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Lot 13

KENNEDY, JOHN FITZGERALD. 1917-1963.
Photographs Signed ("John F. Kennedy") as President and Inscribed, "For General Norstad / With high esteem - / appreciation, and / very best wishes - / January 1963,"

4 June 2014, 13:00 EDT
New York

US$5,000 - US$7,000

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KENNEDY, JOHN FITZGERALD. 1917-1963.

Photographs Signed ("John F. Kennedy") as President and Inscribed, "For General Norstad / With high esteem - / appreciation, and / very best wishes - / January 1963," being a group of 7 gelatin silver prints, 3 1/2 x 5 1/2 to 4 1/2 x 6 1/2 inches, 1963, capturing President Kennedy awarding the Distinguished Service Medal to General Lauris Norstad, signed and inscribed on the mat, photos matted together and framed.

INSCRIBED BY PRESIDENT KENNEDY TO NATO SUPREME ALLIED COMMANDER EUROPE, GENERAL LAURIS NORSTAD. A tastefully displayed photodocument of the January 1963 ceremony at the White House awarding General Norstad the Air Force Distinguished Service Medal. Both Kennedy and Norstad appear in all 7 photographs, with Kennedy signing and inscribing on the mat.
A West Point graduate, Norstad (1907-1988) served with distinction as an Air Force officer during World War II, before taking on a variety of roles within the Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe following the formation of NATO. In 1956 he was appointed Supreme Allied Commander Europe, a position he held until 1963. During his tenure as Supreme Commander, General Norstad "gained the respect of President Kennedy for the workmanlike manner in which he oversaw the forces of the alliance during the 1961 crisis in which East Germany cut off East Berlin from the West by building the wall that seal[ed] it off from West Berlin. Yet General Norstad had his differences with the Kennedy Administration ... [he] saw his own role as that of an international Allied servant, and not only a United States general, a view not well-received in the Kennedy Administration" (New York Times obituary, September 14, 1988). See also lots 6, 14, and 18.

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