Signed book: Inaugural Address of John F. Kennedy. Washington, DC: privately-printed, 1961. Hardcover with slipcase, 7 x 10, eight pages. Boldly signed and inscribed on the first free end page in fountain pen, "For Major Stover, Best wishes, John Kennedy, Christmas 1961." Autographic condition: very fine. Book condition: VG/None in a VG slipcase, with some scattered marks to the case.
This is one of an unspecified limitation (generally believed to be about 100) of specially bound copies of President Kennedy's inaugural address given to his closest friends and staffers as Christmas gifts. In the address, Kennedy went over the major themes of his campaign and famously urged the American people, 'Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.' A defining speech of the 20th century, historians regard it as the most significant inaugural since that of Lincoln, given from the same portico a hundred years earlier. A truly remarkable presentation copy of a most important speech.
Major Ralph C. Stover joined the Secret Service's uniformed White House Police Force in 1940, and for the next 27 years oversaw the protection of five American presidents. Serving as the Force's chief beginning in 1958, he was especially close with the Kennedys, earning the affectionate nickname 'Smokey' from JFK for his shared last name with the popular comic strip character Smokey Stover. The book is accompanied by a photo of Stover with President Kennedy.
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