TLS signed “Jack Kennedy,” one page, 8 x 10.5, blindstamped American Embassy letterhead, September 19, 1939. Letter to Charles R. Nasmith, American Consul at Edinburgh, pertaining to a wreath sent for the memorial of Peter George Alexander St. Clair-Erskine, who had been killed while in active service with the Royal Air Force on September 8, 1939, one week after German forces invaded Poland, an event that triggered the start of World War II. In full: "I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter of September 18. I am enclosing a check for 25/- in payment for the flowers sent to Rosslyn Chapel. Again I wish to thank you for your kind co-operation in this matter." The deceased airman was the brother of John F. Kennedy's friend Anthony St Clair-Erskine, 6th Earl of Rosslyn. In very good to fine condition, with light creasing, and staple holes and a small stain to the upper left corner.
Accompanied by a TLS by Edward E. Moore, private secretary to JFK's father, enclosing a check from the ambassador as a reimbursement for the flowers; a carbon copy of a letter from Nasmith to Moore, returning the check as JFK had already paid for them; and a carbon copy of a letter from Nasmith to Margaret Whyte, thanking her for delivering the flowers.
Two weeks earlier, on September 3, 1939, the same day that Britain and France declared war on Germany following its invasion of Poland, the passenger liner SS Athenia became the first UK ship to be sunk by German forces in World War II. Among the Athenia’s 1,103 passengers, 311 were U.S. citizens, and those that were rescued were safely transported to Glasgow. Unable to leave London, Ambassador Kennedy sent his 22-year-old son and personal secretary John F. Kennedy to visit the American survivors on his behalf.
The event was a pivotal one for Kennedy, who by October had returned to Harvard after his six-month European sabbatical with a reshaped political mindset. He had, initially, like his father, considered the prospect of war remote, but the sinking of the Athenia and the concurrent war declaration pressed upon Kennedy greatly. After the fall of Poland, JFK wrote an editorial for the Harvard University newspaper entitled Peace in Our Time, and then began work on his honors thesis, which discussed the British appeasement that led to war; the final product would be published as a book in 1940, under the title Why England Slept. Unique, early, and poignant correspondence from a young JFK.
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