- Original -  1984 Committee On Ways And Means Note With 'Doodle'

Signed By US Congressman Barber Conable

An original drawing with signed note by U.S. Congressman Barber Conable dated 1984 on Committee On Ways And Means, House of Representatives letterhead.  Ruled yellow sheet measures 11 x 8-1/2 inches (sight) in slightly larger black wood frame. With large unique centered design drawn with felt-tip pen; dated in same pen at top "6/20/84" and with note at bottom right addressed "To Molly..." signed by the Congressman. Not examined out of frame, possible slight fading to pen otherwise apparently in very good overall condition. "The average voter often starts yawning at the first whiff of political rhetoric. Imagine what it is like for a member of Congress, who has to sit through hours and hours of meetings and hearings every week. Some cope by dozing or daydreaming. Others pour their bottled-up energy into the fine art of doodling. In a capital awash with dedicated scribblers, few rival the finesse of Representative Barber B. Conable Jr., an eight-term veteran from upstate New York. Colleagues have become so enamored of Mr. Conable's designs that they frequently ask for copies." (New York Times Jan. 14, 1982) Biography: Barber Benjamin Conable Jr. (November 2, 1922 – November 30, 2003) was a U.S. Congressman from New York and former President of the World Bank Group. Conable was born in Warsaw, New York on November 2, 1922. Conable was an Eagle Scout and received the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award from the Boy Scouts of America. He graduated from Cornell University in 1942, where he was president of the Quill and Dagger society and a member of the Phi Delta Theta fraternity. He then enlisted in the Marines and was sent to the Pacific front in World War II, where he learned to speak Japanese and fought in the Battle of Iwo Jima. After the war, he received his law degree from Cornell University Law School in 1948, where he lived at the Cornell Branch of the Telluride Association, having been admitted to the House as a law student, after an unsuccessful attempt as an undergraduate. He later re-enlisted and fought in the Korean War. In 1962, Conable was elected as a Republican to the New York State Senate. After only one term, he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1964 from a Rochester-based district. He was reelected nine more times. He was known on both sides of the aisle for his honesty and integrity, at one point being voted by his colleagues the "most respected" member of Congress; he refused to accept personal contributions larger than $50. As a longtime ranking minority member of the House Ways and Means Committee, one of his signal legislative achievements was a provision in the U.S. tax code that made so-called 401(k) and 403(b) defined-contribution retirement plans possible, and contributions to those plans by both employers and employees tax-deferred, under federal tax law. A long-time ally of Richard Nixon, Conable broke with him in disgust after the revelations of the Watergate scandal. When the White House released a tape of Nixon instructing his Chief of Staff H. R. Haldeman to obstruct the FBI investigation, Conable said it was a "smoking gun", a phrase which quickly entered the political folklore. In 1980, Conable appeared in Milton Friedman's PBS documentary Free to Choose. Conable retired from the House in 1984. In 1986, President Ronald Reagan appointed him president of the World Bank. His experience as a legislator proved crucial as he persuaded his former colleagues to almost double Congress's appropriations for the bank. He retired in 1991. In 1952, Conable married Charlotte Williams, his wife until his death. He died from a staphylococcus infection in 2003, at his winter home in Sarasota, Florida. .................................................................................................................. Shipping to any mainland US address at $9.90; for all other addresses actual shipping costs apply.  International bidders are welcome!