Lot 636: Winston Churchill & Bernard Baruch Signed Letters Plus Photo

Two (2) autographed letters signed by Winston Churchill and Bernard Baruch, framed with a photograph of the two men together. 1st item: Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (1874-1965) A.L.S., dated Jan. 16, 1939, to Dr. R. K. Kommer, briefly declining to speak on his behalf to Duff Cooper (1st Viscount Norwich, a political and military historian). Sight: 7 1/2" H x 4 1/2" W. 2nd item: Bernard Baruch (American, 1870-1965) A.L.S., dated March 6, 1918, as WWI-era Commissioner on Raw Materials, on War Industries Board letterhead, to Mr. Herbert Bayard Swope, editor of the New York World newspaper, thanking him for an article and expressing friendship and admiration. Sight: 9 1/2" H x 7 1/4" W. 3rd item: Photographic print of Bernard Baruch and Winston Churchill, seated together on a sofa. Sight: 8 1/2" H x 6 1/4H W. All items matted and framed together under glass in a silvered wood frame. Framed: 15" H x 28 1/2" W. Note: Churchill and Baruch, a wealthy South Carolina-born financier, first met in 1918 and soon became friends. Baruch advised Churchill on investments, and they grew even closer during WWII after Baruch was appointed by Franklin Roosevelt as a special advisor to the director of the Office of War Mobilization. Baruch championed the creation of a super-agency similar to the WWI-era War Industries Board, bringing on board civilian businessmen and industry to enhance America's military production. His ideas are credited with helping the Allies win WWII by shaving two years off the time it took to produce tanks, bombers, and other military equipment. Churchill was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945, and again from 1951 to 1955.

CONDITION: Overall good condition with light toning and creasing, not examined out of frame. Some wear to frame.