TYPED LETTER ON THE SUBJECT OF WORLD PEACE SIGNED BY U.S. ARMY GENERAL AND COMMANDER IN CHIEF, UNITED STATES READINESS COMMAND, BRUCE PALMER, JR.

MacDill Air Force Base, FL: February 12, 1973.. 1973.. Very good. - Palmer's lengthy 2-1/2 page letter is typed on a cream-colored, 10-1/2 inch high by 8 inch wide sheet of United States Readiness Command letterhead with the address & the Department of Defense seal printed at the top, and on 2 follow-up sheets. Printed at the foot of the letterhead are the words "Readiness....Key to Peace". Signed "Bruce Palmer Jr". The sheets are lightly bumped & stapled together at top right. Folded twice for mailing. Very good. <p>Palmer replies to a letter from Congressman Seymour Halpern asking him for his thoughts on how to achieve a lasting world peace. Palmer writes a long and thoughtful letter, giving his views on the subject and considering the problems and challenges ahead. "The means of achieving this goal are several. First and foremost is to maintain strength and stability in our own domestic economy and political system. Secondly, in the realization that we cannot go it alone-- economically, politically or militarily--is the need for collective security, enhancing our own security through collective arrangements with other nations. Our moral, economic, political and military strength and leadership have played the key role in the collective security of the Free World for more than twenty-five years...."<p>Bruce Palmer, Jr. [1913-2000] served in the United States Army from 1936 to 1974. From 1967-68, he was commander of II Field Force, Vietnam and deputy commander of the United States Army, Vietnam. He was acting Chief of Staff of the United States Army from July to October 1972 and from 1973 until his retirement he was commander in chief of the United States Readiness Command.<p>The Queens, New York Republican Congressman Seymour Halpern (1913-1997) started his political career as a campaign aide to New York's powerful mayor Fiorella La Guardia and first served in New York's State Senate for 14 years before seeking a seat in the U.S. Congress. In Albany Halpern sponsored 279 bills that became law, including measures on schools, housing, civil rights, nutrition and mental health. A Liberal, he was something of an anomaly as the lone Republican representative from New York City, and generally garnered support from Labor Unions and endorsement from the Liberal Party. Yet he never even considered switching parties as he considered membership in the Republican Party a family tradition and commitment. While he found ample time for his private pursuits, including painting and collecting autographs, he took his legislative duties very seriously. Of these, he was proudest of his co-sponsorship of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and of the original 1965 Medicare legislation.