip and the D.C. commentariat. Newt Gingrich's historical novels? Consigned to Davey Jones' Locker almost immediately after publication. Jimmy Carter's The Hornet's Nest? Call pest control. Former Senator Gary Hart, writing as "John Blackthorn," published four novels. Remember I, Che Guevara? Me, neither.


While it is true that "politics is show business for ugly people," it is also true that fiction is a sinkhole for politicians, despite their routine ease with it during the pursuit their day jobs. But verse?

Roses are red, violets are blue,
Pols writing poetry?

What, nothing else to do?

Ten years after Adams wrote Dermot MacMorrogh..., he composed the poem whose manuscript appears above:

Not Solomon the wise, in all his glory
Bright bird of beauty, was array’d like thos
And thou like him shalt be renown’d in story -
Bird of the wise, the valiant and the free.
Borne on thy pinions, down the flight of Time
Columbia’s chosen sons shall wing their way;
United here, in harmony sublime
To teach mankind the blessings of her sway.
Oh! counst thou bid the floods of discord cease
And to the ark return, like Noah’s dove.
Thy voice would turn, surest Harbinger of Peace
This world of sorrow, to a world of Love
                    John Quincy Adams
Washington 9. June 1842

Under the spreading chestnut tree a former prez writes purplely.
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This manuscript poem by John Quincy Adams, on stationary with a vibrantly hand-colored Eurasian bullfinch perched on a sprig of holly as header, is being offered by Profiles In History in its Rare Books & Manuscripts Sale, July 10, 2013. It is estimated to sell for $800-$1200. 

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Image courtesy of Profiles In History, with our thanks.
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The Greatest American Social Event of the 19th Century

by Stephen J. Gertz

 

On May 21, 1874, Ellen "Nellie" Grant, the 19-year old third child and only daughter of President Ulysses S. Grant, married Algernon Charles Frederick Sartoris, a member of a British theatrical family, wealthy English singer and nephew of Fanny Kemble, the famous actress.

It was considered one of the greatest social events in America during the nineteenth century. "To the public it was an irresistible, romantic story [met with] insatiable public demand" (Wead, All the President's Children).

The wedding was held in the Presidential Mansion, aka White House. It was a lavish affair, the ceremony held in the East Room followed by a wedding breakfast immediately afterward. The approximately 250 guests were each presented with the banquet's menu, as seen here, a  6 3/4 x 3 3/4 inch broadside printed by Beresford Print of Washington D.C. in blue ink on pink silk with white silk bow tied at top, the whole on mounting paper.

Gifts to the couple included “… a dessert-service of eighty four pieces [given] by Mr. George W. Childs, and a complete dinner-service by Mr. A.J. Drexel, the combined value of the two being $4500" (Harper's, June 6, 1874). "The couple received a 'little' gift of $10,000 from Mr. Grant, and a silver Tiffany fruit dish that the bride supposedly swooned over" (Christine Graham-Ward, Everyone Loves a Wedding, American Antiquarian Society).
 

This was not a marriage made in heaven. It began with a shipboard romance between Sartoris and Nellie when she was only seventeen. President Grant disapproved. His intuition was spot-on. Satoris brought Nellie to England and soon proved to be a cad, womanizer, gambler, and alcoholic, the four horsemen of the nuptial apocalypse.  The marriage ended in divorce in 1889 and Nellie returned to the United States.

The caterer was Frederick Freund, whose name appears at menu's bottom.  

The meal was typical American breakfast fare. Dig in:

Soft Crabs on Toast

Grimaux garais de Crabes & Champignons, Sauce a la Créme

Croquettes of Chicken with Green Peas.

Coteleties d'agneant, Sauce a la Tartare

Aspic de langues de boeuf a la Modern

Wood Cocks and Snipes on Toast, Decorated

Boiled Spring Chicken

Salade Sauce, Maillonais      Strawberries with Cream

BRIDE CAKE - Center-piece

Side-piece of Charlotte Russes and Croque en bouche

Corbeils glaces a la Jardiniere

Gateaux de trois frères

Epigraphe la fleur, de NELLIE GRANT

Pudding a la Nestlerode Sauce a la Creme

Corbeils d'Oranges garnis de fraises

Gelee, Blamangee a la Napoleon

Plombieres garnies de fruits a fleures glaces

Ice Cream of various flavors

Water Ices of various flavors

Small Fancy Cakes

Punch a la Romaine. Coffee. Chocolate. Fancy Boxes - with Wedding Cake

Punch au côlon implicit. Élixir de l'Alka-Seltzer, alas, not included.
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Menu image courtesy of Howard S. Mott, Inc., with our thanks.

Wedding photograph courtesy of the American Antiquarian Society, with our thanks.
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A Bookshelf Made by FDR, Woodworker

by Stephen J. Gertz

A homemade, portable wooden bookshelf made by Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 32d President of the United States, in 1925 will be auctioned at Boomsbury-NY, on Wednesday, December 8, 2010. It is estimated at $3,500 - $4,500.

Made for Marguerite A. LeHand ("Missy"), FDR's companion, personal secretary, and hostess in Eleanor's absence, and carved with her initials and, below, his - "FDR 1925" - it was, apparently, a practical gift for her while the two traveled together during most of 1925, a small (50.5H x 49.5W x 19.5D cm), convenient, on-the-go bookcase. Roosevelt and Missy spent long hours on trains, traveling between Hyde Park, Manhattan,  Warm Springs, and his houseboat in Florida.

FDR had been a hobbyist woodworker in childhood. In 1921, when he contracted polio and remained at Hyde Park, the family estate in Duchess County, New York, to recover, he returned to it to fruitfully pass the time and cope with the physical challenges of his infirmity. Eleven years later an article appearing in Craftsman magazine in 1932, stated "Mrs. Roosevelt is not the only woodworking fan in her family.  Her husband, Governor Franklin Delano Roosevelt, follows it as his hobby to give him relaxation from his strenuous days in the state house at Albany, New York."

Bloomsbury, in their catalog note, hesitates to declare it as definitively FDR's creation: "this piece was made by FDR or perhaps a local craftsman in Hyde Park."

But there were no skilled craftsmen in Hyde Park; it was a farming community with, perhaps, a handyman for repairs and light projects. There was, however, one skilled woodworker close to Eleanor Roosevelt, Nancy Cross.

In 1925,  Eleanor, Marion Dickerman, and Cross built Val-Kill, a stone cottage on the Roosevelt property that the three shared. A furniture designer as well as a woodworker, Cross made all the furnishings, each of which was monogrammed EMN - the ladies' initials. 

This bookshelf, however, was not wrought with the fine woodworking skill that Cross possessed. And it is highly unlikely that FDR would commission a local to create what was a gift to a close companion with their initials carved into it; there's an intimacy to it that strongly suggests that this was strictly between the two of them. And, significantly,  this bookshelf is small and simple enough that it would not have been an unwieldy endeavor for one  confined to a wheelchair; he could have easily made it, and with much free time at his disposal and his own skill,  why would he not? Those carved initials? If the bookshelf had been commissioned by  FDR the builder would have wrought them with greater skill; they are fairly crude.

Yet the possibility exists that it was made by another and only signed by FDR.

The last piece of strong, circumstantial evidence that FDR indeed made this bookshelf himself, I believe, nails it. During 1925, Eleanor, Nancy Cross and Marion Dickerson established a woodworking shop at Val-Kill to employ the local farmers and teach thier children a craft after the harvest and before Spring. The women had to recruit skilled craftsmen from around the country and Europe as teachers and builders: there were none in the area. In 1926, the woodworking shop at Val-Kill became Val-Kill Industries, creating and selling furniture in the Early American style. FDR had a complete woodworking shop at his disposal.

Provenance on the bookcase is solid: the former property of Anna K. McGowan, Hyde Park, NY; Edgar McGowan was caretaker of the Roosevelt family estate at Campobello Island. It seems likely that they were related to one another.

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Images courtesy of Bloomsbury.
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