[LINDBERGH CASE; INAUGURATION; COLE PORTER SONG REFERENCE.] HAROLD GILES HOFFMAN (1896-1954). A single-page typed letter signed by the 41st Governor of New Jersey (1935-1938), on State of New Jersey, Executive Department letterhead with gilt-embossed device; addressed to Walter Winchell at the Hotel Hildebrecht, Trenton, N.J., dated January 17, 1935 (following his inauguration on January 15). 9 5/8" x 7 7/8." Condition: Good; toning, including darker at edges; fold creases; small loss at top margin. Hoffman writes to Walter Winchell in the first weeks of the Flemington, New Jersey "trial of century," which began on January 3, 1935, for the case against Bruno Hauptmann for the kidnapping and murder of Charles Lindbergh, Jr. He expresses his appreciation for Winchell's "many kindly things" he has done for him, and notes his "friendly comment of Tuesday in 'The Mirror,'" describing it as "one of the high-lights of friendship" on the "red letter day" of his Inauguration. He signs off with a nod to Cole Porter's song from the musical "Anything Goes," giving the letter a moment-in-time flavor, writing: "To borrow a phrase from one of the popular songs of the day - 'You're The Top.'" Walter Winchell cultivated a relationship with Hoffman. Winchell was appointed to be one of the New York Daily Mirror's press delegation, along with Damon Runyon and editor Arthur Brisbane, for the Hauptmann trial. As described by Neil Gabler in Winchell, Brisbane then accused Winchell of taking all the tickets designated for the Mirror, but Winchell "...protested that he had gotten his tickets not from the sheriff, as had other reporters, but directly from New Jersey Governor Harold Hoffman..." (Gabler 1995:208). PROVENANCE: THE HAROLD A. LAYER COLLECTION. From The Walter Winchell Files, Butterfield & Butterfield, 1990/91.