Form thank you letter sent from President Kennedy about the Cuban Missile Crisis

This letter, mailed to Dallas resident Carlos A. Hedstrom, Sr. (1892-1972), was dated December 19, 1962. Since Mr. Hedstrom wrote President Kennedy more than one letter during the Cuban missile crisis, he received a second, nearly identical form letter from the White House less than two weeks later, dated December 31, 1962. Interestingly, the two letters are not fully identical photostats or photocopies. Instead, each one appears to have been individually typed. The spacing and autopen signature are noticeably different in each letter. Additionally, the December 31st letter capitalizes the word "Crisis" at the end of the first paragraph; the December 19th letter does not.

These two letters were donated to the Museum in 1999 by Mr. Hedstrom's son, Carlos A. Hedstrom, Jr. (1923-2014). A World War II veteran, Hedstrom, Jr. worked for Magnolia Petroleum Company, later Mobil Oil Corporation, from 1940 to 1982. In that capacity, he was invited to the Dallas Trade Mart presidential luncheon on November 22, 1963. In addition to his father's 1962 letters, Hedstrom, Jr. also donated to the Museum in 1999 his Trade Mart invitations and seat assignment card. He passed away on June 10, 2014 at the age of 91. - Stephen Fagin, Curator