Disappointed in the Christmas Wreath and Candles issued in 1962, the Citizens Stamp Advisory Committee-2 vowed, “to produce a fine art work so that the ridicule that was leveled at the Post Office Department and the Committee for the 1962 design would not develop again.” Norman Todhunter, in contact with hundreds of commercial artists, offered to find talent to, “help in solving the problem of design.”
For the first time, CSAC-2 developed an art policy. “Stamp design should reflect the American spirit, which is progressive, bold, and open…It should proclaim an essential message of what it is about…There should be a dominating motif and a single type style and each design should be unique, different from any other.” Balancing novel with tradition was a tough assignment.
The Committee discarded an early effort for a second holiday stamp:
Then James Kelleher blindsided CSAC.
Up-and-coming artist, Lily Spandorf, arrived in the United States in 1959 via a sponsorship by the Italian Institute of Culture. Within two years she exhibited in Washington, D.C., and New York City. In 1960, she caught a break, literally in her wrist. At Georgetown Hospital, doctors set the bone. Resting in a nearby room, Jacqueline Kennedy recuperated after giving birth to John Junior. When the president’s son was baptized in the hospital chapel, where photographers were not allowed, Spandorf, on site, sketched the scene. Newspapers raced to publish her artwork of the historic event.
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