Overview
- The four-panel So You Want to See the President! hung in the West Wing from 1978 until 2022 on long-term loan from the family of Roosevelt press secretary Stephen Early.
- Heritage Auctions in Dallas handled the sale after a May appeals-court ruling affirmed ownership by Stephen Early’s grandson, William Elam III.
- Bidding opened at $2.5 million with a presale estimate of $4 million to $6 million as private collectors prepared to compete.
- The $5.8 million price is the association’s costliest acquisition to date, surpassing its prior record of $1.5 million for Jacob Lawrence’s The Builders in 2007.
- The association says the Rockwell drawings, which depict visitors awaiting an audience with President Franklin D. Roosevelt, may be displayed at The People’s House: A White House Experience.