Page 63 - Swann Galleries - Printed & Manuscript Americana - Sale 2310 - April 16, 2013

123 ● COHN, ROY. Archive of Cohn’s correspondence, photographs, and
memorabilia, including his ID badge from the McCarthy hearings. 452 items (1.2
linear feet), including: 26 letters to or from Cohn * 45 other documents * 6 artifacts * 376
photographs; various conditions, but most with no more than minor wear.
Vp, 1883-1986, bulk 1954-86 [4,000/6,000]
Roy Marcus Cohn (1927-1986) was one of the most controversial figures in American public
life, from his role as a prosecutor in the Julius Ethel Rosenberg trial of 1951, to serving as
Senator Joe McCarthy’s chief counsel in the anti-Communist hearings in the 1950s, to his
long career as a right-wing speaker and lawyer for mob bosses, to his epic avoidance of income
taxes. He lost his law license in 1986, shortly before his death from what he insisted was liver
cancer, but what was widely thought to be AIDS. He is featured as a character in Tony
Kushner’s play Angels in America.
For those with an interest in Cohn’s contentious life and career, almost every item in this
important archive is compelling. Two important artifacts of the McCarthy hearings stand out.
First is the ID badge issued to Cohn circa 1953 by the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on
Investigations: “Roy M. Cohn, Chief Counsel, is authorized to execute and perform the duties
of his office . . . and his authority will be respected accordingly.” It is signed by Cohn, signed in
type by Joe McCarthy as chairman, and illustrated with a photograph of Cohn. Another artifact
of this era is a silver-plated cigarette box, engraved “Roy Cohn” on the front cover, and
“From Jeannie and Joe McCarthy” on inside cover, and stamped by maker “Poole Silver Co
1899” on bottom.
The correspondence file is rich with hate mail directed at Cohn. One of them adds that the
people of Wisconsin “delight in going to McCarthy’s burial ground to piss on his grave.”
Another threatens over the course of 6 increasingly angry 1979 mailgrams to expose Cohn’s
secret life in a tell-all book. A 1969 letter from Cohn to friends rejoices in the firing of his
nemesis Robert Morgenthau as U.S. Attorney: “The first news about shitheal resigning!”
News anchor Barbara Walters was a longtime friend of Cohn’s, and he sometimes claimed to
have been engaged to her. The file includes her 1986 letter to a friend, reacting to a nasty arti-
cle written by the Chicago Tribune while Cohn was on his deathbed: “My God, they’ll do
anything to attack Roy in print won’t they. . . . All of us (like me) who are so fond of you,
were furious with the article. Please let me know if there is anything I can do to help.”
The archive also contains a long untitled memoir, possibly an early draft of Cohn’s 1971 “A
Fool for a Client” (1971), although most passages appear to be unpublished. Also included is
a 1971 oral history interview with Cohn. The extensive photograph collection is perhaps most
interesting. It includes a handful of early family portraits of Cohn’s grandfather and parents, as
well as several taken of Cohn as a young boy. Most, however, date from the 1950s through
1970s, depicting Cohn in court, on yachting trips with friends, or at black tie events. He is
shown with a range of celebrities from Richard Nixon to Louis Armstrong to a young Donald
Trump. Most of the personal snapshots are uncaptioned, but one shows him with a group of 5
named younger men, including his longtime personal assistant Russell Eldredge, who died of
AIDS in 1984.
We are not aware of any other substantial collections of Cohn’s papers in private or public
hands, and very little Cohn-related material has been on the auction market. Our estimate here
is very conservative, but bidding may go much higher. A more detailed inventory is available
upon request.