July 2013 Auction Ends Tuesday, July 23rd, 5pm Pacific
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 7/23/2013
Dwight D. Eisenhower typed letter signed as President, dated 12 January 1954 on official ''Personal and Secret'' White House stationery. Here, Eisenhower writes to his brother Edgar discussing the controversial Bricker Amendment: ''...The argument presented by the supporters and opponents of the so-called Bricker Amendment do not affect me personally. Before such an Amendment could become law, the responsibilities I carry will be on someone else's shoulders. But I will never, under any circumstances, agree to the enactment of an Amendment which, for the first time in the life of our Constitution, attempts to attack the very basis of our governmental system -- the proper division of governmental functions among the Legislative, Judicial, and Executive Branches. I am not going to be known in history as the Chief Executive who agreed to the emasculation of the Constitutional method for discharging one of the most serious responsibilities (treaty making) devolving upon the President, the Congress, and indeed the Courts...As for the peacetime need for such an amendment, it is idle to talk about the great danger of 160 million people losing their freedoms and rights through the provisions of a treaty...This country began functioning under the Constitution in 1789, and we have done pretty well...People who hysterically fear that some such organization as the United Nations is going to take over the United States and control its internal affairs are some of the best creators of bogey men that I have yet encountered...'' Signed ''Ike'' in black ink with a postscript in Eisenhower's hand signed ''D'' which reads in full, ''Whether or not my legal argument is exactly correct, the principle on which I stand will, I hope, be apparent to you.'' Letter measures 8'' x 10.5'' on three single-sided pages, with two holes punched at top. Near fine.
Dwight D. Eisenhower White House TLS With a Handwritten Postscript -- Unofficial Counts Have Only 4 Handwritten Ike Letters or Notes as President in Existence -- ''...But I will never...agree to...
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