Printed and Manuscript Americana

Washington, D.C.: Published by the White House Historical Association, 1962. Special limited edition, #25a of only 75 copies. Presentation copy, inscribed by both John and Jacqueline Kennedy on limitation leaf, to National Security Advisor McGeorge Bundy: "For Mc George (sic) Bundy-- / with warm personal regards / John Kennedy / Christmas 1962 / For Mac / Jacqueline Kennedy". 8vo. Illustrated with color and black and white photographic reproductions. Full crimson morocco presentation binding, stamped in gilt, with Bundy's initials stamped in gilt on bottom front board ("McGB"), rebacked, joints and upper boards dry, scattered wear and scuffing; all edges trimmed; marbled endpapers.

A fine and rare presentation copy, inscribed by President John F. Kennedy and Jackie Kennedy to McGeorge Bundy (1919-96), United States National Security Advisor to both President Kennedy and President Lyndon B. Johnson, and one of the main architects of their foreign policy agendas. First Lady Jackie Kennedy oversaw the publication of this guide to the Executive Mansion as part of her extensive restoration and preservation of the White House. During the Kennedy's official Christmas party in 1962 (what would be President Kennedy's last Christmas), held on December 12, 1962, President and Mrs. Kennedy presented each member of the Kennedy administration with a present, one of these red leather-bound copies of the book, each inscribed to the recipient.

Part of a family with roots in education and public service, McGeorge Bundy served as a young intelligence officer in World War II. After graduate work, he became a professor of Government at Harvard, and later served as the Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences there. From 1961-66 he was the National Security Advisor to Presidents Kennedy and Johnson. He was involved in many of that era’s major foreign policy decisions and controversies, including the Bay of Pigs invasion, the Cuban Missile Crisis, and the sharply increasing U.S. involvement in the war in Vietnam. From 1966 to 1979 he served as president of the Ford Foundation, where his team led work supporting civil rights, the national expansion of public television, environmental action, ethical investing, and international development and cooperation. As professor of history at New York University from 1979 until his death in 1996, he studied and wrote about the history of nuclear weapons, becoming a forceful advocate for global arms control.