THE LETTER HE received was handwritten. Not well handwritten but at least the writer knew how to do it. Even without reading the letter but just looking at it with its handwriting told the addressee that whoever wrote it was old enough to have studied penmanship in school when penmanship was taught. The awkwardness of some of the handwriting was undoubtedly due to one or another ailment that comes to so many with age.
He glanced first at the end of the letter to see who sent it so as to quickly confirm his guess. It was signed, ‘Matt’ and below that in parenthesis was written, ‘Secretary of Commerce, Mathew Desmond.’
And then he went to the beginning of the letter:
Dear Mister President,
I do not want to be a burden to you. I recognize you as the one and only Acting President of the United States of America. I understand that my place of birth is in doubt by some, but it is not in doubt by me. I’m a naturalized citizen. I never lied about that. I was proud of it.
Even if I was born here I would refuse to be Acting President at this time. I am not equipped for the job as it exists today and in all frankness I would not know what to do with that position at this critical time. I do not claim or want a title other than Secretary of Commerce which, at the moment, serves a non-existent function.
I also understand there may be a belief that I was highly medicated in the hospital on the evening of my arrival. The only medication I was given was two Advils. Dr. Rubins told me to take one then and I did, and he said to take the second one if I needed it six hours later. I did not take it. Dr. Rubins wanted to keep me under observation free of extraneous medications. I am confident that he will verify this, as will others on the hospital staff who were there with me that evening. Dr. Rubins was sad and angry that I could not be moved elsewhere with better and more appropriate facilities and—although I hate to say it—with a competent psychiatrist—but the conditions of warfare beyond our walls made it impossible for any movement of me to go elsewhere or for a psychiatrist to come in. The conditions have not changed. Dr. Rubins comes by a number of times every day. He is superb. I would trust him with my life. Anyone would.
I want you to have this letter as an official document. My malady is like a hurricane with bands of intense winds and then quiet and then another band maybe even more intense. Between those bands I have periods of good sense, and so I am taking advantage of this period of good sense to write you this letter. You should have this document.
Mister President, in this country’s tradition, we can only have one president at a time. If our elected president is unable to fulfill his duties I am glad that the one president we have is you.
I am your faithful servant and I would be privileged to assist you in any way you want me to assist you, but call on me only if you must. That is not because of any unwillingness on my part, but because of my recognition of my limited and unreliable abilities at this time.
I write this in sound mind.
Respectfully,
Matt
(Secretary of Commerce Mathew Desmond)