Description
Signed presentation copy of The Americans: The Democratic Experience by Daniel J. Boorstin, a Christmas gift from President George H.W. Bush to his 1988 campaign manager, Lee Atwater.
Octavo, [xiv], 717pp, [3]. Full brown morocco, title in gilt on spine, decorative raised bands, presidential seal on cover. Top edge dyed blue. The recipients name in gilt on front cover. Includes laid-in card from the White House and the ribbon from the wrapping paper.
Inscribed on presidential bookplate affixed to front endpaper: “To Lee / My Esteemed Friend – Merry Christmas 1990. George Bush.”
This copy of The Americans: The Democratic Experience was specially bound in full leather for intimates of the Bush family in 1990, including his son Neil Bush, General Colin Powell, former President Jimmy Carter and others.
During their time in the White House, the Bush family had five books rebound as gifts for the holiday season, including:
- The Americans: The Democratic Experience by Daniel J. Boorstin
- The Americans: The National Experience by Daniel J. Boorstin
- The Americans: The Colonial Experience by Daniel J. Boorstin
- Inaugural Addresses: 1789-1989
- Websters Collegiate Thesaurus.
Lee Atwater (1951-1991) was a Republican political consultant who successfully ran the 1988 presidential campaign of George H.W. Bush. He was appointed the Chair of the Republican National Committee in 1989, but was forced to resign while suffering from brain cancer. Atwater died at age 40 in 1991, with many noting had he run the 1992 George Bush presidential campaign as expected, the outcome might have been different.
