The Missive That Went Astray

The evening of Oct. 7, 1960, Jackie Kennedy's husband was due to appear on television for the second of four live-TV debates with Richard Nixon. What to do? If you are Jackie Kennedy, you send invitations to a handful of close friends to watch the debate with you. True, it was not exactly a handful (more than 50 people showed up), and it was not exactly a homey affair--the address she gave was actually Washington's La Salle Hotel, where Jackie had hired a large suite. One of her invitations went to the wife of her husband's running mate, Lady Bird Johnson.

The letter was a model of politesse. "Dear Mrs. Johnson--I just heard you were going to be in town today and wondered if you would like to listen to the Debate with us--I'm having a Listening Party at 1028 Connecticut Ave. and would love it if you came and brought anyone you like--" Then, as if to dismiss the whole affair as unimportant, she added, "But I expect you are exhausted from your travels (I loved your story in the N.Y. Herald Tribune) and are looking forward to relaxing and watching TV at home--if so, I understand perfectly!"

Quick Eye. Lady Bird was handed the letter along with several other pieces of mail, while switching planes at Washington's National Airport. After shuffling through the papers, she handed them over to a Democratic Party campaign worker, asking her to decline Jackie's invitation because she had to be in Baltimore with Lyndon the night of the debate.

The aide, Mrs. Lucianne Cummings, a blonde Washington public-relations consultant, stuffed the letter with a bunch of campaign souvenirs into a closet. Coming across it a few months ago and realizing the value of a letter between a once and a present First Lady, she turned it over to Manhattan Autograph Dealer Charles Hamilton to sell at auction. A year ago, Hamilton had sold a particularly poignant letter from Jackie to an unknown Englishman for a record $3,000; he thought this one would bring at least $1,000.

Without Authority. As it turned out, no one ever got to put in a bid. When Lady Bird heard that the letter was up for sale, she asked Liz Carpenter, her press secretary, to get it back. After trying unsuccessfully three times to reach Hamilton by phone, Liz dispatched a firm note requesting the letter's return. "Mrs. Johnson is absolutely certain," she wrote, "that she has never given away any letter sent to her by Mrs. Kennedy--in fact, it has always been her policy to retain all letters sent to her personally. Accordingly, we can only conclude that the letter was taken without authority or that it was inadvertently lost. In either event, we are exceedingly anxious that this be returned to Mrs. Johnson, the rightful owner, and trust that you will see to it that it is delivered without delay."

Lady Bird's reaction was reasonable enough. But her aides seemed to be ready to treat the incident like the theft of an atomic secret. Anyone who would abscond with such a letter was obviously "untrustworthy," Liz told the press, and the whole affair might be a "security matter." Two Secret Service men were dispatched to Hamilton's office to extract the name of the letter seller.

Yards of Copy. Being the best publicist in the autograph business, Hamilton made an appointment to meet the Secret Service men in his office at a specific time, then sent notes to newspapers and magazines all over town to make sure they would be on hand. When the S.S. men showed up, a host of reporters and photographers were waiting for them, having already been fed yards of copy by Hamilton himself. Said he: "I don't like Mrs. Johnson's use of the Secret Service as a go-between. It seems a little Gestapo-ish." Then Mrs. Cummings stepped forward to say, with a gulp, "I didn't realize how personally embarrassing this would be to Mrs. Johnson."

As with all bad Hollywood melodramas, everything worked out in the end. Lady Bird got back her letter, and Hamilton had several thousand dollars' worth of free publicity. And the brouhaha had certainly spectacularly enhanced the letter's value. If, in some unpredictable future, it should ever again come on the market, it would probably command $10,000.

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