Frank Lloyd Wright’s Communism Defense Letter Goes Up for Auction

If we were multi-millionaires (we say “if” so as to appear modest), the auctions we would be attending would be like the upcoming one at the the Bay Area’s San Rafael Auction Gallery this Saturday. We’d be there bidding on a letter penned by Frank Lloyd Wright in 1957 to a member of the Marin County board of supervisors, defending himself after being accused of communist sympathies. Wright had been put in the position after accusations were made by members of a local chapter of the American Legion, following the architect landing the commission to build the famous Marin County Civic Center (which, if you’re not already familiar, you’d recognize parts of if you’ve seen THX-1138). The Contra Costa Times reports that the letter has been put up for auction by a member of the family related to Walter Castro, the board member to whom Wright sent his defense. And it’s a great, angry letter, written by a man well known for having a bit of a temper. Here’s a bit:

“I swear I have never known an American Communist nor did I ever attend one of their meetings – - and do not know one now. Any use they could make of my name would be only because I was well known as an independent American liberal…Well, I recite these facts because I have known the uniquity of these cowardly assassinations a la the McCarthy as out public enemy number one. I fought McCarthyism openly and hoped the ism died with him. Evidently there is enough left for the ‘common-man’ to use to get whatever he imagines is to his advantage…”

The entire transcript of the letter is available here. The auction will begin Saturday morning, 10am PST, and online bidding is an option. The letter is expected to fetch somewhere between $3000 and $5000, and, of course, both this writer and Stephanie have annual birthdays. And aren’t those gift-giving holidays only a few months around the corner? Just saying is all.

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