April 15, 2004

Mr. Theodore Sorenson

Paul, Weiss, Rifkin

1285 Avenue of the Americas

NYC, NY 10019

Dear Mr. Sorenson,

I hope that this letter finds you quite well. It was a distinct pleasure meeting you last night, and my wife Linda wanted to thank you for spending some of your time talking about some of the “bitter and sweet” memories of the distant past. Both Linda and I are great fans and students of contemporary American history, with Linda specializing on the “Kennedy’s” and my interest being the “Roosevelt’s.”

Of course Linda’s family, starting with her late cousin Lt. Cdr Frederick W. Rosen (ret), had a great deal of contact with the late President when they were young ensigns training at Pensacola early in World War II. Fred later headed Peter Ter, the PT Boat officer alumni group. He was the one who presented the crystal model of PT-109 to the President at a White House occasion. Linda later worked for Robert Kennedy during the presidential campaign of 1968 and I did some campaigning for Ted Kennedy during his 1980 primary effort.

Of course my life-long interest has been that of the lives of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt. I continue to lecture on the Roosevelt’s and was the original promulgator of the effort to recreate the FDR Birthday Balls of the 1930’s and 1940’s. I served on a committee that brought together the FDR Library, the Roosevelt Institute and The March Of Dimes. On January 30, 2003, at Hyde Park and the Culinary Institute, we had the first renewal of the “Birthday Balls.”

Meanwhile, reflective of our conversation, I took the liberty of enclosing some recent articles that I had written, along with a speech I just gave and my biography.

Stay well and regards,

Richard J. Garfunkel