Description:

Ronald Reagan
Washington, D.C., n.d.
Reagan On Playing Basketball in WWII and Admitting He Is "...bad on names..."
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Autograph note (unsigned), penned on a 4" x 5.26" sheet of White House notepaper, Washington, [n.d. but pre-1983]. Slight smudging to a few words, else fine. Impeccable provenance as this item comes from the files of Helene von Damm (b. 1938), Reagan's longtime personal secretary and later Ambassador to Austria, and gifted to our consignor, her White House assistant.

Reagan answers an inquiry from a media liaison directed to his secretary Helene von Damm, regarding playing basketball with Mayor Christopher Moritz during World War II. In full: "…Basketball Team I played on was First Mot[ion] Pic[tures] Unit Army Air Force - I'm bad on names & that was a long time ago, but if that's the team he was on we played together."

Reagan was called to active duty on April 19, 1942 and joined the Army Air Force the following month. He was assigned to public relations and to the 1st Motion Picture Unit in January, 1943. Reagan's service with the AAF was nothing short of extraordinary. According to the National Museum of the United States Air Force: "While on active duty with the 1st Motion Picture Unit and the 18th AAFBU, Reagan served as Personnel Officer, Post Adjutant, Executive Officer, and even Commanding Officer, often two or more at the same time. On May 15, 1945, in a memo to Gen. H.H. 'Hap' Arnold, Commanding General of the AAF, Maj. Gen. James P. Hodges, the Assistant Chief of the Air Staff for Intelligence, wrote that Reagan 'has proven himself to be an officer of exceptional ability, demonstrating unusual initiative, and performs his duties in a superior manner. Captain Reagan has received a 'superior' efficiency rating continually since 1 Jul., 1943.' The reference to 'unusual initiative' undoubtedly resulted, at least in part, from Reagan repeatedly volunteering to assist in producing and narrating AAF motion pictures, in addition to his regular duties. By the end of the war, his military units had produced 400 training films for the AAF."

In contrast, disgraced Mayor of Seymour, Indiana, Christopher Moritz (1912-1995) would resign on March 29, 1983 after being found him guilty of four counts of accepting bribes while in office. He was sentenced to five years in prison and barred from holding public office for ten years. Moritz began serving his sentence on December 8, 1984.

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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  • Dimensions: 4" x 5.25"
  • Medium: AD

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October 30, 2024 10:00 AM EDT
Wilton, CT, US

University Archives

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