Warm Holiday Wishes
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We hope that you enjoyed the recent holidays. President Wilson put great effort into maintaining his correspondence, and that included many personal Christmas greetings. Though some historians consider Wilson to have been a cold fish, the warmth of his holiday letters show that he had a great store of emotion for his relatives and dear friends.
For instance he wrote to his father in 1888 about his appreciation:
My precious father
... As the Christmas recess approaches I realize, as I have so often before, the pain there is in a season of holiday and rejoicing away from you. As you know, one of the chief things about which I feel most w warranted in rejoicing is that I am your son.
Woodrow Wilson to Joseph Ruggles Wilson
When the Wilsons came to Staunton in December of 1912, the newly-elected Wilson was distressed that he could not visit an old friend in Charlottesville and sent a kind telegram.
A year later, Wilson wrote to his secretary, Joseph P. Tumulty, to wish him Merry Christmas and to thank him.
I feel so much at ease having you in charge at Washington that it gives me complete freedom.
We thought of you all a great deal on Christmas Day, and all of us unite in the most affectionate greetings.
Woodrow Wilson to Joseph P. Tumulty
After his wife Ellen died in 1914, Wilson wrote to his daughter Jessie, about how he was coping:
I find that the only way to sustain a broken heart is to try to do what she would have done. So long as I act in her spirit and, as nearly as I can, as she would have acted I experience a sort of sweet relief and happiness that helps to carry me through the day. ... It will not be very long before the Christmas holidays, and then we shall all be together again! How fine! God bless you, my darling! It is so fine to hear how well you are! Dear love to Frank.
Your devoted
Father
Woodrow Wilson to Jessie Woodrow Wilson Sayre
He merely gave his physician, Dr. Cary T. Grayson, a subscription to the New Republic in 1917, but we can see more heart-felt wishes in his letter of 1922, after Wilson had retired.
I know that Mrs. Wilson has already expressed our great appreciation of what you and Mrs. Grayson did for our Christmas happiness, but I want to give myself the privilege of telling you how much I admire and shall value the beautiful rug. It is very delightful to have constantly renewed evidences of your friendship, and we unite in every affectionate message as well as in the hope that has brought you all,- and that the New Year will bring you every,- sort of lasting happiness.
Woodrow Wilson to Cary T. Grayson
President Wilson often had similar warm greetings for others, too. The most notable example I could find is his message to the troops in 1918, after the war had finally ended.
I feel a comradeship with you to-day which is delightful as I look about upon these undisturbed fields and think of the terrible scenes through which you have gone and realize now that the quiet peace, the tranquillity of settled hope, has descended upon us all; and while it is hard so far away from home confidently to bid you a Merry Christmas, I can, I think, confidently promise you a Happy New Year, and I can from the bottom of my heart say, God bless you.
Christmas Message to US Troops at Humes
We hope that you have a wonderful New Year!
