Interesting 16 piece archive relating to the Kennedy assassination. Items include TLSs, signed photos, and other signed items. One of most interesting item in the collection it a two page TLS from 1981, signed by Malcolm O. Perry, 'M. O. Perry,' who as a young surgeon performed a futile tracheotomy on President Kennedy in Dallas on Nov. 22, 1963, and inadvertently provided leads for assassination conspiracy theorists. The letter reads, in part: 'The basic problem centers on the fact that When I saw the President he was in agonal respiration and it was necessary to immediately perform certain procedures if we were going to successfully resuscitate him. There was not time to stand examining wounds, or all would be lost. Therefore I proceeded immediately with a traceostomy and insertion of chest tubes in an attempt to save his life and by the time that was all over I really wasn’t particularly interested in examining and determining exactly where the wounds were. Later, I found that was a mistake on my part since I could have solved all the questions by that maneuver, and in fact we did do that when we operated on Mr. Oswald and thus we had it tied up very carefully. I initially thought that the neck wound was an entrance wound only because it was small … I did not know initially about the posterior wound in the neck I assumed this might be an entrance wound, and that of course was an error … I did not have time to check the clock but I was told later that we worked on him for about 20 or 25 minutes before I gave up … It’s also of interest to me that there are a number of people now claiming to know a great deal about our attempts to resuscitate Mr. Kennedy, and yet to my knowledge they weren’t there during the procedure or at best just peeked in the room while we were working … All in all I have serious doubts about the accuracy and the importance of those things which are currently being written, since many of them in my opinion are based on flimsy evidence, nonexistent date and heresay.'
Other letters are signed by Warren Commission members John J. McCloy, Gerald Ford, John Sherman Cooper, and Richard Russell, all acknowledging autograph requests. Other correspondence includes a 1963 TLS from Adlai Stevenson to a Guatemalan member of the United Nations delegate sent 'on behalf of President Kennedy’s widow and family,'; an undated TLS from Jacqueline Kennedy’s secretary Nancy Tuckerman forwarding a Mass card (not included), a TLS with a handwritten postscript from President Kennedy’s secretary Evelyn Lincoln; and a 1977 TLS from former Speaker of the House John W. McCormack. Other items include a printed booklet of eulogies delivered in the United States Capitol on November 24, 1963, signed on the front cover in ink and felt tip by Mike Mansfield, Evelyn Lincoln, Edward Kennedy, Lady Bird Johnson, and Dean Rusk. Booklet also bears a 1971 First Day of Issue stamp; a clipped book photo of Lyndon Johnson’s inauguration signed by Lady Bird Johnson and Sarah T. Hughes; a printed black-bordered thank you note sent to Congressman Seymour Halpern, signed in black ink, 'Ted & Joan'; a lightweight 8 x 10 photo of Hale Boggs, signed and inscribed in the lower border; a book page featuring a reproduction of the September 28, 1964 New York Times announcing the findings of the Warren Commission, signed in felt tip by John J. McCloy;, and a clipped magazine photo of the Warren Commission, affixed to a 10 x 8.5 sheet, signed on the sheet by Gerald Ford, Hale Boggs, Earl Warren, John Sherman Cooper, John J. McCloy, Allen Dulles, Richard Russell, and J. Lee Rankin. In very good to fine overall condition. Perry’s 2009 obituary states that Dr. Perry 'refused to talk about it with anybody,’’ perhaps because he regretted contributing, however inadvertently, to the various conspiracy theories that have sprung up despite the Warren Commission’s conclusion that Oswald acted alone. RRAuction COA.
