In a Very Rare Important ALS as President, Chester Arthur Thanks One of the Powerful Party Men Who Unsuccessfully Advanced His Incumbent Candidacy at the 1884 Republican Convention

By 1884 President Chester Arthur had won the respect of many who had viewed his accession to office on the assassination of James A. Garfield with misgivings. It had not, however, gained him any strong following among the leaders of his party. The foremost candidate for the Republican nomination was therefore not Arthur, the sitting president, but the perennially powerful James G. Blaine, this despite opposition from those who believed he was too partisan in spirit or that he was vulnerable to charges of corruption while Speaker of the House years before. On June 6, 1884, Blaine was nominated on the fourth ballot. This was, however, not without a fight. Arthur lined up powerful men on his side during the convention, which he monitored by telegraph. Among the handful at the convention who put forth his name and advocated for him was Cornelius Bliss, who would go on to serve in several important party posts, and would be McKinley’s Interior Secretary and Theodore Roosevelt’s 1904 campaign manager.

Autograph letter signed, as President, on Executive Mansion letterhead, Washington, June 11, 1884, to Bliss, expressing gratitude in the immediate wake of his loss of the nomination. “My dear Mr. Bliss, I expect to be in New York in a few days and I hope to see you then. I want to thank you personally for all you have done so devotedly and unselfishly in my cause. I really appreciate the labors and trials and sacrifices.”

Full ALSs of Arthur as president are very uncommon. In all our decades in this field, we have never seen a better content one, making this a true rarity. We obtained this letter direcly from the Bliss descendants, and it has never before been offered for sale.