Kennedy and Johnson Archive

Photos and letters from the collection of JFK's White House photographer, Cecil W. Stoughton.
Appraised by Francis J. Wahlgren
$75,000

In this letter, dated May 10, 1961, President Kennedy wrote a letter to the secretary of the army, Cyrus R. Vance, commending Captain Stoughton, among others, for the part he played in a ceremony honoring astronaut Alan B. Shepard, Jr., who on May 5 had become the first American to travel into space. Read the full letter.