Since its founding, The Raab Collection has earned a reputation as the destination for descendants and heirs of historical families to sell their family heirlooms when the time is right. This includes the families of Thomas Jefferson, US Grant, Ronald Reagan, Dwight Eisenhower, F. Scott Fitzgerald and many, many others.
The Raab Collection has recently acquired the artifacts and documents belonging to long-time Kennedy advisor, confidant and family friend, Kenneth O'Donnell. These pieces document key moments in the lives of the Kennedys, and show O'Donnell's key relationship with the three brothers, and their electoral successes, that extended decades. O'Donnell reached the silver screen with Kevin Costner's portrayal of him in the movie 13 Days about the Cuban Missile Crisis.
As Pierre Salinger wrote of O'Donnell: “It was my impression that O'Donnell had the greatest influence in shaping the President's most important decisions. He was able to set aside his own prejudices against individuals and his own ideological commitments (I would rate him a moderate Democrat) and appraise the alternatives with total objectivity. It was impossible to categorize O'Donnell, as White House observers did with other staff members, as either a "hawk" or a "dove" on foreign policy, or a Stevenson liberal or Truman conservative on civil rights. JFK gave extra weight to O'Donnell's opinions because he knew he had no personal cause to argue. Ken had only one criterion: Will this action help or hurt the President? And that, for O'Donnell, was another way of asking: Will it help or hurt the country?”
Pictured below: The groomsman's gift that RFK gave to O'Donnell on his wedding day in 1950
