December 08, 1963
Dear Bob:
I see by the papers you are making progress in the hospital. I pray that all goes well with you. Particularly I am hopeful you will be hearty enough to once again be a cheerful companion to the Armed Forces. Christmas overseas without Hope is simply not Christmas. God be with you.
LYNDON B. JOHNSON
Note: Mr. Hope was undergoing treatment for an eye ailment in a hospital in San Francisco.
The letter was read by the Press Secretary to the President, Pierre Salinger, at his news conference held at the White House at 4:58 p.m. on December 8, 1963.
Lyndon B. Johnson, Letter to Bob Hope Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/238950