Dear Mr. President: Letters to the Oval Office from the Files of the National Archives
Author: Dwight Young
A mere toe-dip into the National Archives' vast holdings, "Dear Mr. President" presents a delirious potpourri of letters for perusal. The epistolary arts are every voyeur's secret pleasure, and the most public of public offices compels people of all walks of life, from children to the working man to the very famous, to put pen to paper. This carefully selected batch of letters, from over one hundred years of archiving letters to the President, includes such gems as the letter from a ten-year-old Fidel Castro to Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1940 requesting ten bucks; an offer from Annie Oakley to President McKinley to raise a company of fifty American lady sharpshooters in the event of a war with Spain; a scrawled note on American Airlines in-flight letterhead from Elvis Presley to Richard Nixon offering his services to fight "The Hippie Elements;" and a very moving letter about the state of civil rights from Jackie Robinson to President Eisenhower. The book opens with a 5,000-word introduction by Thomas Mallon, a well-known figure who can place these letters in the American consciousness and give some further information on some of them. The letters themselves are reproduced where possible as full-size facsimiles and are accompanied with commentary to help the reader place them within historical events. Some archival photos will also run with the letters, in cases where we have photos of the writer and the President together.
Table of Contents:
Foreword Allen Weinstein 12Introduction Brian Williams 14
Brian Williams to President Lyndon B. Johnson, November 25, 1966
First President 18
John Langdon to George Washington, April 6, 1789
The King and I 20
King Mongkut of Siam to Abraham Lincoln, February 14, 1861
Equal Pay 24
James H. Gooding to Abraham Lincoln, September 28, 1863
Freedom 26
Annie Davis to Abraham Lincoln, August 28, 1864
Lincoln Assassination 28
Lincoln's Cabinet to Andrew Johnson, April 15, 1865
The "Indian" Question 30
Wolf Chief to James Garfield, December, 1881
Gov. Edmund Ross and others to Grover Cleveland, August 14, 1886
The Spanish-American War 34
Annie Oakley to William McKinley, April 5, 1898
Muckraking 36
Upton Sinclair to Theodore Roosevelt, March 10, 190
Anti-Semitism 38
Charles D. Levy to Calvin Coolidge, June 24, 1924
Anti-Immigration 40
Women of the Ku Klux Klan to Calvin Coolidge, May 15, 1924
Prohibition 42
Alva P. Jones, National Cigarette Law Enforcement League, to Herbert Hoover, May 25, 1929
Womans Home Missionary Sociery to Herbert Hoover, June 15, 1932
Mr. and Mrs. William E. Wilson to Herbert Hoover, June 15, 1932
Lindbergh Kidnapping 46
Citizens of South Dakota to HerbertHoover, April 26, 1932
Lynching 48
Henry Johnson to William McKinley, June 5, 1899
Ara Lee Settle to Warren G. Harding, June 8, 1922
Horace Robinson to Herbert Hoover, November 20, 1929
Aviatrix 54
Amelia Earhart to Franklin D. Roosevelt, November 10, 1936
The Federal Arts Project 56
Gisella (Lacher) Loeffler to Eleanor Roosevelt, July 27, 1939
Social Security 62
Petra E. Harthun to Eleanor Roosevelt, August 7, 1941
Cuba 64
Fidel Castro to Franklin D. Roosevelt, November 6, 1940
Separate but Equal 66
C. Dearman to William H. Taft, July 18, 1912
George A. Murray to Woodrow Wilson, February 14, 1920
The Holocaust 70
Stephen S. Wise to Franklin D. Roosevelt, December 2, 1942
Pearl Harbor 72
J.B. Manual to Franklin D. Roosevelt, February 23, 1942
The Draft, WWII 74
French R. Massey to Franklin D. Roosevelt, November 12, 1943
Anna Rush to Franklin D. Roosevelt, November 18, 1943
Carolyn Weatherhogg to Franklin D. Roosevelt, October 14, 1943
Friendship 78
Winston Churchill to Franklin D. Roosevelt, May 1, 1944
Japanese War Atrocities, WWII 80
Wilma Lindsay to Franklin D. Roosevelt, February 9, 1944
Japanese Internment, WWII 82
Harold Ickes to Franklin D. Roosevelt, June 1, 1944
The Bomb 84
Albert Einstein to Franklin D. Roosevelt, August 2, 1939
Concerned Scientists to Harry S. Truman, July 17, 1945
Raoul Wallenberg 88
Guy von Dardel to Harry S. Truman, March 27, 1947
The Postwar Recovery 90
Ella Leber to Harry S. Truman, 1948
Presidential Pets 92
Phyllis Bamberger to Harry S. Truman, January 7, 1948
Edwin Burtis to Lyndon B. Johnson, April 30, 1964
John Starnes to Lyndon B. Johnson, June 20, 1966
John Nabors to Dwight D. Eisenhower, April 3, 1955
Racism 98
Ray Fadden to Harry S. Truman, September 3, 1951
Polio 100
Ralph Ziegler to Harry S. Truman, January 31, 1949
Margaret M. Powers to Dwight D. Eisenhower, April 18, 1955
Douw Fonda to Dwight D. Eisenhower, August 8, 1955
The King is Drafted 104
Linda Kelly, Sherry Bane, Mickie Mattson to Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1958
The Queen's Scones 106
Queen Elizabeth II to Dwight D. Eisenhower, January 24, 1960
Discrimination 108
Jackie Robinson to Dwight D. Eisenhower, May 13, 1958
Civil Rights Unrest 110
Woodrow W. Mann to Dwight D. Eisenhower, September 23, 1957
Martin Luther King, Jr. to John F. Kennedy, September 15, 1963
Leah Russell to Dwight D. Eisenhower, September 25, 1957
Civil Rights Act 114
Roy Wilkins to Lyndon B. Johnson, November 5, 1964
Vietnam Begins 116
Ho Chi Minh to Harry S. Truman, February 28, 1946
Ngo Dinh Diem to John F. Kennedy, February 23, 1963
Vietnam 120
Bobbie Lou Pendergrass to John F. Kennedy, February 18, 1963
John F. Kennedy to Bobbie Lou Pendergrass, March 6, 1963
John Steinbeck to Lyndon B. Johnson, May 28, 1966
The Smothers Brothers to Lyndon B. Johnson, October 31, 1968
Lyndon B. Johnson to the Smothers Brothers, November 9, 1968
Physical Fitness 128
Gladys D. McPherson to John F. Kennedy, March 14, 1963
Richard Millington to John F. Kennedy, February 11, 1963
Presidential Signatures 132
Leonard Lyons to John F. Kennedy, October 2, 1961
John F. Kennedy to Leonard Lyons, October 11, 1961
Leonard Lyons to John F. Kennedy, October 16, 1961
Pierre Salinger to Leonard Lyons, November 15, 1961
Presidential Advice 136
Harry S. Truman to John F. Kennedy, June 28, 1962
Herbert Hoover to Harry S. Truman, December 19, 1962
Barry Goldwater to Gerald Ford, May 7, 1976
Richard Nixon to Ronald Reagan, August 13, 1987
Ladybird 142
Lady Bird Johnson to Lyndon B. Johnson, August, 1964
Undercover Elvis 144
Elvis Presley to Richard Nixon, December 21, 1970
Nixon in China 148
Mary Ann Grelinger to Richard Nixon, July 16, 1971
Mrs. John Shields to Richard Nixon, July 16, 1971
Nixon's Pardon 150
Jackie Ann Lucas to Gerald Ford, November, 1974
Robert Lind to Gerald Ford, September, 1974
Anthony Ferreira to Gerald Ford, September 11, 197
Betty Ford 154
Tyson Garrison to Betty Ford, August 13, 1975
Dorothy Tabata to Betty Ford, August 18, 1975
Mother Teresa 158
Mother Teresa to Jimmy Carter, November 17, 1979
The Economy 160
Roy Klober to Jimmy Carter, 1980
L. W. McKenzie, Jr. to Jimmy Carter, 1980
Iran Hostage Situation 162
Cyrus Vance to Jimmy Carter, April 21, 1980
Natural Disasters 164
Andy Smith to Ronald Reagan, April 18, 1984
Ronald Reagan to Andy Smith, May 11, 1984
First Gulf War 168
Patricia J. Elvin to George H. W. Bush, November 27, 1990
Eric Colton to George H. W. Bush, February 12, 1991
Space 172
Thaddeus Zagorewicz to Richard Nixon, July 20, 1969
John Glenn to Bill Clinton, November 6, 1998
About the Presidential Records Act and the Freedom of Information Act 176
About the Authors
About the Foundation for the National Archives 177
About the Presidential Library System 178
Acknowledgments 180
Letter Citations and Permissions 181
Selected Transcriptions 184
Interesting textbook: Law for Business and Personal Use or Airline Management
Hitler and Stalin: Parallel Lives
Author: Alan Bullock
Alan Bullock's Hitler and Stalin is his crowning achievement, the magnum opus of one of today's most admired historians--the distinguished Oxford scholar and author of the now classic Hitler: A Study in Tyranny. This new work is a full-scale dual biography, remarkable for the richness and clarity of its narrative, for its historical astuteness, and above all for its freshly revealing perspective. Bullock examines his protagonists not in the traditional context of their conflicts with the Western Alliance but, for the first time, primarily against the more fruitful background of Berlin-Moscow relations; for he sees the cataclysmic history of Europe in the mid-twentieth century as an ongoing and accelerating clash between the aspirations of Germany and those of the Soviet Union. Until now the pendulum has swung between exaggeration and underestimation of the roles played by Hitler and Stalin. Bullock argues convincingly that, in order to show how two such outsiders came to power, it is necessary to take into account both the historical circumstances that gave them an opportunity and the highly individual traits and gifts each man used to exploit it. He goes on to explore the nature and scope of their power. His approach, developed with a remarkable command of historical and psychological detail and a sure grasp of historical currents--both the sweeping and the small--is to take the reader through one after another of the major crises: from Stalin's savage attack on the Russian peasantry and the Nazi takeover of Germany, to Stalin's destructive purges of the Communist Party and the Red Army, and Hitler's planned attempt to exterminate the Jewish population of Europe. Bullock finds in both Hitler and Stalin, despite the radical differences between them, the same unshaken belief in their historic missions, overriding any regard for law, limits, or humanity and armoring them against any feeling of compassion, remorse, or guilt. His book culminates in an account of wh
Publishers Weekly
The lives of, arguably, the 20th century's most evil dictators unfold in tandem in this continually absorbing masterpiece of historical exposition and the biographer's art, a History Book Club main selection in cloth. (Sept.)
Library Journal
This is a huge and masterful dual biography of two of the most monstrous personalities of this century. Bullock, whose Hitler: A Study in Tyranny ( LJ 2/15/64) truly deserves its designation as a classic, has produced a smoothly written study of how these two lives ran parallel and how they intertwined to affect the lives of millions in the first half of this century. One would expect Bullock to know Hitler, but his grasp of Stalin and his times is also impressive. In chapters alternately dealing with Hitler and then Stalin, Bullock analyzes how each man achieved and then used power for his own twisted goals. It is chilling to realize that both men rose within legitimate institutions, each ``playing the game'' by the established rules. Hitler's evil empire collapsed with his death, Stalin's would live on to haunt the Soviet Union for decades. Essential for anyone seeking to understand the history of the West in this century. Highly recommended. Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 11/1/91.-- Ed Goedeken, Purdue Univ. Libs., West Lafayette, Ind.
Kirkus Reviews
A masterpiece by Bullock (Ernest Bevin, 1984, etc.) that covers some of the most devastating events—as well as two of the most terrible personalities—of our century with breathtaking analytical power and narrative sweep. One of the most fruitful aspects of this dual biography is to reveal, for all the differences between Hitler and Stalin, how much they had in common. The differences were mainly in personality: Stalin the great calculator, Hitler the gambler; Stalin the master of bureaucracy, Hitler the artist-politician, hating routine; Stalin the sly, political Houdini, Hitler the charismatic leader. But their similarities were perhaps more significant. Both were guilty of crimes against humanity on a scale unprecedented in history: Like the Jews in Germany, peasant farmers in the Soviet Union were members of an outlawed class denied all human rights. The corruption in the heart of Nazism, according to Bullock, lay in its ends; in Communism, in its means. Neither Hitler nor Stalin, he believes, was mad. Both were entirely serious about their historic roles, the author says; skeptical about the motives of others, their cynicism stopped short of their own. But Hitler, at the end, was close to insanity; and Stalin had all the symptoms associated with paranoia—chronic suspicion, self-absorption, jealousy, hypersensitivity, and megalomania. Both men brought unprecedented suffering on their own people; the difference, Bullock notes, is that defeat exacted a terrible price from the German people, but at least spared them the continuation of Nazism, while victory cost the Russian people even more—but did not liberate them. A magnificent history, accessible andoften moving. Bullock's mastery of research sources, his judgment, and his analytic powers prove him one of the great historians of our time. (Seventy-one photographs and 18 maps—not seen.)
No comments:
Post a Comment