Held on October 4-5 in Beverly Hills, the sale saw the important documents sell with a 67.3% increase on their $25,000 high estimate, realising $41,825.
 Kennedy would go on to become the youngest US president ever elected |
On January 2, 1960 Massachusetts senator John F Kennedy officially announced his candidacy to become the president of the United States. The collection holds various drafts for the speech that he would later deliver to the public.
The first of the four drafts included is believed to be one of the earliest Kennedy would have made. Handwritten on his personal Palm Beach letterhead, it includes several corrections, with the would-be president crossing out words and entire sentences.
The second draft is a more refined, longer version in an unknown hand. It builds on the first draft and includes the confident assertion that Kennedy can win the election.
Also included was a two-page typed draft, which is titled TCS DRAFT and shows Kennedy's handwritten notations. This is the first of the drafts to make mention to the Soviet Union, and many of the parts included in this copy were to be included in the final draft, showing that the speech was near completion.
The fourth draft, another typed copy, is very close to what Kennedy delivered to the public on January 2, with just a few additional notations in both Kennedy's and an unknown hand. It was this version of the speech that would prove instrumental in defeating Richard Nixon in one of the closest elections of the 20th century.
Paul Fraser Collectibles has a brilliant range of John F Kennedy memorabilia, including one of his exceptionally rare "posthumous" autographs. We also have authentic strands of the president's hair, as well as an original presidential campaign poster.
