On the death of his brother Joe - photo 1
On the death of his brother Joe - photo 2
On the death of his brother Joe - photo 3

On the death of his brother Joe

Lot 669
24.01.2025 10:00UTC -05:00
Classic
Starting price
$ 15 000
AuctioneerCHRISTIE'S
Event locationUSA, New York
Archive
The auction is completed. No bids can be placed anymore.
Archive
ID 1362348
Lot 669 | On the death of his brother Joe
Estimate value
$ 15 000 – 25 000
On the death of his brother Joe
John F. Kennedy, 9 October 1944
KENNEDY, JOHN F. (1917-1963). Typed letter signed ("Jack F. Kennedy Lt. U.S.N. G2") to Miss Frances Nye, Hyannisport, 9 October 1944.

Two pages, 266 x 184 mm, (light toning). With original transmittal envelope. Both hinged at a mat and framed with a portrait.

"Joe's death is a great loss, as I knew long ago that given years he would have a great future before him."

On the tragic death of his brother Joe. In July 1944 John's older brother Joe, regarded as the successor to his father and the most promising of the Kennedy brothers, had volunteered to fly a bomber loaded with explosives on an experimental mission. He was to bail out when the plane was on target over heavily fortified V-1 rocket-launching sites in the Pas de Calais. But while still over England, the plane exploded. Still recovering from his injuries suffered when a Japanese destroyer rammed PT-109, Kennedy takes time to commiserate with Miss Nye, whom he had known during his and Joe's time at the Dexter School:

"Those days at Dexter were happy times, and were made that in a great measure by the kindness of you and Miss Fiske and the other ladies. Joe's death is a great loss, as I knew long ago that given years he would have a great future before him. These years were denied, but I don't think that if he had lived his normal three score and ten he could ever have improved on the quality of his life." A remarkably touching letter that demonstrates Kennedy's already spare writing style that would serve him well in his future political career. Provenance: Christie's, New York, 29 May 1998, lot 133.
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