Seth Kaller, Inc.

Before John F. Kennedy could defeat Richard Nixon in the election of 1960, he had to win his party’s nomination against veteran Senator Lyndon Johnson and perennial candidate Adlai Stevenson. Kennedy did so handily, on the first ballot of the convention.

HARRY S. TRUMAN. Pamphlet Inscribed and Signed. 1960 Democratic National Convention program, Los Angeles, signed in 1964. “To Robert William Bean Kindest regards 1/22/64 Harry Truman / It’s a great platform!” 3¾ x 8½ in.

Inventory #23216       Price: $1,650

Excerpts:

In 1796, in America’s first contested national election, our Party, under the leadership of Thomas Jefferson, campaigned on the principles of “The Rights of Man.” Ever since, these four words have underscored our identity with the plain people of America and the world. In periods of national crisis, we Democrats have returned to these words for renewed strength. ...

The common danger of mankind is war and the threat of war. Today, three billion human beings live in fear that some rash act or blunder may plunge us all into a nuclear holocaust which will leave only ruined cities, blasted homes, and a poisoned earth and sky. Our objective, however, is not the right to coexist in armed camps on the same planet with totalitarian ideologies; it is the creation of an enduring peace in which the universal values of human dignity, truth, and justice under law are finally secured for all men everywhere on earth....

The revision of immigration and nationality laws we seek will implement our belief that enlightened immigration, naturalization and refugee policies and humane administration of them are important aspects of our foreign policy. These laws will bring greater skills to our land, reunite families, permit the United States to meet its fair share of world programs of rescue and rehabilitation, and take advantage of immigration as an important factor in the growth of the American economy...

At the bottom of the income scale are some eight million families whose earnings are too low to provide even basic necessities of food, shelter, and clothing. We pledge to raise the minimum wage to $1.25 an hour and to extend coverage to several million workers not now protected....

Many Americans have neither incomes nor insurance protection to enable them to pay for modern health care. The problem is particularly acute with our older citizens, among whom serious illness strikes most often. We shall provide medical care benefits for the aged as part of the time-tested Social Security insurance system. We reject any proposal which would require such citizens to submit to the indignity of a means test—a “pauper’s oath.”...

We support legislation which will guarantee to women equality of rights under the law, including equal pay for equal work....

A thin layer of earth, a few inches of rain, and a blanket of air make human life possible on our planet. Sound public policy must assure that these essential resources will be available to provide the good life for our children and future generations. Water, timber and grazing lands, recreational areas in our parks, shores, forests and wildernesses, energy, minerals, even pure air—all are feeling the press of enormously increased demands of a rapidly growing population....

With democratic values threatened today by Communist tyranny, we reaffirm our dedication to the Bill of Rights. Freedom and civil liberties, far from being incompatible with security, are vital to our national strength...

The new Democratic President will sign, not veto, the efforts of a Democratic Congress to create more jobs, to build more homes, to save family farms, to clean up polluted streams and rivers, to help depressed areas, and to provide full employment for our people...

We shall also seek to create an affirmative new atmosphere in which to deal with racial divisions and inequalities which threaten both the integrity of our democratic faith and the proposition on which our nation was founded—that all men are created equal. ...The Democratic Administration which takes office next January will therefore use the full powers provided in the Civil Rights Acts of 1957 and 1960 to secure for all Americans the right to vote. To accomplish these goals will require executive orders, legal actions brought by the Attorney General, legislation, and improved Congressional procedures to safeguard majority rule....

The Democratic President who takes office next January will face unprecedented challenges. His Administration will present a new face to the world. It will be a bold, confident, affirmative face. We will draw new strength from the universal truths which the founder of our Party asserted in the Declaration of Independence to be “self-evident.”... For 7½ years America, governed by the Party of Memory, has taken a holiday from history. As the Party of Hope it is our responsibility and opportunity to call forth the greatness of the American people. In this spirit, we hereby rededicate ourselves to the continuing service of the Rights of Man-everywhere in America and everywhere else on God’s earth.

Condition

Very fine

References

http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=29602