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Permalink Reply by Herman Darvick on March 29, 2016 at 1:55pm

It is my opinion to a great degree of professional certainty, that the June 8, 1961, letter on White House stationery was signed "John Kennedy" by a White House secretary. I reached my conclusion after referring to signed White House documents in the National Archives dated just before he left for Europe and after he returned, comparing those signatures with the signature on your letter.

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Permalink Reply by Paul Kevin Gregory on March 29, 2016 at 1:59pm

I was afraid of that. Thank you for your professional opinion.

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Permalink Reply by Steve Cyrkin, Admin on March 29, 2016 at 3:28pm

Herman is very good on those, Paul. Sorry for the bad news.

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Permalink Reply by Edward Siebert on March 29, 2016 at 10:26pm

I agree Mr. Darvick has been an expert on these matters for many years. But it is a pretty good forgery! Not so obvious as many known patterns/examples.

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Permalink Reply by James on March 29, 2016 at 11:05pm

Yes, sorry for the bad news, Paul. In Charles Hamilton's famous book on JFK signatures, "The Robot That Helped Make a President", this signature style is shown to be secretarial.

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Permalink Reply by Gio on March 30, 2016 at 8:00am

James, that's a very scarce book, only very limited numbers where produced. It's a great book for an autograph collector. Do you own it? If so, where did you buy it. 

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Permalink Reply by Herman Darvick on March 30, 2016 at 12:09pm

Try abebooks.com (4 priced from $184-$600) Correct title is "The Robot That Helped to Make a President" or Amazon.com (2 at $197 & $295)

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Permalink Reply by Gio on March 30, 2016 at 1:17pm

Thank you, Herman. I will try those websites. I need to get myself a copy. Quite Pricey though.

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Permalink Reply by James on March 30, 2016 at 10:58pm

Gio, I apologize for not responding sooner to your question. But actually, no, I don't own a copy of the book myself. I've actually been able to acquire pictures of just about all the secretarial examples that Hamilton has in his book simply by searching online.

I've Googled some, I have gotten some, I believe here on AML, and I actually got some of the examples from pictures that one or two of the sellers of Hamilton's book put on eBay. I was also able to acquire all of the known autopen examples that way. I believe I now have 15 or 16 different secretarial examples. And I also have most of the examples of his AUTHENTIC signatures as well, including JFK's "campaign-style" signature.

I think Hamilton noted that he believed that JFK autograph was perhaps the most ever-changing celebrity autograph in history. Not only were there so many different secretaries signing for him, but JFK himself had a bewildering array of differing autograph styles. It was said that, at times, JFK could sign 5 different items consecutively, and everyone might look as if they were signed by 5 different people!

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Permalink Reply by Gio on March 31, 2016 at 5:33pm

Thanks,James, you gave me some really good pointers on how to acquire these examples. I didn't know JFK has up to 16 different secretarial example! that's insane. I would like to put together a library of all the examples and study them. I know there are some videos by John Reznikoff in helping authenticate him. Whenever I see JFK signatures for sale I'm always curious if they are legit. I see some where he signs "Jack" etc. Thanks, again.

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