Box 596, Georgetown University
September 20, 1960
Dear Everyone,
As I opened my door in that empty corridor Saturday night, I thought I was entering the monastic life – my room is 8 ft. wide, 19 ft. long, and 12 ft. high. I live in a veritable cell. My roommate’s name is (An)drew Valentine. He’s a real nice guy from Short Hills, New Jersey. Like a majority of the students, he went to a boys’ prep school and is quite smart. One of the guys down the hall goes to school with Chris Von Saltza*. There are no poor people here. The whole tenor of the group is very high class and very well mannered – not stilted though.
I am enclosing a list of my books – you will notice that I am in honors English which puts me in an excellent position for immediate acceptance to any other school. I am going to try to get on the debate team – the debaters tread on a gold rug around here.
Since the sailing club sails mostly dinghies in the Potomac, I am not going to join. On the other hand, the intermural football situation is very good out here with one team to a class per league. All equipment is furnished. Whether or not I can get into the band, I don’t know – they say it takes a lot of study time away from you. Be sure to send my tennis racket and Bermuda shorts. I will tell you later if I need my trombone or a typewriter. That box hasn’t arrived as of yet.
Forget about that French book if you haven’t already sent it – but be sure to send the Bible. I’m enclosing an extra list that Jungle should take and show to my old teachers in school, especially Sr. Mary Paul (English).
The books are quite expensive. I’m getting as many as I can used. But a guy down the hall is taking the same as me spent $48.52 on his books and he still hasn’t bought his English ones. He bought them new. I’ll write more later – send that stuff! Don’t send the trombone – no time.
Jack
P.S. I just received your Special Delivery letter (3:30 p.m. Wed. Sept. 21). My Box Number is 596 c/o the School, Wash, 7, DC. We just had an assembly on extra-curricular activities and it looks like debate is about my best choice. We travel to the Universities of Temple, Johns Hopkins, Fordham, Scranton, Carnegie Institute and Dartmouth. In the meantime, I am told that with my course I will be getting little sleep.
It is still in the 70’s out here – very humid.
I just called Jack Whiting. His wife just got back from the hospital – 8 lb. boy. He thinks that he’ll go to some Latin American country in about a year and a half.
They are selling used books out here for less than half price (good condition). If Jungle needs anything like that on the book list, let me know. Do it soon though. Also send my Card File for debate and fill it with cards if it’s not too expensive to send. Also enclosed is a copy of my class schedule.
*Christina Von Saltza was a California-born US and Olympic swimming champion.
April 26, 1963
(The Roger Smith Stationary)
Dear All,
We just got back from our pre-race meeting for the La Salle race here tomorrow. They should be very tough, particularly since they are aiming for us. I am sending one of the color pictures which preceded the race. It may be the one that you have. The article is from the Star and when the three-man of the German boat* read the headline, he remarked that the writer didn't know what he was talking about. We gave them a pretty good scare for the first half of the race, but just past the midway point, we got into some really rough water and went to pieces. Their coach remarked that he was surprised that we stayed up so well for the first half and that we then fell back so fast in the last half. Everyone thought that we had rowed a good race but I am sorry that we didn't row like we were really capable of doing as it would then have been no more than a half length either way. On the whole, the papers were pretty bad to us ... only the Times gave us a decent writeup. You probably have that as I do not have a copy myself.
I am also sending that article from Tim for Jungle. If he doesn't have reservations yet on a plane, I may be able to get some for him, but it will be very hard. Whatever he does he should not pay more than $333.00 for the round trip flight. Let me know right away if he wants me to start looking. However, I don't have much time to spend. That was a nice article about. Jungle in the paper. I may yet be able to fly home for Jungle’s graduation if they run out of money and are able unable to go to the IRA races in Syracuse on the 20th of June, but I won't know until after the 11th of May.
Must go to bed now. Will write as soon as I get a chance.
Love
Jack
I'm sorry, but I just remembered that I have tests until at least the afternoon of the 2nd of June and won't be able to get home for Jim's graduation.
*Ratzeburg Boat Club from Kiel, Germany and world champions
June 10, 1963 seven pm
Dear Everyone,
I have just gotten back to my room after stopping in at the graduation ceremonies out on the front lawn. It is about a 95º and there is very little wind. However, it is a good thing that it didn’t rain tonight (as it has done for the last four early evenings) because then they would have to have all those people in the gym and it would really be hot. The whole front lawn is covered with people as they have one big ceremony for all the schools of the university.
I also started work today and it looks like it should be a very good job demanding a lot of brain work. As it is now, it will take me more than a week just to get to know the materials on my desk so that it won’t take so long to look everything up. I will be working primarily on special requests from the space programs or related fields within NASA. The men with whom I am working seem very sharp and as my boss is quite interested in getting me to know the entire layout of the operations, not just the simple-minded office work, it should be a very profitable summer. I will tell you about my work later when I get to know more about it myself.,
Tonight, I am going up to the National Cathedral to sing along with the Choral Society as they are having an open rehearsal in which anyone may join. Last night I went to see Three Penny Opera down at the Arena and it was really extremely good. Earlier another fellow and I went out to see the Middleburg (in the center of the Virginia Hunt country) horse show. It again was a very hot afternoon but in the rolling foothills of the Blue Ridge it really makes for a very nice show.
While I think of it, did you ever get that check from the school for $100.00? It should have come to you a long time ago, but if it hasn’t, let me know and I will check on it. I don’t know if I told you at all about the very nice time that we had when the Murphys were here. Gary Poehling and Gene (Murphy) drove out and Mr. and Mrs. flew out. I went with one of Ann’s roommates and had a very nice time. Mr. Murphy took us all out to eat on Friday night for the first good feast that I have had this spring. If you see them, you should mention it. I will write after Jungle gets here. I will also look for some pictures of how to use that hex sign. I had thought that Daddy might want to use it on some old house that he had fixed up to make it a little more colorful or even on one of the new ones in the addition. However, whatever you decide is fine.
Love,
Jack
June 14, 1964
Sunday evening
Dear Linda,
I am sitting under a tree in the Bishop’s garden at the National Cathedral listening to a concert on the new bells. Consequently, if my hand is a little more unsteady than usual, you will understand that it is due to the small box which I am using to write on. The weather is beautiful as the heat and humidity have both dropped from the low 90º’s this afternoon. It is so nice and quiet except for the bells and a few birds. I wish you could be here.
We spent the afternoon out at Black Pond – the other swimming hole I told you about over in Virginia near Madison school. The water was perfect and since we didn’t have to work out afterward it has been a very restful day (please excuse the time change).
We leave for Syracuse on Tues. morning. I doubt that we will row at all that day and will have only a time trial over a 2,000 m. course tomorrow (the times so far have not been good). I don’t know what route we will be taking but I presume that it will not be through or near Tarrytown. If it is however, I will give you a call. All I know about our plans up there is that we will be staying at Le Moyne College (Joe just informed me that it could be LeMoy) – at any rate, it is the Jesuit college in the Syracuse suburb by that name. as the place is theoretically closed for the summer, however (we will not have any hot water for the shower). I don’t think that there will be any way to get in touch with us. As soon as we get up there and I get more details, I will let you know – as yet I don’t even know where we are rowing out of. If it is not too much trouble and if they will let you off work, it would be nice if you could come up. God knows how I want to see you. However, I am not sure how much time we would have together (certainly more if we lost early but that wouldn’t be as much fun) or where you could stay. There will be thousands of people in town and accommodations will probably be at a premium.
The bells have just stopped. I notice that the lightning bugs are out. I wish you were here. This afternoon out at the pond I thought how I missed you and how much I had enjoyed being with you – especially last week. I think I told you how I had worried once last fall that there wouldn’t be anyone for me to share senior week – anyone that really meant anything that is. I don’t have to say how I feel now.
I have never really said how I feel to any girl – or anyone for that matter – until this last week*. While much was left unsaid, I think you managed to open me up more than anyone else. Thank you. This reticent aspect is even more dominant in my letters however. While I have been leery – even afraid – of saying what I feel, I have always felt that one was outright crazy if he wrote such things in letters. And so, while you may have been able to help me to say what I felt while I was with you, I find it very hard – practically impossible I think, because of how I have always feared writing such things down to say what I really feel now. Consequently, I don’t know whether your hope that we can learn more about each other through our letters will be fulfilled. (But then again maybe you can read between the lines and see more than I realize.) I hope so.
I started on your Hesse book today (Siddhartha) and as I opened it up (this was at the pond and with one thing and another, I’m afraid I didn’t get very far – not really the right atmosphere), I came across your inscription which I wish I had noticed when you gave it to me. Thank you very much. I thought about what you said for a long time and for that reason want to read it as soon as I can. It just seems like an awful big order for such a small but to fill. But perhaps. It is nearly dark and I can no longer see. I wish you were here to talk with me.
Love,
Jack
*Senior Week at Georgetown, preceding Jack’s graduation on June 7, 1964
Mid-July (16?),1964
Thursday evening
Dear Linda,
I hope this has gotten to you in time. I would like to have given both to you when I was up there but I hadn’t found the book as yet and I forgot to bring the perfume – crew having taken my undivided attention and all that sort of thing. The book* may look somewhat weighty but I think it is worth reading. The only trouble is that it has been so long since I read it that I can’t remember exactly what it was that interested me so. (Maybe you can enlighten me when you come down).
Please thank your parents for the very nice time (and certainly thank you, while I’m at it). I hope you can get down so that I can return the hospitality. If you would like me to write you a formal invitation just let me know.
I will not be rowing in a four at all for Georgetown – whether they send one or not. I am going to talk to the Marietta stroke but if he doesn’t want to row (he is already in a real good double), that will be it for me as I don’t think we have a good enough (or any) chance to make it as we are set up now.
This, however, will give me more time when you come down. Let me know when you can make it and I will set everything up. John Harrington is now living with us (that has no connection with this paragraph but I don’t remember having told you).
Have a happy birthday – I am saving an appropriate number of ??
Love,
Jack
*Love in the Western World by Denis de Rougemont
July 26, 1964
Sunday
Dear Linda,
Again a lot of time has passed before I find time to sit down and write to you. You put a good deal of strain on my epistolary habits (if one could call it that) by forcing me not only to sit down and write but also to write something half-way meaningful. Paradoxically there are many things which I would like to say to you or talk to you about but which I don’t like to write down – perhaps it is because they would look foolish once written (as so often happens) or because of my deeply entrenched fear of having them floating around only to turn up at an unpropitious moment.
I don’t know if I’ve ever told you, but I’ve always said one is a fool to write down in a letter what he really deeply feels. (This feeling is really just part of my general reluctance to step from behind the mask, the persona, that one must employ in the vast majority of his relationships.) At the same time, however, this is one of the foremost reasons I want to see you in person (not just now but anytime). You allow me to step from behind the mask for just a relieving and refreshing second and freely communicate. I, myself, find it very revealing. For while I always try to step aside and look at my actions as they appear to others, I really only see the mask or the social appearance. In a strange way, I am really very self conscious and get embarrassed quite easily.
The N.Y.C. Ballet has been here for the last week and will continue through next Sunday*. I have gone three times this week and will probably go twice more before they leave. I really enjoy their dancing much more than I did that of the Kirov of Bolshoi.
A funny thing happened at the White House seminar (for 5,000 summer students working for the government) last Friday. A note was passed through this throng inviting all to a free party (with free beer) on Saturday night at No. 9, 7th St. S.E. the address is a row house on Capitol Hill and the party really did come off. We drove by about 2:00 last night after seeing “Becket” and there were about 1200 people there but we didn’t stop to see how it was going (or gone) as the other guys on the crew had to get back to bed (these were undergrads who will be at GU next year yet).
It looks like I will be flying home on the weekend of the 8th of August. I will take a three day weekend to do it. I will be going home for good on the 28th of August as I have to be back in N.Y.C. by the 9th. I would like to see you before than – but we’ll see what happens.
I’m sorry I can’t write more. I will try later in the week but I must go to church now – the magic show as it is commonly called on the river.
Love,
Jack
*NYC Ballet performed at Carter-Barron Ampitheater in Rock Creek Park from Monday July 20 through Saturday August 1, 1964.
August 16-17, 1964
Dear Linda,
I just tore up the second letter that I have written you in the last week and a half. Like the first one, I had forgotten to mail this one until it was so out of date that I was forced to write a new one. Pardon me for the cessation of communication (one of my more outstanding faults).
The President’s Cup Regatta was yesterday here on the Potomac (8/15/64) and the afternoon was like old home week for everyone on the crew. Joe Frederick came back from home for the weekend and so did any number of old heavies. Georgetown didn’t do too badly even though we didn’t actually come in first in any race. We were third overall and finished second in all the events we entered – which is better than last as it usually is during the summer.
After the race everyone went to the 1789 for a gay time and from there on to the Shadows. Joe, Mike and I went to the Old Stine in between for dinner and then I returned to the Shadows while Joe went home and Mike had to study. Muffin kept reminding me of you (verbally, mainly) all night and as she said, it was too bad that you couldn’t have been there. She told me that her parents were very impressed with us – especially you – which pleased me very much. You know how I am rather conscious of what older people think of me and the people with whom I am seen. This made me very proud of you – and I missed you even more.
It looks like I will be coming up to NYC this coming weekend to bring most of my stuff up to school. I will not leave until Saturday morning and must find a place to store about five boxes of books and junk. I doubt that the Jordan’s have much room if any, and I don’t think that I can keep it in the coin lockers at the train station for that long. If you have any ideas, let me know. I would like to keep it some place in Manhattan as I will be without a car when I arrive.
I have to be at school on the evening of the (September) 8th for a week of orientation (including attest on my summer reading which I just started). They are taking us to Any Wednesday and with dinners with the dean and some of the New York judges, even my nights will be pretty full. I hope that we can get together sometime during that week however.
I must go as they are locking things up. (it is now 6:15 pm). I will call you on Thursday night.
Love,
Jack
August 24, 1964
Monday evening
Dear Linda,
The place has really been hopping what with calls about the car and from a number of people from La Crosse who all seem to be descending on the place at once. It should really be a busy last week.
I notice that your place has become another clothing oasis for me (I establish such drop off spots around the country so that I don’t have to pack as much when I travel). I have left my newly acquired swimming trunks, et al., as well as my glasses up there. Please set them aside and I will pick them up on my next swing into the hill country. (I’m sure I will make at least one during the year!)
Thank you again for the very nice time. And be sure to thank your mother for keeping my junk. I could kick myself for not doing so myself while I was there.
Riley has not returned from Wheeling yet and probably won’t until time for work tomorrow morning. I hope that I can sell the car before I leave because I don’t want to make that 16 hr drive home.
I got a letter from the fellow from Georgetown whom I know at NYU and who is now my student adviser – He again reiterated what I told you in passing (I think) – i.e., first year is the single most important year in Law School because it is both the hardest and the most influential in terms of law review, etc. consequently, I’m afraid that after the first month I won’t be able to see you too often. However, we will cross that abridge then.
Must drop some stuff off at school.
Love,
Jack
February 4, 1965
(Written on NASA Letterhead)
Dear Everyone,
As you probably know by now, I never made it back to NYC until Monday night as we were snowed in at Vail due to an avalanche on Vail pass. I spent the night at the Night Latch where Jungle stayed when he was there at Christmas. We left there on Monday morning and got into Boulder at about noon. I changed clothes at the dorm in Joe’s room and then he and Robin Reed took me down to the airport. I caught a 3:30 Continental flt. to Chicago and then a 7:30 TWA flt. to NYC and was here by midnight. It had been snowing here all day and so it was just as bad as when I left 10 days before.
I am sending along the stubs from the tickets if Dad wants them for the records down at the Real Estate office. I am also sending you the dates and an application form (simply for your information) for a different set of flts to Europe from school here. These are the flts I thought I had when I was home and as you can see they are much better. However, there is only one catch. You will note on the back of one of the pages of the application that Jay is not eligible as a member of my family under CAB rules. I don’t know of any way to get around this either as I think it is a general rule no matter who organizes the flt. They will not allow you to split up the flts either (ie., go on one and come back on another.) I thought that flt #3 looked about the best. What do you think?
Thank you for the birthday money and the beautiful Gibson Greeting. Linda is taking me out to dinner tomorrow night down in Chinatown (it is now the Chinese New Year – the year of the snake) and then we are going back to Julliard for a string quartet concert.
One of the teachers in the other classes made a passing remark the other day that the grades of this year’s freshman class are universally low. If this is so it may be a good thing as it will help to protect mine which I am sure will not be outstanding. One teacher went through with us what he was looking for on the test and I was not the only one who was not encouraged. It seems that test taking is an ability of such singular importance that it may account for 50% of your grade. With this in mind, the law review board as made it possible to get on the law review by writing a publishable note (and not simply on the basis of first year grades as in the past) and so if I don’t do well in these tests, I may have to spend some of my summer trying to work up a note that is good enough to be published. The only trouble with this is that it is a terrible amount of work.
The skiing was very good and I really enjoyed that vacation. The only trouble was that the sun did not shine at all while I was there. Nevertheless, my skiing is much better and the lack of pressure is very relaxing. I hated to fly out of Denver with the Mtns. in the background and come back to the city. But once I got back into the swing of things, it wasn’t bad after all and everything is going along quite well. Thank you very much for the trip. I needed it. If they took Jim out by train, have him send that ticket for the plane in as it is worth $20. I gave him mine when I could not get out on Sunday. You actually knew about his leg long before I did. I did not find out until I hollered to Huega from a lift about three that afternoon. It seems that he had finished his regular training runs for the day and that Beattie then sent three of them down for one more. It’s too bad it had to happen but there is nothing one can do. I think Beattie feels bad about sending them down for one more but if one worried abut that he would never get off on the first run. After all, it was only 11:15 in the morning. Everyone I talked to was really sorry that he had gotten hurt. They took five racers off the hill that day but Jungle was the only one that everyone was talking about. The race officials that I talked with the next day when I gate-kept for the race were all very sorry. I watched at the turn where he got hurt and 10 races including Orsi fell at that turn. I hope the Drs. agree that everything will turn out all right. While at Vail I was talking to one of the ski school instructors that I stayed with at Christmas about it and she said that she had had her leg similarly broken in 1951 and that it had to be reset by the specialist up in Sun Valley. I think his name was Dr. Horst. He is still there and from what they were saying is the best in the field. If it looks at all dubious, they suggested that we send the pictures to him. If you want, I can find out his name for sure.
Love,
Jack
Saturday afternoon
(Mar? 1965)
Dear Jim,
I’m on my way to the library to try to catch up in some of my class work as I have been working on my Moot Court brief for the last two weeks as well as speech that I had to give last night at a Root-Tilden Forum. The brief ran to 28 pages and we will have to argue the case before three lawyers from downtown later this month. I think I should be able to win.
The speech was one that each of the scholarship fellows has to give at least once a year before the other members of the program, their dates, faculty members and anyone else who wants to come. It actually is fairly enjoyable and we had a good topic last night to work with – Greenwich Village. Four of us were on the program and we each took a different aspect of the Village on which to speak. I had the “East Village” which was really the most interesting since that is where all the real beatniks are moving to. For the last three weeks I have been walking around the lower east side talking to people and going to all the weirdest places I could find. Thus with the Moot Court thing I was pretty busy – I would work in the library until about midnight and then go out and visit the crazy bars, etc. Actually I ended up talking about just three things – the avant-garde, the underground cinema, a progressive school where the kids can run around naked if they like and don’t have to learn a thing if they don’t want to, and the Kerista Cult, which is a free love group that live in three different buildings over on the east side and who don’t believe in any possessiveness, either in things or in people. They’re really nuts. As you can see, with material like that, my talk was by far the funniest and went over the best. The director of the scholarship program said that it was the best forum he had been to as long as he had been here.
We had started to review for finals before all of this stuff came up and now I will have to get back at it. If one doesn’t start soon after the first semester tests are done, there just isn’t time to do it all. I was going to join the University orchestra here but have now decided that I had better wait until next year.
I have made reservations on a flight to Brussels which is leaving on the 9th of June and returning on the 20th of July. I would really like to stay longer but if I get on the Law Review I would have to be back here sometime early in August, and if I don’t, it would be nice to spend some time at home in the summer for a change. As of yet I don’t have anyone to go with but know of a number of people who will be over there and will spend some time with Cadle (crew coach) in Germany. I got some very good books on Greece from a secretary here at the school and I hope to spend at least a week wandering around there. Do you have any suggestions?
Say hello to everyone out there for me. Did anything come of that accident we had with Joe’s car in Aspen? I am watching the papers here for all the results of the races. Write me and tell me how they were.
Love,
Jack
June 6, 1965 Postcard
Dear Linda,
I am up north with my dad and Jungle visiting Jay who is here with the Boy Scouts. Needless to say, it is raining and cold. The 3 of us return today to practice sailing with the new boat so that we can win the race tomorrow. Our boat finished 1, 2, 4 in the 3 race program last week and was 2nd overall.
I will let you know where to write me while in Europe when I call. But the way it looks now, I will go first to Paris, then to Rome (send mail here to U.S. Embassy), then to Athens (U.S. Embassy), Vienna (Embassy), Cadle’s (c/o Mr. Don Cadle, Jakob Erhardstrasse 6, 7124 Boennigheim, Germany) and finally London (Embassy). Allow at least one week for the letter to get there, figuring also that the first week in or about Paris and will hit those 5 places at about 1 per week.
I had a nightmare last night – dreamt I had to two more tests to go. It certainly is nice to be finished.
See you Tues. or Wed.
Love,
Jack
June 10, 1965
Dear Linda,
I went out to Brittany last Friday for 3 days with Marc O’Brien and Jim Conley (another crewman) the interior was much like Wisc. and Minn. Rather undeveloped, very quiet and peaceful. On the way back along the north coast we spent a morning climbing around this castle and the afternoon climbing around Mt. St. Michel – later to Chartres. (It is raining very hard now in Paris though weather has been otherwise very good). I am leaving tomorrow for Switzerland, then to Italy. Nestor may not be able to go to Greece with me so I plan to take the cruise ship back up the Yugoslav coast from Athens to Venice. It’s too bad you couldn’t be here. I will write more while I am riding on the train.
Love,
Jack
June 23, 1965
Dear Linda,
The train was too rough to write and this (a car on the way to Rome and hitchhiking) is not much better. I went from Paris to Florence with (Marc) O’Brien and on the way we just got out of the train at this beautiful lake for a swim and a day’s rest. Although the weather is very hot Florence was very interesting and I could have stayed longer although I want to get to Greece and the beaches! Thus I will hitchhike out of Rome tomorrow for Greece. I promise to write something more substantial then.
Love,
Jack
Late August, 1965
Monday
Dear Linda,
I got word from school the other day that I would have to be there on the morning of the seventh of Sept. for a Moot Court staff meeting – that being the next best thing to Law Review. Max Parrish also wanted me to be an usher at his wedding (at the “Three Way Baptist Church;” in Bells, Tenn.) but the wedding came on the 4th of Sept. and we have a big regatta in which I must sail since Jungle broke his leg again and can only skipper. (I gave him more excuses than that however). Consequently, I will fly into Newark late on the night of the 6th and I will give you a call the next day.
Thank you for getting that resumé for me. It saved a lot of time. Jungle broke his leg last Sunday (a week ago) when he was exercising it to build up his thigh muscles. Actually, he didn’t realize it at that time and he went bicycling the next day up the bluffs. Only when he got home that night and noticed a 4 inch curve in his leg did anyone get concerned. Now he’ll be in the cast for another 6 months and if it doesn’t go right, may need bone transplants from his hip. Such is life in the wild west.
Your bowl was very nice and my parents liked it very much. We’ve gotten my mother a stereo tape deck for their anniversary and since my father’s only request was a “piece of tail”* we’ve gotten him one – made of fiberglass. See you next week.
Love,
Jack
*Linda asked her mother, Hildur Lovas, about the meaning of “piece of tail,” and Hildur was shocked!
August, 1965
Dear Linda,
Would you please go down and dig into that cardboard paper file of mine in your basement and get a copy of one of my old job resumés. They are in one of the manila folders and are marked “Resumés” (and I believe “Letters of Recommendation”). I need one so that I remember all the glorious things that I have done, or at least said that I have done. Send it to the R.R.#2 address by air mail please.
I got word of our room in the dorm next year and it is pretty lousy. I wrote to Colleton to see whether he could get it changed. If that doesn’t work, I’ll turn you loose on them.
Love,
Jack
August 13, 1965
Dear Linda,
I’m back on the card routine – a letter follows – I promise. We’re down here for the day in the boat but must be back tomorrow to sail. I’m still getting compliments on you from all the older people – Mr. Funk thought you were very nice. Maybe the grass always looks greener to him.
Love,
Jack
August 16, 1965
(Written on Marquette Cement pad)
Dear Linda,
We (Jungle, Jay, Mother and Myself) are down at my grandmother’s farm at Beaver Dam (Wis), ostensibly for a funeral (a great aunt*), but in actual fact my mother is the only one who went to the funeral – the rest of us went Bullhead fishing with our uncle. Unfortunately, it started to rain a short time ago and we had to come off the lake with only 35 fish. We go back to La Crosse this evening. On the way over here this morning it looked very much like a lot of the valleys in Germany and Austria that I saw this summer. I can see why they got a lot of settlers here from Southern Germany. I’m sorry we didn’t get more of a chance to drive out into the countryside when you were here – it’s really one of the big selling points for the area – not unlike the Mohawk Valley in parts.
I’ve really been enjoying myself this vacation. It’s been very relaxing and I’m learning to do new things as well as getting better at old ones. I wish you could be here more so that we could do more of this together. I enjoy myself most when we can do any sort of thing together.
On the way home tonight (I am now back in La Crosse) we got into a discussion of the relative merits of living and working here and in various other parts of the country – especially NY. In this regard, I would be very interested in seeing what you thought about it. The rest of my family can’t stand NYC in particular and crowded areas on the East coast in general. I merely said if you haven’t tried it, don’t knock it. But I think it would be interesting to hear what your impressions were after 5 days. (That’s no more experience than my brother rests his distaste of NYC on.)
After you left on Sunday I thought that I might have given the impression that I wasn’t interested in having you stay**. I hope you didn’t think so. I really would have enjoyed taking you waterskiing again (especially because I think you would have liked to) and then to go sailing – even though you couldn’t have ridden along. But I do think that it would have been very inconvenient for your father to have to come in later that evening – especially when we didn’t even know what planes would be going to LaGuardia (I don’t want to displease your father, you understand).
Last weekend we went over to Neenah (Wisc.) for an M-20 regatta. We got 4th on Sat. but the next race was called on a 2 ½ hour time limit because of poor wind (which was very lucky as we were dead last at the time) and in the Sunday race we had an excellent start and were about 3rd when a jib line parted and it took 10 minutes to fix it. When we finally got started we were a leg behind, but after 4 legs we were within about 30 feet of the last 3 boats when our luck ran out again and we lost the spinnaker pole taking a chance on a risky long shot. Since we were still last and since the pole cost $30, we dropped out of the race to look for it but even then didn’t find it.
I must say that being back here is very bad for thinking. With something going on all the time I really find it very difficult to find the time to write, let alone to write something substantial. Perhaps (though I doubt it) next time I will be able to write more than just news. However, any kind of a letter from me should be something of an achievement.
Love,
Jack
*Jennie McMillan Butterbrodt
**Linda had flown to La Crosse from Idaho for a 5-day visit; as a former Girl Scout, she covered the Roundup in Idaho for the Westchester papers. After a whirlwind tour of La Crosse, her first time there, she returned to her job in NY, before heading back to Barnard College in the fall.
November 17, 1965
Wednesday
(written on Bedford Springs Hotel [PA] stationary)
Dear All,
Enclosed is the review of The Devils from the Times today and an article on the play that appeared in the Trib last Sunday. You have probably already seen the article on it in the Sunday Times. I thought Dad might be interested in what they had to say about it. While the review is not very enlightening, the article is particularly good.
Everyone wants to know when you both will be coming back. Nevada thought you were terrific and the fellows in the class want someone to stir up some more trouble. A good number of them thought your question on the dognovit note was pretty good even though they hissed. Tom Mellon also enjoyed lunch with us up at the Time-Life Bldg. He is still talking about it.
I was over to the lower East side the other day and I am really sorry that we didn’t have time to get over there. The next time you come out I will be sure to take you down there because there is nothing else like it in the whole US.
If you find that someone will be flying back to LAX next Wednesday and can’t reach me before I get to Chicago, I will be at the firm of Winston, Strawn, Smith & Patterson FI 6-3600 in the morning (or as long as necessary as they are the ones who are flying me out) and at McDermott, Will & Emory FR2-2000 in the afternoon. If I am not at one, do not indicate that I may be at the other, just call the other or leave word.
I hope that you have both gotten over the shock of the trip and are now getting adequate sleep. At least I didn’t announce that Linda was pregnant.*
Please send me the name and address of Mr. Jago so that I can call him up for lunch sometime. On second thought, save it until I get home. I will not be able to stay home for the entire Christmas vacation as I have my tests as soon as I get back. I don’t know my test schedule yet but may get a fairly substantial vacation. If you don’t want to go to the Bahamas, why don’t we go skiing somewhere.
See you Wednesday night. Thank you for everything while you were here last week.
Love,
Jack
*Jake and Janet Hoeschler came to NYC the second week of November. Jake attended some of Jack’s law school classes and Jack announced that we were getting married the following summer. Jake and Janet tried to talk us out of marriage, but to no avail. As Janet said to Jake, “I don’t think Jack is asking for permission; he’s telling you!”
December 1965
Saturday
(Holiday Inn of Miami Beach stationary)
Dear Linda,
I’ve spoken with the bunch down here and all agree that you should buy your skis right away – here’s what to get:*
Barrecrafter poles – about $13.00
Head Standard Skis – about $115.00
Cubco bindings – about $15.95 – these are the ones that I showed you in the ski equipment book ad.
They think you should probably get a pair of used boots this year and then next year or the year after that we can get you a pair of buckle boots since they will have the bugs worked out of them. The ski rental place in the village – on the street behind the law school (4th I think) just off Thomson St. is selling their rental boots for $20-$25. You might want to stop down there to see what they have. otherwise one of the girls at Barnard might have some she wants to sell. The price should be about 30-40% of the original sale price. I’ll write you more later. We’re off to the Grand Bahamas today.
Love,
Jack
*My good friend, Connie Hess, and I (Linda) had decided to go skiing in Bromley, VT after Christmas where I would take lessons and, hopefully, learn to ski. Jack was off to the Bahamas with his folks, with no plan to join me in Vermont, but he did (my mother let him use her car). He was pleased with my progress (almost shocked) and Connie wasn’t too thrilled with the extra distraction (but gracious).
Jan. 19, 1966
(Sheraton, Kingston, Jamaica)
Dear Linda,
The weather’s fine. I wish you were here. We took off early from Grand Bahamas Island because it wasn’t hot enough – it is parallel with West Palm Beach and consequently even north of Miami. It’s perfect down here however and there is some chance that I will lose my library tan after all.
We went for a raft trip down the Rio Grande River near Port Antonio today and it is really like being in the jungles of Brazil or the South Seas. “It would have been a nice trip for two honeymooners” – my mother’s opinion. Tomorrow we are taking off for Montego Bay and will spend the rest of the time there or at least on the north shore. I want to do some skin diving as I took some lessons in Grand Bahamas. It was really a lot of fun and we may drive over to the Playboy Club at Ocho Rios to do some of it if we can’t find a different place.
I will be staying down here until Thursday noon with my mother – Jay and my dad are going back on Tuesday morning thus I will be back on Thursday night and will call your mother sometime Friday.
Have a good time skiing – if I can find a ride I will come up on Friday so leave word with your parents where you will be. Miss you.
Love,
Jack
June 20, 1966
Monday night
Dear Linda,
I just got back to the office from swimming at the Y and am using the secretary’s electric to do this and since it goes off unexpectedly sometimes you may find a lot of extra letters in this thing. Also while I think of it they don’t have a bad dancing class at the Y and I have been wandering in from time to time trying to pick up a few new steps. You can see at the end of the summer how much I learned – if anything. It is too bad you aren’t here to learn them with me however. They have a very good Y and I intend to go over there almost every night from now on in order to stay in shape. I was going to the Mpls. Athletic Club for the last two weeks since that’s where I stayed when I first came up. But it would cost 50¢ every time I went swimming and it doesn’t cost me a dime at the Y. About the only real advantage of the AC is that you meet quite a well established bunch of men (certainly more so than at the Y), but you will be happy to know that my desire to rise in the middle class work is not so great that I would spent 50¢ a time to go swimming, to say nothing of the $80 a month that Carl Liggio spends so that he can rub shoulders with newly arrived Irishmen at the NYAC.
While I was home this last weekend all kinds of women said how pleased they were to get your nice thank you notes (or better, letters). They all really think that you are the finest girl to come along in the last 25 years – that being about the time that most of them have been there. Your presents had not arrived yet and I didn’t say anything except to mother who said that you should not have done it for her. It was very nice though. Thank you for being so nice. (I love you.) My father was named Realtor of the Year last week but as he says, he should have gotten it years ago. Such is life. Jungle and I got third sailing Sunday in the second race and in the race that I skippered we got first. However, my dad got last and was so mad that he wouldn’t even open the Father’s Day presents that we had gotten from him and charged to him.
Work is very interesting. There is an immense amount of freedom and no one really looks into what you are doing. They just give you work like any other lawyer and you come in and report or sit in on the trial and comment just like any other lawyer. I am finishing up now a big (actually only about 25 pages) memo on the right of privacy that I’ve been chiefly working on. In the meantime they give me fast little questions, the answer of which they need in about 2 hours and this keeps things moving. Last week I saved the Newspaper $7,000 on one of those little memos – at the cost of some poor accident victim whose lawyer drew up some papers incorrectly – we always seem to be lined up against the forces of motherhood and children. Max Parrish would go nuts here having to work for the big corporation side against the widow all the time. The younger lawyers in the office are all quite young and very friendly. From my point of view there seems to be quite a few of them – in other words a lot will be around for a long time and not die off too quickly – but they all have a large amount of responsibility and I doubt that one could get it that soon in other firms.
While I think of it, I am enclosing (if I think of it when I seal the letter) the papers from the priest in La Crosse. I think that this is all that is needed and you should mention to Fr. Carmel (if he isn’t already aware of it) that these have to be cleared thru the La Crosse Chancery office again along with your papers (I think). Also, I told my dad to make it about seven for the rehearsal dinner. I think that is the time I told Ferrari when I saw him. If you think it should be later, you should call him up and just handle the time from that end. Also mention the time to Fr. Carmel. The dress size for Janice will be ok, the 36 is ok also.
The weather today was in the 90s here, the first hot day we’ve had. I am living over behind the U in a boarding house for $1 a day. The land lady has ten kids of her own and then keeps 47 college boys in two houses, cooking two meals a day for them, but not in the summer. She’s really quite interesting to talk to re raising children. It is very easy coming to work in the morning as the bus stops right outside the house and it takes about 15 minutes to get down here. I eat downstairs; - a full breakfast for 65¢ -- and am up to work in time to read the paper. I would get credit for always being to work early if anyone would watch me but alas, they wouldn’t mind if I went golfing in the afternoon as long as I somehow got the work done. The other summer fellows seem quite nice two are from Harvard, one Yale and the other Chicago. One of the young lawyers went to Notre Dame with Tom Colleton and we had a riotous lunch talking about him the other day. (Lunch conversations are somewhat more interesting than at law school but not that much).
At this point it does not look good for my coming out at all before the 20th of August. However, I am keeping my eyes open for the least excuse and you probably won’t have much warning if I do come. But don’t stay up too late waiting. I do miss you very much though as there are so many things that I wish we could do together. I am going to another concert tomorrow night and it is sort of lonely sitting there without you. I don’t have your letter here with me so I don’t know whether or not I have forgotten anything. I love you anyway!
It's so nice to have everyone else think you’re so nice too.
I’m happy the church has been changed.
Love,
Jack
701 15th Ave. S.E.
Mpls. 14, Minn.
612-331-9741
June 23, 1966
Dearest Linda,
I forgot to tell you in the last letter that I got a haircut about four days after I had been here (actually, it was the next day after you left on the plane) and I really knew that I wasn’t in N.Y.C. then. I told the guy that I wanted it moderately short with still a hair-line around the ears. While this barely gets anything cut off in NY, it resulted in a slightly ¼” of hair left on my head. I was at first appalled. Since then however, I have realized that I had fallen under the influence of my Italian barber and your adelilahan charms. It is really very nice with hair this short especially since I go swimming every day and never carry a comb. This all also caused me to notice how much shorter everyone around here wears their hair. Very interesting. Another very interesting thing I noticed was first, how much open space under cultivation there was around the St. Paul campus of the U. of M. (among other things the ag. school is there), and second, my own surprise at seeing it. Living in NYC has definitely had its effect on me as I have become extremely conscious of any vacant lots or unused land.
I am really getting to see quite a few things here. Working here for the summer is a lot like working in Washington. You have time at night to go out and see various sights and generally enjoy yourself without doing too much homework. Last night I went to “My Little Chickadee”, an old W.C. Fields, Mae West movie at the Art Institute. It was really a riot. I don’t think that you got out to see this place but it is quite interesting and has a fair amount of oriental suff. Best of all, it has a huge lawn. I will be sailing with a group from St. Paul starting next week on Wednesday nights. I took a ride out to the lake last night (White Bear) and it is pretty big. It is amazing how many lakes are inside the city limits.
When do you get any kind of break in your school stuff? Do you still think that they would not go for you coming out here due to propriety? I miss you very much and despair of my being able to get out there at all. Alas.
I sent that bill from the clinic on the assumption that you had some kind of insurance that would cover it. I’m not sure yet that Toa (Gundersen) is not going to send a bill, but if and when it so becomes clear, you might send him one of your very nice thank you notes, if you have not done so already. Jay misses you too. I brought your picture in to brighten up the office a few days after I had brought in a number of sailing and skiing pictures and all the secretaries got very upset that yours was not included. You were the highlight of the day when you finally arrived. Other than the fact that I miss you, especially when I get done work at night, time is going very fast. I will go over the wedding list with my parents this weekend and it should get to you by the end of next week.
After work tonight I went down to the public library and got a good book on the history of La Crosse and one on the history of the rise of the great insurance companies in this country. Next week I intend to start on teaching myself accounting and Quigley’s book on modern history. If you can think of it, would you send me the title of that book that was published about 3 months ago on the history of Harlem. I cannot remember either the title or the author. I also bought another interesting book yesterday: “How to Avoid Probate.” It has caused quite a stir as it really takes lawyers over the coals – but rightly so, so much of that stuff is just a big racket. So far it looks quite interesting. The same author has another book on life insurance which I intend to get and thereby prepare myself for the onslaught of insurance men who will plague us after we get married. I love you very much and wish we could be together.
Love,
Jack
June 28, 1966
Tuesday
Dear Linda,
Enclosed are the first 3 pages of what will probably be a six page wedding list. I am holding the others to check further on a few addresses. I thought you would want to start on these in the meantime, however, since this is already late. Unless stated otherwise, the city is La Crosse. I think it will be the easiest if you include the extra names on the inner envelope as indicated in pencil.
As I understand it, most of these people will now send presents and therefore mother has tried to cut down the list to only those whom we have known for a long time and who would wonder if they didn’t get an invitation. I thought you had said that if one didn’t send a reception card that would indicate that no present was expected. I mentioned this, but it seems that no one would interpret it in that way around here. I doubt, however, that anyone on the first 3 pages will be able to attend.
If there are any questions, just hold the name and we can clear it up later. It is better to write to my mother than to me on any questions, however. The rest of the list should follow within a few days. I will also write you later today when I have more time.
Also: all names are “Mr. & Mrs.” unless otherwise noted.
Love,
Jack
Late July 1966
Dearest Linda,
Send invitations to the following right away as I don’t believe they will come but they should have been invited and I don’t see them on my lists:
Mr. Andrew Valentine, 5 Hickory Road, Short Hills, N.J.
Mr. Nandor Fournier, 1805 Walnut Blvd., Ashtabula, Ohio
Profession and Mrs. Sheldon D. Elliott, 33 Washington Sq. W., NYC 10011
The rest of these names should have invitations sent if there will be room in the following order:
Mr. Robert Johnson, 33 Washington Sq. W., New York City 10011
Mr. James Mictus, 125 Greenway Rd., Eggertsville, NY (may have been already sent)
I was going to send a telegram to your father last weekend with the “good” news that everyone from La Crosse would be coming out. However, in the heat of all the racing I forgot to do it. We were seventh overall in the race, by the way. Had the winds been stronger I’m sure we would have done better. As usual, our success was in direct proportion to the speed of the wind and when the first race was practically sailed in a dead calm we got a 16th and that continued to drag us down for the total standings all through the series. The best we did in any one race was a 4th in moderate winds. My dad had one of the fellows who makes the boats as his crew and they had a third in one race. This amazed everyone and I’m sure you will hear about it from him when he gets out there.
While I think of it – am I correct in thinking that McDonald’s wife should be invited to the rehearsal dinner or is it proper just to ask him – especially since he could easily come over and drive back that night alone since she would be taking care of the kids. Also, please send that financial budget statement (or as much information as you have) that we made up last spring for you.
Mother has not found any curtains as yet. There is no news regarding the rug either. She may suggest it to someone if the occasion arises as no one has yet mentioned it.
I love you and miss being with you. It is now slightly more than 3 weeks before I will see you and it is very funny how time is going at once very fast and very slow. The thought of being with you forever after that is such a calming one that I get excited just thinking about it. I so look forward to being alone with you on our wedding night and the honeymoon.
Love always,
Jack
July 1966
Dear Linda,
I will call you Friday at about 11:00 pm E.D.T. If you will not be there at that time, call between 11:00 & 9:00 PM E.D.T. person to person for Mr. John Hannicker at the Jake Hoeschler cottage in Dresbach. John will not be there but you should leave word when you will call back and I will call you at that time. Items of discussion:
1) No. at rehearsal dinner; number of those not in bridal party; do we send the invitations; what are girls wearing on hands; gifts for wedding party; finance figures for next year if you haven’t already sent them; how much I miss you; window dimensions for apt. (unless I find them here first); invitation situation.
I love you in the meantime.
Love,
Jack
July 5, 1966
Dearest Linda,
I have a list of things to include in this letter but I left it down at the office. I will include those things tomorrow if I can. I just got back from a Pete Fountain concert at Northrop Auditorium. Lombardo (the head of the Opera & Concert series in Mpls) gave me the tickets. I invited another of the summer clerks from the office. I would much rather have had you along instead. The concert was very good except for the fact that it is so hard to warm up such a huge audience (c. 5000 seats). I sat next to a neurosurgeon from the Univ. – a very interesting fellow – from South America originally.
The sailing didn’t go so well this weekend. We were 5th overall. Midway through we changed boats with Dad and thus took over his last place standing. Jungle seems to have lost a little of his touch and he’s really funny trying to figure out what’s wrong. He’ll blow hot and cold on one boat five times within a day. You can really learn a lot about human psychology from sailing.
Everyone got their gifts it seems. All continue to speak highly of you and Sister Paula Marie spoke for all when she said that the best thing about you was that you were strong enough to make a good marriage. She is very happy that you seem like the type that will not be overpowered by me or the rest of the family. And that’s what I’ve always looked for – someone who isn’t helpless. I love you.
I saw a couple of nice bracelets that I think are like the one you want for your watch. Will you send me a drawing of the type you would like and I will see how closely they compare. No, I haven’t forgotten your birthday. I would have a picture taken of myself but I don’t have much hair and besides the wedding is so close we can get some ones of the two of us.
I’m sorry we’re not fast on that wedding list.
I am waiting for your letter to arrive in Mpls re the personal matters to which you alluded in your last letter. Regarding the business of going back on the pills, the question seems to me to be not whether or not he can better rationalize and justify in his mind the use of pills as opposed to mechanical contraceptives, but what in your mind do you want to do? And one of the factors should be your personal comfort. On the other hand, he may be right that the pill is safer, at least at first while we are somewhat inexperienced. I love you whatever the case, incidentally, no one is reading your letters in La Crosse. I will talk with you on the phone next week. Send me a day and time you will be home after 9:00 there.
Would you also look in my cardboard filing case for a mimeographed sheet with all the addresses of the crew fellows. It will be headed by the gold seal of the Society of the Golden Oar (Teste) [oar]. If you find it, I will send you just the names and you can get the addresses from there. How many people would your father like us to have at the reception from my school friends? I am very flexible and can cut it quite low if need be.
Love,
Jack
Early August 1966
Dear Linda,
I have not seen my grades yet but it appears that I will not have the scholarship next year. I received a letter from Dean Hawley, the head of the Root Program, informing me that the Scholarship Committee had decided not to renew mine. I’m not sure what this means, and I am writing him to find out more particularly why. The most probable reason is grades however.
I wanted to let you know right away so that you can write the scholarship people and subtract $3100 from the financial reports – you might inform New School as well and see what they say.
Actually the money is not that much of a problem – the disappointment at losing the scholarship is much greater. However ----- the show must go on. I am very happy to be doing this type of work this summer as it clearly indicates (what my grades do not) that I am perfectly capable of doing almost anything they throw at me. I have no doubt in my own mind that I will be a success.
It is very interesting that this should happen at this time when our sailing is going equally bad. One really learns from that sport – more so I think than from others – never to give up We (especially I) will just have to dig in a little harder and keep on plugging – and “muddle through.” I’m not a despondent sort anyway, but I think that that type of competitive activity is really good since you learn how to come back from losing. I look forward to the coming year with you. I think it will be very helpful being together. I am only sorry that I didn’t do better for your sake – that, in the sense that I am a poor provider. On the other hand, we won’t starve.
Needless to say, it would be best to keep this rather confidential and not let it out of the family. There is little that will be lost if nothing is said about it. Whatever you do, don’t get all upset and feel bad about it. It’s just one more personality developing experience.
I continue to bask (sp?) in the glowing compliments everyone has for you. Every time someone mentions you they have something nice to say and I really long for you. With less than 50 days before the wedding the time is really starting to fly. I love you so much.
As things would happen, I have misplaced the blanks for the medical report which I must have before we can get a marriage license. Would you drop a card to the bureau downtown in NYC or stop by yourself in White Plains and get for me the necessary blanks for an out-of-state medical report? Send them to the R.R.#2 address please.
Let me assure you again that the wedding is still on and nothing has changed except that my father will have dropped into a lower tax bracket. Luckily things are going well for him and the bit will not be too heavily felt.
Love,
Jack
I think I came in on the middle of this business about the papal award. Would you go through it all again from the top, please?
I forgot to tell my parents that Bronsons want to give a party but will. They were planning to come in Thursday noon. Yes I will give a Bachelor party, the only trouble is when – probably Friday night – but it will be very sedate. Did you find out more re Maine from Bronsons? Barbara Wool is in N.Y. and her name is on the list somewhere. Billy Kid’s sister went back to N.Y. with him – she got confused by the switchboard and started to cry and quit within a day and a half – better for all concerned.
I never measured those curtains but I can write to Dan Kirsch as he lives with his wife and baby in an A room, or you can stop by there and measure his room if you can’t get into any other.
I have no preference on pew ribbons – IU leave all that up to you.
Love,
Jack
June 1968
Dear Linda,
I am sitting here listening to testimony before the Ill. Branch of the U.S. Civil Rights Commission which is investigating whether the recommendations of the Kerner Commission are being instituted in Ill. The testimony is uniformly that the Courts and their personnel and procedures are themselves a crime. I seriously wonder, however, whether anything substantial will come of all this.
I am surviving so far in spite of your absence. Because of the terrific heat I have not gone home the last three nights until well after dark. Manny is putting the air conditioner in but I am not at all sure that it has any coolant gas in it anymore and I doubt that it will help much. Hopefully it will be working by the time you get back.
Thank you for the call the other morning. I’m sorry that I was so tired – but what could one expect at 4:00 a.m. I thought as I was driving back from the airport that I had really not said goodbye to you properly. Maybe it was just that any goodbye would be unsatisfactory. Thus, when you called I was again sorry that I was so sleepy because I wanted to tell you better that I missed you.
I am going sailing Thursday evening and in the meantime am preparing a habeas petition for Mrs. Young’s son – his case was continued again until July 19. After July 7 it will be 120 days since the last delay that Joseph himself acquiesced in.
Other than the foregoing, little has happened to me since you left. I miss you particularly after nine o’clock at night (I didn’t realize what that last hour before you went to bed must have meant to me because you’re usually out of commission after 120!) I love you and hope that your courses are good. Say hello and love to B. Wool for me.
Love,
Jack