Signed Photograph of John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson and Harry S. Truman.

“To President Kennedy per your request – here are our hands, our hearts, our votes": Inscribed by Presidents Lyndon B. Johnson and Harry S. Truman to President John F. Kennedy

Signed Photograph of John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson and Harry S. Truman.

KENNEDY, John F.; Harry S. Truman; Lyndon B. Johnson.

Item Number: 65010

Photograph of Presidents John F. Kennedy, Harry S. Truman and Lyndon B. Johnson in a three-way handshake, taken on January 20, 1962 at the Grand Staircase, Entrance Hall at the White House. Inscribed by both Johnson and Truman to Kennedy, “To President Kennedy per your request – here are our hands, our hearts, our votes – Lyndon B. Johnson.” Inscribed by Truman “From Harry Truman to a great president, John F. Kennedy, February 19, 1962.” A rare photograph capturing three significant figureheads of the Democratic Party. In fine condition. Photograph by Robert L. Knudsen. From the collection of President Kennedy, later owned by his friend and special assistant, David Powers. Double matted and framed. The entire piece measures 18.5 inches by 24 inches.  An exceptional piece of history, inscribed by two presidents to another president.

President John F. Kennedy delivered his Inaugural Address on January 20th, 1961 from the eastern portico of the United States Capitol. In his opening words, he greeted Vice President Johnson, President Eisenhower, Vice President Nixon, and President Truman, all of whom were in attendance in addition to notable literary figures Ernest Hemingway, John Steinbeck, and Robert Frost who recited his poem ‘The Gift Outright’ at Kennedy’s request. The first to be delivered to a televised audience in color, Kennedy’s address is considered among the best presidential inaugural speeches in American history. Kennedy and his speech writer Ted Sorensen studied the speech-writing of President Abraham Lincoln when crafting the address which included Kennedy’s resonating request, “And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.” Following the address, Kennedy was joined on the platform by his predecessors Harry S. Truman and Dwight D. Eisenhower, and future presidents Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard M. Nixon, and Gerald Ford; notably the largest gathering of the ‘presidential fraternity’ in American history. The Pre-Inaugural Ceremonies, Inaugural Speech, and Proceedings were all diligently documented by White House photographer Robert L. Knudsen, who chronicled almost three decades of major White House events including the 1948 and 1952 elections of President Truman, the autopsy of President Kennedy in 1963, and President Nixon's 1974 farewell in the wake of the Watergate-scandal.

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