Description:

Wilson Woodrow 1856 - 1924

President Woodrow Wilson TLS: unable to fast track Customs promotion in 1913.

1pp TLS on Whiting's Woven Linen watermarked "The White House, Washington" letterhead signed by 28th U.S. President Woodrow Wilson as "Woodrow Wilson" in pencil near bottom right corner. Blue typewriting on cream paper. In very good condition, with expected horizontal paper folds, a few smudges in the left margin, some light paperclip ghost impressions in the upper left corner, and a thin strip of paper adhered along left margin verso. Page measures 6.875" x 8.75".

On August 14, 1913, President Woodrow Wilson wrote a regretful note to "Mr. Paul W. Pope, U.S. Customs Service, Port of Philadelphia" from the White House.

"My dear Pope:

I wish very much that it were possible for me at present to assist you to a promotion. I have been in conference with the Secretary several times about it, and it really cannot be done just now. I cordially wish that it might be.

In haste

Most sincerely yours,

Woodrow Wilson"

In August 1913, Woodrow Wilson (1856-1924) had been President for five months. The classically educated university professor and administrator with a passion for political science entered politics in 1910. After a two-year stint as Governor of New Jersey, Wilson was elected President. He would lead the country until 1921.

Wilson's correspondent Paul W. Pope was a classmate from Princeton University, where the two had graduated together in 1879. Wilson had pursued academia while Pope had landed a government job with the U.S. Customs Service in the port of Philadelphia. It is possible that Pope, capitalizing on his alumni connections, asked the newly inaugurated President Wilson to pull some strings for him. Wilson was regretfully unable to do so. He had talked to "the Secretary", referring to Secretary of the Treasury William G. McAdoo (1863-1941), who judged such a promotion impossible. While Wilson's letter expresses equal parts of remorse and good will, it also doesn't promise anything. The 1917 Directory of Living Alumni of Princeton University indicated that Pope was still languishing at his Philadelphia Customs post four years later.

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