April 2013 Auction Ends Tuesday, April 2nd, 5pm Pacific
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 4/2/2013
Computer used by Bill Clinton as President to send the momentous first ever Presidential email. Remarkably, the landmark message was sent to astronaut Senator John Glenn in space and still remains on the disk and hard drive. Toshiba laptop computer contains the complete correspondence between Clinton and Glenn. Communication was initiated by Glenn from onboard the Space Shuttle Discovery while he was on NASA mission STS-95 as the oldest person ever in space. Glenn's email to the President on 6 November 1998 reads in part: ''...This is certainly a first for me, writing to a President from space...The whole crew was impressed that you would be the first President to personally see a shuttle launch...'' Clinton's historic reply, sent 7 November 1998, reads in part: ''...Hillary and I had a great time at the launch. We are very proud of you and the entire crew, and a little jealous...'' Accompanied by a rare signed copy of the 7 November 1998 White House press release regarding the e-mail, signed ''John Glenn 1-8-98'' and ''Bill Clinton'' in black ink. Also included is a signed 10'' x 8'' color photo of Clinton sending the email from the laptop. Pictured beside Clinton is the laptop's original owner, White House physician Robert G. Darling of the Medical Corps of the United States Navy, to whom Clinton dedicates the photo. Autograph inscription by the President who bridged the 20th and 21st centuries (and their respective technologies), reads in full: ''To Rob Darling - with thanks not only for keeping me healthy but for getting my message into outer space! / - Bill Clinton''. According to a 9 November ''New York Post'' article by Rita Delfiner titled, ''Bill: Only FDR Has Loved This Job As I Have'', Clinton had stated in an Oval Office interview with ''Vanity Fair'' in December of 2000, ''I e-mailed John Glenn in space. And I e-mailed some Marines and sailors on a ship at Christmas. That was it.'' Exceptional lot is documented with a letter verifying Darling's legal right to sell his computer by Commander D.J. Sherman, Staff Judge Advocate & Ethics Counselor, JAG Corps, United States Navy, on official Department of the Navy stationery. Thorough letter reads in part, ''...you may legally sell your laptop computer...Your laptop computer has always been your personal property, and the Government obtained no property interest by virtue of its one time use by the President...'' Further documented with an LOA from Darling on official White House stationery and with provenance from Sotheby's. Grandiosity cannot be underestimated of this once-in-a-lifetime lot, truly the definitive symbol of millennial technology at its loftiest -- electronic communication and space exploration.
The Computer Bill Clinton Used as President to Send First Ever Presidential Email -- 1998 Email to Senate-Astronaut John Glenn in Space Remains on Computer
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