NEW YORK, NY.- Lion Heart Autographs, one of the country’s most widely recognized and respected dealers of historical autographs and manuscripts specializing in art, history, literature, music and science has announced an extraordinary auction of American presidential documents just in time for this year’s election. The auction is scheduled for Wednesday, October 26, 2016, at 1:00 p.m. EST, just twelve days before the U.S. votes for the country’s next President. From George Washington’s eloquent words written at the very birth of our nation to the horrific 9/11 attack against the United States, Lion Heart Autographs’ auction, “Presidential Letters & Speeches Plus Important Autographs in History, Science & the Arts,” will give collectors and political aficionados an opportunity to acquire some of the most remarkable moments in United States political history.

Penned over 225 years ago, a significant fragment from the conclusion of George Washington’s handwritten draft of his first inaugural address offers an inspiring insight into the General’s thoughts as he prepares to assume the role of America’s first president.

The 73-page handwritten draft survived into the 19th century when it was discovered by historian Jared Sparks who was permitted to move Washington’s archive from its Mount Vernon home to work on it at his Harvard office. Seeing no value in the discarded first draft, Sparks, regrettably, dismembered the entire manuscript and gave precious snippets to autograph seekers. Only a small number of these remnants survive and they are published in The Papers of George Washington. Lion Heart Autographs will proudly offer one of the few fragments still in private hands at their October 26th auction. The message to Congress, written in Washington’s elegant script, provides an illuminating and profound understanding of the “father of our country.” (Estimate: $130,000-$150,000). The president writes:

“I have now again given way to my feelings, in speaking without reserve, according to my best judgement, the words of soberness and affection. If anything in disrespect or foreign to the occasion has been spoken, your candor, I am convinced will not impute it an unworthy motive. I come now to a conclusion by addressing my humble petition to the...

While others in their political conduct shall demean themselves as (or) may seem to them, let us be honest. Let us be firm. Let us advance directly forward in the path of our duty. Should the path at first prove intricate and thorny, it will grow plain and smooth as we go. In public as in private life, let the eternal line that separates right from wrong, be the fence to…”

Another auction highlight is John F. Kennedy’s full page of autographed notes for a 1960 presidential campaign speech, mentioning his movement’s most famous catchphrase, “The New Frontier.” These notes were intended for a September 9, 1960, rally in Los Angeles. As transitory as today’s news is, this sheet of paper, treasured for decades in a private collection, survives as a shining example of a brief moment in time captured in the handwriting of one of America’s most beloved presidents. (Estimate: $2,500 to $3,500).

Franklin D. Roosevelt, our 32nd president, contracted polio at age 39, an event that could have thwarted his political career. Included in the auction is an exceptionally rare letter by FDR written on White House stationery shortly after becoming president, to a fellow polio victim, Edward H. Barker, that underscores the president’s encouragement to those afflicted by infantile paralysis. Interestingly, Barker invented the Barker Feeder, the earliest device to assist polio victims to feed themselves. (Estimate: $1,200 to $1,500).

President Bill Clinton’s renewal of China’s Most Favored Nation status is another auction highlight and a timely topic of conversation as America watches the political debates unfold. Dated June 5, 1993, the mint condition letter is written on White House stationery and bears the blind-embossed Great Seal of the United States.

It was sent to Senator Daniel P. Moynihan and speaks of Clinton’s Executive Order to renew China’s Most Favored Nation status for one year, emphasizing that China, “will be held accountable for its human rights record and its trade and weapons proliferation practices.” (Estimate: $800 to $1,000).

Lion Heart Autographs’ auction will also offer a gripping and chilling, though immensely moving remembrance of 9/11. Three days after the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington that targeted the World Trade Center and the Pentagon and killed approximately 3,000 innocent people, five of the country’s six living presidents joined other mourners at Washington’s National Cathedral for a National Day of Prayer and Remembrance. At this historic gathering, the front page of The New York Times from September 12, 2001, featuring a color image of the World Trade Center in flames with the headline “U.S. Attacked: Hijacked Jets Destroy Twin Towers and Hit Pentagon in Day of Terror,” was signed by the 38th president Gerald Ford, the 39th president Jimmy Carter, the 41st president George H. W. Bush, the 42nd president Bill Clinton, and in 2004 by the 43rd and then current president George W. Bush. The signatures of these men, who had led the free world for a quarter of a century, bear witness to a nation’s grief and the threats that every president fears could occur during their term. (Estimate: $6,000-$8,000).

Lion Heart’s commission from the sale of this historic front page will be donated to Tuesday’s Children, a charity “formed in the aftermath of September 11, 2001,” as a “response and recovery organization that supports youth, families, and communities impacted by terrorism and traumatic loss.”

The auction “Presidential Letters & Speeches Plus Important Autographs in History, Science & the Arts” will offer additional autographs and manuscripts including a lengthy 1864 document of American artist and telegram inventor Samuel F.B. Morse recommending portrait artists and closing with: “If Lincoln is reelected I shall despair” (Estimate: $4,000-$5,000); a President Jimmy Carter letter congratulating Neil Armstrong on the 25th Anniversary of the moon landing: “Your step truly was a giant leap for all mankind” (Estimate: $500-$750); a rare autograph letter signed in which Robert Kennedy jokes about gangsters with pioneering Washington journalist Sarah McClendon (Estimate: $2,000-$2,500); a greeting card signed by Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter, George and Barbara Bush, Ronald and Nancy Reagan and Gerald and Betty Ford (Estimate: $1,200-$1,500) and much more.