Autumn 2020 Catalogue

45 American Heroes & Leaders Autumn 2020 Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “Extraordinary Manifesto… Would Shake American Politics And Reverberate Throughout The World” 45. KING, Martin Luther, Jr. An Appeal To The Honorable John F. Kennedy President of the United States. For National Rededication to the Principles of the Emancipation Proclamation and for an Executive Order Prohibiting Segregation in the United States of America. Atlanta, May 17, 1962. $16,800. Click for more info Rare May 17, 1962 printing of Dr. King’s bold Appeal calling for President Kennedy to issue a “second Emancipation Proclamation.” This copy belonged to King’s secretary. After Martin Luther King, Jr. made several attempts to confirm a meeting with Kennedy, the president finally consented in October 1961. That day, as King and Kennedy were walking down a hallway in the residence, “King saw the Emancipation Proclamation hanging on the wall in the Lincoln Bedroom... King suggested that perhaps the president would consider issuing a second Emancipation Proclamation for January of 1963, on the 100th anniversary of the first one.” When Kennedy suggested he would consider it, King spent six months with his lawyers in researching and drafting “a second Emancipation in Kennedy’s name” (Branch & Edwards, A Second Emancipation ). This very rare May 17, 1962 document, which came from Maude Ballou, King’s secretary, includes King’s electrifying Preamble, along with nearly 50-pages of text and a 34-page Appendix A that together cite “hundreds of legal precedents” (Blight & Scharfstein). Yet Kennedy “did not respond to King’s draft proclamation even by private letter” (Branch, Parting the Waters , 589-900). Kennedy’s final compromise was a bill, culminating in the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Original front wrapper printed: “Submitted May 17, 1962 by The Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. President, Southern Christian Leadership Conference, Atlanta, Ga.” This copy comes fromMaude Ballou, King’s secretary. Text fine; light edge-wear to front wrapper. A rare and exceptional copy in about-fine condition.