A
PRESIDENT APPEALS TO A FRIEND TO BECOME A CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSIONER:
"MAKE A SACRIFICE FOR YOUR COUNTRY....
SUMMON ALL THE PATRIOTISM YOU HAVE"
GROVER CLEVELAND. Autograph Letter Signed as President
to Don M. Dickinson, Washington, DC, 11 October 1885. 3 pages, 8"
x 5", on Executive Mansion stationery.
An eloquent letter from Grover Cleveland, written in the first year
of his first administration, offering a position on the recently-established
Civil Service Commission to an important political associate. The Civil
Service Act, which established the commission, had been adopted only
two years before this, and its passage was a major victory for reformers
of the period. Designed to limit the spoils system, the law required
a merit system of appointment for certain federal jobs, and its reach
would be expanded greatly in future years.
Cleveland had developed a reputation as a reformer while mayor of Buffalo
and governor of New York. In fact, the first civil service law at the
state level had been adopted during his term as governor, and he supported
its provisions for merit hiring of state employees despite strong opposition
from Tammany Hall. This along with other reform measures helped Cleveland
win the Presidency in 1884; he was the first Democrat to do so since
the Civil War.
The President writes here to Don M. Dickinson, a prominent attorney
in the mid-West who was also a leader of the Democratic Party in Michigan
and a close personal and political friend of Cleveland's. “The
time has now come to you when you are called upon to make a sacrifice
for your Country,” Cleveland declares. “I want
you to summon all the patriotism you have and all your love for party,
for the administration and for myself and consent to accept the office
of Civil Service Commissioner at the...salary of $3500 per annum and
all travelling expenses paid.
“This is the first offer I have made of the place to any member
of my party,” Cleveland notes, “and I think it
is the best position in the country to do good – to say nothing
about gaining fame. I expect to reorganize the Commission entirely and
if you will take it I will promise you two first rate Assistants. Will
you come? I am anxious to know as soon as possible and I wish you would
answer me by telegraph.” He has signed, “Yours
sincerely, Grover Cleveland.”
Amazingly, Dickinson turned down this plea from the President, but in
1887, he did accept an offer to become Postmaster General. He served
in that post from January 1888 until the end of Cleveland's first term.
The letter is in very good condition, with only some slight soiling
to the last blank leaf.
An exceptional Presidential letter. $3000.00
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