When a thriller writer had some research questions about the presidency, he got his answers by going right to the top. Brad Meltzer asked the president.
Actually, Meltzer has talked to a couple of them — George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton — in gathering background material.
“Trust me: I’m as amazed as you are,” Meltzer said.
The best-selling author was the keynote speaker a week ago at the Fort Vancouver Regional Library Foundation’s annual dinner. In his speech at the Hilton Vancouver Washington, as well as during an earlier telephone interview, Meltzer discussed his White House sources.
“The reality is, they liked my books,” Meltzer said.
“I got a letter from Bill Clinton. He enjoyed my first two books. I met with Bill Clinton and his staff in Harlem,” Meltzer said.
Another letter came from George H.W. Bush, asking the author to autograph one of Meltzer’s political thrillers. They became friends, Meltzer said.
“I got invited many years ago to a private lunch in the (White House) residence up on the second floor, not down where the staff is,” Meltzer said. “I had written about a secret door from the second floor to the third floor. A Secret Service agent told me about it.”
Meltzer was sitting next to Barbara Bush, and the former first lady suggested that they check out that secret door.
“I put those things in my book, but there’s nothing like seeing them,” he said.
Other surreptitious aspects of the White House included dumbwaiters that could sneak you upstairs.
A warm welcome
He asked Bush about a more personal point: the letter each outgoing president leaves for his successor.
“I wrote Bush Sr.: ‘What did you put in the letter?’ He gave me the secret letter he had written and left for President Clinton” on Jan. 20, 1993, Meltzer said.
“At that moment, George H.W. Bush could have been the angriest man on the planet. He could have written anything he wanted and nobody would have known.”
But Bush wrote: “I wish you great happiness here.”
In the handwritten letter, which is getting a lot of social media distribution, Bush closed with:
“Your success is now our country’s success. I am rooting hard for you. Good luck.”
Meltzer actually wondered if there was a coded message in there: Maybe if you hit the right pattern of letters, it might spell “I hate you, Bill.”
But, no, Meltzer said: “It’s the most generous letter you’ve ever seen.”
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