A THOUSAND DAYS, A DISTINCTIVE PRESENTATION/ASSOCIATION COPY INSCRIBED BY SCHLESINGER TO PIONEERING COMPOSER AND LYRICIST ANN RONELL, FAMED FOR JAZZ CLASSICS SUCH AS "WILLOW WEEP FOR ME" AND "THE FIRST WOMAN" TO WRITE MUSIC AND LYRICS FOR A BROADWAY SHOW

(KENNEDY, John F.) SCHLESINGER, Arthur M., Jr. A Thousand Days: John F. Kennedy in the White House. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1965. Octavo, original blue and red cloth gilt, original dust jacket. $950.

First trade edition of Schlesinger's Pulitzer Prize-winning history of the Kennedy administration, a memorable presentation/association copy inscribed on the title page by him to the Oscar-nominated composer and lyricist, "For Ann Ronell with great regard, Arthur M. Schlesinger."

Eminent historian Schlesinger's name is inseparable from that of the president whose administration he so influenced. More than anyone, Schlesinger crafted the "Camelot myth," describing the Kennedy administration in glowing, hagiographic terms. Officially, he served as special assistant to President Kennedy, as well as speechwriter for all three Kennedy brothers. He first befriended the family when he and the Kennedy's eldest son, Joseph, were classmates at Harvard together. In his prose, he was an unabashed booster of liberal presidents throughout American history: "From The Age of Jackson to The Age of Roosevelt to the two Kennedy biographies (which could as easily have been called "The Age of the Kennedys"), Dr. Schlesinger can be seen to have written a gapped history of 150 years of "triumphant liberalism" (The Boston Globe). A Thousand Days won the National Book Award in 1965 and a Pulitzer Prize for Biography in 1966. Published the same year as a signed limited edition (1000 copies), no priority established. This copy is inscribed by Schlesinger to renowned composer and lyricist Ann Ronell. A "pioneer in film scoring," she was the first woman to conduct a major film sound track in Tomorrow the World (1944), and earned two Oscar nominations for her work on The Story of G.I. Joe (1945). Ronell also broke new ground in writing both the lyrics and music for Count Me In (1942): "the first woman to do so for a Broadway show" (ANB). She is perhaps best known for co-writing "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?" with Frank Church, and is highly regarded in jazz circles for her song, "Willow Weep for Me." Dedicated to her mentor George Gershwin, it has been recorded by Billie Holiday, Thelonius Monk and Ella Fitzgerald. Elected to the Song Writers Hall of Fame in 1991, Ronell died in 1993.

Only faint soiling to fore-edges of about-fine book; light edge-wear, trace of dampstaining to verso of near-fine dust jacket.