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John F. Kennedy Document Signed as President

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Autographs Start Price:NA Estimated At:50,000.00 - 60,000.00 USD
John F. Kennedy Document Signed as President

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Auction Date:2021 May 12 @ 18:00 (UTC-05:00 : EST/CDT)
Location:15th Floor WeWork, Boston, Massachusetts, 02108, United States
ALS - Autograph Letter Signed
ANS - Autograph Note Signed
AQS - Autograph Quotation Signed
AMQS - Autograph Musical Quotation Signed
DS - Document Signed
FDC - First Day Cover
Inscribed - “Personalized”
ISP - Inscribed Signed Photograph
LS - Letter Signed
SP - Signed Photograph
TLS - Typed Letter Signed
Historic partly-printed DS as president, one page, 22.75 x 18.75, January 21, 1961. President Kennedy appoints Robert S. McNamara of Michigan as "Secretary of Defense." Signed at the conclusion by John F. Kennedy and countersigned by Secretary of State Dean Rusk. Lower left bears the original embossed seal. Framed to an overall size of 25.75 x 21.75. In fine condition.

Upon retirement from the United States Army Air Forces in 1946, Robert McNamara joined the Ford Motor Company as manager of planning and financial analysis. As one of the famed ‘Whiz Kids,’ he advanced rapidly through a series of top-level management positions and in 1960 became the company’s president, the first to be selected outside the Ford family. Less than five weeks after accepting his new position at Ford, McNamara left Michigan for Washington where he assumed the role of Secretary of Defense as a valuable member of President Kennedy's cabinet.

With a mandate to bring the military under control through the application of efficient management, McNamara immersed himself into his new position and quickly earned the trust of President Kennedy as the pair reorientated the defense program, sped up the modernization and expansion of weapon and delivery systems, improved national deterrence posture and military capabilities, and instituted systems analysis in public policy.

More successful from McNamara's point of view was his participation in the Executive Committee, a small group of advisers who counseled Kennedy during the Cuban missile crisis of October 1962. McNamara supported the president's decision to quarantine Cuba to prevent Soviet ships from bringing in more offensive weapons.

Despite playing a major role in escalating the U.S.’s involvement in the Vietnam War, McNamara gradually became skeptical about whether the war could be won by deploying more troops to South Vietnam and escalating the bombing of North Vietnam. His frequent trips to Vietnam made him increasingly reluctant to approve the large force increments requested by the military commanders. His disillusionment with the war and his fractured relationship with President Johnson resulted in his resignation in 1968.