American Political History George H. W. Bush Personal Correspondence During His Second Vice Presidential Term, 1985

George Bush

Manuscripts & Autographs

Bush, George H. W. Letter to “Cy,” 1985, documents the personal correspondence of the sitting vice president during Ronald Reagan’s second administration, preserving an informal exchange that reveals Bush’s conversational manner within his private network of associates. Written on October 29, 1985, nine months after Bush began his second vice presidential term, the letter belongs to the period preceding his successful campaign for the presidency and supports research into political personality, executive correspondence, and the social relationships maintained by senior federal officials. Bush served as the forty-third vice president from 1981 through 1989 and was sworn in for his second term in January 1985.

Bush, George H. W. October 29, 1985. One typed letter signed, with an additional autograph note, on White House stationery bearing the gold seal of the Vice President of the United States; dimensions not supplied. Addressed “Dear Cy,” the typed text reads in full: “Many thanks for your letter of October 25 and the tape. That was thoughtful of you to forward it and I appreciate it. Please give Audrey my best. Warm regards,” followed by Bush’s handwritten comment, “I look at the end first...” and his familiar black-ink signature, “George B.” The reference to an enclosure received four days earlier places the letter within a continuing personal exchange, while the handwritten aside adds an unguarded and humorous response not conveyed by the formal typed text.

Produced during Bush’s second term as vice president, the letter offers a compact example of the mixture of official presentation and personal informality found in high-level political correspondence: vice presidential stationery and seal frame a brief acknowledgment whose most distinctive element is Bush’s spontaneous manuscript comment. The recipient’s identity and the contents of the referenced tape remain unverified and are therefore not attributed. No defects are noted in the supplied description; near fine. A characteristic signed communication combining formal executive-branch stationery with a personal handwritten aside by a future president.

Item #7148

Price: $295.00