Typed Note Signed / Unsigned Photograph

This famed California isolationist and progressive helped found the Progressive Party in 1912 and was chosen Theodore Roosevelt's running mate on that ticket in the 1912 presidential election; he served California as its 23rd governor (1911-17) and senator (1917-45). TNS, 1p, 8" X 10½", Washington, DC, 25 April 1919. Addressed to S.R. Gaines. Very good. Some offsetting (perhaps from long-ago newsprint contact), with faint age toning and minor edgewear. On "United States Senate / Committee on Military Affairs" letterhead, Johnson complies with an autograph request, signing large and bold in full. Accompanied by a superb original 8½" X 6½" glossy black-and-white news agency photograph , a closeup of cigar-chomping Johnson and another conferring. Newsprint text tipped to verso dates the image 9 July 1945, titles it "At Charter Hearing" and describes the scene: "At ratification hearing on the United Nations charter which opened today in Washington, Senator Hiram Johnson, of Cal., and Senator Tom Connally of Texas." Less than one month later -- on the same day the U.S. dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima -- Johnson died.