JFK Had To Politely Ask His Mother To Not Directly Contact Leaders

Mom’s the world over seem to have a knack for embarrassing their offspring. Whether it’s an awkward story or stepping in where they really shouldn’t, mom’s can sometimes overstep their boundaries, but they hardly ever realize they’re doing just that. In mom’s mind, nothing is off limits when it comes to making sure everything is going well for their little ones, and that applies no matter how old their little one is. In this case, it also didn’t seem to matter that the little one was one of the more powerful men in the entire world.

As the Daily Dot shares, it looks like former President John F. Kennedy had one of those moms. In fact, he even had to drop her an official letter to ask her to knock it off. About four years ago, presidential historian Michael Beschloss discovered a note that JFK had written to his mom, Rose. The note was on official White House letterhead, and it began making the rounds again on social media in honor of Mother’s Day.

“Here just after Missile Crisis, JFK asks Mother to pls not write Khrushchev again w/o asking him: (via @JFKLibrary),” Beschloss wrote.

As for the letter, it places things in perspective for the rest of us: perhaps it could be worse with our moms.

“Dear Mother: I signed today the pictures from Khruschev. Would you be sure to let me know in the future any contacts you have with heads of state etc. concerning requests for pictures, signatures etc.” the letter reads in part.

If you happen to recall that time in American history, our nation was in the midst of a wee bit of a crisis, and relations with Russia were a tad strained.

“Requests of this nature are subject to interpretations and therefore I would like to have you clear them before they are sent,” the letter continued.

That’s an absolutely reasonable request, but JFK would close things up by making sure to give mom a pat on the back.

“Needless to say the picture is most interesting and will be highly regarded,” the letter concluded.

So the next time your dear old mom does something cringeworthy, you can take solace in the fact that she wasn’t sharing random pics with an incredibly powerful world leader behind your back.

Source: Daily Dot
Photo: NASA On The Commons/Flickr