The best piece of political memorabilia ever

My request that you identify other expensive political items that are for sale on eBay has provoked an extraordinary response.

The best? The item found by Morten Morland (also known as Poldraw), the fantastic Times cartoonist, is hard to beat. And it is still for sale, with the bidding starting at 1 million dollars. You have 6 days left.

On Monday, Jun 19, 1972 the following story appeared in Time Magazine:

Now for the fill-in-the-blank portion of our test. Pencils ready? If Richard Nixon gives Leonid Brezhnev a Cadillac, then the Soviet leader should give the President a… well, what? What socialist product evokes the Communist system the way a Cadillac does U.S. capitalism? A personal, hand-controlled Sputnik? A collective farm?

It is a taxing problem, and the Russians have given up trying to solve it. Headed Nixon's way by freighter is a gift from Moscow as capitalist as they come: a hydrofoil boat. If it arrives in time for the Republican Convention, Nixon will be able to rooster-tail through the waters of Biscayne Bay between his Florida home and the convention hall in true and glorious helmsman's style.

According to the Watergate tapes the negotiations on the swap involved a great deal of hard work by H.R. Haldeman.

Extraordinarily, this boat is now for sale on eBay. It could be yours for Christmas.

Comments

[Will Bodine]

The car-gift in question is a Lincoln, not a Cadillac. Although, I seem to recall that Nixon gave Brezhnev a Cadillac on another occassion. Brezhnev was famous for requesting cars from western leaders and had acquired a Rolls Royce (UK), Mercedes (BDR) and Citroen (FR) in the 70's.