Nice Try by Paul Harvey

Paul Harvey
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Nice Try Buen Intento

Let`s say you`re thirteen years old,
born and reared in another country,
and you`re looking for a fast ten dol-
lars.
Would it ever occur to you to write
a letter - simply requesting ten Yankee
dollars- to the President of the United
States?
It did occur to one thirteen-
years old.
In fact, the audacity of that letter
was to striking that it is retained to this
day our National Archives.
The year was 1940 and the rest of The
Story.
In the autumn of 1940 he was a boy
of thirteen , receiving a strict private
school education.
Now certainly every youngster of that
age wants attention . This one wanted
prestige . Daily he pondered his anony-
mity and a way to be rid of it - a way to
become a big shot with his classmates.
In the school he had learned a great
deal about the United States of America,
the wealthiest and most powerful and
most generous nation in the entire world.
What if he could somehow con the Presi-
dent of the United States out of ten dollars?,
The idea became an obsession.
He would have to write a letter of some
kind, carefully worded of course , a letter
requesting the money while dangling a
vague promise of something in return.
The youngster had studied just enough
English to get his subtle point across in
writing.
He addressed the letter to President
Franklin Roosevelt , asking outright for ten
dollars because "...I have not seen a ten dollars
bill green american and I would like to have
one of them...:
He went on to hint, almost in postscript,
that his country was rich in iron ore - and
he knew where the President could get his
hands on some !
Next day the letter was in the mail. Prou-
dly its young author announced to his friends
that President Roosevelt was going to send
him some money.
His friends laughed . Surely he didn`t
expect an answer from the President , must
less a handout.
The scoffing of the youngsters shook him
awake. What if President Roosevelt just tossed
the letter into the wastebasket? He had boasted
prematurely and now he might have to pay for
it in ridicule.
But the little fellow did receive an answer .
The response was written by an embassy coun-
selor on behalf of the President of the United
States;
" The President has directed the embassy to
acknowledge , with an expression of appreciation,
your letter of November 6, 1940, written on the
occasion of his reelection ."
No ten dollars.
Nice try
But when the boy brought that letter of recog-
nition to school , the Roman Catholic sisters were
sufficiently impressed to put it on the school bull-
tin board for a whole week.
They didn`t know their little lad had tried to hit
FDR for a fast ten.
Neither could they have guessed that the U.S. State
Department would save the youngster`s letter, only
to review it with amazement thirty - eight years later.
For the thirteen - year - old who wished only to be
important in the eyes of his classmates became import
in revolution.
You know him.
Fidel Castro