Charles J. Berger (American, 1922 - 2012) "Peace Bridge/America" Signed lower left. Original watercolor painting on Illustration Board. Provenance: Collection of James A. Helzer (1946-2008), Founder of Unicover Corporation. This painting is the original painting which was published on the Fleetwood First Day Cover for Peace Bridge issued August 4, 1977. In large measure, the 4400-foot-long steel bridge that spans the Niagara River from Fort Porter, Buffalo, New York, to Fort Erie, Ontario, -- where the final shots of the War of 1812 were exchanged -- is a monument to an almost-forgotten patriot of the early United States, Richard Rush. Born the son of famed physician Benjamin Rush, a Signer of the Declaration of Independence, the younger Rush was the U. S. Assistant Secretary of State following the War of 1812. A spillover from a struggle between Britain and France, it left in its aftermath a feeling of great suspicion between Canada and the United States. Nervous citizens on both sides of the 3,989-mile-long border called for a wall of fortresses. And Canadians warned that they planned to gird the Great Lakes with a fleet of warships. Rush expressed his fears that a border manned by armed soldiers and sailors could only lead to future hostilities, and suggested that the border remain unprotected -- a revolutionary idea! The Canadians vowed they would agree not to defend the border if the United States would agree as well. Rush was eventually successful in convincing the United States government to place no forts, no ships, no sailors, no soldiers on the long border. To this day the world's longest undefended border and the fifty-year-old Peace Bridge stand as a testament to the fact that two great nations can live together in peace. Image Size: 11.5 x 12 in. Overall Size: 20 x 18 in. Unframed. (B05477)