Bernard Rogers 6 Piece Archive- Important NATO Content!

A group of six handwritten documents including (5) ALS and (1) TLS from former U.S. Army general and Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR) Bernard W. Rogers, all addressed to lieutenant general Dewitt C. Smith (referred to by Rogers as "Dee" throughout). Ranging in dates between December 11, 1967 and March 1, 1985, all signed affectionately as "Bernie". Expected wear including flattened letter folds to all, with minor ink smudging in places. Overall, very fine condition. Please refer to the accompanying photos for further information.

The lot includes, in chronological order:

1.) ALS, 1p, dated December 11, 1976. Rogers compliments Smith on his work as Commandant of the U.S. Army War College after a recent visit.

2.) ALS, 1p on SACEUR letterhead, dated May 31, 1981, SHAPE, Belgium. Opens with "Thanks for your recent letter, Ann and I are delighted with the prospects of serving at least 2 more years as SACEUR/CINEUR. At this stage, I am prepared to stay here forever, if the U.S. Army, OJD, and NATO were to agree…"

3.) TLS, 1p on SACEUR letterhead, dated November 2, 1982, SHAPE, Belgium. Rogers asks Smith to set in motion the process of becoming a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, a notion they've previously discussed during Smith's visit to Europe.

4.) ALS, 2p front and back on SACEUR letterhead, dated February 20, 1984, SHAPE, Belgium. Reads in part, "As you surmised, I needed the generous pat on the back in the last letter, especially inasmuch as the Long Commission Report, heralded by many as a magnificent piece of work, is in fact a very shallow product, to say nothing of being immoral. Further, I was very disappointed—discouraged—that the DCS and Sec Def accepted it at face value and immediately released it to the world without the Chair of Command even having seen the report, much less comment on it. I’ll tell you all about it someday. Meantime, I am trying to keep my cool and not spark a long saga in the press of “Rogers vs. Long”…

5.) ANS, 2p front and back on SACEUR card, dated October 15, 1984, n.p. Rogers thanks Smith for books he sent and sends condolence regarding the death of Smith's mother-in-law.

6.) ALS, 2p front and back on SACEUR letterhead, dated March 1, 1985, SHAPE, Belgium. Rogers discusses recent work with NATO, including a "conceptual military framework which will project beyond the year 2000 and may let us be more efficient in the application of resources to conventional war…".

Bernard William Rogers (1921-2008) was a United States Army general who served as the 28th Chief of Staff of the United States Army, and later as NATO's Supreme Allied Commander, Europe and Commander in Chief, United States European Command.

Dewitt C. Smith (1920-2005) was a United States Army lieutenant general who served as the Deputy Chief of Staff for Personnel from 1977 to 1978. He was also the longest-serving commandant of the U.S. Army War College, serving from 1974 to 1977 and again from 1978 to 1980.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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