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Woodrow Wilson Speech Delivered at the 50th Anniv

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Autographs Start Price:1.00 USD Estimated At:1,500.00 - 2,000.00 USD
Woodrow Wilson Speech Delivered at the 50th Anniv
<B>Woodrow Wilson Speech Delivered at the 50th Anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg</B></I> An excellent and important typed manuscript signed, "Woodrow Wilson," with several hand-written corrections most likely in his hand, 7 pages, 6" x 8.5", Gettysburg , July 4, 1914. Wilson delivered this speech the previous year to the largest Gettysburg reunion ever held, attracting over 50,000 Union and Confederate veterans. The text of the speech reads in part, "I need not tell you what the battle of Gettysburg meant. these gallant men in blue and gray sit all about us here. many of them met upon this ground in grim and deadly struggle. Upon these famous fields and hillsides their comrades died about them. Is their presence it were an impertinence to discourse upon how the battle went, how it ended, what it signified! But fifty years have gone by since then, and I crave the privilege of speaking to you for a few minutes of what those fifty years have meant. What have they meant? They have meant peace and union and vigour, and the maturity and might of a great nation. Who wholesome and healing the peace has been! We have found one another again as brothers and comrades in arms, enemies no longer, generous friends rather, our battles long past, the quarrel forgotten-- except that we shall not forget the splendid valour, the manly devotion of the men then arrayed against one another, now grasping hands and smiling into each other's eyes. How complete the union has become and how dear to all of us, how unquestioned, how benign and majestic, as state after state has been added to this our great family of free men! How handsome the vigour, the maturity, the sign of the great nation we love with undivided hearts..." He concludes in a touching and almost prophetic tone especially in light of the carnage that would envelop Europe the following Autumn, "...Who stands ready to act again and always in the spirit of this day of reunion and hope and patriotic fervor? The day of our country's life has but broadened into morning. Do not put uniforms by. Put the harness of the present on. Lit your eyes to the great tracts of life yet to be conquered in the interest of righteous peace, of that prosperity which lies in a people's hearts and outlasts all wars and errors of men. Come, let us be comrades and soldiers yet to serve our fellow men in quiet counsel, where the blare of trumpets is neither heard nor heeded and where the things are done which make blessed the nations of the world in peace and righteousness and love." In near pristine condition with a bold signature of Wilson. All the pages are matted together with a simple and tasteful portrait of Wilson and is ready for framing. An incredibly desirable Wilson item; a true piece of history. <I>From the collection of Bradley O'Leary.</B></I> <I>Accompanied by COA from PSA/DNA.</B></I>