Undated (1964) National Institute of Social Sciences Medal. Gold. 50 mm. 58.63 grams. 10 karat. By Laura Gardin (designed prior to her marriage to James Earle Fraser). MS-68 (NGC). Struck by the Medallic Art Company, New York. Obv. Goddess in flowing gown holding laurel wreaths and palm frond, right hand resting on shield inscribed NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL SCIENCES. Rev. Flaming torch divides Latin DIG-NUS/ HON-ORE, Worthy in Honor, with the Institute name forming the surrounding legend. Scroll across the torch stem bears honorees name DEAN RUSK, who served as U.S. Secretary of State from 1961 to 1969 during the administrations of John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson. Rusk is noted for having served longer as Secretary of State than anyone else except for Cordell Hull. The award of this medal was reported in Time Magazine, November 26, 1964: "At a dinner in Manhattan, the National Institute of Social Sciences honored Secretary of State Dean Rusk, 55, Senator Margaret Chase Smith, 66, A. T. & T. Chairman Frederick Kappel, 62, and that noted social scientist, Bob Hope, 61 . . . ". For many years the National Institute of Social Sciences journal featured an illustration of the Institutes medal near the front, together with a complete list of medal recipients. Among other recipients of the Institutes gold medal were Archer M. Huntington (1913), a major benefactor of the American Numismatic Society as well as other scholarly organizations including the Hispanic Society of America; horticulturist Luther Burbank (1915), industrialist and humanitarian Andrew Carnegie (1915), former Massachusetts Governor and then-Vice President Calvin Coolidge (1921), nuclear scientist Madame Marie Curie (1921), labor leader Samuel Gompers (1919), humanitarian-engineer Herbert Hoover (1918), and President William H. Taft (1913).From our New York Americana Sale, January 26, 2010. From the Richard Jewell Collection.
