Title page from the seating list for the Advisory Council of the Democratic National Committee Diamond Jubilee Dinner honoring Eleanor Roosevelt at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York City on December 7, 1959, 8.5 x 9, signed on the cover sheet in blue ballpoint by John F. Kennedy, Harry S. Truman, and Eleanor Roosevelt, plus 10 other Democratic leaders in ink and ballpoint: Adlai Stevenson, Hubert H. Humphrey, Earl Brown, Paul M. Butler, Mike Monroney, Mike Mansfield, Carl Albert, John McCormack, Stuart Symington, and Robert Meyner. In very good to fine condition, with staple holes and a paperclip impression to the upper left corner, light toning, and a rough bottom edge. Encapsulated in a PSA/DNA authentication holder.
Technically an evening feting the former first lady, an Associated Press news story instead dubbed the evening a 'beauty contest' of 1960 presidential hopefuls from the Democratic Party. Led by Truman, the night's 'honorary chairman,' the article cited Stevenson, the event's official chairman, as the leading candidate and the Democrats' best chance to secure the White House. A notable absence was Senate Majority Leader Lyndon B. Johnson, who, out of his fear of rejection, scheduled a minor event in its place—an episode detailed in Robert Caro's biography The Passage of Power: The Years of Lyndon Johnson, Vol. IV. Fascinating in historical context, the eventual winner of the 1960 election—Bay State Senator John F. Kennedy—was mentioned last after New Jersey Governor Robert Meyner. Three weeks after this event, on January 2, 1960, Kennedy announced his candidacy for the Democratic presidential nomination. A unique and marvelous ensemble of presidential possibilities.
