Hale Boggs-signed letter-17

Pricing & History

Sold for
Start Free Trial or Sign In to see what it's worth.
Sold Date
Source eBay

You are bidding on a Hale Boggs Autographed letter. Thomas Hale Boggs, Sr. (born February 15, 1914; presumed to have died on October 16, 1972 but not declared dead until January 3, 1973) was an American Democratic politician and a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from New Orleans , Louisiana . He was the House majority leader . In 1972, while he was still Majority Leader, the twin engine airplane in which Boggs was traveling disappeared over a remote section of Alaska . The airplane presumably crashed and was never found. Congressman Nick Begich was also presumed killed in the same accident. In 1960, the Republican Elliot Ross Buckley, a cousin of William F. Buckley Jr. , challenged Boggs but drew only 22,818 votes (22 percent) to the incumbent's 81,034 ballots (78 percent). The Kennedy -Johnson ticket easily won in Louisiana that year. In 1962, 1964, and 1968, David C. Treen , a Metairie , lawyer who became the first Louisiana Republican governor in 1980, challenged Boggs for reelection. Treen built on Buckley�s efforts in the first contest, and Goldwater 's momentum in Louisiana helped in the second race. It was in the 1968 election, however, that Treen fared the best: 77,633 votes (48.8 percent) to Boggs's 81,537 ballots (51.2 percent). Treen attributed Boggs's victory to the supporters of former Alabama Governor George C. Wallace Jr. , who ran for president on the American Independent Party ticket. Treen said that Wallace supporters �became very cool to my candidacy. We couldn�t really believe they would support Boggs, but several Democratic organizations did come out for Wallace and Boggs, and he received just enough Wallace votes to give him the election.� Republican officials seemed convinced that fraudulent votes in some Orleans Parish precincts benefited Boggs and that Treen may have actually won the election [citation needed ]. There were rumors [who? ] of election officials who cast votes for people who did not show up at the polls and signed for them in the precinct registers. President Lyndon B. Johnson with House Majority Whip Boggs During his tenure in Congress, Boggs was an influential player in the government. After Brown v. Board of Education he signed the Southern Manifesto condemning desegregation in the 1950s and opposed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 . Yet unlike most southern congressmen of his era, he supported the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the Open Housing Act of 1968 . He was instrumental in passage of the interstate highway program in 1956 and was a member of the Warren Commission in 1963–64. He served as Majority Whip from 1962 to 1971 and as majority leader from January 1971 until his disappearance. As the whip, he ushered much of President Johnson's Great Society legislation through Congress. In 1968, while Dean Rusk was testifying in a hearing concerning the Vietnam War, Boggs interrupted the session to announce the invasion of Czechoslovakia by the troops of the Soviet Union, after hearing a broadcast telling the Czech and Slovak people not to take any action. This caused Rusk, who was unaware of the situation, while immediately into seeking more about the cause of the invasion. (Source: Walter Cronkite: "The Way it Was: The 1960s") In April 1971 he made a speech on the floor of the House in which he strongly attacked FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover and the whole of the FBI. This led to a conversation on April 6, 1971, between then-President Richard M. Nixon and the Republican minority leader, Gerald R. Ford, Jr. , in which Nixon said that he could no longer take counsel from Boggs as a senior member of Congress. In the recording of this call, Nixon is heard to ask Ford to arrange for the House delegation to include an alternative to Boggs. Ford speculates that Boggs is on pills as well as alcohol. Autograph is signed in Blue Sharpie. I would rate this autograph at a minimum of 9/10 but will more likely be 10/10!! as this is guaranteed to be the REAL deal!! read more

Items in the Price Guide are obtained exclusively from licensors and partners solely for our members’ research needs.

Flag item for content or copyright

If this item contains incorrect or inappropriate information please contact us here to flag it for review.

If you are the originator/copyright holder of this photo/item and would prefer it be excluded from our community, contact us here for removal.