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130

Ronald Reagan

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Autographs Start Price:NA Estimated At:0.00 USD
Ronald Reagan

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Auction Date:2010 Apr 14 @ 10:00 (UTC-05:00 : EST/CDT)
Location:5 Rt 101A Suite 5, Amherst, New Hampshire, 03031, 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
ALS as president signed “Dutch,” one page, 6.75 x 9, White House letterhead, no date. Letter to his longtime friend Lydia “Hup” MacArthur. In full: “This letter isn’t out of a computer. Once again the time has come to say ‘Merry Christmas’ & a ‘Happy New Year’. A lot of things have happened in this last year and I’m still trying to get used to our present address. I must say there is a little excitement in the job – not all of it pleasant. But right now the important thing is that day of days & ‘Silent Night’. Merry Christmas! Love, Dutch.”

Lydia Hupfer “Hup” MacArthur was the widow of Pete MacArthur, program director of WOC in Davenport, Iowa. In 1932, MacArthur had given a then 21 year-old Reagan his first job as a sports announcer. They would remain friends until her passing at the age of 102 in 1995. In fine condition. Accompanied by the original mailing envelope, addressed in Reagan’s hand.

Reagan’s introductory sentence that “this letter isn’t out of a computer” references the fact that his long-time friend had been placed on a computerized list of Republican supporters, prompting letters formally addressed to “Mrs. MacArthur” and signed “Ronald Reagan” instead of “Hup” and “Dutch.” But such a minor sleight was nothing compared to the president’s admission of the “excitement…not all of it pleasant” he was experiencing while “still trying to get used to our present address.”

The accompanying envelope, postmarked December 7, 1982, betrays some of the veiled references here, as it was during that year that the Reagan Administration was faced with a series of clashes along the Israel-Lebanon border, followed by Israel’s invasion of Lebanon in June, the arrival of US troops in Lebanon in August, rising unemployment that (at the time) resulted in the worst recession since the 1930s, and a political shift in the country toward the left following the November elections. No wonder the president’s Christmas wish amounted to “silent nights.” A scarce handwritten letter signed by Reagan early in his presidency. Pre-certified John Reznikoff/PSA/DNA and RRAuction COA.
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