Typed letter from the Executive Mansion, US President William McKinley 1897

MCKINLEY, William (1843-1901); PORTER, John Addison (1856-1900). Typed Letter Signed from the Executive Mansion concerning President William McKinley's mother's illness. Washington, 6 December 1897.
 
Typed letter signed, on blue-lettered "Executive Mansion, Washington" stationery, 6 December 1897, addressed to Rev. Dr. Berry, Washington, D.C. One folded sheet, 4 pp., 235 x 145 mm, typed on first and final pages and signed by John Addison Porter, Secretary to the President. Old horizontal folds and some creasing, with light handling and occasional minor marks; otherwise well preserved. Very Good.
 
A letter from the opening year of William McKinley's presidency, cancelling a proposed audience with the President because of the sad circumstances then surrounding McKinley and his household.
 
Porter wished to convey through Reverend Berry the recipient, his goodwill towards the church movement he represented and its relationship with sister churches in the United States. The meeting, however, had become impossible. Porter offers to rearrange it should Berry remain in Washington and congratulates him upon the reception his American visit had received in "religious and philanthropic circles", noting particularly his invitations to officiate in the House of Representatives and Senate.
 
The circumstances referred to were the grave illness of McKinley's mother, Nancy Allison McKinley. She had been stricken with paralysis at Canton, Ohio, on 2 December and contemporary reports regarded her recovery as extremely unlikely; the President left Washington for her bedside. She died on 12 December, six days after this letter was written. 
 
William McKinley (1843-1901), the 25th President of the United States, had taken office only nine months earlier, on 4 March 1897. His presidency would subsequently encompass the Spanish-American War and the beginnings of the Philippine-American War. Re-elected in 1900, he was assassinated at Buffalo the following year.
 
John Addison Porter served as McKinley's Secretary to the President from the beginning of the administration until 1900 and was an important intermediary between McKinley and the press and public. Contemporary White House material records Porter briefing the press daily during 1897.