"Your Most Not Best Friend": A Little Girl's Letter to President JFK

My Dear History Cranks and Fiends,

Two events command my attention: next week’s election and a book deadline.¹ While they battle for my attention, the JFK Library's archives offer a perfect respite.

And while we’ve got a moment: Have a topic you'd love to see covered? Want to see more of one thing, less of another? Drop your suggestions in the comments or send them my way.

See you on the other side,

Alexis

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“I hate you," eight-year-old Rachel Nixon informed the President of the United States. Most children sent Kennedy letters filled with art, earnest concerns, or high praise, but Rachel's poison pencil cut straight to the bone. "You are lazy," she declared, channeling pure Houston contempt.

Her sign-off wielded the syntax of a third-grader with the precision of a Kremlin cable: "your most not best friend.” She did not appear to be a relation of Nixon, but could not resist adding one more taunt: Rachel underlined her last name and added three exclamation marks.

See you soonish! In the meantime, you can find me on Twitter and Instagram and my books on Bookshop, Amazon, and your local bookstore or library. If you’d like me to sign or personalize my books, purchase copies from Oblong.

1. Not “the.”