Description
The eulogy for Rufus Fearing Dawes by his father, Charles G. Dawes, inscribed and dated by Dawes to his son’s friend in 1912.
Octavo, [iv], [12], [4]. Quarter blue morocco, handmade blue paper boards, title printed in gilt on the front cover. Tipped-in frontispiece photograph of Rufus F. Dawes affixed to the frontispiece. Blue endpapers, uncut fore-edge. Notable loss to morocco spine, heavily worn. Solid text block, internally clean. This work was issued in blue paper wraps (with the title Rufus Fearing Dawes: A Father’s Tribute to his Son’s Completed Life) and this quarter blue morocco presentation edition. Princeton University Crest of Arms imprint on each leaf of text. (OCLC 9901006)
This copy is inscribed on the second free endpaper: “For my son’s friend Herman Pettibone / from / Charles G. Dawes / Nov. 26th 1912.” The only recorded example of this tribute signed by future Vice President Dawes.
Rufus Fearing Dawes, the only son of future Vice President Charles G. Dawes, died at 21 years old of heart failure and drowning on Lake Geneva, September 5, 1912. In tribute to his son, Dawes contributed $100,000 for the construction of a hotel for “Destitute Men” men in Chicago in 1914. The Chicago home was followed in 1916 by the Rufus F. Dawes Hotel for Men in Boston, and the Mary Gates Dawes Hotel for Women in Chicago in 1917. This eulogy received national attention in 1924 when it was discovered by the national media during the 1924 presidential campaign. Gen. Dawes would go on to serve as Vice President for years in the Coolidge Administration.
