It was 45 years ago, but Bob Bostock still remembers opening the envelope and being excited at its contents – a Christmas greeting card from President Richard M. Nixon.
“It was 1973, and I got a Christmas card from President Nixon – just like 900 million other people,” said Bostock, who was then a 15-year-old high school student. He had worked on President Nixon’s re-election campaign, working the telephone banks to get out the vote.
It was that Christmas card from President Nixon that sparked Bostock’s interest in collecting Presidential Christmas cards and Presidential memorabilia – albeit many years later.
Now, Bostock plans to share some of his Presidential Christmas card collection with the public during a month-long exhibit at the Lawrence Library, beginning Dec. 1. The library is on the corner of Darrah Lane and Brunswick Pike.
“I have a few little Presidential gifts and things that show how the White House and the President celebrated Christmas, all the way back to President Herbert Hoover. The exhibit is meant to be kind of fun,” Bostock said.
“I am a big student of the Presidency and the White House, and I am a fan of Presidential Christmas cards. I have at least one Christmas card, from President Eisenhower to President Trump,” said Bostock, who is a former Lawrence Township Council member. He served on the council from 2008 to 2011.
President Dwight D. Eisenhower was the first President to send a quantity of Christmas cards, he said. Each Christmas card had the Presidential Seal, plus the year and a greeting inside it.
Bostock, who has always been interested in history and politics, parlayed those interests into a career as a freelance author and speechwriter for politicians, including former New Jersey Gov. Christine Todd Whitman.
Bostock also has curated centennial exhibits for President Nixon and former First Lady Pat Nixon at the Richard M. Nixon Presidential Library and Museum in California.
Initially, Bostock collected political campaign buttons. He changed his focus, however, after joining Ebay in 1999. His collection began to grow in earnest in the 2000’s, and has continued to expand.
“If I go to a flea market and I see something, I will pick it up. Ebay is great for collectors. The majority of things are not expensive. The kids are cleaning out their parents’ house and there is not much interest in their parents’ things, so they sell it,” he said.
One of the earliest items in Bostock’s Presidential Christmas collection is an invitation to a Christmas party at the White House in 1931 from Mrs. Hoover and her grandchildren, Peggy Ann and Peter.
Bostock said guests were asked to bring a toy to the party that would be given to children who were not so fortunate. “It illustrates that the country was in kind of a mess,” he said.
A paperweight with the Presidential Seal from President Nixon also will be on display, along with the Christmas card that he received in 1973. The paperweight, which is from Christmas 1972, was made by the hundreds and given to White House staff, he said.
“Presidents have a lot of people to buy things for,” Bostock said.
In his last Christmas at the White House, President George H. W. Bush mailed a special Christmas card that featured the Presidential Seal on the cover and a family photo inside.
That special Christmas card, which was mailed to the President’s personal friends, was prepared in addition to the hundreds of thousands of official Presidential Christmas cards that were sent to political supporters, Bostock said.
“By the way, if you send a Christmas card to the President, you get an acknowledgement – not a Christmas card (in return),” Bostock said.
But perhaps one of the most poignant items in Bostock’s Presidential Christmas collection is the Christmas card – with an artist’s rendering of the newly redecorated Green Room at the White House – that was to be sent by President and Mrs. Kennedy in December 1963.
Obviously, the card – which was signed and ready to go – was not mailed.
Instead, Jackie Kennedy’s social secretary, Nancy Tuckerman, wrote to White House staffers on Mrs. Kennedy’s behalf to thank them for their “untiring devotion during the past two weeks and (that) your loyalty at this sad time has been a great source of comfort to her.”
“However, it is with the warmest feelings that she gives each of you the painting of the Green Room, which was chosen by the President as this year’s Christmas present. It is Mrs. Kennedy’s hope that this will serve as a continual reminder of the President,” she wrote.
The Presidential Christmas collection exhibit will be on display at the Lawrence Library from Dec. 1 to Dec. 31. The library is open Monday through Thursday from 9:30 a.m. to 9 p.m., and Friday and Saturday from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday hours are 12:30 p.m. to 5 p.m.
