THE VANTAGE POINT: PERSPECTIVES OF THE PRESIDENCY 1963-1969 Inscribed to Cyrus Vance

New York: Holt Rinehart Winston, (1971). First Edition. Hardcover. Typical wear to this terrible choice for a binding with some separation of the covers. Most copies of this scarce book that we have seen over the years have been heavily repaired or rebound. This copy is untouched and still about Very Good and with a great inscription. Very Good in a Fine clamshell box. Bound in publisher's flimsy and impractical padded red leather housed in a custom-made cloth clamshell box. Illustrated with photographs. Copy #47 of 300 SIGNED by the author on the limitation page. In addition, LBJ has filled the dedication page with an absolutely superb INSCRIPTION to his Deputy Secretary of Defense: "To/Cy Vance/Loyal sturdy wise/a good man to have as friend/and associate--/from his friend/Lyndon B. Johnson Xmas 71." Vance, whose ownership signature is on the front endpaper, is cited about 20 times in the index.

Cyrus Vance was general counsel of the Defense Department and then the Secretary of the Army during the John F. Kennedy administration when units were sent to northern Mississippi in 1962 to protect James Meredith and ensure that the court-ordered integration of the University of Mississippi took place. As Deputy Secretary of Defense under Johnson, he first supported the Vietnam War but by the late 1960s changed his views and resigned from office advising the president to pull out of South Vietnam. In 1968 he served as a delegate to peace talks in Paris and received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1969. Serving as Secretary of State in the Jimmy Carter administration, Vance was heavily instrumental in Carter's decision to return the Canal Zone to Panama and in the Camp David Accords agreement between Israel and Egypt. Vance resigned in opposition to Carter's plan, which eventually failed, to rescue the Iranian hostages. In the movie ARGO, Vance was portrayed by actor Bob Gunton.