I was a real patriotic little kid.* I actually used to
watch the Presidential speeches and news conferences etc. And then I would
critique them, in my own naive way. This often took the form of encouraging
letters from me to the particular speaker. This response to me was written in
1965, by Bill Moyers, after I had written a comment to President Johnson
concerning his War on Poverty. I had my own stationary and a typewriter, which
made me as old as I wanted to be. I was actually 10 at the time. Sorry, Bill!
But as a result of this letter my parents took my brother
and I on a trip into the Appalachian Region to show us the poverty that the
President was alluding to in his speech. I had never seen such dire conditions
before, and would not again, until on a family trip to Florida in 1969 down
Routes 301 and 1 in North Carolina and Georgia. The sight of people living in
tin can shacks by the side of the road is not one easily erased from my mind. Actually,
the thought of it haunts me to this very day.
Those trips really made an impression upon me and I've
always been grateful that my folks took the time and made the effort to make
them.
* I still am.
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