Lot 1068
Ronald Wilson Reagan (1911-2004), 40th President of the U.S. (1981-1989). Autograph Letter Signed, "Dutch", four full pages [two sheets], 7¼ x 10½ Los Angeles, December 17, 1951. On personalized "RWR" stationery, Reagan, while president of the Screen Actors Guild, written between his marriages to Jane Wyman and Nancy Davis, writes to Mrs. Florence Yerly, a recently divorced [or widowed] friend from his hometown, giving surprisingly candid and personally revealing advice on love, marriage and faith. In full:
"You spoke of your aunt and the 'ideals' she gave you… I too was raised in a home where 'ideals' similar… to your were taught, by my Mother. Now I have the highest regard for her and for her teachings but I have had to go on from there and find a 'code for living' in keeping with my conscience and knowledge of right and wrong… to meet my present needs on a foundation I learned from her. At the same time I have learned painfully that some 'idealism' is in effect a flight from reality. You say you believe there is one love in life for each of us— this is just not true. Can you believe that God means for millions of really young people to go on through life alone because a war robbed them of their first loves? Maybe you'll resent this Florence but I must say it— you have to look into your own heart and ask yourself if you really believe in one love now lost to you or if this is a shield behind which you hide because your past experience did not measure up to your girlhood dreams & now you fear men…
"I will grant you that all of us grow up with a 'moonlight and roses' outlook on romantic relationships and some times it comes hard to reconcile this dream with the actualities of physical contact. To show you how 'over idealistic' my training was— I awoke to the realization … that even in marriage I had a little guilty feeling about sex, as though the whole thing was tinged with evil… My personal belief [now] is that God couldn't create evil so the desires he planted in us are good, and the physical relationship between a man & woman is the highest form of companionship. If I can, I want to say all of this to my daughter. I want her to know that nothing between her and the man she loves can be wrong or obscene, that desire in it self is normal and right. There is one other thing I think she should know… I hope she'll have the common sense and good taste not to be promiscuous or involve her self in casual affairs but… I don't want her to be disgusted & convinced that his desire is an indication or moral decay and vulgarity… [L]ove is not a magic touch of cosmic dust that pre-ordains two people & two people only for each other… Now i'm going to seal this letter very quickly and mail it because if I read it over I won't have the nerve to send it…"
Accompanied by the original mailing envelope marked "Air mail" and addressed by Reagan, postmarked Los Angeles, Dec. 21, with Reagan’s imprint and handwritten address on reverse. Very Fine.
Estimate 20,000 - 25,000
MOST PERSONALLY REVEALING OF ALL HIS HOLOGRAPHIC LETTERS. AN IMPORTANT INCITE INTO HIS CHARACTER.
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| Realized $20,000 |
