“I am a little country boy eight years old.”
-Forest Delano Roosevelt Ferguson letter to FDR
A guest post from Sherri DeCoursey, who used the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library to find a special piece of history for her father.
For as long as I can remember, a photo of FDR and a letter have hung side-by-side in the den of Mom and Dad’s home. The yellowed letter, written by FDR’s secretary Missy LeHand, was in response to a letter my father wrote the President in 1941. My dad—Forest Delano Roosevelt Ferguson—was eight years old in 1941. Dad will be 80 in June of this year…
Wouldn’t it be amazing, I thought, to have a glimpse of my father at such a young age—however small that glimpse was—if only to expand what I already knew about him as a father, business professional, family provider, veteran, jokester, and as we’ve grown older—a friend. What in the world would eight-year-old Forest Delano Roosevelt Ferguson have to say to the man running the country during such perilous times?
Seventy-two years after my father penned his letter, I discovered the answer to these questions in the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library. Read more on The National Archives blog
Grandpa, it’s the Secretary of State calling.
Photo: President Lyndon B. Johnson watches his grandson, Patrick Lyndon Nugent, play with the telephone in the Oval Office, 8/20/1968.
Happy Monday!
Source: lbjlibrary.org
Tomorrow, August 18, is the birthday of two former President’s children.
Dorothy Bush Koch was born the youngest child of former President George H. W. Bush and former First Lady Barbra Bush.
Donnel Jeffrey Carter, known as Jeff, is the third child of former President Jimmy Carter and former First Lady Rosalynn Carter.
Photo: George H. W. Bush holds his daughter, Doro, age 15 months, November 1960.
Source: George H. W. Bush Library and Jimmy Carter Library
Photo Gallery: Presidents as Fathers
In honor of all the awesome dads out there, a Presidential Father’s Day gallery from the White House blog.
Happy Father’s Day!
Pictured, John F. Kennedy claps as his children, Caroline and John, Jr. dance in the Oval Office. 10/10/62
Source: jfklibrary.org
September 8 - Letter to President Gerald Ford from Anthony Ferreira, a Third Grader at Henry B. Milnes School
On September 8, 1974, President Gerald Ford stunned the nation by announcing ”a full, free, and absolute pardon” for former President Richard Nixon.
This letter, from third grader Anthony Ferreira, encapsulated the country’s deep division over Ford’s controversial decision, stating simply: ”I think you are half Right and half wrong.”
