Sold – Who’s Who of the Sixties, In Autographs

President Harry S. Truman dedicated Friendship International Airport on June 24, 1950. The airport was opened to serve the Baltimore-Washington area and scheduled airline service began one month later. This airport was renamed Baltimore/Washington International Airport (BWI) in 1973. For a number of years in the early and mid-1960’s, Baltimore police captain Carl C. Kunaniec was assigned to security at the airport and met many notables and celebrities coming and going from the airport. Kunaniec collected the autographs of over 160 of these people from 1960-1966, having them sign on 9 by 11 inch sheets of plain, unlined paper. They constitute a virtual Who’s Who of the 1960’s, particularly of the Kennedy era from 1960-1963 that is often romantically referred to as Camelot. We have obtained Kunaniec’s treasured sheets and they are indeed a time machine for anyone who lived through those years. Included are:

The Kennedy brothers: John F. Kennedy had been on a New England campaign tour on September 1-2, 1960, and according to the Kennedy Library, returned to D.C. on the 3rd. He was at the Baltimore airport at 9:30 AM, signed Kunaniec’s book, then flew nonstop to the West Coast. Also present and signing was Pierre Salinger, JFK’s press secretary. Robert Kennedy signed in 1961 and Ted in 1964.

First Families: Lyndon and Lady Bird Johnson signed when he was vice president. Dwight D. Eisenhower, his son John and brother Milton are included, the latter then serving as president of Johns Hopkins University. Harry Truman, Ronald Reagan, Spiro Agnew and Pat Nixon have also signed.

Civil Rights figures:?The struggle for civil rights defined the 60’s and Martin Luther King signs just two months after delivering his “I have a dream” speech. Also included are James Meredith, who had just integrated the University of Mississippi, Bayard Rustin and the flamboyant Adam Clayton Powell.

U.S. Supreme Court:?The High Court is represented by its activist Chief Justice, Earl Warren, liberal icon William O. Douglas, William J. Brennan, Tom Clark and Byron White.

Astronauts and aviators: Signing are the first American in space, Alan Shepard, the first to orbit the Earth, John Glenn, Scott Carpenter, Wally Schirra, familiar NASA voice Shorty Powers and World War I top ace Eddie Rickenbacker.

Politicos: Signing are Republican nominee Barry Goldwater and his running mate William E. Miller, cabinet members Dean Rusk, Christian Herter, Willard Wirtz and Abe Ribicoff, CIA chief Allen Dulles, governors Millard Tawes, John Love, Pat Brown, G. Mennen Williams and Luis Munoz Marin, NATO head Lyman Lemnitzer, mayors Richard Daley of Chicago and J. Harold Grady, Theodore R. McKeldin and Philip H. Goodman of Baltimore, famed union head James Hoffa, plus Estes Kefauver, Joseph W. Martin, Glenn Beall, Daniel Brewster, Angier Biddle Duke, Sam Goddard and Hugh Auchincloss.   

Foreign dignitaries were Juscelino Kubitschek de Oliveira, president of Brazil, Diosdado Macapagal, president of the Philippines, Carlos Romulo, Philippine ambassador to the U.S., Lord Mountbatten of Burma, Canadian Prime Minister Lester Pearson, Dublin mayor Robert Briscoe, David Ormsby-Gore, and Tran van Chuong, South Vietnam's ambassador to the U.S. and the father of Vietnam’s de facto first lady, Madame Nhu.

Religious figures included Arthur Michael Ramsey, the archbishop of Canterbury, Noble Powell, bishop of Maryland, Rabbi Abba Hillel Silver and a rare autograph of Rev. Billy Graham.

Journalists signing were the legendary Edward R. Murrow, plus Drew Pearson, Bob Considine, Bennett Cerf, Frank Conniff, Red Motley, plus a cartoon by Yardley of the Baltimore Sun.  And then there are these people, hard to classify here: scientist Edward Teller, playboy Hugh Hefner with 6 bunnies, billionaire TV mogul John Kluge, Linda Lee Mead – Miss America 1960, Leda Vargas – Miss Universe 1963, Miss Universe 1964, and stripper Blaze Starr.   

Sports: Baseball is well represented by home run king Roger Maris, the amazing Willie Mays, Whitey Ford, Frank Robinson, Bill Dickey, Brooks Robinson, Johnny Mize, Casey Stengel, Don Drysdale, Larry MacPhail, Lee MacPhail, Commissioner William D. Eckert, Mrs. Babe Ruth, Bud Hassett, Chuck Thompson, Ron Swoboda, Zoilo Versailles, Hank Bauer, Chuck Estrada, Ernie Baugh, Norm Cash and Billy Hitchcock. There are Weeb Ewbank and Carroll Rosenbloom for football, the great Rocky Marciano and Red Burman for boxing, jockey Chick Lang, tennis star Dennis Ralston and wrestler Bruno Sammartino.

Entertainers: This was a great decade for television, and many important stars signed, including Johnny Carson, Bob Hope, Steve Allen, Art Linkletter (with Diane and family), David McCallum, Michael Landon, Sammy Davis, Jr., Jack Benny, George Jessel, Danny Thomas, Henny Youngman, Joey Bishop, Milton Berle, Jimmy Durante, Victor Borge, Max Baer, Donna Douglas, Eddie Albert, Arthur Godfrey, Spring Byington, Edward Everett Horton, Jay North, Jim Nabors, Nat King Cole, Mary Travers, Dinah Shore, Mitch Miller, Lawrence Welk, Larry Hooper, Norma Zimmer, Leslie Uggams, Rosemary Clooney, Tennessee Ernie Ford, Joi Lansing, Helen Traubel, Rex Trailer, Ulla Bergryd, Duncan Renaldo and Joyce Brothers. Plus there were those that made their mark mainly through movies, though they also appeared on TV: Jimmy Stewart, Woody Allen, Jane Mansfield, Robert Mitchum, Lee Marvin, Pat O’Brien, Gordon MacRae, Gene Autry, Terry Morgan, Josey Carey, Tab Hunter, William Gargan and Barbara Boylan .

It is the 60’s in a nutshell, complete with the extremely rare combination of the three men whose assassinations rocked the decade, both Kennedys and King. Included are photographs of Kunaniec with John and Robert Kennedy.