Lot 155
Ronald Reagan, Autograph Letter Signed "Love Dutch & Nancy" on his 6¼" x 4¼" card with a gilt presidential seal at top center above "Ronald Reagan" engraved in black, letter reads "Dear Hup, Thank you for your picture, I am delighted to have it. Now with regard to your 97th birthday? Have you thought about an old Jack Benny custom? I've been using it myself. You no longer have birthdays. You have anniversaries of your 39th birthday. For you that would be your 58th anniversary on that Sept. day. I'm having one of those anniversaries on Feb. 6. You are in our prayers.", Very Fine.Estimate $2,000 - 3,000.
RONALD REAGAN "DUTCH" HANDWRITTEN BIRTHDAY THANK YOU TO LONGTIME FRIEND LYDIA "HUP" MACARTHUR.
Lydia Hupfer "Hup" McArthur (1893-1995), widow of the man who had given Reagan his first job after college. Peter MacArthur was the program director at radio station WOC in Davenport, Iowa, which shared its frequency with WHO Des Moines. In 1932, MacArthur gave 21-year-old recent Eureka College grad Ronald "Dutch" Reagan a sports announcer's job at WOC. In 1937, sportscaster Reagan went to the Chicago Cubs spring training camp in southern California to do play-by-play for WHO Des Moines. Impressed by his confidence and good looks, an agent arranged a screen test for the 26-year-old sports announcer at Warner Bros. Reagan signed a seven-year contract and moved to California. But he never forgot Pete and Hup MacArthur whom he affectionately called "Ma" and "Pa" ("Maw & Paw," "Mom & Pop"). He sent Christmas cards and letters to them on a regular basis from 1938 until 1948 when Pete died, continuing to correspond with Hup until she died in 1995 at 101.