Long before Chelsea Clinton lived in the White House, she wrote then-President Ronald Reagan a letter, imploring him to not visit a Nazi cemetery on an upcoming visit to Germany.
The daughter of former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Friday shared the letter, which was adorned with a rainbow sticker, with students at Mirowitz Jewish Community School in Creve Coeur.
She told them she never got a response, but that it shouldn’t keep them from writing letters and speaking out, “because I do hope that children and young people will continue to raise their voices and receive the kind of validation of getting a response from the White House.”
Clinton visited the school as part of a book tour promoting “It’s Your World,” in which she details how she became involved in activism and encourages young children to do the same.
She told kids it’s not too early to “reach into the realm of improbable” and get involved.
“You have a powerful voice and I hope that you’ll use it. Even though you’re not old enough to vote yet, you’re old enough to go to a town hall and ask a question,” she said.
The school was suggested as one for Clinton to visit because its students go on service trips and make an annual visit to the state Capitol to meet their representatives.
Clinton fielded questions about what it was like growing up in the White House and how she made friends as the president’s daughter. She told them it was a lot harder back then to keep in touch with her old friends in Arkansas.
She dodged a question on whether she’ll ever run for office, flipping it around to tell the children they should be getting asked if they want to be president.
Ellior Rose, 12, said afterward that she felt motivated to start donating old books or volunteering at a food bank.
She learned that “even the smallest things that kids do can turn into big things and we can really make a difference in the world,” she said.
Clinton’s next book, about influential women’s rights leaders, is due out later this spring.
Follow Ryan on Twitter: @rpatrickdelaney.
