President Bill Clinton Offers Condolences to Jeane Kirkpatrick, Ronald Reagan’s National Security Advisor and U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations

An uncommon ALS as president, with a full signature

 

We obtained this treasured letter from the Kirkpatrick family, and it has never before been offered for sale

Jeane Kirkpatrick was a lifelong Democrat, working in both state and national campaigns including Hubert Humphrey’s 1972 presidential campaign. She grew increasingly dissatisfied, however, with the Democratic Party’s liberal faction and in 1972 cofounded the Coalition for a Democratic Majority. Her conservative writings regarding U.S. foreign policy impressed Ronald Reagan, and during his 1980 presidential campaign she was his foreign policy advisor. Under President Reagan, she became the first woman to serve as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, serving from 1981 to 1985. She was also given cabinet rank and was also a member of Reagan’s national security team. She remained active in politics as a Republican.

Her husband Evron Kirkpatrick was a university professor and for many years was the director of the political science association. He died April 26, 1995, aged 83.

Jeanne had opposed many of the policies of President Clinton, accusing him of not maintaining the nation’s military preparedness, and arguing that Clinton allowed the United Nations to have control over United States troops in Eastern Europe. But when Kirkpatrick’s husband died, he sought to communicate his condolences.

Autograph letter signed, on White House letterhead, Washington, May 29, 1995, to Kirkpatrick. “Hillary and I were sorry to learn of your husband’s death. His building of the American Political Science Association was a remarkable achievement, though I suspect the life and family the two of you built together was even more remarkable.” This is atypically signed with his full name, when so many of his presidential letters are signed just “Bill.”

Uncommon, this being just the third ALS of Clinton as president that we have ever had, and the first signed “Bill Clinton.” We obtained this from the Kirkpatrick family, and it has never before been offered for sale.