Lot 99
Harry S. Truman, 33rd President of the United States, 1945-1953. Typed Letter Signed "Harry S. Truman" as ex-President, one page, 7¼" x 10½". Independence, Missouri, July 22, 1966, to James E. Webb, Administrator, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Washington, D.C., accompanied with original 7½" x 4" printed franked envelope, staple holes in blank upper edge of letter and right edge of envelope, Very Fine.Estimate $750 - 1,000.
TRUMAN THANKS THE NASA ADMINISTRATOR - WHO DIRECTED THE SPACE PROGRAM FROM MERCURY TO APOLLO - FOR AN INSCRIBED COPY OF NASA'S FIRST "ADMINISTRATIVE HISTORY.".
Letter reads in full, In full, "Dear Jim: Thank you for your good letter of July 15th, and the hook 'An Administrative History of NASA 1958-1963'. I appreciate most highly your thoughtfulness in remembering me with a copy of the hook and am most grateful for the kind inscription on the fly-leaf. I hope everything is going well with you and am sure it is." Also accompanied by an unsigned carbon of Webb's July 15, 1966 letter to Truman thanking him for the generous support.
James F. Webb served as Truman's Director of the Bureau of the Budget from July 13, 1946 to January 27, 1949, and as his Under Secretary of State from January 28, 1949 to February 29, 1952. He was NASA Administrator from February 14, 1961, 11 weeks before Alan Shepard's first manned Mercury mission, until October 7, 1968, four days before the launch of Apollo 7, the first manned Apollo mission.