John F. Kennedy, as 35th President of the United States. Five manuscript note cards, notes for a speech or talk Kennedy delivered in the summer of 1961. This would have been a few months after the failed "Bay of Pigs" invasion of April 1961, and more than a year before American/Soviet relations took center stage in the Cuban Missile Crisis. In his scrawling hand, Kennedy makes a series of short notes to jog his memory. Amongst the phrases, a line that would prove prescient a year later as the two nuclear superpowers faced off: "War is a test of the will of leaders-who quits first" Also: "Nixon for intervention will support me if I go into Jan." "Opposed to social programs as they sap self reliance" "MIT important _telegram" "They committed indiscretion". Written on five 3"x5" cards, minor sunning.
These cards were given to a member of President Kennedy's Secret Service team by the President in Middleburg, Virginia in 1961. Ex-Sotheby’s, New York, 1991, Sale No. 7058, Lot number 289/5. A letter from the Agent accompanies the cards.
5 note cards:
Length: 13 cm / 5 in
Width: 7.5 cm / 3 in