Personal Badges for the 1960 Democratic National Convention; with Typed Letter Signed

Los Angeles: np, 1960. FIRST EDITION. Fine. ELEANOR ROOSEVELT'S OFFICIAL CONVENTION BADGES FOR THE 1960 DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL CONVENTION. With a signed letter from Roosevelt to her good friend Mayris Chaney concerning her arrival at the convention. TWO BADGES: Decorative medals held with red-white-and-blue ribbon, the first reading "Mrs. F.D. Roosevelt / Former First Lady" on two metal bars, between beautiful engraved patriotic designs at the top and bottom surrounding the text "United States of America" and "1960 Democratic National Convention Los Angeles"; the second badge, again with the beautiful patriotic emblems, reads "Honored Guest". The medals include the original box.

On July 10, 1960, the day before the Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles, Eleanor Roosevelt refused to ride in a limousine to a reception, preferring to walk half a mile with reporters. The absence of former President Harry Truman underscored the Democrats' break with the past and cast a warm light on former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, who attended the convention to support the faltering and ultimately doomed Presidential Campaign of Adlai Stevenson. In speaking for Stevenson, Roosevelt questioned whether Kennedy's Catholic faith might cost him votes and said he didn't have the support of African Americans. Instead, she backed a Stevenson-Kennedy political ticket. This trip in 1960 proved to be the final Political Convention which she attended. After the election, Roosevelt chaired the John F. Kennedy administration's ground-breaking Committee which helped start Second-wave Feminism, the "Presidential Commission on the Status of Women." In 1999, she was ranked in the top ten of Gallup's List of Most Widely Admired People of the 20th Century.

Her letter to Mayris Chaney (included in this collection) is typed on Roosevelt's personal New York City letterhead and reads in full:

June 24, 1960
Dearest Tiny:

I have had another change in plans and will arrive the night of July 10th getting in at 7:30 p.m. but you need not meet me as Frankie is having a car and driver at my disposal.

Let's hope this is the last change! Anyhow, it means I will be able to come to you sooner than I expected and this is a joy.
With much love,
Devotedly,
[signed] E.R.

[handwritten] Frankie is meeting me & - if avail we can come for you later after dinner.

Mayris Chaney (Mrs. Hershey Martin), was a renowned dancer who worked with Roosevelt in the Office of Civilian Defense, and one of her closet friends for almost twenty years. Their friendship began in the early thirties after Roosevelt's bodyguard Earl Miller introduced his charge to Chaney and her dance partner Eddie Fox. Roosevelt felt so at ease with Martin that she quickly nicknamed her "Tiny," included her in the close circle of friends with whom she could relax in private (at Val-Kill and the White House, in their homes, and on vacation) and served as Godmother to Martin's daughter Anna Eleanor (named after Eleanor Roosevelt). The letter includes the original mailing envelope.


A REMARKABLE HISTORICAL ARTIFACT.