Feb. 6, 1962 - Woodrow Wilson’s typewriter was returned today to the White House. It had been disposed of as surplus property during the Harding Administration. The historic machine, on which President Wilson typed many state documents, was given to President Kennedy today as a gift by the family of Admiral Cary T. Grayson, who was Wilson’s physician. President Kennedy, in accepting the 1913 Hammond multiplex portable, said it would be displayed where the million annual visitors to the White House could see it and be reminded “of the distinguished role President Wilson played in the life of our country.” “My wife has collected everything else,” President Kennedy said. “This is the only thing I have produced.” Displayed with the typewriter were facsimiles of several documents typed by Wilson, including a prophetic letter to Robert Lansing, his Secretary of State. “My dear Mr. Secretary,” it began, “here is the recurring question: how shall we deal with the Bolsheviks?” The letter, dated Jan. 20, 1918, accompanied a State Department cable from Copenhagen, Denmark, telling of German intrigue in Russia two months after the revolution that brought the Communists to power.
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