Oct 22, 2015 - Sale 2394

Sale 2394 - Lot 159

Price Realized: $ 2,250
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 3,500 - $ 5,000
"A FRONTRUNNER" FOR THE 1960 DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATION KENNEDY, JOHN F. Autograph Note Signed, "A frontrunner," as Senator, to an unnamed recipient, in pencil, instructing him to execute a proxy vote during his absence: "Would you vote / me against Morse, & Church / for--Fulbright admendment [sic] / I shall return in / 10 minutes. / Signed-- / A frontrunner." Dated at lower edge, in an unknown hand, in pencil: "6/15/59." Written on verso at bottom edge, in an unknown hand, in pencil: "Your proxy is hereby returned / Drew Pearson / [small graphite sketch suggesting a body hanging from a gallows]." 1 page, 8vo, "Committee on Foreign Relations" stationery; few scattered creases, horizontal fold. (TFC) Np, [15 June 1959?]

Additional Details

After the last of the Democratic presidential primaries in early June showed broad popular support for Kennedy, only LBJ's favor among party officials threatened JFK's receipt of the nomination. Presumably, the signature at the close of this note expresses JFK's confidence in advance of the Convention, held in early July.
On April 24, Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee J. William Fulbright proposed amendments to the Mutual Security Act, supported by fellow Committee member JFK. These and other amendments were voted upon by the Committee before June 15, when the Committee approved the amended Act, with only Senators Wayne Morse and William Langer dissenting.
Drew Pearson (1897-1969) was a journalist whose syndicated column, "Washington Merry-Go-Round," published between 1932 until Pearson's death, exposed the wrong-doings and sensational exploits of Washington officials, including JFK.