Dear Reader:
I know it must look like I am ‘jumping the gun’ doing a story on the Presidents on Valentines Day for the next day….a week ahead of time…but when one finds an interesting fact…the story must be told.
I ended up finding this intriguing story from a Huffington Post article quite by accident. I was researching Presidents who liked magic tricks or performed the tricks, themselves. The only President whose name popped up was President James Garfield. It wasn’t exactly a magic act…but still pretty entertaining.
Garfield was our first left-handed President and the last one to be born in a log cabin. He weighed 10 pounds at birth…his poor mama! He was also ambidextrous…he could write simultaneously with his left and right hand at the same time. But that wasn’t all…he wrote (whatever message he chose) in Greek with one hand and Latin the other. Now that is pretty impressive!
The reason for researching secrets and magic with the Presidents is that Mandy called me and asked since I would be coming to Mt. Pleasant Thursday to story tell at Rutledge and Lachlan’s school…if I could stay the night and attend a leadership program with her Friday morning (at James B. Edwards) in which Eva Cate was participating and had a speaking part. (And then stay on and do some stories on the Presidents that afternoon for her class.)
(I thought I would take the ever handy magic coloring book and work it into the presentation…thus the research on secrets and magic in the White House.)
Suddenly this Huffington Post article popped up which I found fascinating and endearing at the same time…showing our Presidents as human beings with strengths, weaknesses, and kind gestures, especially towards their successors.
The Presidents’ Greatest Secret
Brad Meltzer
I had a question that only the President of the United States could answer.
And the good news was: he actually gave me an answer.
It started back when I was interviewing a source who used to work with the Department of Homeland Security, and we were talking about the secret presidential spy ring that was started by none other than George Washington.
Back during the Revolutionary War, Washington was so tired of the British intercepting his military officers, he tapped a group of regular citizens and asked them to move his secrets (on the theory that no one would look twice at these “ordinary” men). The members of this small group called the Culper Ring used invisible ink, secret codenames (George Washington’s codename was “711”), and were so good at keeping their secrets, we didn’t even know about their existence until nearly 150 years later.
But what struck me most was when I asked my source if he thought something like the Culper Ring could still be valuable today. Right there, the phone line went silent.
“What makes you think it still doesn’t exist?” he challenged.
My response was thoughtful and concise. “Wha?”
“Think about it: If the Culper Ring was so good, why would George Washington ever disband it? Why not keep it going?”
Yeah, I know: I thought it was a bit whacky too. But there was something to it and in the spirit of finding truth and selling books, I realized I knew someone who would know the actual answer. So I did what anyone else would do.
I emailed the President of the United States.
Okay, it was the former President of the United States. George H.W. Bush. 41. And I did have his email.
(How? Because he wrote me a few years ago to say he liked one of my thrillers. Yeah, I know … that happens to me all the time too.)
And by the time I worked up the nerve to ask him the question, I’d even figured out how the existence of the Culper Ring could be passed from each outgoing President, to each incoming President.
This is true: During his last moments in the White House, President Ronald Reagan scribbled a note that said “Don’t let the turkeys get you down.” He then slipped the note into the Oval Office desk and left it for his successor: President George H.W. Bush. Bush then left a note for Clinton, who left one for W, who left one for Obama. It is, to this day, the greatest private tradition of the US Presidency.
So there I was, typing up my email to former President Bush, telling him what I’d found about the original Culper Ring and my theory that each President could tell the incoming President about the existence of George Washington’s ingenious invention. Could the greatest secret of the US Presidency still exist and be passed like that?
To my surprise, it didn’t take long for the former President to write me back. But instead of answering my question, something was attached to his response. My eyes went wide as I realized what it was: The never-before-seen secret letter that George H.W. Bush hid in the Oval Office desk and left for Bill Clinton.
It’s a private letter — President to President — that the world had never seen before. A personal moment between two of the most powerful men in the world. And Bush sent it to me.
Okay, this was even better than the crazy insanity I was making up. This was it, right? There had to be a secret message in the letter!
January 20, 1993
Dear Bill,
When I walked into this
office just now I felt the same sense
of wonder and respect that I
felt four years ago. I know
you will feel that too.
I wish you great happiness
here. I never felt the loneliness
some Presidents have described.
There will be very tough
times, made even more difficult by
criticism you may not think is fair.
I’m not a very good one to give
advice; but just don’t let the
critics discourage you or push
you off course.
You will be our President
when you read this note. I wish
you well. I wish your family
well.
Your success now is our country’s
success. I am rooting hard for you.
Good luck – George
…………………………………………………………………………………
Wait!” I kept saying to myself. “There’s got to be something I’m missing!” I wish you great happiness? You will be our President? I am rooting hard for you!? Are there secret code words I am missing?
It can’t be! No way is anyone that gracious and nice!
But the more times I read the letter, I quickly realized that what Bush had sent me was the greatest secret of the US Presidency. And it was also the greatest aspect of the US Presidency: that no matter how famous they get … no matter how much of a pedestal (or ditch) we put them on or in, we are led by true, real people.
Doesn’t sound fancy.
But it is.
We get to pick them. We get to vote for them. And though they may not live up to our expectations (I’m looking at you, Nixon), we are, for good or bad, led by our own.
To steal from the best, this is how the story goes: We the people. Period.
And right now, with everyone talking about what’s wrong with our political dialogue, it’s nice to have an example of what’s right.
……………………….
So until tomorrow…like Mr. Rogers always said: “Be Kind, Be Kind, Be Kind!”
“Today is my favorite day” Winnie the Pooh
* Trivia fact: Did you know that there are six oval office desks that ‘in-coming’ Presidents can select among for their personal desk during their tenure? (I thought it was always the same desk!)
If you are interested in the designs, names, and Presidents who used which style desk…here is a link.
List of Oval Office desks – Wikipedia
