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"I Asked an 83 Year Old Lady What She Thought of Your Trip"

BY Nancy Scola | Thursday, February 17 2011

Bill Clinton surprised the Wired for Change conference at the Ford Foundation in New York yesterday, where he offered thoughts on everything from the role of technology in institution building in poor countries like Haiti, Neanderthal genes, and the discovery of the subatomic particles known as muons. Fast Company's David Zax has the report.

As a matter of admitted trivia, one bit of Clinton's remarks particularly jumped out: the fact that, as president of the United States in mid to late 1990s America, he sent a "grand total" of two emails, "one to our troops in the Adriatic, and one to John Glenn when he was 77 years old in outer space." So what, exactly, does a President Clinton email when he doesn't email much at all? The email to the troops can't be turned up at the moment, but from the Government Printing Office's presidential records comes the above email 1998 email sent to Glenn. Short, funny, punchy -- he seems a natural at the medium.

The text of Clinton's email to Glenn:

Dear John,

Thanks for your message. Hillary and I had a great time at the launch. We are very proud of you and the entire crew, and a little jealous. We can't wait for you to get home so we can have a first hand report. Meanwhile back on earth, we're having a lot of fun with your adventure. At a camp rally in Queens, I asked an 83 year old lady what she thought of your trip. She replied that it seemed like a perfectly fine thing for a young man like you to do! I hope your last few hours go well. Give my best to the rest of the crew.

Sincerely,
Bill Clinton

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