Description:

Ford, Gerald R. (1913-2006) Rare ALS! Replying to a collector who had written him just a week after he was sworn in as the first appointed Vice President pursuant to the 25th Amendment to the Constitution, Gerald R. Ford handwrites a letter for his V.P. collection apologizing "for my tardiness I congratulate you on your fine project & wish you well. Trusting this note is satisfactory"

Rare Autograph Letter Signed "Jerry Ford" as Nixon's Vice President, one page, 7" x 9". On Vice Presidential stationery, The Vice President, Washington, January 19, 1974. To Mr. [Herman] Darvick. Fine condition.

In full, "Your letter of Dec. 13th has been received & I apologize for my tardiness. This was occasioned by a family vacation & a big back-log of mail. I congratulate you on your fine project & wish you well. Trusting this note is satisfactory, I remain, Sincerely, Jerry Ford."

Herman Darvick, autograph collector and at the time President of the Universal Autograph Collectors Club, had a complete collection of autographs of U.S. Vice Presidents signed in office from John Adams to Spiro T. Agnew except for a letter of William R. King (Pierce's V.P.) written as President pro tempore of the Senate from the Vice President's Chamber. Sworn in as U.S. Vice President in Havana, Cuba, (where King had gone for his health) by the U.S. Consul on March 24, 1853, King returned to his Alabama plantation on April 17, 1853, and died the next day.

Darvick had written to the newly sworn in Vice President on December 13th, a week after his inauguration after being confirmed by Congress to succeed Spiro T. Agnew who had resigned on October 10, 1973. Under the provisions of Section 2 of the 25th Amendment to the Constitution , "Whenever there is a vacancy in the office of the Vice President, the President shall nominate a Vice President who shall take office upon confirmation by a majority vote of both Houses of Congress." Darvick had told Ford about his collection and his project to obtain the autographs of all U.S. Vice Presidents in office. He also told the Vice President that in addition to being an autograph collector, he was also a part-time dealer to supplement his income as a public school teacher and that he would rather have a personal letter from Ford than have to buy one from a dealer.

This letter is reproduced on page 590 (full page) of Volume 2 of Charles Hamilton's "American Autographs" (Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press, 1983).

According to American Book Prices Current and the Americana Exchange, no other Autograph Letter Signed of Gerald R. Ford as Vice President has ever been offered for sale at a major public auction and the only ALS of Ford as President ever to be sold was a two-page ALS to a supporter four days after losing the 1976 election to Carter ("Your words meant so much to us at a tough and traumatic time"). It sold at Christie's in 2001 for $25,850.

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