MAGAZINE PORTRAIT SIGNED BY AMERICAN DIPLOMAT HENRY P. FLETCHER WHO SERVED UNDER SIX PRESIDENTS.

Circa [1930]., [1930].. Good. - 4-3/8 inch high by 2-3/8 inch wide black-and-white portrait clipped from a magazine & mounted on a 6-1/4 inch high by 2-7/8 inch wide piece of cream card. Signed "Henry P. Fletcher". The lower left edge of the portrait is roughly cut & there is some light soiling to the mount. Good. <p>Fletcher adds after his signature "To Seymour Halpern". Future Congressman Seymour Halpern was then a young autograph collector. <p>In 1898 when the Spanish-American War broke out Henry Prather Fletcher [1873-1959] joined Theodore Roosevelt's Rough Riders as a private and served in the U.S. Army in Cuba and he Philippines for two years. After the war he entered the diplomatic service under President Roosevelt as Secondary Secretary of the U.S. legation in Havana, Cuba. Between 1909 and 1924 Fletcher was successively appointed U.S. Minister to Chile and Ambassador to Chile, Mexico, Belgium and Italy. He also served in the State Department from 1920-1922, first as director of Latin American affairs and then as Under Secretary of State.<p>The Queens, New York Republican Congressman Seymour Halpern (1913-1997) started his political career as a campaign aide to New York's powerful mayor Fiorella La Guardia and first served in New York's State Senate for 14 years before seeking a seat in the U.S. Congress. In Albany Halpern sponsored 279 bills that became law, including measures on schools, housing, civil rights, nutrition and mental health. A Liberal, he was something of an anomaly as the lone Republican representative from New York City, and generally garnered support from Labor Unions and endorsement from the Liberal Party. Yet he never even considered switching parties as he considered membership in the Republican Party a family tradition and commitment. While he found ample time for his private pursuits, including painting and collecting autographs, he took his legislative duties very seriously. Of these, he was proudest of his co-sponsorship of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and of the original 1965 Medicare legislation.