[Gordon Cooper] John F. Kennedy: Large Color Photo Signed on Mat to Mrs. Gordon Cooper from the Family's Collection.  An incredible item- a 13.5" x 10.5" color photo of JFK and First Lady Jackie Kennedy standing next to Gordon Cooper, his wife Trudy, and their two daughters, Camala and Janita, mounted to a 17.5" x 15.5" (sight size) mat and framed to an overall 20.5" x 18.5". Beneath the photo, President Kennedy has written: "To Mrs. Cooper/ With warm regards/ John Kennedy" in blue ink. The photo was taken in the Oval Office on May 21, 1963, the day Gordon Cooper received the NASA Distinguished Service Medal from Kennedy in a Rose Garden ceremony. This was just five days after his historic twenty-two orbit flight of Faith 7, the last of the Mercury missions. Included with this lot are two additional photos- one is a 10" x 8" color photo of the Cooper family standing next to the president in the Rose Garden with an R. L. Knudsen backstamp, the other is an 8" x 10" B&W image of Cooper with Kennedy at Cape Canaveral in 1962 with a NASA caption on the verso. A rare and excellent memento of two important figures in the space race. The large photo has faded somewhat as often found in photos from this period but overall it is in very fine condition.

We located a nearly fifteen minute video of this medal ceremony on the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum site. It can be viewed at this link.