History buffs have a rare opportunity Wednesday to bid on assorted John F. Kennedy memorabilia, including a letter about the failed Bay of Pigs plot to topple Fidel Castro in 1961, according to a Boston auction house.
The remote auction is ongoing and will conclude this evening, according to the website for RR Auctions.
“A special John F. Kennedy section features his ‘Top Secret’ letter investigating the Bay of Pigs failure, an inaugural photograph signed by Jack and Jackie, a life preserver from the family yacht Marlin, and original NBC Radio recordings of his assassination,” the site says.
Kennedy wrote the Bay of Pigs letter to General Maxwell Taylor on April 22, 1961, soon after the plot failed spectacularly, with some 1,400 CIA-trained Cuban exiles launching an invasion that was crushed within days. The Kennedy administration wanted to topple Castro to prevent the rise of a Communist power some 90 miles south of Florida at the height of the Cold War against the former Soviet Union.
Kennedy kept the plot a closely guarded secret before the failed incursion, going so far as to lean on New York Times editors to keep the paper from reporting when it learned about the plans in advance. A Times editor, Bill Keller, later said Kennedy voiced regret that the paper of record hadn’t published what it knew ahead of time because it could have prevented a fiasco.
“It is apparent that we need to take a close look at all our practices and programs in the areas of military and paramilitary, guerrilla and anti-guerrilla activity which fall short of outright war,” Kennedy wrote.
“I believe that we need to strengthen our work in this area,” Kennedy continued. “In the course of your study, I hope that you will give special attention to the lessons which can be learned from recent events in Cuba.”
The letter had 22 bids as of 1:15 p.m. Wednesday, with the top bid sitting at $5,185, slightly below the site’s “$6,000+” estimate.
Additional items up for auction include JFK’s personally worn and owned Irish Donegal tweed hat and eight of Jacqueline Kennedy’s signed cards and letters to her husband’s cousin, Ann Gargan.
“Dearest Ann,” Jackie began one letter dated April 29, 1968, about five years after her husband’s assassination in Dallas. “How thoughtful of you to send me the pictures you took Easter weekend. They came out so well, and Caroline and John are delighted to have them for their scrapbooks. We had such a nice time in Palm Beach and look forward to seeing you — before too long — at the Cape. Hugs & Kisses, Jackie.”
And it’s not just Kennedy items on the auction block. Bidders can also vie for “letters by George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Benjamin Franklin, and Thomas Jefferson, plus a scarce [1848] Force print of the Declaration of Independence. Additional standouts include a Marie Antoinette letter from the French Revolution, a rare handwritten Stephen Hawking letter, and a triple-signed John D. Rockefeller stock certificate.”
Bidders can register online.
Material from the Associated Press was used in this report.
Travis Andersen can be reached at travis.andersen@globe.com.