Fact Check

Fourth Grade Teacher's Letter to the President

Text of a letter sent to President Obama by a fourth grade teacher.

Published May 19, 2009

Claim:

Claim:   Text reproduces letter sent to President Obama by a fourth grade teacher.


INCORRECTLY ATTRIBUTED


Example:   [Collected via e-mail, May 2009]


TEACHER SLAMS OBAMA

April 17, 2009
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500

Mr. Obama:

I have had it with you and your administration, sir. Your conduct on your recent trip overseas has convinced me that you are not an adequate representative of the United States of America collectively or of me personally. You are so obsessed with appeasing the Europeans and the Muslim world that you have abdicated the responsibilities of the President of the United States of America .

You are responsible to the citizens of the United States. You are not responsible to the peoples of any other country on earth. I

personally resent that you go around the world apologizing for the United States telling Europeans that we are arrogant and do not care about their status in the world. Sir, what do you think the First World War and the Second World War were all about if not the consideration of the peoples of Europe?
20th century? Where do you get off telling a Muslim country that the United States does not consider itself a Christian country? Have you not read the Declaration of Independence or the Constitution of the United States?

[Full text of article here]

Sincerely,

Ms Kathleen Lyday
Fourth Grade Teacher
Grandview Elementary School
11470 Hwy. C
Hillsboro, MO 63050


 

Origins:   This letter to President Obama began circulating in May 2009 as something penned by a fourth grade teacher from Hillsboro, Missouri, named Kathleen Lyday. However, Ms. Lyday has disclaimed being its author; her name merely became attached to it when she forwarded it to others. An earlier version circulated in mid-April 2009 credits authorship to one Franklin T. Bell of Columbia, Maryland.

Last updated:   11 August 2013

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