TLS signed “Jerry Ford,” one page, 7.25 x 10.5, personal letterhead, November 9, 1984. An invitation to senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, who Ford hand writes as “Pat” over the typed salutation. In part: “By now you have received an invitation to the American Enterprise Institute’s eighth annual Public Policy Dinner…I will host a private reception for the Dinner Steering Committee and a few friends…in the Cabinet Room and hope you can join me there before going into dinner…The dinner is the culmination of AEI’s Public Policy Week, a program of seminars on national and international issues. Each year the Institute enlarges upon this forum of nonpartisan discussion of policy options facing our nation.” In fine condition, with ink notations to top and bottom edge, and an office stamp along left edge.
The American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research (AEI) is a conservative think tank founded in 1943. Its stated mission is "to defend the principles and improve the institutions of American freedom and democratic capitalism (including) limited government, private enterprise, individual liberty and responsibility, vigilant and effective defense and foreign policies, political accountability, and open debate."
Though the AEI touts a nonpartisan approach to policy issues, one must still wonder how Democrat Moynihan reacted to an invitation by a former Republican president to a conservative organization’s function during the height of the Reagan Administration. Ford also mentions another guest of honor, Appellate Court Judge Robert H. Bork. In 1987, Bork was unsuccessfully nominated for a seat on the US Supreme Court. Perhaps Moynihan recalled that encounter as he voted against Bork’s nomination. RRAuction COA.
