Document
White House Letter and Note Concerning R. P. French's Autograph Request
Plain-English summary
Secretary to the President Matthew J. Connelly replies to a letter from R. P. French, declining a request for President Harry S. Truman's autograph due to the volume of similar appeals. An accompanying note records that a card bearing Amelia Earhart's autograph and a block of Brazilian stamps were returned to the sender.
Key line (verbatim from the document)“Card bearing Aimelia Earhart's autograph returned to writer with letter stating that his request to the President is”
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Tags
Amelia EarhartCaliforniaExecutive Office of the PresidentHarry S. TrumanMatthew J. ConnellyR. P. FrenchSan Francisco
SourceNational Archives (NARA). Original. Released 2025-11-25. U.S. government work, public domain. Text from OCR; may contain errors.
Full text (1,094 characters)
December 8, 1947
My dear Mr. French: TE a
al eae
Your letter of November thirtieth,
addressed to Mre, Truman,/has been referred to
this office, In reply, I sincerely regret to
efvise that we are unable to meet your wishes
for the President's aut .
So many requests of this kind are being
received that if the President were to attempt to
comply with them he would have little time left
for his manifold officiel duties. Because he has
had to regretfully refuse in so many other instences,
I know you will realize how difficult it would be
for him te make an exception and ds for one what
he could not possibly do for all.
With very best wishes,
Very sincerely yours,
MATTHEW J. CONNELLY
Secretary to the President
Tei Warthe Noopitar:
u.$. ne Hosp: '
14th Avenue & Lake Street,
San Francisco,
California.
Ret'd block of four Brazilian stamps * \3-%
& self-addressed stamped envelape : y
\ a Bore axe
v
Card bearing Aimelia Earhart's
autograph returned to writer
with letter stating that his
request to the President is
being referred to Executive Office
of the President.