Description:

Nixon Richard

Typed letter signed "RN" as President, 1 page, 6.75" x 9". Washington, August 6, 1973, pale green White House stationery with the presidential seal blind-embossed at top center. To Mr. Jack J. Dreyfus, Jr., Two Broadway, New York. Faint paper clip impression at top edge. With original envelope. Fine condition.

In full, "It is most gracious of you to invite Pat and me to revisit your beautiful home on Minot's Island. We have spoken often of the delightful time we spent there several years ago and we know how enjoyable it would be for us to come again. While we must forego another such visit at this time, Pat and I thank you for your thoughtfulness and want you to know how very much we appreciate your remembrance of us in this special way. Pat joins me in sending our very best personal regard."

In August 1971, exactly two years earlier, President and Mrs. Nixon had vacationed on Minot's Island, an island off the coast of Maine owned by Jack Dreyfus.

Undoubtedly, President Nixon told his longtime friend Jack Dreyfus "we must forego another such visit at this time" to his "beautiful home on Minot's Island" because on August 2, 1973, just four days earlier, his Vice President, Spiro T. Agnew, had received a letter from a federal prosecutor informing him that there was an investigation into certain of his affairs by a grand jury in Baltimore; Agnew had served as Governor of Maryland from 1967-1969. On August 6th, the day President Nixon wrote this letter, Agnew met with Attorney General Elliot L. Richardson and informed the press of the investigation. On August 7th, the day the letter here offered was mailed and postmarked, Agnew met with Nixon at The White House. On August 8th, in a news conference, Agnew denounced charges against him that had appeared in the press and said he would not resign. Agnew resigned on October 10th.

Financier Jack Dreyfus (1913-2009) was the founder of the Dreyfus Fund. In 1964, Life magazine called him the “Maverick Wizard Behind the Wall Street Lion,” in reference to the emblem of his fund and its aggressive marketing. Dreyfus, it said, was “the most singular and effective personality to appear in Wall Street since the days of Joseph Kennedy and Bernard Baruch.” His paternal grandfather was a first cousin of Alfred Dreyfus, the protagonist of the late 19th-century anti-Semitic scandal known as the Dreyfus Affair. Dreyfus sold his mutual fund company in 1970 and established the Dreyfus Health Foundation to pursue other medical applications for Dilantin which had cured his depression in the 1960s. In 2000, Dreyfus said that an account in The Arrogance of Power: The Secret World of Richard Nixon by Anthony Summers (New York: Viking, 2000) that he gave Dilantin to Richard Nixon in 1968 was correct. Dreyfus said he gave Nixon a bottle of 1,000 capsules of 100 milligrams each "when his mood wasn't too good", and later gave him another bottle of 1,000 capsules.

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