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(handwritten) Bicent

March 14, 1974

Mrs. {redacted}
{redacted}
Kansas City, Kansas

Dear Mrs. {redacted}:

Thank you for your recent letter in regards to the mural at the District of Columbia Bicentennial Center.

H. H. Booker was paid $55 by the staff of the Center and not from Government funds to paint a mural, which he did and in very bad taste. I am happy to say the poster-board murals were removed around the first of February, and are being replaced by paintings of famous Americans in our Nation's history. Needless to say, I am glad to see this effort to restore the appropriate significance to the 200th anniversary of our proud and good land.

Thank you for your kind words, do appreciate them. Anytime I may be of assistance, do not hesitate to let me know.

Sincerely,

BOB DOLE
United States Senator

BD:el

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{redacted} {redacted} {redacted} {redacted}
Kansas City, Kansas
March 11, 1974

The Hon. Robert J. Dole
U.S. Senator
2327 New Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C.

(stamp)
SENATOR BOB DOLE
RECEIVED
MAR 14 1974
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20510

Dear Sir:

We take the "U.S. News and World Report." In the issue of January 28, 1974, the "Editorial"- written by Mr. Howard Flieger - Editor - was titled "Worst Joke in 200 Years!"

After reading the whole "Editorial," I was so astonished that I read it again! The fact that this can and did happen in the Bicentennial Center for the District of Columbia, Washington, D.C., U.S.A., at the Dedication of the Center, with a number of dignitaries there, makes things worse - as I see it!

There, on the walls and-or ceiling, was a new mural painted by H. W. Booker II. He had depicted a number of personages - Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, Joseph Stalin, Mao Tse-tung; he included a caricature of President Richard Nixon wearing a mustache and clad in the costume of a movie gangster. Pres. Nixon's daughter, Tricia Cox, was painted there with an "afro" hairdo! Then, to add to the insult,

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there was a portrait of Angela Davis!

Have you seen the mural? If not, I recommend that you do as soon as possible!

An official of the D.C. Bicentennial Commission said that those people are a valid part of the American scene because "All were involved in some way with the United States over the past 200 years!" (How "involved?") He broke off the further questioning about the painting.

H.H. Booker II said he was told to "make faces" on the walls, and so he did those he considered "interesting." He called it "a lot of fun!", and, seemed to regard the whole affair as "a very clever joke"!

There are many Americans who would be real symbols of our Country, who should have been in the "painting"!

I am especially writing to you because I want your opinion on "What Can I Do"? (-on the Editorial page of U. S. News and World Report of Feb. 25, 1974.) Mr. Flieger used part of two Editorials written by David Lawrence - Feb. 8, 1952 and Jan. 30, 1953, on that question.

Just the idea of a "mural," which the "muralist" thinks is a "joke" is an insult to President Nixon, his daughter, Tricia Cox, and to every real American!

"We are members of "Americans For The Presidency"!

Sincerely,

{redacted} {redacted} {redacted} (Mrs. {redacted})