Description
First edition of Just Friends and Brave Enemies by Robert F. Kennedy, inscribed to his press secretary and close advisor, Edwin O. Guthman.
Octavo, xi, [blank], 211pp. Black cloth, gilt title on spine. Includes 16 pages of black and white illustrations. Stated “first edition” on copyright page, with “F-M” code noting publication in August 1962. Solid text block, clean internally. Faint wear to cloth and gilt on the spine. In the publisher’s first issue dust jacket, with $3.95 price on front flap and “0862” code at bottom. Light wear to head of spine, faint foxing to front panel, a near fine example.
Signed on front free endpaper by Robert Kennedy with the following inscription: “For Ed / With the appreciation and esteem of his friend / Bob Kennedy.”
An exceptional association copy.
Edwin O. “Ed” Guthman (1919-2008) was a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist whose career spanned major posts at The Seattle Times, The Los Angeles Times, and The Philadelphia Inquirer. He earned the 1950 Pulitzer for exposing the wrongful prosecution of University of Washington professor Melvin Rader during the Canwell Committee investigations, which brought him to the attention of Robert F. Kennedy. Guthman was appointed press secretary at the Department of Justice in 1961 by Robert F. Kennedy. In the fall of 1962 he went to Oxford, Miss., to help oversee the admission of James Meredith as the first black student at the University of Mississippi, serving as a Justice Department liaison with federal marshals. He became a close advisor and friend of Kennedy, continuing to work for him during his time in the United States Senate.
