Reagan, Ronald | Governor Reagan anticipates great things from "that tall young fellow at U.C.L.A. Alcindor"

Reagan, Ronald
Group of 4 items, 3 of them signed by Ronald Reagan ("RR"; "Ron") as gubernatorial candidate and as Governor of California, mostly correspondence with other Republican governors of the period, and including an reference by Reagan to Lew Alcindor (later Kareem Abdul-Jabbar)

Carbon copy of Reagan's 7 May 1965 letter to Richard Nixon regarding infighting among the Republican Party of California: "I assure you there will be no first blows or even second struck by me. Just between us I wish the other boys would get the idea. So far, [Senator Thomas] Kuchel, [San Francisco Mayor George] Christopher and [former governor Goodwin] Knight have tee'd off with some rather below the belt quotes. But you have my promise—I'll speak no evil (except about Democrats) and I'll act like I hear no evil, but that will test my acting ability"; endorsed at the top margin by Reagan, "This is my answer to Dick Nixon's attached letter. RR" —

Autograph letter draft signed ("RR"), to Alaska Governor Walter J. Hickel, docketed at head "Feb. '67," thanking Hickel for "the copy of your splendid messages" and commenting "Nancy & I have often talked of your great wonderland and hope some day we'll be able to see it." —

2 items evidently stemming from a bet placed on the 1967 NBA finals by Reagan and Pennsylvania Governor Raymond Shafer (the Philadelphia 76ers, led by Wilt Chamberlain and Billy Cunningham defeated the [then] San Francisco Warriors of Nate Thurmond and Rick Barry four games to two): a photocopy of Shafer's 29 May 1967 letter to Reagan, stamped "24 Hr. Ack. Necessary" and noting "The orange juice is delicious … It tastes better here, you know." — Reagan's autograph reply draft signed ("Ron"), docketed at head "6/8/67": "So our oranges taste better than basketballs—this we always knew. Just wait until that tall young fellow at U.C.L.A. Alcindor grows up—I'll be eating apples."

Together 4 items, each one page on a variety of papers (3 approx. 254 x 205 mm, one smaller)

PROVENANCE:
Sotheby's New York, 29 October 1986, lot 118

Condition Report:
Condition as described in catalogue entry.