August 31: Short Letter Day

Today is the anniversary of a short letter that became the opening salvo in a chain of events that changed television history. The letter, dated August 31, 1988, was sent to NBC President Brandon Tartikoff by George Shapiro, agent for Jerry Seinfeld. This brief letter of recommendation led to a meeting between Seinfeld and NBC executives, and an eventual pilot called The Seinfeld Chronicles. That pilot then became one of television's most successful sitcoms Seinfeld running from 1990 to 1998.

With the popularity and longevity of Seinfeld, you might think success was assured for Jerry Seinfeld, but few people know that he was dropped from an earlier sitcom Benson in 1980 after appearing in three episodes (1).

Looking back at the text of the Shapiro's letter -- only three sentences long -- it's hard to believe it was the spark that set of a powder keg of comedy that dominated American TV ratings from nearly ten years.

Call me a crazy guy, but I feel that Jerry Seinfeld will soon be doing a series on NBC, and I thought you'd like to see this article from the current issue of People Magazine.

Jerry will be appearing in concert in New York City at Town Hall on Saturday, September 10. If any of you will be in New York at that time I'll be happy to arrange tickets for you and your guests.

When the show ended in 1998, it was still at the top of the ratings, and Jerry Seinfeld made it into The Guinness Book of World Records under the category "Most Money Refused" when he turned down an offer of $5 million dollars per episode to continue the show. In addition to ratings success, the sitcom also made an impact on American vernacular with catchphrases such as "Yada, Yada, Yada."

Seinfeld's Agent George Shapiro, who later became on of the show's executive producers, had the gift for writing a short but strong letter of recommendation for his client (2).

Unlike an email, a short letter is likely to get the attention of your audience. If you want something done or you want an answer to a question, a short letter is a great way to guarantee a response. However, unlike the sitcom Sienfeld you can't write a letter about nothing; you need a specific subject and purpose for your letter. Below are four important guidelines for a successful letter.

The Four S's of Business Letters:

Keep it Short
Cut needless words, needless information, stale phrases, and redundant statements.

Keep it Simple
Use familiar words, short sentences and short paragraphs. Keep it simple, and use a conversational style.

Keep it Strong
Answer the reader's question in the first paragraph, and explain why. Use concrete words and examples, and stick to the subject.

Keep it Sincere
Answer promptly, be friendly in tone, and try to write as if you were talking to your reader (3).

Today's Challenge: Short, Simple, Strong, and Sincere Snail Mail

Write a short letter to a specific person about a specific question or request. For an example of a letter and the seven things you should include in the format, see Word Daze August 3.

Quote of the Day: The second button literally makes or breaks the shirt. Look at it. It's too high. It's in no-man's land. You look like you live with your mother. --First line from the first episode of Seinfeld and the last line from the last episode. In both cases Jerry is speaking to George.

1- Jerry Seinfeld.
http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/contributor/1800082168/bio

2 - Grunwald, Lisa and Stephan J. Adler (Editors). Letters of the Century: America 1900-1999. New York: The Dial Press, 1999.

3. Business Letter Writing - Business Letter Writing Checklist
http://www.business-letter-writing.com/writing-a-business-letter-examples/business-letter-checklist.html

August 23: First Lady Day

Today is the anniversary of a letter sent by First Lady Dolley Madison (1768-1849) to her sister on August 23, 1814, the eve of the burning of the White House by invading British troops during the War of 1812. The letter is of particular interest to historians as it details First Lady Madison's efforts to save important presidential papers and a full-length portrait of George Washington, by artist Gilbert Stuart.

Some historians doubt the authenticity of the letter's date, saying is was probably written 20 years later; nevertheless, they do not dispute the facts of the letter, particularly First Lady Madison's intrepid efforts to save Washington's portrait:

Our kind friend, Mr. Carroll, has come to hasten my departure, and is in a very bad humor with me because I insist on waiting until the large picture of Gen. Washington is secured, and it requires to be unscrewed from the wall. This process was found too tedious for these perilous moments; I have ordered the frame to be broken, and the canvass taken out it is done, and the precious portrait placed in the hands of two gentlemen of New York, for safe keeping.

No original of the letter exists; however, the full text of the letter can be read at the web site of The White House Historical Association.

Dolley Madison first came to Washington, D.C., when her husband was appointed Secretary of State under President Jefferson. She gained a reputation as a charming hostess, frequently entertaining large gatherings at the White House. In fact, the night she left the White House, the dinner table was set for 40 guests.

The expansion of hostilities in the War of 1812 made it necessary for Dolley to finally flee the White House. The U.S. had declared war on Great Britain on June 18, 1812. The first years of the war were confined to Canada, the Great Lakes, and the high seas, but after Great Britain's victory over Napoleon in April 1814, the British focused more of their forces against the U.S. After defeating the Americans at Bladensburg, Maryland, the British advanced toward Washington.

The night after Madison had penned the letter to her sister and fled the White House to safety, the British arrived. After consuming the meal that had been prepared for American military and cabinet officers, the British soldiers looted and set fire to the White House.

The war continued for a few months until February 17, 1815 when the United States declared victory and ratified the Treaty of Ghent. President James Madison and his wife never lived in the White House again, but they did dedicate themselves to its reconstruction and the reconstruction of other governmental buildings destroyed in the war. in 1817 President James Monroe moved into a restored White House.

Today's Challenge: All the Presidents' Wives
Dolley Madison is not the only First Lady of note. Below are ten quotes by the wives of U.S. Presidents. See if you can identify the speaker of each quote.

1. Just say no to drugs!

2. I think, at a child's birth, if a mother could ask a fairy godmother to endow it with the most useful gift, that gift should be curiosity.

3. I may be the only mother in America who knows exactly what their child is up to all the time.

4. The power of a book lies in its power to turn a solitary act into a shared vision. As long as we have books, we are not alone.

5. The First Lady is an unpaid public servant elected by one person - her husband.

6. I have sacrificed everything in my life that I consider precious to advance the political career of my husband.

7. I'm not some Tammy Wynette standing by my man.

8. If you bungle raising your children, I don't think whatever else you do matters very much.

Quote of the Day: No one can make you feel inferior without your consent. --Eleanor Roosevelt

Answers: 1. Nancy Reagan 2. Eleanor Roosevelt 3. Barbara Bush 4. Laura Bush 5. Lady Bird Johnson 6. Pat Nixon 7. Hillary Clinton 8. Jackie Kennedy

1 - The White House Historical Association - Classroom
http://www.whitehousehistory.org/04/subs/04_b_1812.html

August 19: Letter of Complaint Day

Today is the anniversary of a letter sent in 1862 by Horace Greeley, the editor of the New York Tribune, to President Abraham Lincoln. The letter published in the Tribune with the title: "The Prayer of the Twenty Millions," was a direct challenge to the president. The final resolution of the Civil War was still very much in doubt in the summer of 1862; in fact, the Confederate armies of Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson were on the rise. In addition, Lincoln had written a draft of the Emancipation Proclamation, but it would not be officially announced until September 1862.

Greeley's chief complaint with Lincoln in the letter was that he was not enforcing the Confiscation Act that authorized the confiscation of rebel property, including slaves who according to the law "shall be deemed captives of war and shall be forever free." Lincoln did not think that the law was well written, and his reticence to issue the Emancipation Proclamation revolved around his desire not to alienate still-loyal slaveholding border states.

To understand the weight of Greeley's letter, it is important to realize the importance of newspapers in 19th century America. In a time before radio and television, newspapers were the media, and in 1860 there were more than 2,500 -- that's more than were in the rest of the world combined. Greeley's New York Tribune was one of the most influential newspapers in the nation with a circulation in 1860 of 214,000. In addition, in the 19th century the reading of newspapers was a communal activity as illustrated from this passage from the book The Eloquent President: A Portrait of Lincoln Through His Own Words:

Many more people read newspapers than the paid subscribers. One copy was often read by several families. Numerous citizens heard editorials read aloud in an era that prized public reading. In countless general stores, neighbors gathered in the evening to listen to the reading of editorials from "Uncle Horace's Weekly Try-bune." As national issues heated up, people gathered by rural post offices to anticipate the stagecoach delivering their "newspaper Bible."

As a result of their influence on the masses, editors like Horace Greeley had a profound impact on the economy and the politics of the nation. Greeley's August 19th missive was not just a letter to the president, it was a letter to the president from a man who played a large role in his successful election to the presidency in November 1860.

From the very start of his letter, Greeley's tone is sober and assertive:

DEAR SIR: I do not intrude to tell you -- for you must know already -- that a great proportion of those who triumphed in your election, and of all who desire the unqualified suppression of the Rebellion now desolating our country, are sorely disappointed and deeply pained by the policy you seem to be pursuing with regard to the slaves of Rebels. I write only to set succinctly and unmistakably before you what we require, what we think we have a right to expect, and of what we complain.

In more than 2,200 words Greeley goes on to enumerate his complains against the president's leadership and apparent lack of resolve and direction.

In response to this public letter, Lincoln responded with a public letter of his own, published on August 23, 1862 in Washington's National Intelligencer. Terse compared to Greeley's letter, Lincoln wrote 370 words emphasizing his primary goal: not the freeing of slaves but the preservation of the "Union" -- a word he used nine times:

I would save the Union. I would save it the shortest way under the Constitution. The sooner the national authority can be restored; the nearer the Union will be "the Union as it was." If there be those who would not save the Union, unless they could at the same time save slavery, I do not agree with them. If there be those who would not save the Union unless they could at the same time destroy slavery, I do not agree with them. My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or to destroy slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone I would also do that. What I do about slavery, and the colored race, I do because I believe it helps to save the Union; and what I forbear, I forbear because I do not believe it would help to save the Union.

Lincoln might have used his letter to announce his plans for the Emancipation Proclamation, a draft of which he had in his desk as he wrote to Greeley. However, Lincoln was not one to let someone else force his hand. He did things for his own reasons and in his own time.

Today's Challenge: Vocabulary by the Letter

The ten words listed below are from Horace Greeley's letter to President Lincoln published in the New York Tribune on August 19, 1862. Writing in the 19th century, Greeley uses a level of vocabulary you probably won't find in 21st century newspapers. Nevertheless, these are words that educated readers should know. You might begin by reading Greeley's entire letter. Then, see if you can match up each word with its correct definition.

imperative malignant credulous implacable phalanx

solicitude prescribe unequivocal deference remiss

1. courteous regard

2. Failing in what duty requires

3. requiring attention or action

4. to order or to issue commands

5. dangerous to health

6. a feeling of excessive concern

7. incapable of being pacified

8. disposed to believe on little evidence

9. a body of troops in close array

10. admitting of no doubt or misunderstanding

Quote of the Day: Always write angry letters to your enemies. Never mail them. --James Fallows

Answers: 1. deference 2. remiss 3. imperative 4 prescribe 5. malignant 6. solicitude 7. implacable 8. credulous 9. phalanx 10. unequivocal

1 - White, Ronald C. The Eloquent President: A Portrait of Lincoln Through His Words. New York: Random House, 2005.

August 3: Idiot Letter Day

On this date in 1993, one of the most hilarious missives in the history of letter writing was sent to an American corporation. Before we look at the letter, let's look at the history of how it came to be written.

In July of 1993 Paul Rosa received a piece of junk mail that changed his life. It was a brief letter from Pizza Hut's delivery unit saying that they had not received an order from Rosa's address in a long time. The letter from the Vice-president of Pizza Hut marketing reminded Rosa of the quality, variety, and value of Pizza Hut pizza. It might have been just another piece of junk mail, but one line in the letter resonated with Rosa. It said: "You see, you're the kind of customer we'd like to see more often." Rosa wrote back a letter to Pizza Hut asking "What kind of customer wouldn't you like to see more often?"

This first letter started a letter-writing campaign that went on for months, covering more than 100 different corporations. Rosa's mission statement was: Since American corporations are treating their customers like idiots, "while reaching for their wallets," I am going to get even by writing them letters in which I act like an idiot.

The letters from Rosa's "kamikaze consumer crusade" were published in 1995 in the book Idiot Letters: One Man's Relentless Assault on Corporate America.

The following is the letter that Rosa sent to Oil-Dri Corporation of America the makers of Cat's Pride Premium Cat Litter on August 3, 1993.

Dear Cat Lovers,

For the first ten years of my cat's life, it was a living hell trying to get her to use her litter box! Whenever she would get the call from nature (night or day), she would howl until someone would let her out. Needless to say, this made my wife (Vicki) and I extremely angry, as we were often woken from a sound slumber, or interrupted during...Matlock. We tried many litter boxes (circular, octagonal, etc.) and brands of cat litter, but she simply refused to cooperate. We were actually tempted to give her away, but simply love her too much -- she was a gift from my mother (Irene).

This all changed a few months ago when, at wits' end, we tried Cat's Pride on the suggestion of a friend (Max). Well, we were delighted, nay ecstatic, when Jesse - without hesitation - stepped into the litter box and "unloaded." After ten years of treating her box like it was filled with glass chips, we finally found something she likes! And her attitude hasn't changed! Since that day she has ventured to the basement on a daily basis to fulfill her duty. The increased cleaning chores on our part are quite acceptable, considering the time now saved from letting her in and out and in and out and .... I don't know what's in that stuff, but it has done the impossible: changed the lifestyle of a ten year old cat (70 to you and me)! Yippee!

The only thing I thought was a bit odd was the name "CAT'S PRIDE." I can understand that your corporation would be proud of this cat litter, but a cat? When Jesse is heaving and straining in her box, I don't thing pride is one of her sentiments. In fact I don't think cats are proud of anything at all, ever! So, why did you choose this name? It seems wrong to suggest what cats are "feeling" without offering any proof. Isn't that dishonest?

In conclusion, I am thrilled with your product - it's a godsend - but must take exception to the misleading name. Would you be so kind as to get back to me on this subject matter? In the meantime, I'd be honored to recommend "Cat's Pride" to my friends!

Feline Fine,

Paul C. Rosa

To their credit, the makers of Cat's Pride answered Rosa's letter and even sent along some money saving coupons.

Today's Challenge: Going Postal
Letter writing is a lost art in an age of telephones and email, but there are few more thoughtful ways to communicate with another person. Paul Rosa wrote to get his questions answered. What question would you like to have answered? Look around you, ask questions, and then write a letter to someone who might be able to answer your question. Write a idiot letter like Paul Rosa or a serious letter.

As a reminder, even humorous letters like Rosa's follow a format. Here are the key parts of a letter:

1. Heading with your name and address
2. Date
3. Inside Address: name and address of the recipient of the letter
4. Salutation ("Dear Mr. Smith")
5. Body of Letter
6. Complimentary Closing ("Sincerely")
7. Your Signature

Quotes of the Day:

I didn't have time to write a short letter, so I wrote a long one instead. - Mark Twain

You see, wire telegraph is a kind of a very, very long cat. You pull his tail in New York and his head is meowing in Los Angeles. Do you understand this? And radio operates exactly the same way: you send signals here, they receive them there. The only difference is that there is no cat. -- Albert Einstein

1 - Rosa, Paul. Idiot Letters: One Man's Relentless Assault on Corporate America. New York: Doubleday, 1995

August 2: Urgent Letter Day

Today is the anniversary of a letter that changed history. The letter, dated August 2, 1939, was written by physicists Albert Einstein and Leo Szilard; it was addressed to the President of the United States Franklin Delano Roosevelt. The letter's content warned the president of the Nazi's possible use of uranium for the development of atomic weapons.

The story behind this historic letter that led to the Manhattan Project, begins in Germany, which prior to 1933 was a hotbed of scientific inquiry: Germany had been awarded 99 Nobel Prizes in science compared to the United States' 6 Nobel Prizes. The rise of anti-semitism and of Adolf Hitler, however, caused many Jewish scientists to flee Germany.

One of those who fled was physicist Leo Szilard who relocated to England. While sitting at a London traffic light in 1933 he had an epiphany: theoretically the atom could be split, creating a chain reaction of enormous power.

Szilard's idea moved from theory to fact in 1939 when German scientists successfully split an atom. The fact that German scientists now had the knowledge of the potentially destructive power of the atom in their hands alarmed Szilard.

Traditionally scientists around the world published their breakthroughs for all to see. Szilard was afraid that the German scientists were using this information to develop a bomb. His fears were heightened when Germany invaded Czechoslovakia in 1939 and stopped all exports of uranium ore from the occupied country.

He urged scientists outside of Germany to delay publication of their findings in fission-related areas, and he initiated a meeting with his former teacher Albert Einstein.

Einstein, like Szilard, was a Jew and had fled Germany during the rise of Hitler. By 1939 Einstein's theory of relativity had made him an international celebrity -- just the kind of name recognition that Szilard needed to get his alarm bell heard by world leaders.

Szilard met with Einstein in New York on July 30. Einstein dictated the letter to Szilard in German, and Szilard later translated it into a typed final draft for Einstein's signature.

The letter's opening read as follows:

Some recent work by E. Fermi and L. Szilard, which has been communicated to me in manuscript, leads me to expect that the element uranium may be turned into a new and important source of energy in the immediate future. Certain aspects of the situation which has arisen seem to call for watchfulness and if necessary, quick action on the part of the Administration. I believe therefore that it is my duty to bring to your attention the following facts and recommendations.

To see the entire letter visit http://www.atomicarchive.com/Docs/Begin/Einstein.shtml

Even Einstein's signature, however, did not guarantee that the letter would get the attention it deserved. Einstein and Szilard entrusted the letter to Alexander Sachs, an unofficial advisor to F.D.R., but Roosevelt was preoccupied with the growing war in Europe, and Sachs was unable to get an appointment with him until October 1939.

To persuade Roosevelt, Sachs used a historical analogy. He told Roosevelt about an American inventor who met with the French emperor during the Napoleonic Wars. The inventor offered to build a fleet of steamships that could invade England regardless of the weather. Napoleon was incredulous, unable to think beyond ships with sails. He sent the American away. The shortsightedness, arrogance, and lack of imagination of Napoleon saved England and sealed Napoleon's fate. It was a powerful analogy, and despite the fact that it took time for the Manhattan Project to get off the ground, it was the letter and Sach's persuasiveness that led to the development of the atomic bomb that Harry Truman had dropped on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945.

Ironically, near the end of the war the Allies discovered that the Germans were at least two years away from developing the bomb. Furthermore, both Szilard and Einstein objected to the United States' use of the bomb. Even though Einstein did not work directly on the Manhattan Project, he called his decision to sign the letter to President Roosevelt the "one great mistake in my life" (1).

For a more detailed account of the letter and its impact on history, read the chapter on "Einstein's Letter" in Ten Days that Unexpectedly Changed America.

Today's Challenge: Notes, Missives, and Epistles

Below are excerpts from 6 letters by famous people from Rosalie Maggio's book How They Said It:

Beethoven
E.B. White
Dylan Thomas
Abraham Lincoln
Groucho Marx
Samuel Johnson

See if you can guess which man wrote which letter:

1. I am, by accident, not by nature, so abominably rude and unreliable that I have to spend the best part of the first week after my regular short visits to town in writing frantic letters of apology.

2. Never come near me again! You are a faithless cur, and may the hangman take all faithless curs.

3. . . . . I had to tell someone (and it might as well be you since you're the author) how much I enjoyed "The Dud Avocado." It made me laugh, scream, and guffaw (which, incidentally, is a great name for a law firm) . . . .

4. I have been hindered from writing to you by an imagination that it was necessary to write more than I had time for . . . .

5. I am a member of a party of one, and I live in an age of fear. Nothing lately has unsettled my party and raised my fears so much as your editorial, on Thanksgiving Day, suggesting that employees should be required to state their beliefs in order to hold their jobs. . . . I can only assume that your editorial writer, in a hurry to get home for Thanksgiving, tripped over the Fifth Amendment and thought it was the office cat . . . .

6. The bearer of this is a young man who thinks he can be a lawyer. Examine him if you want to. I have done so and am satisfied. He's a good deal smarter than he looks to be.

Quote of the Day: We lay aside letters never to read them again, and at last we destroy them out of discretion, and so disappears the most beautiful, the most immediate breath of life, irrecoverable for ourselves and for others. --Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Answers: 1. Dylan Thomas 2. Beethoven 3. Groucho Marx 4. Samuel Johnson 5. E.B. White 6. Abraham Lincoln

1 - Gillon, Steven M. Ten Days That Unexpectedly Changed America. New York: Three Rivers Press, 2006.

2 - Maggio, Rosalie. How They Said It: Wise and Witty Letters From the Famous and Infamous. New York: Prentice Hall, 2000.