Magnificent TLS, one page, 7.5 x 10.5, 90 Church Street (New York) letterhead, February 8, 1961. Letter to David R. Condon of the Chicago Tribune, in part: “The opinions I expressed at West Point on the infinite value of athletic competition have but intensified with the passage of time. Athletic sport—the game—has become a symbol of our country's best qualities—courage, stamina, coordinated efficiency. Many even believe in these cynical days of doubt and indecision that through sport we can best keep alive the spirit of vitality and enterprise which has made us great. It is a vital character builder. It molds the youth of our country for their future roles as custodians of the Republic. It teaches them to be strong enough to know when they are weak and brave enough to face themselves when they are afraid. It teaches them to be proud and unbending in honest defeat but humble and gentle in victory. It teaches them not to substitute wishes for actions, not to seek the path of comfort but to face the stress and spur of difficulty and challenge, to learn to stand up in the storm but to learn compassion for those who fall.
It teaches them to have a heart that will be clear, a goal that will be high, to master themselves before they seek to master others, to learn to laugh yet never forget to weep, to reach into the future yet never forget the past, to have enough sense of humor to be always serious yet never to themselves too seriously. It teaches them humility so that they may always remember the simplicity of true greatness, the open mind of true wisdom, the meekness of true strength. It gives them a temper of the will, a quality of the imagination, a vigor of the emotions, a freshness of the deep springs of life. It gives them a temperamental predominance of courage over timidity, of an appetite for adventure over love of ease. It creates in their hearts the love of wonder, the undaunted challenge of events, the unfailing hope of what next, and the joy and the inspiration of life. Fathers and mothers who would make theirs into men should have them ‘play the game.’” In very good to fine condition, with light overall soiling, and tears and fold splits repaired with clear tape on the back.
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