“So, you want to know about the President’s mail?” asked FDR’s press attaché Steve Early (1889 – 1951). “It’s a whale of a story.”
“Yesterday, the President received 3,617 letters and telegrams and 1,051 postcards. Day before that , 4,402 letters and telegrams and 825 postcards. That’s about average. If some hot issue is up the figure goes higher. Frequently it’s enormous. Reaction to fireside chats; messages to Congress; greetings on his birthday; Christmas; New Year’s Eve; Easter, etc. In a lull, of course it drops off… Mr. Roosevelt has encouraged this business of writing, through his let’s-sit-down-and-get-together attitude as revealed in fireside chats and the now nearly-forgotten Forgotten Man slogan.”
The American people were quite fond of Winston Churchill – click here to read about all the cards and gifts they used to send him.
