259. WILLIAM J. CLINTON (b. 1946) Forty-second President of the United States who expanded globalization, shrunk the U.S. military and reversed Reagan's tax policies, only to become impeached during a White House sex scandal. Controversial content A.L.S. as Governor of Arkansas on the verso of a picture postcard with a traditional style Japanese print of three semi-nude women bathing, Tokyo, Sept. 6, 1988 to an associate in Little Rock, in full: "Dear Keith, It isn't Italy but there's more[?] money here - and those who have it all know Maria. Best, Bill Clinton" Beneath the note appears a second in a different hand which reads in full: "Hello Keith - Japanese mermaids look different. The flowers are beautiful, they gladden and warm my heart every time I look at them. Miss you too. Love Maria". Fine condition. On the same date in 1988, Clinton and fellow Southern governors Buddy Roemer of Louisiana and Ray Mabus of Mississippi met with Japanese Prime Minister Noboru Takeshita to encourage Japanese trade and investment in their states. We believe the "Maria" sharing this postcard with Governor Clinton to be Phillipines-born Maria Luisa Haley, a longtime Clinton aide and "advisor" for international trade and development who arranged trips for Clinton and raised money for the Democratic National Committee. Indeed, this postcard was sent a scant two weeks after the 1988 Democratic Convention where Clinton's 30-minute opening night speech launched the charismatic young governor into national prominance. Just after the nomination of Michael Dukakis (who Clinton himself termed "unelectable"), this period represents the beginning of Clinton's own quest for the White House, perhaps muddying the waters between official Arkansas business overseas and the Asian fundraising that would become crucial to his presidential bid in 1992, filling general Democratic coffers. As president, Clinton appointed Maria Haley to various official positions including an influential directorship at the U.S. Export-Import Bank. Haley in turn recommended mutual Clinton friend John Huang of Arkansas' Lippo Bank to a Commerce Department position. But investigation of 1996 fundraising revealed that Haley pushed a controversial $6.5 million loan through for Thai businesswoman Pauline Kanchanalak, dubiously coinciding with hundreds of thousands in donations to the DNC. Clinton's Indo-Asian donor scandal widened, by 1999 finding Huang pleading guilty to a felony charge for arranging illegal contributions from Lippo Group employees to the Democratic Party. Haley's husband, John Haley, an Arkansas lawyer who pled guilty to a misdemeanor fraud charge filed by Whitewater prosecutors, died in an airplane crash in 2003. Taken as a whole, the surfacing of the above postcard is certainly intriguing, especially Clinton's somewhat flip reference to "money...and those who have it" on what was reported as a trade development visit. To date, we have been unable to find reference to any trip Governor Clinton took to Italy. Maria Haley has survived scandal, today serving as the well-connected senior director of an international consultancy firm headed by Henry Kissinger and former Clinton White House chief Mack McLarty.$1,000-1,500