Lyndon B. Johnson Vice-Presidential Presentation Cigarette Lighter....

Description

Lyndon B. Johnson Vice-Presidential Presentation Cigarette Lighter. Matte gold finish Bowers Storm Master cigarette lighter engraved with the Vice-Presidential Seal and facsimile signature of Lyndon B. Johnson. Gold case shows light scuffs.

Gregory Peck was an ardent supporter of Lyndon Johnson, and spent a good deal of time at the White House as well as Johnson's ranch. He was one of the guests invited to the White House Rose Garden on September 29, 1965 when the president signed the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act into law. The support that led to the bill began back in 1963 when the National Commission on the Humanities was established. The commission was instructed to study the state of humanities in America and offer solutions to what was seen as an overemphasis on the sciences, at the detriment of the arts.

Mr. Peck took a great interest in the promotion and development of the arts, and it was after the bill had been signed into law, at the dinner held at the White House in 1965, that Mr. Peck wrote LBJ stating, "If I had been called upon to speak after dinner, Mr. President, I would have talked to your guests about the meaning of the new National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities. I would have expressed my pleasure that we are accepting yet another challenge to achieve goals worth of our great country. When we strive for greatness in artistic expression we open avenues for the expression of greatness in the human spirit."

President Johnson once told Peck that had he sought re-election in 1968, he intended to offer the post of U.S. ambassador to Ireland, a post that Peck said he might well have taken. Lyndon B. Johnson honored the actor with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1969 for his humanitarian efforts.

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