One of my favorite books is “All About Me” written by Mel Brooks. Borrowing from his title, I decided, for my 90th Birthday to write a kind of “All About Me” with snippets about all of the Presidents who served during my lifetime.

In 1939 I had my 3rd birthday on the ship coming to America. Franklin Roosevelt was President, and with the help of a small congregation in Springfield, Missouri as well as the Junior Senator of the State, my family and I escaped the Nazis. Speaking German, I refused to learn English, because I wanted people to speak the way I did.  My Father told my Mother not to worry because, “The children on the street will teach her English.”  Everyday I’d come into the house after playing outside, and everyday, Mother would ask me if I learned any English.  I always said, “Nein!”  One day she asked me, “ Did you learn any English today?” and I said,
“SHIT!, BOOGER!, !.FART!”  On the radio, we listened to President Roosevelt’s Fireside Chats. 
However, one day he announced that the Japanese had attacked Pearl Harbor—“A day in infamy,” and the U.S. was at war.

On April 12, 1945 President Roosevelt died, and his Vice President, (who had only served for 82 days) became President. Harry Truman, the former Junior Senator of Missouri—who helped save our lives—became President of  the United States. Truman was a feisty fellow. I always liked his response when in 1950, Paul Hume, a Washington Post Music Critic wrote a negative review about Margaret Truman (Harry’s daughter) and her singing. The President sent a handwritten letter calling Hume “an eight ulcer man on four ulcer pay,” and he threatened that if he ever met Hume, “He will need a new nose.”  I always wished that my Father had the same response, when a tall, big boy called me a “Dirty German!” I raised my fist and bloodied his nose while shouting, “I am an American Girl!” 

In 1953, a year before I went to college, Dwight Eisenhower became President.  He must have liked the person who drove him around, because he decided that the United States needed many more highways and less railways.  Even today, when I am caught in a traffic jam, I think of Dwight Eisenhower.  He intensely disliked his Vice President, Richard Nixon because he felt that “Nixon isn’t cut out for the role of President.” I always wondered if that was why he had a heart attack during his second term.

John Kennedy, the youngest man to be elected, became President on January 20, 1961. Ike viewed Kennedy as a “young whippersnapper,” but when he met him in the 1960’s he grew to like and respect him. By then, I had graduated from the University of Michigan, and gotten married in1958. A few professors  had influenced my professional life. Professor Roe, who taught playwriting encouraged me to consider it for a profession.  I took his advice fifty years later.
What do I remember about John Kennedy? It was easy to identify with a young , articulate President, and enjoy his glamorous family who gave us a touch of Camelot. I remember the first televised debate between Kennedy and Nixon.  Kennedy was cool—Nixon was covered in sweat.  Kennedy gambled twice and won when avoiding the Cuban Missile Crisis with Russia, and when Marilyn Monroe sang “Happy Birthday, Mr. President “ at the celebration.  His assassination on January 20,1961 was a great tragedy for the Nation.

On that day, in 1961, Lyndon Johnson became President, and all of his good works for a Great Society and Civil Rights were overshadowed by a continuing war in Viet Nam. I also didn’t like to see our President pick his dog up by the ears. However the highlight of our lives happened on August 18, 1967 when my husband, Warren and I became parents of our dear baby, Joshua.
 
TO BE CONTINUED———-Esther Blumenfeld