For Immediate Release

JOSEPH MADDALENA, PRESIDENT OF PROFILES IN HISTORY, PURCHASES THE LAST KNOWN JOHN F. KENNEDY SIGNATURE FOR $39,000 SIGNED ON NOV. 22, 1963 HOURS BEFORE HE WAS KILLED

Newspaper Was Personally Inscribed To A Hotel Maid Just Hours Before Kennedy’s Death

Calabasas, CA, November 13, 2009 — Joseph Maddalena, president of Profiles in History, the world’s leading historical documents dealer and auctioneer of Hollywood memorabilia has PURCHASED the last known signature of President John F. Kennedy—a signed Dallas Morning News front page from the morning of November 22, 1963 for $38,837. President Kennedy signed the newspaper for a maid, Jan White, at the Texas Hotel while on his way to give a breakfast speech before the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce. Kennedy read White's name on her name tag, and inscribed the newspaper "To Jan White, John Kennedy" across the picture of him and wife Jackie before continuing on to make his remarks and then catch his plane to Dallas. Within hours he was dead, allegedly shot by Lee Harvey Oswald.

"I thought it was a steal. If I were to tell you how high I would have bid, you would be shocked. This was the bargain of the century. I've spent up to $300,000 on John F. Kennedy pieces. I think this is one of the best there is," Maddalena said.

Kennedy’s signature lies beneath the Dallas Morning News headline "Storm of Political Controversy Swirls Around Kennedy on Visit." The autographed newspaper page is matted and framed along with a color photo of JFK, a reproduction of the Seal of the President of the United States, and a small plaque detailing how the signature was obtained.

Maddalena plans to display the autographed newspaper at the Beverly Hills library later this year.

About Joe Maddalena:

Since starting his business as a 12 year old organizing his first baseball card show, Maddalena’s expertise has become well known. A lifetime member of the Manuscript Society and Universal Autograph Collectors Club, Maddalena is recognized as the nation's leading authority on entertainment memorabilia and handwritten historical documents, and was instrumental in exposing the Lex Cusak $13 million JFK/Marilyn Monroe forgery hoax. Joe is also in the Guinness Book of World Records for paying the largest sum at a private auction for a handwritten letter. On December 5, 1991, he purchased a letter for $748,000 written by Abraham Lincoln (dated January 8, 1863) to General McClernand in which Lincoln states, “Broken eggs cannot be mended. I have issued the emancipation proclamation and I cannot retract it.” That letter would be worth at least $5 million today. Maddalena’s company, Profiles in History (www.profilesinhistory.com) is the world’s leading historical documents dealer and auctioneer of Hollywood memorabilia.

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Press Contact:

Marc Kruskol

MJK Public Relations

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