Eleanor Roosevelt to John F. Kennedy
December 18, 1958
(Image of this letter)301 fifty-sixth street west
new york 19, n. y.
Dear Senator Kennedy:
If my comment is not true, I will gladly so state. I was told that your father said openly he would spend any money to make his son the first Catholic President of this country, and many people as I travel about tell me of money spent by him1 in your behalf. This seems commonly accepted as a fact.
Building an organization is permissible2 but giving too lavishly may seem to indicate a desire to influence through money.
Very sincerely yours,
Eleanor Roosevelt
Index to this Document: Campaign finance; Kennedy, John F.: 1960 campaign organization of; as Catholic candidate; JPK, defense of; ER, retraction demanded from; Kennedy, Joseph P.: campaign finance and; JFK defends; Roosevelt, Eleanor: JFK, retraction demanded by; journalistic practices of; Sources: anonymous
Recommended citation: Eleanor Roosevelt, John Kennedy, and the Election of 1960: A Project of The Eleanor Roosevelt Papers, ed. by Allida Black, June Hopkins, John Sears, Christopher Alhambra, Mary Jo Binker, Christopher Brick, John S. Emrich, Eugenia Gusev, Kristen E. Gwinn, and Bryan D. Peery (Columbia, S.C.: Model Editions Partnership, 2003). Electronic version based on unpublished letters. .
For more information, visit The Eleanor Roosevelt Papers home page at https://erpapers.columbian.gwu.edu/.
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