Lyndon B. Johnson: Typed Letter Signed as President....

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Wonderful Lyndon Baines Johnson Item: Typed Letter Signed. One page (quarto), The White House, Washington, December 10, 1968, in the midst of the war in Vietnam and the month after Richard M. Nixon captured The White House from the Democrats. LBJ writes to Senator Harrison A. Williams, Jr., who in 1981 resigned his Senate seat as a result of the Abscam sting. Years earlier, LBJ writes to Senator Williams to wish him a happy birthday. LBJ writes: "Dear Pete:/ Happy Birthday./ Your forty-nine years have proven creative and constructive ones for the Congress and the country and I certainly hope that we will continue to benefit from your dedicated service./ My heartfelt wishes for good health and a wealth of happiness in the coming years./ Sincerely,/ Lyndon B. Johnson." Born in Plainfield, Union County, New Jersey on December 10, 1919, Williams served as a Democratic United States Representative from New Jersey's sixth district, 1953-1957; and a United States Senator from New Jersey, 1959-1970, 1971-1982. He was implicated in the Abscam sting, in which FBI agents impersonating Arab businessmen offered bribes to political figures, and he allegedly accepted an eighteen percent interest in a titanium mine. Senator Williams was indicted on October 30, 1980, and convicted on May 1, 1981, of nine counts of bribery, conspiracy, receiving an unlawful gratuity, conflict of interest, and interstate travel in aid of racketeering. Senator Williams resigned his seat March 11, 1981, when it appeared that the Senate would vote to expel him, and he was sentenced to three years in prison and fined $50,000. Senator Williams was released from prison in 1986. The irony of LBJ's letter to Williams in 1968, citing his creative and constructive energies on behalf of the United States, is well worth noting.