Autograph letter
By Spock, Benjamin
Two pages, 8vo., on personal stationery, signed "Ben Spock," to New York Mayor John Lindsay; New York, circa 1967; approximately 180 words; unpublished. "Dear Mayor Lindsay, In our hearing in the Federal Court of Appeals on the 7th, it became clear that the government had finally conceded that the Whitehall St. demonstration had nothing to do with the rest of the so-called conspiracy and that it was not intended to be anything but symbolic. In the words of the lawyers and the justices, the latter point was always proved by references to the fact that the Mayor of New York himself entered the negotiations to make sure there was no violence. In general, the intentions of the three justices indicated that they were doubtful about any conspiracy. So your generosity in testifying in Boston was crucial in removing Whitehall from the case. And the removal of Whitehall was important in throwing doubt on the whole idea of conspiracy. We owe a lot to you and will always be grateful." ---- According to "Time," December 1967 was billed as "Stop the Draft and End the War Week." The biggest turnout was in Manhattan, where a crowd of up to 2,000 surrounded the Whitehall Street induction center near city hall, and surged through the rest of Manhattan playing antidraft tag with twice as many police for four straight days. Greeted by freezing temperatures and the ominous rattle of police clubs on the barricades, the demonstrators never managed to reach the main door of the center. Police allowed Dr. Benjamin Spock, poet Allen Ginsberg and author Susan Sontag, among others, to sit-in symbolically on the cold stone steps, then just as symbolically arrested them. An important piece of protest Americana.
Publication year:
Vendor: North Star Rare Books & Manuscripts
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By Spock, Benjamin
Two pages, 8vo., on personal stationery, signed "Ben Spock," to New York Mayor John Lindsay; New York, circa 1967; approximately 180 words; unpublished. "Dear Mayor Lindsay, In our hearing in the Federal Court of Appeals on the 7th, it became clear that the government had finally conceded that the Whitehall St. demonstration had nothing to do with the rest of the so-called conspiracy and that it was not intended to be anything but symbolic. In the words of the lawyers and the justices, the latter point was always proved by references to the fact that the Mayor of New York himself entered the negotiations to make sure there was no violence. In general, the intentions of the three justices indicated that they were doubtful about any conspiracy. So your generosity in testifying in Boston was crucial in removing Whitehall from the case. And the removal of Whitehall was important in throwing doubt on the whole idea of conspiracy. We owe a lot to you and will always be grateful." ---- According to "Time," December 1967 was billed as "Stop the Draft and End the War Week." The biggest turnout was in Manhattan, where a crowd of up to 2,000 surrounded the Whitehall Street induction center near city hall, and surged through the rest of Manhattan playing antidraft tag with twice as many police for four straight days. Greeted by freezing temperatures and the ominous rattle of police clubs on the barricades, the demonstrators never managed to reach the main door of the center. Police allowed Dr. Benjamin Spock, poet Allen Ginsberg and author Susan Sontag, among others, to sit-in symbolically on the cold stone steps, then just as symbolically arrested them. An important piece of protest Americana.
Publication year:
Vendor: North Star Rare Books & Manuscripts
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