George Bush Autograph Letter Signed as President

ALS as president, one page both sides, 6.5 x 4, engraved White House stationery card letterhead, December 15, 1989. Handwritten letter to an unknown recipient named "Joe," in full: "I was delighted by Randy Hearst's editorial about China. Will you please tell him he is 'right on' but, more, that I am very grateful. Have a very Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Decade." In very fine condition.

Randolph Apperson Hearst (1915â€â€œ2000) was the eldest and last surviving son of newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst as well as the father of Patty Hearst, whose 1974 kidnapping by the Symbionese Liberation Army was a media sensation. Randy, as he was known, was president and editor of The San Francisco Examiner as well as chairman of the Hearst Corporation from 1973â€â€œ1996.

In June 1989, the Chinese government earned international condemnation for its violent suppression of student protests in Tiananmen Square during which martial law was declared and hundreds were killed. The suppression of the pro-democracy movement led Western nations to impose sanctions and arms embargos.