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Barack Obama Boldly Signed Speech On Abraham Lincoln, With Outstanding Provenance from the 2008 Presidential Campaign Trail!
Barack Obama Boldly Signed Speech On Abraham Lincoln, With Outstanding Provenance from the 2008 Presidential Campaign Trail!
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Description:

Barack Obama Boldly Signed Speech On Abraham Lincoln, With Outstanding Provenance from the 2008 Presidential Campaign Trail!

A souvenir typescript of a speech about Abraham Lincoln delivered in 2005 by Barack Obama (born 1961), then a U.S. Senator from Illinois and the future 44th U.S. President, boldly signed in black colored pencil on the top of the first page. Obama's stylized signature is especially large, measuring 4.25" x 1.75" alone. N.d., n.p., but the included Letter of Provenance indicates the speech copy was signed by Obama on September 17, 2007 in Indianola, Iowa, nine months after Obama had announced his 2008 presidential aspirations. The 4pp speech is printed on watermarked double-weight 100% cotton fiber cream resume paper. A few gentle wrinkles, else near fine. 8.5" x 11." The signed speech copy comes with a Letter of Provenance signed by collector Jeff Benziger of Waterford, California.

The speech entitled "Our Past, Our Future, Our Vision" was read by Senator Obama at the dedication ceremony of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield, Illinois on April 19, 2005. Obama used the opportunity of the building's dedication to reflect on the legacy of 16th U.S. President Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865). Obama asserted in the speech that Lincoln exemplified the best attributes of American national character: energy, moral resolve, resilience, self-examination, honesty, and humility.

The parallels between Obama and Lincoln are obvious: both statesmen represented Illinois, Obama as a U.S. Senator from Illinois from 2005 to 2008; and Lincoln as a member of the Illinois state house, U.S. Congressman from Illinois, and failed candidate for U.S. Senator from Illinois. Both men served as U.S. President; Lincoln from 1861-1865 and Obama from 2009-2017. Lincoln's advocacy for racial equality paved the way in part for the election of Obama, America's first African American president, 150 years later.

Obama's speech in part:

"…But we gather here today not to celebrate a building. We gather to celebrate a man.

What is it that makes Lincoln such a seminal figure in our story? How is it that this man, born in the backwoods of Kentucky, with little formal education, homely and awkward, a man given to depression and wracked with self-doubt, might come to represent so much of who we are as a people, and so much of what we aspire to be?

Some of it has to do with the trajectory of his life. In his rise from poverty, his self-study and ultimate mastery of language and of law, in his capacity to overcome personal loss and remain determined in the face of repeated defeat - in all of this we see a fundamental element of the American character, a belief that we can constantly remake ourselves to fit our larger dreams…

In all of this - the repeated acts of self-creation, the insistence that with sweated brow and calloused hands and focused will we can recast the wilderness of the American landscape and the American heart into something better, something finer - in all of this Lincoln embodies our deepest myths. It is a mythology that drives us still.

And yet what separates Lincoln from the other great men has to do with something else. It's an issue of character that speaks to us, of moral resolve. Lincoln was not a perfect man, nor a perfect president. By modern standards, his condemnation of slavery might be considered tentative; his Emancipation Proclamation more a military document than a clarion call for justice. He wasn't immune to political considerations; his temperament could be indecisive and morose.

And yet despite these imperfections, despite his fallibility...indeed, perhaps because of a painful self-awareness of his own failings, etched in every crease of his face and reflected in those haunted eyes...because of this essential humanity of his, when it came time to confront the greatest moral challenge this nation has ever faced, Lincoln did not flinch. He did not equivocate or duck or pass the challenge on to future generations. He did not demonize the fathers and sons who did battle on the other side, nor seek to diminish the terrible costs of his war. In the midst of slavery's dark storm and the complexities of governing a house divided, he kept his moral compass pointed firm and true…

Today we come to celebrate not a building but a man. And as that man called once upon the better angels of our nature, so is he calling still, across the ages, to summon some measure of that character, his character, in each of us, today."

The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum (ALPLM) is one of the most visited presidential cultural institutions in the United States. Its versatile exhibits feature life-size dioramas of important sites--such as the presidential box at Ford's Theatre--to artifacts, historical documents, and photographs. The ALPLM's collection of poignant personal effects includes Lincoln's stovepipe hat and Mary Todd Lincoln's wedding dress.

Provenance

Jeff Benziger of Waterford, California wrote and signed a Letter of Provenance stating in part: "Sen. Barack Obama signed the accompanying Lincoln speech on Sept. 17 2007 at the 30th annual Harkin Steak Fry in Indianola, Iowa."

The Harkin Steak Fry was a tradition started by U.S. Senator from Iowa Tom Harkin (born 1939) in the 1970s. The event, which had begun as a congressional fundraiser, would become one of the most important Midwestern campaign opportunities for Democratic presidential candidates over the next 37 years (the last steak fry took place in 2014.) Both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton--who would run against each other the following year--attended the 2007 Harkin Steak Fry, along with approximately 10,000 attendees.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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March 15, 2023 11:00 AM EDT
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