Why was there no mention of a wife and son?
2
What I found fascinating was that while the President was only his third child, Barack Sr. gave him his full name. If anything, I think it speaks to the pride he had in his son. I think there was a desire to make sure that he left an enduring connection to his son knowing that a lasting marriage to his white wife was probably not attainable and he would be absent from the son's life sooner or later, given his unique circumstances and the times they lived in. Given the kind of exhaustive reflection that the President has devoted to understanding and coming to terms with his past, I doubt that these documents contain much that he didn't know already from his mother and his father's relatives.
3
Emotional none the less
Reading this article and the accompanying attachment left me feeling very sad for my President. His father's ambitions overrode his duty as a father and husband, both to his family here and his family in Kenya. I am glad that the experience led my President to become the best father he could be and President of the United States, an ambition that did not stop him from realizing his responsibility to his family. I see similarities in the handwriting, same letter B, ambition and his erect stance. That is where the similarities end. This man must have been haunted by his choices. Had he stayed in America, he may have advanced further in life but living a double life, actually a triple one, must have overwhelmed him and he nursed his wounded spirit with alcohol which led to his untimely death. I am grateful that his unbridled ambition led him to study in Hawaii, for his duality created a most honorable President, a great role model for all black people here and in the World. For President Barack Hussein Obama, fatherhood is an honorable endeavor that he participated in raising such beautiful girls that any parent could be proud of.
It's a good thing that the apple DOES in fact, fall far from the tree, especially if the tree moves across continents while the apple is but a seedling.
I am grateful that Stanley Ann Dunham's own father, played the role of raising the son he wanted but never had and the father President Obama never had. Happy Father's Day President Obama!
It's a good thing that the apple DOES in fact, fall far from the tree, especially if the tree moves across continents while the apple is but a seedling.
I am grateful that Stanley Ann Dunham's own father, played the role of raising the son he wanted but never had and the father President Obama never had. Happy Father's Day President Obama!
7
As far as I am concerned, a father is not who provides the seed, but who nurtures you.
6
Why is Ms. Swarns not responding to the comments from librarians and archivists who point out, rightly, that the records of who does or does not read archived materials are a matter of institutionally protected privacy?
Why are those comments NOT "NYT Picks"?
Why are those comments NOT "NYT Picks"?
8
Good point.
4
Wonderful and moving article. It is absolutely newsworthy, as the President has very publicly discussed his complicated relationship with his father. These letters are also significant historical documents.
Having grown up myself without my father around I can very much understand why the President may not be rushing to pore over these letters. It's his prerogative to deal with them however he sees fit.
I can also understand why a lot of comments are ripping the character of BHO Sr. But I think he was an impressive man, despite his flaws.
Having grown up myself without my father around I can very much understand why the President may not be rushing to pore over these letters. It's his prerogative to deal with them however he sees fit.
I can also understand why a lot of comments are ripping the character of BHO Sr. But I think he was an impressive man, despite his flaws.
10
I have letters written between my parents during their courtship and engagement periods. I found them 26 years ago, after my father died (and my mother had died 15 years earlier), and cannot yet bear to read them all.
5
Very understandable. It's not a necessity.
This is such a sad & inspiring story at the same time.
I, myself, have almost the same story as The President! My Dad came here in The 50's to pursue intellectual advancement & freedom. He met my mom at Columbia University in The 60's and I was born only a year after President Obama.
I also met my Dad only once when I was a child. If I was able to find letters in an archive written by my Dad, I would surely be interested in reading them when the time was right--if ever.
What makes this story so sad, is that there doesn't seem to be any letters addressed directly to his son.
What makes this story inspiring is that it is part of US History to see the mind of a brilliant & ambitious man who spawned such a awe-inspiring leader. Also knowing the strength & character of President Obama & his mom to rise above the challenges of single motherhood and a fatherless youth.
My mom and I were able to do the same, but not without many unanswered questions and pain. Life goes on for me with my biological dad's spirit within me just like President Obama surely inherited the best of his Dad.
We both do not need letters to know that we are the best incarnations of our Dads.
These documents are best saved for The Obama Presidential Library. President Obama is doing just fine without having read them.
I, myself, have almost the same story as The President! My Dad came here in The 50's to pursue intellectual advancement & freedom. He met my mom at Columbia University in The 60's and I was born only a year after President Obama.
I also met my Dad only once when I was a child. If I was able to find letters in an archive written by my Dad, I would surely be interested in reading them when the time was right--if ever.
What makes this story so sad, is that there doesn't seem to be any letters addressed directly to his son.
What makes this story inspiring is that it is part of US History to see the mind of a brilliant & ambitious man who spawned such a awe-inspiring leader. Also knowing the strength & character of President Obama & his mom to rise above the challenges of single motherhood and a fatherless youth.
My mom and I were able to do the same, but not without many unanswered questions and pain. Life goes on for me with my biological dad's spirit within me just like President Obama surely inherited the best of his Dad.
We both do not need letters to know that we are the best incarnations of our Dads.
These documents are best saved for The Obama Presidential Library. President Obama is doing just fine without having read them.
13
Please leave President Obama alone about his father. We are blessed to have had him as our president, and I am certain he will do other great things during his life as well. He has already written about his father quite deeply from his point of view as a child, the only time he had any of his brief interactions with him at all. Like the rest of us, his feelings about his family are his alone. Lay off; the rest is none of our business.
20
"But when asked whether he thought his nephew would read the letters, Said Obama [the President's uncle] hesitated. On such a sensitive matter, between father and son, he thought it best to demur." If only the editor who assigned this story, the reporter who breathlessly wrote it, and whichever library officials unprofessionally deemed it a good idea to share these details in the first place had taken the same opportunity to demur. I will not read these letters, nor will I readily get over my disappointment in the NYTimes for publishing this nearly news-free story when it did. What stunning disregard for privacy and vapid reliance on armchair psychologizing.
17
Can't figure out why Americans so fixated on Obama's father.
His father was a jerk who lied, had a second wife(perhaps she didn't know there was a first wife), begged for the money to have a good education but didn't use them, and then abandoned his wife and son.
If I were Obama, I wouldn't like someone mentions my abandoned father over and over again. I would feel nothing toward him or had bitterness that he abandoned me. His father to him was almost a nobody, stranger, who only managed to see him at 10 year-old. You must be insane to think that he loved this son. Bragged about son's accomplishment wasn't love, it's show off.
Oh and, I think the whole Obama family are using his fame. If Obama's dad only saw him once at 10, what can you expect from his family?
His father was a jerk who lied, had a second wife(perhaps she didn't know there was a first wife), begged for the money to have a good education but didn't use them, and then abandoned his wife and son.
If I were Obama, I wouldn't like someone mentions my abandoned father over and over again. I would feel nothing toward him or had bitterness that he abandoned me. His father to him was almost a nobody, stranger, who only managed to see him at 10 year-old. You must be insane to think that he loved this son. Bragged about son's accomplishment wasn't love, it's show off.
Oh and, I think the whole Obama family are using his fame. If Obama's dad only saw him once at 10, what can you expect from his family?
6
NYT - you had every right to print this. But not nice! It reads like tabloid. So ignominious.
5
Although the pain of an absent father is great it is probably not as destructive as having an alcoholic abusive one who lives with you. Who knows how President Obama would have turned out in that environment. His grandfather appears to have been his role model for what a man truly is. He was a decorated veteran who found his own mother after her suicide at the tender age of eight. Abandoned by his own father, he was raised by his grandparents, also. What a tribute to succeeding against the odds for the whole family.
6
WOW! I didn't know that. I think my most favorite picture of President Obama as a child is the one where he is sitting on his grandfather's back, in the Hawaiian surf and they both have the same happy smile.
Stanley Dunham got the son he always wanted (so much that he named his only child, a girl, Stanley) and President Obama got the loving father figure he needed.
The fact that President Obama's mother also abandoned him for her own ambitions must be very painful.
He had his Toot and his Grandpa. I am glad of it.
Stanley Dunham got the son he always wanted (so much that he named his only child, a girl, Stanley) and President Obama got the loving father figure he needed.
The fact that President Obama's mother also abandoned him for her own ambitions must be very painful.
He had his Toot and his Grandpa. I am glad of it.
4
There always a lot of splaining that comes with any article of this type. At the end of the day all of the people splaining what anyone should do, don't want anyone giving them patronizing advice. This should have been something that adds to one man's history and what he his struggle was to get an education under trying conditions. Until you have walked in those shoes any statements here is useless, unasked for, and not needed. I see a man who had big dreams and paid a high price trying to make those dreams happen. How easy for others to judge him considering you know nothing and didn't live his life. The splaining is a privilege, he never had and most still don't have.
7
The Times can seem like little more than unprincipled tabloid at times. Why not let readers rate the writers of its articles according to assessments of intelligence and education, calibre of mind.
12
There is an error in this article. My first comment pointing this out more than a day ago has not been published or addressed. I will try again. The caption under the photo of Obama and his father reads "an undated photo from the 1960s". Then the article states "Barack Obama Sr. went home to Kenya in 1964, when Mr. Obama was 3 years old, and returned to visit his son only once, for a month, when Mr. Obama was 10." Barack Obama was born August 4 1961. So one of the two statements found in the article must be wrong. If Obama was 10 the only time he saw his father after the age of 3 the photo had to be taken between August 4 1971 and August 3 1972. So the caption is wrong. The photo is not "from the 1960s". The other choice is that that the statement in the article that Obama was 10 when his father returned to see him was wrong. Both statements the caption and the line in the article cannot be correct. It's basic math and there is an error in there and it needs to be acknowledged.
23
The story of Obama Sr. makes the story of the President all the more remarkable than it already is. The more he is hated by his opponents, the greater a man he becomes. He has my respect and appreciation for the good he has tried to do.
25
The emotional impact of a father's absence is a very tough reality to deal with. I know from experience. When Obama is ready to access the letters for his consumption, he will do so on his own accord not Michelle, his daughters or the nation.
We have to respect the president’s decision to connect with the thoughts of his father in time and in his own way. And I suspect, when Mr. Obama has retired to some semblance of a normal life, he will sit down and absorb the thoughts of his father. He has earned that right. I wish that we allow him to have his time.
We have to respect the president’s decision to connect with the thoughts of his father in time and in his own way. And I suspect, when Mr. Obama has retired to some semblance of a normal life, he will sit down and absorb the thoughts of his father. He has earned that right. I wish that we allow him to have his time.
27
This article misses the most important facts:
1. Barack Obama Sr. abandoned his (second) wife and child - he wasn't and "absent" father.
2. Despite all the "letters" and degrees, apparently he wasn't successful.
3. The story should be about the mother and parents who raised Obama Jr. - not the father.
1. Barack Obama Sr. abandoned his (second) wife and child - he wasn't and "absent" father.
2. Despite all the "letters" and degrees, apparently he wasn't successful.
3. The story should be about the mother and parents who raised Obama Jr. - not the father.
22
This article notes that Barack Obama Sr. did not acknowledge his new marriage in his scholarship applications or on other forms. He may have been aware that as a bigamist his second marriage legally was void. This article states that he married Ann Dunham despite already having a Kenyan wife and children. There is no mention of a divorce from this first wife.
In today's legal world: an immigrant who lies on official forms, especially federal forms, and leads a polygamous life is subject to deportation.
In today's legal world: an immigrant who lies on official forms, especially federal forms, and leads a polygamous life is subject to deportation.
9
In some African and Asian cultures, first marriages can be solely religious/traditional ceremonies, in which case, a second marriage might actually end up being the legal one. So I don't think we're given enough info here to know if anything illegal was done.
5
Thanks so much for this story. Like President Obama's father, but in the early fifties, my Nigerian father sought a scholarship to a US university and received one from Wiley College, in Marshall, TX courtesy of Dr. Thomas Winston Cole, Sr, who was the registrar at the time. Though he didn't graduate from Wiley, he spent 7 years in this country and completed undergraduate and graduate degrees in political science and public administration. When he decided to study law in London, he sailed to the UK on the Queen Mary where he met my Northern Irish mother who had been visiting cousins in the US. Upon passing the bar exam, he and my mother took another ship to Nigeria and raised 5 children there over a 40 year marriage. Longevity was a trait of my father's. He and Dr. Cole remained life-long friends, and in 1979, my father brought Dr. Cole and his wife Eva to Nigeria as a thank you for his kindness to him all those years before. We don't have the original letter my father wrote to Dr. Cole but we have photos from the cocktail party my dad hosted for them. Suffice it say, Dr. Cole changed the course of my father's life - which made mine possible.
11
The photo of young Barack happily, desperately, clutching his dear father's hand - as if to say please don't go, stay! - is poignant beyond words. The kid needed and desperately wanted a father! But he was to be abandoned yet again. Deeply sad story... - And yes, so many have lived that heart-wrenching reality. But look what that kid did with his gifts! Amazing person! I stand in absolute admiration of our president. A kind, sensitive, caring, super-smart, gifted and outstanding person - President of the USA! Amazing story - and we get to see it played out before our eyes - in our lifetimes...
42
The sad fact is for many Father Day only serves as a remnder for what they never had. Oh sure, Obama's father loved him very much, but clearly not enough to be an active participant in his life. If Obama was only three years old when his father left to return to Kenya, surely it felt abandonment because that's what it was. Why should Obama read any of these letters? His father OWED his son, and his son owes him nothing.
15
There are fathers and there are sperm donors...not the same thing. The President is a father, a loving father, that is all that is important.
36
For those calling Sr. brave, brilliant, and thanking him for Jr., here's what one of his children from his Harvard marriage had to say about him:
"My father beat me. He beat my mother. I remember in my house I would hear the screams. I would hear my mum's pain. As a child, I could not protect her. I could not remember any good things about my father."
Yeah, real swell guy — not.
"My father beat me. He beat my mother. I remember in my house I would hear the screams. I would hear my mum's pain. As a child, I could not protect her. I could not remember any good things about my father."
Yeah, real swell guy — not.
23
not out of line behavior for a husband/father in Kenya. The right of a man to be polygynous is included in the Kenyan constitution. Kenyan women do not have equal rights. The male as the head of household has the right to enforce order and discipline.
Three cheers for feminism and legal reform.
Three cheers for feminism and legal reform.
3
Thank you to all the men who show boys and young men every day, by their actions, what it looks like to be a good man. This includes neighbors, teachers, ministers, scout leaders, uncles/brothers/granddads, coaches, and many others, and most especially, dads. Grown men, demonstrating to boys, how to be honest, work hard, do your duty, respect women, control your anger, and be fair to others, may be the single most crucial factor in whether our society thrives or fails. Boys are watching men all the time and learning; we are surrounded by the evidence of this (successes and failures), but amazingly, we don't seem to acknowledge it much.
Girls need the love and approval of a father figure to help them develop emotionally into confident women. Girls suffer emotional consequences when they grow up without a daddy. So, thank you also to all the fathers out there who love their daughters.
Girls need the love and approval of a father figure to help them develop emotionally into confident women. Girls suffer emotional consequences when they grow up without a daddy. So, thank you also to all the fathers out there who love their daughters.
12
Hey, NYT. Let's not distract President Obama with emotional pain from the Past and not so subtly suggest that he is remiss until he attends to his father's letters. He is busy being a Father to the Nation and we need him to attend to the business of the Nation, not his father's old letters. When he is out of office, then he can deal with personal matters and have his feelings, hopefully some privacy to boot.
32
My son's father deserted us when our child was six. He "didn't want the responsibility" of fatherhood any more, as he felt that it was hindering his career.
Eleven years later, my son still doesn't care about his father and has come to see his stepfather as the real man in his life.
I don't blame Mr. Obama at all for not wanting to read about a selfish man who used others to advance himself and then dropped them when they were no longer useful.
Eleven years later, my son still doesn't care about his father and has come to see his stepfather as the real man in his life.
I don't blame Mr. Obama at all for not wanting to read about a selfish man who used others to advance himself and then dropped them when they were no longer useful.
31
Barack Obama senior could have taken his young wife and son to NYU with a full scholarship and support, but he had to have the Ivy league seal of approval, so he abandoned them for Harvard, where he could only go as a single. At Harvard he repeated his irresponsible behavior, thjs time with a jewish american girl rather than a haole form Honolulu, and fathered two sons with that woman. So there were at least three wivws all with children, mby the time he was in his mid 20"s.. Unbelievable that this 2nd American wife is ignored in this article by Rachel Swarns.
19
I would hope that the Schomberg contacted the other surviving children about the existence of the letters. Did any of the other children come by for a read? Not just the second American wife ignored, the other children are ignored too.
18
What is happening to my NY Times?
False expose's on Trump. Now deeply personal and inappropriate "insight" on the president via his fathers's papers. Perhaps if the writer / editor had lost a parent at a young age or, never really had one, they could understand why this article is so wrong. Yes he is a public figure. Yes you have a right to publish whatever you can unearth about a public figure. But as the NY Times you have a responsibility to exercise good judgment and tact. Please revert to being the paper that you have earned the right to be and all it represents to the millions of us who count on you to help guide us through these interesting and turbulent times with your brilliant research, powerful analysis and award winning writing. This is not you. This is not THE New York Times.
False expose's on Trump. Now deeply personal and inappropriate "insight" on the president via his fathers's papers. Perhaps if the writer / editor had lost a parent at a young age or, never really had one, they could understand why this article is so wrong. Yes he is a public figure. Yes you have a right to publish whatever you can unearth about a public figure. But as the NY Times you have a responsibility to exercise good judgment and tact. Please revert to being the paper that you have earned the right to be and all it represents to the millions of us who count on you to help guide us through these interesting and turbulent times with your brilliant research, powerful analysis and award winning writing. This is not you. This is not THE New York Times.
17
I have always and still am a mega-fan of President Obama and think this article is quite appropriate for you to publish, ESPECIALLY NOW that he will be campaigning for Clinton.
The "birther" issue has not been put aside, and in my opinion, these letters, etc. answer the question better than a long birth certificate! Who knows? Your article may change a few minds or many minds about this particular conspiracy theory. Yes, one can argue his father is a liar, but there are bigger, better and more selfish lies Obama Sr. could have noted than having and abandoning a son.
Keep up the good work! Vera Reeder [NC]
Having lost my Father due to a heat attack when I was 15, I do feel the turmoil that not having a Dad brings. I was struck that the White House spokesman said Obama only was made aware of them recently. Why so, I wonder?
The "birther" issue has not been put aside, and in my opinion, these letters, etc. answer the question better than a long birth certificate! Who knows? Your article may change a few minds or many minds about this particular conspiracy theory. Yes, one can argue his father is a liar, but there are bigger, better and more selfish lies Obama Sr. could have noted than having and abandoning a son.
Keep up the good work! Vera Reeder [NC]
Having lost my Father due to a heat attack when I was 15, I do feel the turmoil that not having a Dad brings. I was struck that the White House spokesman said Obama only was made aware of them recently. Why so, I wonder?
2
With all due respect, the front page article in the NYT on Father's Day should have been about one of the millions of men who actually did whatever it took to raise their sons and daughters. The world is full of absentee dads.
31
Thoughtful article. I myself had a distant relationship with my father, who left our family when I was nine. He was living far away from where I lived in the Midwest when he became ill as he neared ninety. In speaking with his accountant, I identified myself as my father's daughter. He expressed extreme surprise, saying, "I've known your father for over twenty years, and he never mentioned he has a daughter." I replied to that, saying that he also had a son. I would never presume to question why President Obama hasn't yet looked at the letters. As many others have noted, it's deeply personal.
14
I cannot for the life of me understand why the NYT would publish these excerpts before providing the White House with the originals and, after his perusal, conferring with the President.
Is "gotcha" journalism the new norm ?
Is "gotcha" journalism the new norm ?
13
The man has to deal with so many emotionally charged subjects. I can see why he'd want to put off those that aren't pressing for a more quiet stage of life.
14
I think it's an admirable decision to postpone dealing with such a profound personal experience after President Obama leaves office. In our "reality show" narcissistic mentality, I think he feels it's not as important - in relation - to his dealing with our national problems. That so many in this country do not see the wonderful, complicated man that is so intent to help his country, even to not spill his emotional life in public and detract from what he swore to do when he was elected, is sad.
This is a bittersweet story, showing the complexity of the United States, warts and all, that sometimes good shines through our crazy, messy society. Throughout all this drama, a black man became president of the United States. How amazing is that?
I wish our great leader a happy Father's Day. What a lucky family to have him as a father.
This is a bittersweet story, showing the complexity of the United States, warts and all, that sometimes good shines through our crazy, messy society. Throughout all this drama, a black man became president of the United States. How amazing is that?
I wish our great leader a happy Father's Day. What a lucky family to have him as a father.
29
"(After the publication of this article on Saturday, the official added that the president had not been “made aware of the collection of writing until recently.”)"
Did he find out on TV?
Did he find out on TV?
4
This information increases my admiration and respect for President Obama. He had a great deal to overcome and I'm proud this wise, compassionate, good man is our president. He has been an outstanding president. He certainly appears to be a fine husband and father. I'm sorry his mother did not live to see the life he has now.
The Schomburg Center is behaving inappropriately in appearing to push President Obama for some response about this archive. His feelings about it and his response are his business and should not be getting this public scrutiny, which isn't useful to anyone.
The Schomburg Center is behaving inappropriately in appearing to push President Obama for some response about this archive. His feelings about it and his response are his business and should not be getting this public scrutiny, which isn't useful to anyone.
54
There is a wonderful short story written by the poet Delmore Schwartz when he was only 21 years old called "In Dreams Begin Responsiblities" in which Schwartz describes himself sitting in a movie theater watching a movie about his parent's courtship and warning them away from their marriage. Schwartz had a long history of mental illness and died young. The miracle of President Obama's life is what he has accomplished as the survivor of a failed marriage.
14
Way to go, NYT. And on Father's Day to boot! This is personal family business and it should have been left as such by you and the archive, instead of publishing them for the world to see, analyze, criticize, and worst of all, provide ammo for the half-witted, agenda-driven news 'journalists' on both sides of the aisle.
37
Mr. obama probably became a better father because his father was not around when he was growing up...a steep price to pay but possibly worth it to his daughters...
11
He is a great father to his children. I disagree with a lot of things he does, but I do recognize this.
5
They've got a lot of cousins back in Africa.
I guess my comment or thoughts would be I have no comment other than..
No one reading this article was there.
I wasn't and you weren't nor for that matter the author or anyone else except the parties involved i.e. man and wife
I view this as a private family matter
No one reading this article was there.
I wasn't and you weren't nor for that matter the author or anyone else except the parties involved i.e. man and wife
I view this as a private family matter
24
Truly obnoxious that upon finding these letters and advising President Obama that they exist, the Schomberg Institute decision-makers decided that it was their place to reveal to the public that the letters exist and that they've notified the president and that he hasn't responded or asked to read the letters. The letters are the business of Mr. Obama -- not the public and the NYTimes should be ashamed of having participated in this presumptuous act by going so far as to print the contents of some of the letters. Have some decency, sensitivity, and class.
43
Before the future president's first birthday, his mother moved from Honolulu to Seattle to study at the University of Washington. She took the baby with her, which raises the question: Who deserted whom?
4
The president's father was already married when he married Ms Dunham, a fact he did not of course disclose; who ever really connected with whom?
5
therefore, they were never legally married. A marriage contracted when one person is already married is not a valid marriage in the USA. It is usually punishable as a crime. Federal law calls polygamy a crime of "moral turpitude".
3
This is such painful personal terrain it seems unfair for the custodians of these letters to allow their efforts to have Obama view them to be publicized. Remarkably polarizing a figure as Obama has proved to be, and whether you agree or disagree with him, all - or almost all - agree he overcame many daunting odds and has shown himself to be a good father, dutiful husband and fundamentally decent person. By contrast his father - though praised in many hagiographic treatments after Obama's rise to prominence - comes across as a terribly troubled man, a lost and wandering soul who failed his son miserably. By contrast, Obama, Jr. showed admirable poise and grace in navigating between the differing racial and cultural legacies of his black African father and white midwestern mother. More deserves to be written about Obama's white Kansan grandparents, the people who raised and were always there for him, instilling him with traditional values. They survived both the Great Depression and WW II while his grandfather went to war. Despite the shock of having their daughter give birth to a mixed race child in 1961, when interracial marriage was still illegal in many states, Obama's grandparents appear to have loved and accepted their grandson and raised him well. Their story and sacrifice deserves retelling more than that of Obama Sr.
44
My sentiments exactly! They are the true inspirations in this saga. Both his father and his mother abandoned him to pursue their own ambitions. Thank God for Mr. and Mrs. Dunham who appeared to have loved this child blindly.
2
If there is one thing President Obama has been, and still is, it is dignified. But I don't feel this article is dignified. It is intrusive and speculative, and I am sorry I read it. Our President is entitled to deal with his family matters on his own terms and in his own time. Or not at all, if that is his choice.
47
I really do not care. Let me tell you the story of my father. He was sent to Vietnam in 1965. I was 4. Two months in and he was captured, tortured and eventually died in captivity. Most of his platoon was wiped out and, sadly, I wish he was too instead of the torture and death. He never went to Harvard, Hawaii or even finished an advanced degree. So now you see why I really do not care about this man. Did anyone at the NYT care about mine?
16
What is past is past. Obama Jr done alright. Moving on next gen.
7
Obama has visited Jakarta only once after he left there at the age of ten. It was on official govt. business and he did not visit his childhood home or school, where there is a monument to him and the second-floor mosque where he prayer with other students. Obama apparently also has mental anguish regarding his stepfather Lolo Soetoro.
2
I have not lived under the same roof as my father since I was 15 years old and while I knew where to find him, I grew up with a hole in my heart as he was never there, especially emotionally.
It's only through years of therapy that I've come to accept that my father will never be the father I needed. I hardly ever see or speak to him and he lives 10 minutes away from my home, when I do, it's for him, not me.
Actually, I've learned from both my parents how not to be a parent. Perhaps the President will take some time to see the actual documents, maybe not.
Either way, It's his choice!
It's only through years of therapy that I've come to accept that my father will never be the father I needed. I hardly ever see or speak to him and he lives 10 minutes away from my home, when I do, it's for him, not me.
Actually, I've learned from both my parents how not to be a parent. Perhaps the President will take some time to see the actual documents, maybe not.
Either way, It's his choice!
18
This story and ones like the column on Hillary's mom and the stories of the slaves sold by the Georgetown always touch me to the core. It's remarkable to see how one person's dream or perseverance can alter the course of history.
In a time when life seems so cheap to so many young people who would avenge their grievances with the world through violence against random strangers, we would do well to remember how truly valuable each life is.
It's just amaxing to think of Barack's dad finally getting word of his scholarship and flying halfway across the world, or Hillary's mom getting on a train as a scared young girl going far way, or the slaves sold by the Jesuits suddenly finding themselves suddenly cut off from everything they knew. And yet they kept going despite disappointments and difficulties we can't imagine.
Stories like these need to be shared over and over today. Life is an incredible thing. We need to focus on how our actions or inaction affects others.
In a time when life seems so cheap to so many young people who would avenge their grievances with the world through violence against random strangers, we would do well to remember how truly valuable each life is.
It's just amaxing to think of Barack's dad finally getting word of his scholarship and flying halfway across the world, or Hillary's mom getting on a train as a scared young girl going far way, or the slaves sold by the Jesuits suddenly finding themselves suddenly cut off from everything they knew. And yet they kept going despite disappointments and difficulties we can't imagine.
Stories like these need to be shared over and over today. Life is an incredible thing. We need to focus on how our actions or inaction affects others.
10
Fascinating. I had no idea. What a great story.
2
Thank God I did not have a father like that.
9
Many Americans, myself included have letters from their absent fathers that they find it difficult to read.
My father's profession was the as a deck officer in the US merchant marine (back when this country had one). Even in my sixties I find these letters and personal papers extremely difficult to read.
I am entirely prepared to grant President Obama his privacy and allow him to deal with the intensely personal relationship of an absent and now deceased father to a now adult son outlined in those papers in his own good time, if at all.
Learning to become a man on one's own leaves wounds that are hard and take time to heal regardless of the reasons for a father's absence from a son's life.
In due time Mr. Obama may grant historians access to these letters of he may not. It is his choice.
My father's profession was the as a deck officer in the US merchant marine (back when this country had one). Even in my sixties I find these letters and personal papers extremely difficult to read.
I am entirely prepared to grant President Obama his privacy and allow him to deal with the intensely personal relationship of an absent and now deceased father to a now adult son outlined in those papers in his own good time, if at all.
Learning to become a man on one's own leaves wounds that are hard and take time to heal regardless of the reasons for a father's absence from a son's life.
In due time Mr. Obama may grant historians access to these letters of he may not. It is his choice.
16
My own father abandoned my mom and us three boys when I was five. He never paid a dime for our support or education, and we all finished graduate schools. He did send me a twenty dollar bill with a card when I graduated from college, and I promptly burned it and returned him the ashes. There is more to being a "father" than simply donating sperm. I wouldn't blame Obama for never reading those documents; sadly, in my view, his father never earned such respect.
16
I had a similar experience. My mom was the rock in our family and it has been her values that helped me to achieve. I put myself through undergraduate and graduate school. When I asked my father for help with tuition he told me he couldn't help me and was saving for his daughters education (from a new marriage). It was bitter sweet when his new wife divorced him after he paid for her dental school. In hindsight having a bad father was the best thing ever happened to me as forced me to man up at a much younger age.
5
How does the President know that these letters are authentic? If they are fake and he is reported to having received them, than the contents of those letters become credible. Maybe that is one reason for why the President has not yet viewed them.
1
This is a fascinating article:
"President Obama often describes his life as an only-in-America saga, the improbable rise of the son of a white woman from Kansas and a black man from Kenya to the American presidency. But his father’s ascent was astounding, too, as he journeyed from the dusty roads of his rural village to the halls of Harvard."
There's no doubt that President Obama's story and voyage to the presidency was truly incredible and remarkable, but it was all made possible by the efforts of his Father. There's more to it than that. It's well documented how large of a role Barack Obama's Mother played in his life. But it all began when Barack Obama Senior crossed the Atlantic to find a better life in the halls of America's great universities.
"President Obama often describes his life as an only-in-America saga, the improbable rise of the son of a white woman from Kansas and a black man from Kenya to the American presidency. But his father’s ascent was astounding, too, as he journeyed from the dusty roads of his rural village to the halls of Harvard."
There's no doubt that President Obama's story and voyage to the presidency was truly incredible and remarkable, but it was all made possible by the efforts of his Father. There's more to it than that. It's well documented how large of a role Barack Obama's Mother played in his life. But it all began when Barack Obama Senior crossed the Atlantic to find a better life in the halls of America's great universities.
3
Not a fan of how this was framed. The photos make him look like a gentleman. The prose makes him sound like a misunderstood intellect. He was a woman beating, drunk, polygamist who casually abandoned children he fathered. A fraudulent bum who preyed on young college girls. The attached achievement letter characterizes him as a so-so student who obviously didn’t deserve entry into a Harvard PhD program (which he was eventually kicked out of). He doesn't deserve a legacy, his name certainly doesn't warrant mention in The Times.
27
Every son who was abandoned by his father spends the rest of his years trying to justify his father's life. No son can admit his father was a bounder. He wants to believe his father was a hero.
Unfortunately this personal psychodrama between father and son has been the source of all of Obama's failed foreign and domestic policy, because he was unable to look at both Islam and Marxism critically, and the entire world has suffered for it.
Unfortunately this personal psychodrama between father and son has been the source of all of Obama's failed foreign and domestic policy, because he was unable to look at both Islam and Marxism critically, and the entire world has suffered for it.
3
Let's see; we have here "every" and "no" son, something of course the writer has not the ability to determine, not having met "every son" and asked each one of them how they feel on this subject. Then we have the next incredible statement in paragraph two, where the writer is unable to look at anything clearly and filters his entire worldview through his need to make our President's life somehow fit into the writer's personal need to create a scenario fulfilling his political views. The "personal psychodrama" is coming from the writer. I wonder how he grew up.
8
It is beneath the dignity of the NYT to publish this kind of armchair, touchy feely, pablum. Shame on you.
16
One of the attached recommendations says Sr. was a mediocre student. How was he in a PhD program at Harvard? The President acknowledges he was a poor student, basically a pot smoking slacker — so how did he end up at Columbia and then Harvard Law?
So puzzling.
So puzzling.
13
Great piece, Obamas issues are our issues. He is leaving this country sharply divided!
5
Sorry Miguel but the only thing about Obama that is "leaving this country sharply divided" is the color of his skin and the racism that pervades so many hearts of darkness in this country.
19
Don't call us racists, call us detractors.
3
The most important sentence in this story was "he fathered the child who would become the nation’s first black president, only to vanish from his son’s life a few years after his birth." The responsibility to maintain and nurture the relationship was his father's and his father chose to do this - so Barack choose to move on with his life and when he became a father, he nurtured his relationship with his girls. There is nothing to learn from the old letters of an ambitious man who abandoned his son. I applaud Obama's ability to focus on the future, and not past.
20
U.S presidents tend to lose luster over the course of their terms, as they make inevitable mistakes and their human foibles become more apparent. My experience of President Obama is quite the opposite; I admire the man more with each passing year, and this article only deepens my respect. Whatever the reasons for Barack Obama Sr's departure, it was, for his child, a profound abandonment. That young Barack could transcend this early tragedy and grow up to be the best president of my lifetime is a testament to his incredible mother and to his own resilience, adaptability and splendid character.
26
What a painful legacy of abandonment by his father President Obama has had to grapple with and overcome. How great his mother must have been to be able to raise him to become the man he is. And how painful too to read of his father's lost and dashed hopes; the demons he must have had. Barack Obama has shown himself to be not only a great President, but a great human being. The poverty and tragedy that he came from, and overcame, made him the man he is.
10
Maybe they can stumble across his school/college, travel and financial records too?
8
A true Father's Day piece about how not to be a good father and how to evade the awesome responsibility of fatherhood. Between the lines, of course, it credits the son for having the determination, wherewithal and strength to overcome the pain of life without a father to become the leader of the free world. The president's life is an inspiration. Thank you for the piece.
7
as a 55 year old Black woman who was orphaned around 1 yr old and late in life trying to figure out where she belongs, (not as of late as I've just accepted the fate) I can feel the pain of this private journey Mr. Obama has gone through, as I am going through it now. I will never know, meet, feel, or smell either of the people who created me. I hope he reads them privately or maybe he already has, as I wish I had something from my bio parents to read to know them, to understand what they were going through.
7
Why is is we hear very little of Mr Obama Mother and Grandmother who raised him with little or no help from his father. It seems strange that he says little of his mother who raised him to be President of the United States.
13
Actually, the president does talk about his mother and grandparents. They were the ones who raised him; they were his anchors. In 2011, he told a group of high school students: "I like to say that I got my name from my father, but I got my accent and my values from my mother."
12
It seems obvious that 'george' has not read much of President Obama's writings. Pres. Obama speaks and writes often of the compassion and brilliance of his mother, and of the work ethic and no-nonsense personality of his beloved grandmother, 'Toot'.
7
I imagine he respects their privacy, just as we should.
7
I feel sad for President Obama. I wish his father had been there for him as he grew up. I know that many kids suffer similar losses. Still, I feel sad for our beloved President.
7
Why nothing about his religion when Islam was so important to him and drove his ideology.
2
Not always. Both of my parents were adopted, and as far as I can see, they were both very lucky to have avoided life with their bio parents. My mother was abandoned in the hospital, where her mother had died; my dad was "left on a doorstep," leaving behind no birth certificate. We never knew his true birth date.
2
Michael--Only fringe theorists and political opponents believe this hooey. You must be one of them. Pathetic.
5
Isn't it kind of odd that they just found these letters in 2013.
Certaintly, the history of Obama Sr's entry into and time in the USA was of intense interest in 2008.
Certaintly, the history of Obama Sr's entry into and time in the USA was of intense interest in 2008.
4
This is not the time, especially with retirement only months away. That will be the appropriate time for planning his future, not now, while the President is on the taxpayers' dime.
3
Do you have a job? Is your employer entitled to every second of your time, until you retire?
Of course not. And I'm willing to wager you don't work half as hard as the President.
Of course not. And I'm willing to wager you don't work half as hard as the President.
10
Although this article overall paints the positives of the president's father, it does not delve into the quality and stability of the marriage and the role of his father. The brother of Barrack Obama Sr., Said Obama, stated that he never stopped caring about the son he left behind and how he proudly showed off the photograph and school progress reports of the young man who would become president. You can love your son, however, merely loving your son and not being there for him does not a good father make.
The marriage of Barrack Sr. and Ann Dunham fell apart for whatever reason. However, it is documented that Ann Dunham was left to support and raise her son largely by herself with the aid of her mother.
Though my troubled father was largely present in my life till I became 15 yrs. of age, I did not experience the role of him as a father and my mother was left to support the four of us (my father, sister, me and herself). I deeply felt for my mother's struggles and pain.
Without being judgemental on this Fathers Day it nevertheless makes one wonder whether Barrack Obama Sr. placed his ambitions and his first family ahead of his responsibility to Ann Dunham and his son, the future president of the United States.
The marriage of Barrack Sr. and Ann Dunham fell apart for whatever reason. However, it is documented that Ann Dunham was left to support and raise her son largely by herself with the aid of her mother.
Though my troubled father was largely present in my life till I became 15 yrs. of age, I did not experience the role of him as a father and my mother was left to support the four of us (my father, sister, me and herself). I deeply felt for my mother's struggles and pain.
Without being judgemental on this Fathers Day it nevertheless makes one wonder whether Barrack Obama Sr. placed his ambitions and his first family ahead of his responsibility to Ann Dunham and his son, the future president of the United States.
4
Are we talking about the thoughts of Obama's alcoholic polygamist father, or someone else? I hope the words are - Don't drive while drunk!
10
Not especially inspiring letters.
Obama publicized his family narrative with his books.
As scholars dig into his background more information will come out. His private life is now open to researchers because he is now an historic figure.
Obama publicized his family narrative with his books.
As scholars dig into his background more information will come out. His private life is now open to researchers because he is now an historic figure.
2
You Connect The Dots
I had a close friend who, when her mother passed, discovered a sizable box of letter from her father to her mother over a five year period before they were married ... with part of that time being while he was serving in the Army in Europe during WW II. We opened them, sorted them, and spent all of two evenings reading them (I did the reading). Lots of laughs, lots of tears, and lots of wine.
Many years later, another close friend found a large trove of letters her father and his mother wrote to each other when he went from Camden, AL to Due West, SC to college in the early 1930s. His writing was legible, but hers was not, so my friend took the letters to a paleographer who "interpreted" them and gave her type-written copies.
In any event, over several evenings camped in front of a fireplace and drinking wine, I read those letters to her. Again, there was a great deal of laughing and crying ... and with lots of interruptions when my friend stopped me to tell me this story or that ... or explain who some of the principals were.
Alone with my 97-year-old mother at her nursing home, she reached over, grabbed my arm, and said, "I'm sorry." I suppose I looked at her quizzically, because she continued, "I'm sorry for all of the things I did to you ... for the way I treated you."
I don't have any communication from her; but if I did, I would not be eager to read it.
Take your time Barack Obama ... you've got plenty of time. And did I mention the wine?
I had a close friend who, when her mother passed, discovered a sizable box of letter from her father to her mother over a five year period before they were married ... with part of that time being while he was serving in the Army in Europe during WW II. We opened them, sorted them, and spent all of two evenings reading them (I did the reading). Lots of laughs, lots of tears, and lots of wine.
Many years later, another close friend found a large trove of letters her father and his mother wrote to each other when he went from Camden, AL to Due West, SC to college in the early 1930s. His writing was legible, but hers was not, so my friend took the letters to a paleographer who "interpreted" them and gave her type-written copies.
In any event, over several evenings camped in front of a fireplace and drinking wine, I read those letters to her. Again, there was a great deal of laughing and crying ... and with lots of interruptions when my friend stopped me to tell me this story or that ... or explain who some of the principals were.
Alone with my 97-year-old mother at her nursing home, she reached over, grabbed my arm, and said, "I'm sorry." I suppose I looked at her quizzically, because she continued, "I'm sorry for all of the things I did to you ... for the way I treated you."
I don't have any communication from her; but if I did, I would not be eager to read it.
Take your time Barack Obama ... you've got plenty of time. And did I mention the wine?
13
Barack Obama Jr became the most powerful man on the planet not despite being the son of Kenyan goatherd with a Muslim name, but partly because of it. As with Abraham Lincoln, a country bumpkin lawyer, (also with a difficult father relationship) - the story of nurture triumphing over (apparent) nature is a deeply romantic one, to humanity everywhere, even in the 21st century.
Witness that even in India, Narendra Modi appeal as the most popular Prime Minister makes much of the fact that he has little formal education, and grew up doing neighbor's chores and selling tea in rail stations (and, coincidence, with a father absent from his early life).
Witness that even in India, Narendra Modi appeal as the most popular Prime Minister makes much of the fact that he has little formal education, and grew up doing neighbor's chores and selling tea in rail stations (and, coincidence, with a father absent from his early life).
4
So, Harvard Law School not enough education for ya?
3
It is such a shame that Mr. Obama's father left when he was three years old only to return for a month when he was ten years old. It certainly does not show a maturity or responsibility in this man. Children want and deserve a father in the household and it was very selfish of him not to live up to his responsibilities required of a parent. What kind of a man walks out on his family? A coward.
Mr. Obama was very lucky to have had his mother's father act as a surrogate parent In his farher's absense. I am not a fan of Mr. Obama's but I truly admire him for being an excellent father to his two daughters. To me this will be his legacy which is the most important of all. This shows character which is lacking today in many households. Families should emulate the Obamas in the way they raise their children and this is coming from a woman who did not vote for President Obama.
Mr. Obama was very lucky to have had his mother's father act as a surrogate parent In his farher's absense. I am not a fan of Mr. Obama's but I truly admire him for being an excellent father to his two daughters. To me this will be his legacy which is the most important of all. This shows character which is lacking today in many households. Families should emulate the Obamas in the way they raise their children and this is coming from a woman who did not vote for President Obama.
14
Barack Obama will read his father's letters when he is ready to embark upon his personal journey. It sounds as though the mere aura of his father, rather than a direct personal and highly influential relationship, still raised a son who became the leader of the free world - President of the United States. His father 's spirit lived within him, as he needed it to unfold, throughout his lifetime.
6
Sometimes the best things that can be learned from an absent parent is how not to be like that parent.
I think the president is doing just that.
He is a very protective, loving and doting parent. He is a very faithful husband and has sought to provide for his family, things that he obviously didn't experience as a child.
I would say that he has done a very good, 'A+ job.
As a leader, he has sought to bring the world together with his trying to understand the other's person point of view.
I think he got this from his mother.
In his education, I think that he picked up where his father left off.
He aspired to be something great and boy, did he succeed. His father aspired to be great also, but his dreams were left unfulfilled.
In one sense, I can't help but think of many of the other black greats of this country.
Back in the day and indeed even now, blacks are considered stupid and none teachable by many.
But as proven over and over again, given the opportunity and hard work, many can and have excelled.
Mr. Obama is probably going to wait to read those letters in quiet peace. There he can bawl his eyes out and reflect over what might have been, but never will be.
Then he can continue with his life, saying goodbye forever.
I think the president is doing just that.
He is a very protective, loving and doting parent. He is a very faithful husband and has sought to provide for his family, things that he obviously didn't experience as a child.
I would say that he has done a very good, 'A+ job.
As a leader, he has sought to bring the world together with his trying to understand the other's person point of view.
I think he got this from his mother.
In his education, I think that he picked up where his father left off.
He aspired to be something great and boy, did he succeed. His father aspired to be great also, but his dreams were left unfulfilled.
In one sense, I can't help but think of many of the other black greats of this country.
Back in the day and indeed even now, blacks are considered stupid and none teachable by many.
But as proven over and over again, given the opportunity and hard work, many can and have excelled.
Mr. Obama is probably going to wait to read those letters in quiet peace. There he can bawl his eyes out and reflect over what might have been, but never will be.
Then he can continue with his life, saying goodbye forever.
11
What about our president's years in Indonesia and his half sister. Does he speak Indonesian? Just curious.....
6
You need to read "The Other Barack" by former Globe reporter Sally Jacobs.
2
My first response to this story was sorrow that he press is carrying it at all. Even though Obama is no longer a candidate I wince to think of what new insult might be mined, or construed, about this profoundly private and personal relationship. Let it be. It's truly no one's business and it's not the journalists proper function to feed the nation's voracious, often vicious Schadenfreude where Obama is concerned.
21
These letters should be returned to President Obama. They are his property, and he has no responsibility, whatsoever, to let anyone else see them. How rude and invasive.
19
Very few if any of these letters were to his son or his American wife.
They were mostly to public institutions and thus are public records.
They were mostly to public institutions and thus are public records.
5
p.s. How ironic that the son achieved something of his father's ambitions...would he have had the father stayed?
5
Interesting. Aside from the obvious re the President's feelings, perhaps his Dad is not totally w/o redemption...one forgets, or do not know, in the 60's having an illegitimate child was a big bad thing...perhaps The father did the "right" thing by giving his girlfriend the needed cover, w/ an understanding that he was going on to pursue his ambitions.
2
It seems the Schomburg group simply wish to meet President Obama. These letters are personal as is the entire subject. It is in very poor taste that the NYTimes printed this story today, of all days. It shows a lack of respect for President Obama and how he might feel. It certainly does not make Father's Day a happy day for him if he comes across the article. It takes the NYTImes to a level equal to People Magazine or The National Enquirer. It lacks a sense of decorum and decency. It gives me pause as to whether or not to continue my subscription. The Times should have maybe taken President Obama's uncles view and think it "best to demur". Not any of our business nor the NYTimes best hour.
25
Life blessed me with a father who remained in my life for 27 years. He was born in 1915 in Greensville, SC. My mother was born in 1909 in Boydton, VA. Both are deceased, American Blacks. For 30 years, earning no more than $5K as a relief man for Ford Motors, he toiled. He refused a supervisor position because it featured no Union, & unlimited forced OT & would take him away from us. I was the only child of a WW2 veteran. My parents created my soul.
He instilled in me a passion for education & love of life, despite its vagaries. My mind still at age 66 holds dear memories of having a piece of my father's bacon at 4 A.M. and his listening & responding to the chatter of a 3 year old about her doll's issues.
He had a love of people & despite NY racism taught me accept people as individuals, not racial sterotypes. He had a love for children & stressed their importance to an American future. He taught me the need for sharing, compassion, understanding & always said when something terrible happened, it was probably because the offender needed a good meal. He didn't believe in God. He was the most moral person I ever knew. We lived in a project & he often fed the children of a blind woman whose husband had abandoned them. My heart goes out to those whose fathers abandoned them especially Mr. Obama. A child never merits such a fate. A father's value to a child is without measure for preparing males & females for life's vagaries, especially raising a child alone.
He instilled in me a passion for education & love of life, despite its vagaries. My mind still at age 66 holds dear memories of having a piece of my father's bacon at 4 A.M. and his listening & responding to the chatter of a 3 year old about her doll's issues.
He had a love of people & despite NY racism taught me accept people as individuals, not racial sterotypes. He had a love for children & stressed their importance to an American future. He taught me the need for sharing, compassion, understanding & always said when something terrible happened, it was probably because the offender needed a good meal. He didn't believe in God. He was the most moral person I ever knew. We lived in a project & he often fed the children of a blind woman whose husband had abandoned them. My heart goes out to those whose fathers abandoned them especially Mr. Obama. A child never merits such a fate. A father's value to a child is without measure for preparing males & females for life's vagaries, especially raising a child alone.
20
The article would have been fine without the references to whether or when President Obama reads the archived material. That should indeed be a matter of confidentiality. I am reminded of the the book store in D.C. that refused to give a record to investigators of Monica Lewinsky's purchases during the impeachment proceedings. I know it is not the same, but the matter of what one reads is important, especially in this day of evaporating privacy and boundaries.
20
Well we all can't sleep until Obama does this. I am anxiously waiting for this. I really hope I sleep tonight. What suspense!!!
3
I understand someone finding the letters in the archive and thinking, "Ooh! Look what I found! I bet the President would want to know about this and read them, right away!!". That would be the archivist's ego speaking.
I also can imagine that President Obama has an awful lot of things on his plate, and maybe, just maybe, reading a bunch of old letters from his father might not be his first priority. That is his determination and his right.
I also can imagine that President Obama has an awful lot of things on his plate, and maybe, just maybe, reading a bunch of old letters from his father might not be his first priority. That is his determination and his right.
29
It seems obvious the father wanted the son out of his life. The article seems to soft peddle this fact. Except for contributing some sperm you couldn't call this guy a "father".
20
Your throbbing sentimentality, infused with insults don't provide anything useful as far as the life story of someone you know nothing about. Least the socio-political times the parties involved lived in, at the time in the USA. Family history is a complex thing, especially when it is a multi-cultural one.
7
Most would call him a sorry sack and if he had a been a US citizen a least his wages would have been garnished to support Barack. The family story is somewhat dysfunctional
3
The highly painful issues raised herein are good to be brought out in the open, not to embarrass the President, but to point out that each of us has a flawed heritage, flaws from which we can learn. Our president has, by contrast, stayed admirably close to his wife and children.
13
Although the documents that Ms. Swarns has uncovered may have historical interest, she has gone too far in implying that the President is somehow remiss in not looking at them. They are personal for him, and it is his business whether he reads them or not. I found her article to be in very poor taste, especially on Father's Day.
44
My father left shortly before I was born. He never knew me, nor I him. My mother told me he had been married before and I had two half sisters. After Mom's death I found his letters to her. They remain unread by me. They were her letters noit mine. They sit in a box in a closet. I believe it is perhaps easier for a daughter than a son to grow up without a father around. President Obama grew up to be a fine man, loving husband, excellent father to his girls, and, in my opinion, an outstanding leader. Maybe he will look at the letters. Maybe his daughters will. It's not up to us to say what he or his family should do.
51
We are all proud of our President, what he achieved and what hurdles he had to overcome. But the fact remains, Obama Sr. had no contribution in President Obama's upbringing. Obama Sr. abandoned 4 families in 2 continents. His letters to his son are just a footnote in history, not worthy of discussion or comment. President Obama chose not to read them, he had good reason to, let us not second guess him.
35
Hurdles? Ivy League education, US Senator, President. His business whether he reads his late father's writings. But his dad was an anti-British radical, so the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.
4
Yes, NYC Taxpayer - Obama had hurdles he overcame to achieve so much, by his hard own work.
14
@NYC Taxpayer, when Obama's Dad abandoned him at age 2 and his mom abandoned him at age 10 and his primary caregiver was his grandmother, everything he achieved is commendable. You may not agree with his politics, but let us not belittle his achievement.
15
Mr. Obama has always been an inspirational figure and there's no doubt that his past has influenced his present being. But as I've learnt in my personal experience of late, it takes far less time to bury the hatchet and 'cross the line' over, as better things lay on the other side of the isle.
2
On this Fathers Day, it is interesting to think of the implications of growing up in a broken home with an absent father. While there is an increasing trend among the rich to become a single parent, this remains primarily a serious problem for the poor. The statistics for the likelihood of children of these homes having behavioral, financial and legal problems, compared to those who grew up in stable two parent homes is astounding. While Obama Sr. may have had ambitions and motivations, Obama Jr. was very lucky to have developed his own skill sets from his mother and elsewhere without having the benefit of learning from being with his father. By Western standards, it sounds like his father was a terribly self centered jerk, but that is for the son to determine.
17
My daughters father died when she was two and I've never remarried in the intervening 13 years. There are many things to regret on Father's Day for me but one of the main ones is that I can't model a healthy adult relationship for my daughter- that's beyond my control. I can only describe what her father and I were like and things one should value in a relationship.
No one knows what happens between two people behind closed doors, But I think at least some of it must leak out in public. I have been able to point out to my daughter that president Obama appears to be an exemplary husband and father. His love and light are very evident when her interacts with Michelle Obama and his own daughters and when he talks about them. He has no idea how valuable that has been for me as an only parent.
No one knows what happens between two people behind closed doors, But I think at least some of it must leak out in public. I have been able to point out to my daughter that president Obama appears to be an exemplary husband and father. His love and light are very evident when her interacts with Michelle Obama and his own daughters and when he talks about them. He has no idea how valuable that has been for me as an only parent.
18
Barack Obama Jr is currently President of the United States. I believe he has alot of his plate right now, you know, trying to keep the country safe and secure. Maybe, just maybe, he may read these letters after he leaves office, when he has some time on his hands.
19
This seems a private matter to me, which is none of our business.
36
President Obama has said without his father in his life, he struggled to learn what it meant to be a man. I'd say he learned what it means to be a man, and them some: He is a truly wonderful, loving husband and father of two wonderful daughters. Happy Fathers Day, Mr. President.
57
I can’t make my mind about whether this article is appropriate or inappropriate. Some would say that the president opened the door to his private life when he wrote Dreams of my Father. Others will argue that a person’s ancestors past, whether president or beggar, should not be dissected by strangers.
I also wonder if The Times would have published this piece if the parents’ genders and race were reversed. Letters penned by a Kenyan black mother who returned to her previous husband and children while the child was raised by a white father. Would that have angered some black activists? I don’t know.
I also wonder if The Times would have published this piece if the parents’ genders and race were reversed. Letters penned by a Kenyan black mother who returned to her previous husband and children while the child was raised by a white father. Would that have angered some black activists? I don’t know.
5
When you find yourself with an issue and can't make up your mind if it is inappropriate or appropriate...that is your gut telling you that it isn't sitting right, and is, in fact inappropriate.
12
Obama is President of the USA. But does that justify splashing his private life in the news? I don't see how this article is relevant to anyone but the Prez and his immediate family.
20
Since the NYT is rarely critical of Obama and nearly always puts positive spin on his actions and his inaction, it's quite odd that it would choose to implicitly criticize him on Father's Day about a private and emotional matter like this. Odd and insensitive, as well as impertinent.
37
Obama autobiography is full of misfortunes that he encountered about his father. but his father was an inspiration for him to be a cosmopolitan I guess. he always talks about him when he wants to mention that USA should support more global educational program and fund more foreign student because he himself is the son of one of them. his father life is an inspiration for me too. I am an Iranian who really love to study in America! my country needs more educated person as Kenya does and I hope that one day USA and Iran can find a resolution towards peace.
19
I know this brings up unanswered questions but, Obama Sr. never has mentioned anything to anybody about his Hawaiian born son. Even as a student in Hawaii, no one remembers his relationship with his mother seems very odd indeed.
15
What is really very odd indeed is how you seem to have intimate knowledge of the President's father, claiming that he has "never mentioned anything to anybody about his Hawaiian born son."
Then follow up with the statement that while the President was a university student "no one remembers his relationship with his mother." How did you come by this amazing information? Are you the all-seeing Eye of Sauron? I doubt there's a single student I attended university with who remembers my relationship with my mother. And I doubt that you even bother to try and read this story. Very odd indeed. What could you be thinking?
Then follow up with the statement that while the President was a university student "no one remembers his relationship with his mother." How did you come by this amazing information? Are you the all-seeing Eye of Sauron? I doubt there's a single student I attended university with who remembers my relationship with my mother. And I doubt that you even bother to try and read this story. Very odd indeed. What could you be thinking?
25
This illustrates the immense difficulty in surpassing ones eRly circumstances. The adults in a child's life are so very important. Obama senior made great strides and paved the way for his son. I keep thinking about what an amazing mom and grandparents he had, and who made sure the gifts he inherited from his father were properly nurtured.
4
President Obama has overcome the pain of his own childhood without his father and instead of bitterness, he has given our country and his daughters, a worthy example of fatherhood we would do well to emulate. Thank you Mr. President and Happy Father's Day.
44
It seems President Obama inherited his father's very best qualities, adding many of his own, including loyalty, fidelity, and a strong sense of purpose. Despite the usual criticisms all presidents receive while in office, one day he will be know as one of the very greats. His policies have saved the banks, saved the auto industry, introduced universal Medicare, normalized relations with Cuba and Iran, and likely prevented a major world conflict. I do wish he could stand for a third term.
46
Fidelity? Did you miss the part where he had an affair in order to produce the worst president in US history?
Saved the banks that are now heading down the same exact path as 2008 with 4 times the derivatitaves burden that will make 2008 look like a party when it crashes?
Every single economic indicator is significantly worse since he took office. A third term for this clown would be the end of America.
Saved the banks that are now heading down the same exact path as 2008 with 4 times the derivatitaves burden that will make 2008 look like a party when it crashes?
Every single economic indicator is significantly worse since he took office. A third term for this clown would be the end of America.
3
Normalized relations with Iran?
Iranian leaders speak daily of destroying both Israel and the USA. Iran is building ICBMs and will some have nuclear weapons.
Iran hangs gays in the public square to cheering crowds.
Cuba is a prison state with thousands political prisoners arrested in just the past year.
Cuba is a racist appartied state in which their very large Black population is treated as second class human beings with few if any in positions of power.
Iranian leaders speak daily of destroying both Israel and the USA. Iran is building ICBMs and will some have nuclear weapons.
Iran hangs gays in the public square to cheering crowds.
Cuba is a prison state with thousands political prisoners arrested in just the past year.
Cuba is a racist appartied state in which their very large Black population is treated as second class human beings with few if any in positions of power.
4
By allowing Iran to get nuclear weapons, Obama has forced Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Egypt, Indonesia and to go for nukes too.
The man who made fools swoon by promising to eliminating these horrible weapons, instead precipitated the greatest nuclear arms race in the history of the world.
The man who made fools swoon by promising to eliminating these horrible weapons, instead precipitated the greatest nuclear arms race in the history of the world.
4
I was a grad student at the University of Hawaii in the 1960''s. I never met Barack Sr., but I had many friends among the African students. They tended to hang out together, and were continually arguing about the legacy of tribalism--loyalty to the tribe and not the nation--which they felt would destroy Africa.
Most of these students wanted a relationship with the pretty, local Asian girls. But they generally experienced frustration because, although the girls were willing, their parents were definitely not. There was a deep-seated prejudice among the local Japanese, in particular, against persons with dark skin. Ann Dunham was, of course, Caucasian, but her marriage to Barack Sr. would have been considered highly unusual--even in race-liberal Hawaii.
The African students ranged from the fairly sophisticated to the "fresh out of the village." I roomed with a guy from Botswana who had little experience with an electric stove and was always leaving it on. I really felt that someday he was going to burn the building down!
Most of these students wanted a relationship with the pretty, local Asian girls. But they generally experienced frustration because, although the girls were willing, their parents were definitely not. There was a deep-seated prejudice among the local Japanese, in particular, against persons with dark skin. Ann Dunham was, of course, Caucasian, but her marriage to Barack Sr. would have been considered highly unusual--even in race-liberal Hawaii.
The African students ranged from the fairly sophisticated to the "fresh out of the village." I roomed with a guy from Botswana who had little experience with an electric stove and was always leaving it on. I really felt that someday he was going to burn the building down!
17
What a repulsive Fathers' day present to President Obama from the NYT.
I am just astonished that these documents were published just like that.
I am just astonished that these documents were published just like that.
38
It's very interesting, but what is most intriguing is that we have more information from the presidents father in typed or hand written correspondence in the 1960's than we have of the secretary of state in email in the 2000's
11
I clicked through the story briefly. When he endorsed Hillary Clinton, I saw a side of Barack Obama that frankly nauseates me. I just don't care about him anymore.
11
So you'd prefer Trump then?
4
A wonderful photograph of father and son, their watches in sync, traveling together and apart. God bless the President, his Family, friends and loved ones.
7
I share joint custody of my sons. They are 12 and 10. These are great kids and they mean everything to me. However, my house is only clean for about 3 days per week.
1
I think people have no idea how unnerving it is to have the past reach out and touch you. I once received an e-mail from a stranger about one of my brothers, who by then had been dead for more than twenty years. This kind of thing shakes you. It brings distant events to live in your heart again. Perhaps the library doesn't quite understand this, and perhaps the reporter--and the Times--don't see it either.
I think the paper should have published the story, but without the library's
presumption on what the President should do. It may be easier to preside over 50 quarreling states than to page through those yellowing documents.
I think the paper should have published the story, but without the library's
presumption on what the President should do. It may be easier to preside over 50 quarreling states than to page through those yellowing documents.
23
Interesting article, but why now? Allow this President the space to do his job without more unnecessary articles to contribute to the complexity of his most difficult mission. There is plenty of time to write about him and his personal history after he leaves office! What he has chosen to say about his father and his options of reading or not reading these documents at this time are his choices and his alone. While it is the job of reporters to report, they should be more judicious about timing when it comes to a personal story.
29
NYTimes, Happy Father's Day to you, too. This story is universal immigrant to the USA and certainly universally male opportunistic. Lest we forget, many men plant many seeds (secretly or not), once away from home. That said, having "Daddy issues" is not restricted by gender.
These days, not only letters, but the Internet, DNA testing, etc., offer us interesting answers to the questions, "Who am I" and "Who is in me?"
Many a man has sought to be the father that he himself didn't have. We are shaped by genetics and environment, which is what we have and who we don't have around us. All that said, I am glad that our President has made choices that have led him to be the husband and father that he has become. His father and he have made his choices, we each must make our own and deal with the drama of our parents. Or not. Happy Father's Day, Everyone!
These days, not only letters, but the Internet, DNA testing, etc., offer us interesting answers to the questions, "Who am I" and "Who is in me?"
Many a man has sought to be the father that he himself didn't have. We are shaped by genetics and environment, which is what we have and who we don't have around us. All that said, I am glad that our President has made choices that have led him to be the husband and father that he has become. His father and he have made his choices, we each must make our own and deal with the drama of our parents. Or not. Happy Father's Day, Everyone!
5
So surprised and disappointed to see this article openly challenging President Obama to read letters written by his father. This is such a deeply personal issue for an adult child to deal with. The existence of the letters could have been presented with such a different tone, but the writer chose to present a challenge - 'here they are, why don't you read them?'
The article unnecessarily exposes a deeply painful struggle. Not necessary, not helpful.
The article unnecessarily exposes a deeply painful struggle. Not necessary, not helpful.
41
Let's see, the largest financial crisis since the 1930s, two wars, ambitions to give all Americans health care, supreme court justices to appoint, a Republican congress that refused to agree that the sky is blue, while raising two teenage girls whose safety is threatened each day by extremists who loathe the site of a black family in the White House, and we are worried about why he didn't take the time from all of the above to read deeply emotional letters from his long deceased father. Really?
37
Perhaps many people have the same story to tell. One thing for sure, President Obama is one of those who could take the bright side of the story and make him a good father of his own children and of his nation with his extraordinary compassion and integrity...
9
While this is some very important part of history, I personally wish that this story had been kept under wraps until President Obama had made or communicated his decision. This is no doubt very sensitive for him and he does not need additional pressure while serving in the most stressful job in the world.
132
I am in complete agreement. With all Obama has been dealing with, I wish the Times had granted him some privacy and waited 8 months to publish this.
1
The Times shouldn't have published it at all -- it's classless.
As many others have remarked, why are we subjected to the details about a failed fathers life. The guy obviously was a loser. Hardly an example for anyone - as a matter of fact, an example of how not to lead one's life.
Obama's mother must have been pretty desperate to have a kid by such a loser in life.
I can't recall the NY Times focusing on any other president's father - must be the desperate need of the NY Times to promote their Democrat Progressive Socialist agenda - one that has resulted in complete failure and bankrupted every country that has tried it, from European countries, to Cuba, to Venzuela, and many more.
Obama's mother must have been pretty desperate to have a kid by such a loser in life.
I can't recall the NY Times focusing on any other president's father - must be the desperate need of the NY Times to promote their Democrat Progressive Socialist agenda - one that has resulted in complete failure and bankrupted every country that has tried it, from European countries, to Cuba, to Venzuela, and many more.
9
It makes no difference to me at all how brilliant a man you are or what personal hardships you may have encountered in your life or how badly you have been mistreated by the world, a man who abandons his child is a bum.
27
Among the documents attached to this article, there is a "Record of Achievement in College " written by a Harvard Professor of Economics in 1963.
I am used to write and read such letters. Still, I am amazed by its nasty and despising tone. It must have been hard on this obviously bright young man to face this kind of attitude from senior Faculty members. Maybe it is part of the explanation why he went back to Kenya.
I am used to write and read such letters. Still, I am amazed by its nasty and despising tone. It must have been hard on this obviously bright young man to face this kind of attitude from senior Faculty members. Maybe it is part of the explanation why he went back to Kenya.
5
Thank you NYT for this article, President Obama's pain regarding his father is obvious in his unwillingness to read these letters. Hopefully, when he begins a new life in early 2017 he will read them, contemplate, and come to terms with his emotions.
3
In honor of Father's Day, not so long ago I found long letters from my Irish-American parent, a successful man in the world of New York advertising, he retired at 48, went to stay in Ireland for 10 days and remained for 10 years.
An author and absentee father, he dedicated 'The Indestructible Irish' to his daughter here, and begins by wondering what it takes to become an American. Apparently, it is quite good, according to friends, he could write and write well.
President Obama has given me some leads. With his rare combination of wit and wisdom, he will read his father's letters in his own time, or perhaps never as the case may be.
Still at a young age, he is now older than his father. His perspective may be different, and I smiled at the passion my father displayed in explaining how much he loved me, but loved life more.
It is a personal matter between father and son in the interpretation. I am glad that I found my parent's correspondence because in the midst of reading, my social security card, missing for three decades landed safely in my hands.
Happy Father's Day to America!
An author and absentee father, he dedicated 'The Indestructible Irish' to his daughter here, and begins by wondering what it takes to become an American. Apparently, it is quite good, according to friends, he could write and write well.
President Obama has given me some leads. With his rare combination of wit and wisdom, he will read his father's letters in his own time, or perhaps never as the case may be.
Still at a young age, he is now older than his father. His perspective may be different, and I smiled at the passion my father displayed in explaining how much he loved me, but loved life more.
It is a personal matter between father and son in the interpretation. I am glad that I found my parent's correspondence because in the midst of reading, my social security card, missing for three decades landed safely in my hands.
Happy Father's Day to America!
8
What makes you think that he has not "come to terms with his emotions. " it is a presumptuous statement. Perhaps the fact that he is not read these documents indicate that he has "come to terms with his emotions. "
11
I think his foreign policy indicates he has not come to terms with his emotions.
2
Remarkable - and not so - that Obama is such a marvelous father to us lovely girls. Not having a father present in your life can enable one to become the type of father of your dreams.
13
So, in this way too, in his way too, this great president is a Hamilton for our time and our times.
7
One has absolutely no choice when it comes to family. Many such impositions are valuable and fewer are indispensable. The POTUS' father removed himself from the scene, leaving the child and his mother to fend for themselves. The son has done okay and is now as devoted to his wife and offspring as may be expected. He should have time to further explore his family history during another phase of his life. He is ensuring that his children do not have to excavate aspects of a deceased father's history from some old boxes in a museum.
8
I understand why so many in the public would be interested in Barack Obama Sr. since he is the president's father, but I think this is a family matter and that printing this man's private letters is a violation of privacy.
20
I like President Obama. I think he is one of the greatest Presidents in US history.
This story made me like him even more. I am the same age as his father and have a son his age. His development and critical thinking that is evident in all of his policy initiatives shows a special gift of compassion that is rare in human civilization. I also want to pay tribute to the President and his wife and the great job they are doing with their children.
This story made me like him even more. I am the same age as his father and have a son his age. His development and critical thinking that is evident in all of his policy initiatives shows a special gift of compassion that is rare in human civilization. I also want to pay tribute to the President and his wife and the great job they are doing with their children.
20
I proud that Barack Obama is our president, and that he's one of best in the last century.
He's not a reality TV star whose every private experience is our business and some reporter's 'Ka-Ching'.
When he wants to comment on those letters, if he ever does, I look forward to reading/hearing it. But really it's none of my business.
He's not a reality TV star whose every private experience is our business and some reporter's 'Ka-Ching'.
When he wants to comment on those letters, if he ever does, I look forward to reading/hearing it. But really it's none of my business.
21
The Times has made a mistake publishing this article this way and so prominently. Many readers seem to think it’s an invasion of privacy. The Times generally has been falling down in quality in political coverage, and this doesn’t help its image. The usual ‘public figure’ excuse is lame. This is magnifying something beyond it’s significance.
I can understand public interest being served in a general way by revealing new discoveries on any president’s father. Maybe better in a book. But this is rather tasteless --- with the president saying he doesn’t want to look at them now, and repeating his painful feelings re his father, and putting it on the front page with pictures, and all the past background.
Anyway, his father’s letters don’t rise to such importance at all. Let the psycho--biographers go at it later. The president and the country is going through a lot now. Who needs this?
I can understand public interest being served in a general way by revealing new discoveries on any president’s father. Maybe better in a book. But this is rather tasteless --- with the president saying he doesn’t want to look at them now, and repeating his painful feelings re his father, and putting it on the front page with pictures, and all the past background.
Anyway, his father’s letters don’t rise to such importance at all. Let the psycho--biographers go at it later. The president and the country is going through a lot now. Who needs this?
28
Barack Hussein Obama Sr. ABANDONED his wife and 3 y/o child! He went off to marry multiple times. Now Obama is expected to get excited over letters this man wrote to others to get funding to go to America to study?? That Hawai’i was warm in the winter?
Why the heck would he care about these letters? President Obama DID go to Kenya and met his extended family traveling and walking to small villages throughout Kenya. Most lived in abject poverty. He had a lot of half siblings because of his dad’s multiple marriages. Barack Sr. was interested in Barack Sr. NOT his son.
Barack lived most of his life with the white side of his family the Dunhams, his white grandparents on Beretania Street in Honolulu. His white grandmother “toots” (tutu is hawai’ian for grandmother) became the first woman vice president of our largest bank Bank of Hawai’i. He didn’t see much of his mom as she married a man from Indonesia..and Barack lived there for a few very tough years. Then his mother died of uterine cancer at age 53 in 1995, the same year he published his first autobiography...five years after graduating from Harvard law.
Let him make the final decision on even going there to read these letters. I definitely wouldn’t if I had been abandoned. Why can’t these curators understand this?
Why the heck would he care about these letters? President Obama DID go to Kenya and met his extended family traveling and walking to small villages throughout Kenya. Most lived in abject poverty. He had a lot of half siblings because of his dad’s multiple marriages. Barack Sr. was interested in Barack Sr. NOT his son.
Barack lived most of his life with the white side of his family the Dunhams, his white grandparents on Beretania Street in Honolulu. His white grandmother “toots” (tutu is hawai’ian for grandmother) became the first woman vice president of our largest bank Bank of Hawai’i. He didn’t see much of his mom as she married a man from Indonesia..and Barack lived there for a few very tough years. Then his mother died of uterine cancer at age 53 in 1995, the same year he published his first autobiography...five years after graduating from Harvard law.
Let him make the final decision on even going there to read these letters. I definitely wouldn’t if I had been abandoned. Why can’t these curators understand this?
22
His Dad was a bum plain and simple. I can understand why he has little use for the womanizing drunker ed
1
Why is The Times perpetuating the myth that Barack Obama Sr. was important in the formation of the president's character? According to all published reports, his mother and biological father separated permanently in the same month Barack was born, When Barack was two, his mother met Indonesian Lolo Soetoro, with whom he grew up and lived in Indonesia until the age of ten. Reportedly, the president so identified with Soetoro and enrolled at Columbia under the name of Barry Soetoro. Therefor It is the relationship with Lolo Soetoro, the father figure in the president's formative years, about whom we should be more interested.
26
It is interesting to know a bit more about the President's father. The President's remarks over time show the importance of relationships between parents and children. Plainly, even with all of his successes, even though he had a grandfather who was there for him, there is a hole in his heart and in his life where his dad should have been.
For years I puzzled over my Mother's sense of loss over her father. He had died of a heart attack 7 months before she was born. How, I would wonder, could she miss a person whom she had never known? Yet, her mother had spoken to her little about her father. I gather that her 3 older brothers did not either (they were 4-7 when their dad died). She clung to the few things she knew, but still seemed to feel a hole in her life. Mr. Obama's story makes plain that the absence of a parent creates pain and confusion even when the loss of an actual relationship with that person him or herself is not actually the issue. It is a testament to his mother (and her parents) that he turned out so well.
For years I puzzled over my Mother's sense of loss over her father. He had died of a heart attack 7 months before she was born. How, I would wonder, could she miss a person whom she had never known? Yet, her mother had spoken to her little about her father. I gather that her 3 older brothers did not either (they were 4-7 when their dad died). She clung to the few things she knew, but still seemed to feel a hole in her life. Mr. Obama's story makes plain that the absence of a parent creates pain and confusion even when the loss of an actual relationship with that person him or herself is not actually the issue. It is a testament to his mother (and her parents) that he turned out so well.
19
Obama's mother was eventually awarded a PhD in cultural anthropology. She was thus both smart and interested in the subject of different cultures.
It is an unexamined assumption that she did not know, did not understand, that Obama's father was a Kenyan Muslim with another wife and family. Comments here assume he wronged her.
Why assume a woman so interested in the subject of cultural anthropology did not know about the culture of a man she married? That cultural difference could just as well have been part of his attraction for her.
She was a free thinker in the 1960's. She had a child on her own terms with a man of her choice. There is no reason to assume from that she was ignorant and he wronged her.
It is an unexamined assumption that she did not know, did not understand, that Obama's father was a Kenyan Muslim with another wife and family. Comments here assume he wronged her.
Why assume a woman so interested in the subject of cultural anthropology did not know about the culture of a man she married? That cultural difference could just as well have been part of his attraction for her.
She was a free thinker in the 1960's. She had a child on her own terms with a man of her choice. There is no reason to assume from that she was ignorant and he wronged her.
31
I believe there is another expression for her besides "free thinker".
3
Are you perhaps suggesting the relationship was, at least in part,, based on and interest in cultural anthropology? Would explain a great deal. Would love to read her PHD thesis.
2
Ann met Obama Sr. when she was a 17-year-old freshman. She was pregnant with Jr and they married a few months after she turned 18. She was literally a gullible girl from Kansas.
9
I can condense Senior's Letters down to two words: SEND MONEY!
17
I think the journalist was entitled to include these documents. The letters and papers she attached are prosaic and IMHO not the least bit intrusive or discourteous. Thanks for your documentation.
8
Some time in the future, people will look back and wonder - Why was Obama chosen,groomed and schooled to run for the highest office in the land? It wasn't business success or being in the military or having a long record in government. We know a person just doesn't become president - it takes organization, a compliant media and large sums of money. What were their intentions?
19
Curb Your Enthusiasm is renewed - this is priceless stuff you have for an entire episode at least. Too bad you erred in posting it here - no copyright protection.
I've been asking this question since 2008.
4
We'll assume you asked the same question when GWB was (s)elected President?
9
I don’t think the letters are any of our business, and whether or not President Obama reads them, even less so.
Deadbeat Dad, though. No reason to give him a pass because of the narrative around it.
Deadbeat Dad, though. No reason to give him a pass because of the narrative around it.
20
I grew up with an absent father. He came back in to my life briefly. Then he died when I was in university. You don't get over the abandonment. You incorporate it into your life and you move on.
24
I found as an interesting aside, the route the senior Obama took to travel to the United States and then Hawaii. Nairobi to Rome to Paris to New York; then a bus to Los Angeles to finally board a plane to Hawaii. Now recall that truthers (including Donald Trump) wish to believe that a very pregnant 18 y.o. Ann Dunham traveled to Kenya to deliver her first born and then traveled in a week or two of his birth back to Hawaii to publish a birth announcement. Pretty ridiculous in 2008. Impossible in 1962.
38
Thanks for this reporting. There is "no blatant invasion of privacy" whatsoever. Perhaps, people commenting are not familiar with President Obama exceptional memoir: Dreams From My Father. This is an extraordinary, riveting read by an exceptional prose stylist. The letters and documents posted with the article are also riveting. Barack Snr - from "British East Africa" to Harvard is some story! Almost as strange as one term Kenyan-American Barack Jnr, community activist to the White House. It's a story even more remarkable than Abraham Lincoln (read the great biography by David H Donald) or the orphaned Andrew Jackson. Not to be chauvinist but Only in America! Not to be partisan but this republic doesn't need the demagogue to make America Great. All the demagogue might accomplish is make the USA Small.
12
In a poetic sense, it seems as if the will of the father to succeed was transfered, through the genome, from father to son.
12
The nation of the United States of America owes a great debt to Mr. Barack Obama Sr. and his son, the President.
29
Mr. Barack Obama Sr and his son the President owe a debt of gratitude to the great United States and its institutions which availed them of top rate educations and stability......
3
We owe a great debt BECAUSE of the son, not TO him.
2
Yes, Obama has added more than a trillion dollars to the national debt.
10
I would think that the documentation of his father's schooling and his letters written here in the U.S. would also definitely make it clear that President Obama was born in the United States. I am saddened to say that the disgusting horrendous racism in this country, will probably never end.
39
There are a few rare occasions when Pres. Obama has spoken openly about this topic. No question that if a white politician would have said anything remotely similar they would've been crucified as racist. It speaks to the depth of his hurt that he risked speaking so openly about it.
If only he would be honest about the obvious connection of this issue to America's homicide statistics in inner cities rather than putting all the attention on guns.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/16/us/politics/16obama.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/17/us/politics/17obama.html
Following are direct quotes from the articles:
Mr. Obama spoke directly about his own upbringing, crediting his mother (who was white) with setting him straight, and departing from his prepared text to talk about how his life might have turned out had she not.
Senator Barack Obama on Sunday invoked his own absent father to deliver a sharp message to black men, saying “we need fathers to recognize that responsibility doesn’t just end at conception.”
Mr. Obama noted that “more than half of all black children live in single-parent households,” a number that he said had doubled since his own childhood.
“Too many fathers are M.I.A., too many fathers are AWOL, missing from too many lives and too many homes,” Mr. Obama said to a chorus of approving murmurs from the audience. “They have abandoned their responsibilities, acting like boys instead of men. And the foundations of our families are weaker because of it.”
If only he would be honest about the obvious connection of this issue to America's homicide statistics in inner cities rather than putting all the attention on guns.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/16/us/politics/16obama.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/17/us/politics/17obama.html
Following are direct quotes from the articles:
Mr. Obama spoke directly about his own upbringing, crediting his mother (who was white) with setting him straight, and departing from his prepared text to talk about how his life might have turned out had she not.
Senator Barack Obama on Sunday invoked his own absent father to deliver a sharp message to black men, saying “we need fathers to recognize that responsibility doesn’t just end at conception.”
Mr. Obama noted that “more than half of all black children live in single-parent households,” a number that he said had doubled since his own childhood.
“Too many fathers are M.I.A., too many fathers are AWOL, missing from too many lives and too many homes,” Mr. Obama said to a chorus of approving murmurs from the audience. “They have abandoned their responsibilities, acting like boys instead of men. And the foundations of our families are weaker because of it.”
16
I don't really like the idea of reading these letters before the President decides to read them. Feels invasive. I'll be skipping them for now.
46
President Obama has had 3 years to read them if he was interested. They are in a reference library on black history and culture for people to READ and study...even if the President isn't interested.
2
Well, fair enough. That's your opinion and I have mine. You can enjoy the article. I would enjoy it more after Obama has read them himself, or is no longer president, or when he has passed away.
It appears he did not personally donate the letters to the library, and that is what feels awkward to me.
It appears he did not personally donate the letters to the library, and that is what feels awkward to me.
2
I am struck by the far-reaching effects of American aid, particularly for educational endeavors, from way back when. And, I look Mr. Obama Sr.'s academic accomplishments and I am blown away by his talents and his persistence. From where to where. Wow.
20
Yes, but so many here could use help and don't get it.
1
When my children's father left us, we rarely heard from him. Now, years later, my children have no desire to hear from him. Maybe the President feels that way. Why should he be forced to read letters by the man who left him behind?
23
That is not what the President has said about his own feelings, in a book on the subject and much other public comment.
That is an attitude I understand and respect, but it is not the one that the President has expressed on any of the many occasions that he discussed this.
That is an attitude I understand and respect, but it is not the one that the President has expressed on any of the many occasions that he discussed this.
8
Reminds me of the song "papa was a rolling stone"
and the line..."all he left us was alone.".
and the line..."all he left us was alone.".
1
I have had the same struggle as the President. When you're a little kid and your father abandons you, it stays with you for the rest of your life. I've thrown out almost everything he wrote (he was a journalist) and cannot imagine reading it again. My empathy for President Obama. I've been there, Mr. President.
40
I think many of us to relate to President Obama in certain ways, when it comes to growing up in a dysfunctional family. Many of us including myself would like to write a book, but then I wonder, who would want to read it compared to everyone else my have a story that would make my eyes roll back into my head.
I'm so glad that I have somethings in common with this president. Besides that, I am so proud that I was able to live to witness the legacy of such an amazing man. I respect him so much,, he to me is another Kennedy. I love him..
I'm so glad that I have somethings in common with this president. Besides that, I am so proud that I was able to live to witness the legacy of such an amazing man. I respect him so much,, he to me is another Kennedy. I love him..
48
I love him, too.
12
Your comment and many of the others here make me wonder how many of the people who voted for him had absent fathers. I didn't, and maybe that is why he never appealed to me, and I have never been able to understand him.
1
First, I respect the Office of the President and I wish all fathers a Happy Fathers' Day.
That being said...lets face it he was a bad father and husband. He married two women without never being divorced and he abandoned his child. I feel sorry for President Obama in that sense. I don't understand why we keep lifting people up on high when we really need to just face facts. President Obama would never do what his father did; abandon his daughters and marry another woman while married to Michelle. It isn't about the struggles in life. It is how we handle them. I don't blame the President for not wanting to read them on Father's Day...It just brings back horrible memories of abandonment. Forget political correctness. It is what it is...President Obama made something of himself despite his father.
That being said...lets face it he was a bad father and husband. He married two women without never being divorced and he abandoned his child. I feel sorry for President Obama in that sense. I don't understand why we keep lifting people up on high when we really need to just face facts. President Obama would never do what his father did; abandon his daughters and marry another woman while married to Michelle. It isn't about the struggles in life. It is how we handle them. I don't blame the President for not wanting to read them on Father's Day...It just brings back horrible memories of abandonment. Forget political correctness. It is what it is...President Obama made something of himself despite his father.
32
Obama's father was from Kenya. Multiple wives and separate families was acceptable among Muslims in Kenya, even normal for those who could afford it.
It is unfair to judge a Kenyan Muslim visiting here for a few years on scholarship by our standards rather than his own culture. We don't have to want to live that way ourselves to respect others who come from a very different culture.
It is unfair to judge a Kenyan Muslim visiting here for a few years on scholarship by our standards rather than his own culture. We don't have to want to live that way ourselves to respect others who come from a very different culture.
25
As an archivist I am appalled that Schomberg has used such poor judgment in publicizing this file. This is the most sensitive information on anyone I can imagine - financial details, personal dreams of a person with huge financial challenges who is asking for funding, and so forth. Does US privacy legislation not cover sensitive personal records? I suggest one imagine that one's own father - although exceptional - had to deal with extreme poverty, in very young years through cultural extremes and at that time great distances married twice, and then essentially deserted one. The pain is profound. All very disappointing and my heart actually goes out to the President on this one.
68
"Does US privacy legislation not cover sensitive personal records?"
No. The US has very little protection for privacy, by the standards of the rest of the advanced Western world.
No. The US has very little protection for privacy, by the standards of the rest of the advanced Western world.
14
I truly respect President Obama. Reading these letters will be emotionally traumatic. I feel him not going to look at them YET is indication how he is putting the running the country first. History will look back at President Obama and I'm sure his legacy will be more than the first non-white president. He is a fine leader. He makes me proud of being American.
71
For any black African in a country run under the colonial rules and gimmicks of constant disrespect for the blacks, making fun of them, not giving them proper education and money, what Obama Senior accomplished is close to reaching the impossible. For him to find his way out of Kenya still under British rule, travel to the US, getting a scholarship all the way in Hawaii and later at Harvard was an achievement of the highest order. Having lived myself as a white kid in the Dutch West Indies (Curacao) from 1946 - 1960 and having seen there the pain and destruction of racists discrimination affecting the native blacks during that colonial time I can only say, reading what Obama Sr. obviously went through, that the roots of strength and intelligence needed by our President where spread not just by his Mom but also very much by his Dad - the apple did not fall far from the tree.
53
I am much more interested in Obama's mother than his father and have been disappointed that he has not spoken of her more. I suspect he understands America has not been ready to hear about the very young white woman that was the second wife of a black man, earned a Phd. in Cultural Anthropology, and raised a future President of the United States. My guess is her views on some subjects would leave most Americans slack jawed. But, I would like to hear what she had to say.
And, i am really sorry she did not get to see her son's inauguration. Perhaps, now that he does not have to run for office again, the President will talk more openly about his mom.
And, i am really sorry she did not get to see her son's inauguration. Perhaps, now that he does not have to run for office again, the President will talk more openly about his mom.
47
Agreed - but so far all Obama has said about his white grandparents was that his grandmother was 'racist'.....it would be really interesting to hear more about the influence of Ms. Dunham's family on his moral development.
6
Or, maybe, he will choose to say nothing else, as is his prerogative. All this speculation is so intrusive.
Maybe she criticized him.
1
Lyndon Johnson, no mean psychologist, is supposed to have said once, "If you want power over a man, find out what he can't forgive his father for." That President Obama is hesitant to open that potential Pandora's box is utterly understandable.
22
A very sensitive comment. Because President Obama is an important historical person it is relevant others read these letters. I imagine those in the Kennedy family felt personal information should be more private.
7
Perhaps it's because I'm adopted and have spent decades coming to terms with a very, very complicated familial legacy, but I found this story to be painful to read and I actually stopped before the end.
While I know the days are long gone when people in the public eye could expect a modicum of privacy if the President ain't ready to read those letters, then I don't really need to start poking around where he doesn't yet want to go trying to figure out what it all means.
In my own small 60-year-old white woman way I think I get it. Some things are just very, very painful in a way that is intimate and profound and despite our "need to know" they should remain the purview of the person who experienced them. He'll read those letters, if and when he wants to and I'm good with that. And the New York Times should be too. There are stories out there that need to be told, that shed a light on things we need to know. This isn't one of them.
While I know the days are long gone when people in the public eye could expect a modicum of privacy if the President ain't ready to read those letters, then I don't really need to start poking around where he doesn't yet want to go trying to figure out what it all means.
In my own small 60-year-old white woman way I think I get it. Some things are just very, very painful in a way that is intimate and profound and despite our "need to know" they should remain the purview of the person who experienced them. He'll read those letters, if and when he wants to and I'm good with that. And the New York Times should be too. There are stories out there that need to be told, that shed a light on things we need to know. This isn't one of them.
47
The article skips blandly over the geopolitics in Barack Obama Sr.'s story. His time in America was part of a general American Cold War push to win the hearts and minds of the developing world (just as the President's Indonesian stepfather also attended the U. of Hawaii as a projection of American power). Obama Sr. was sent here as a Luo protege of Tom Mboya, America's man in a 3-way power struggle in Kenya with Britain's favorite Jomo Kenyatta and the Soviet Union's ally Oginga Odinga. Obama Sr. was one of the last people to see Mboya alive on July 5, 1969 and was the final witness in the trial of the hired gunman who assassinated him in the most traumatic crime in Kenyan history.
30
While the letters are fascinating and genuinely historic, I can't help but feel like this is an incredible invasion of BO's privacy. I admire what I assume is his resolve to deal with this when he leaves office. Such a truly personal and emotional topic does not need to be dealt with in the public eye.
110
Thanks so much for writing, Kelly. I think it's worth noting that the president has spoken openly and repeatedly about his father during his time in office. He often talks about his dad on Father's Day, about the hole he left in his heart. He did that in his weekly address this morning. Here's what the president said: "I grew up without my father around. While I wonder what my life would have been like if he had been a greater presence, I've also tried extra hard to be a good dad for my own daughters.'' He talks about this, hoping to be a role model and to inspire, particularly to inspire and comfort young people who are growing up without present fathers like he did.
36
BUT, what President Obama chooses to write and say about his father is his call, whereas to reveal, via The New York Times, the content of private letters which his young, poor, striving, father wrote to funding agencies, is what is in very poor taste here. The letters of this young African and other young applicants should have been restricted for a period of time. Typically this is the case and such personal files are restricted except where the researcher signs an agreement that personal details will not be revealed. If privacy restrictions have lapsed, then the Schomberg should have had the judgment not to publicize them at this point in time. Not only are the personal communications extremely sensitive, but to make of this a story about the President not being interested when he has other highly pressing priorities adds further insult to injury.
33
Dear Rachel Swarns,
Just because Obama has talked about his father himself on certain occasions doesn't mean that any and every investigative foray into his relationship with his deceased father is therefore okay and in good taste. This article veers pretty far into the gossipy, prurient, and invasive territory, without very much justification in terms of public interest. Usually we wait until both parties are dead, not just one, before publishing such private materials.
If there is still a Public Editor at the NY Times I think it would be well for him/her to weigh in and reconsider the ethics of publishing all these documents here.
Just because Obama has talked about his father himself on certain occasions doesn't mean that any and every investigative foray into his relationship with his deceased father is therefore okay and in good taste. This article veers pretty far into the gossipy, prurient, and invasive territory, without very much justification in terms of public interest. Usually we wait until both parties are dead, not just one, before publishing such private materials.
If there is still a Public Editor at the NY Times I think it would be well for him/her to weigh in and reconsider the ethics of publishing all these documents here.
18
While it is only President Obama's business when or whether to read his father's letters, it's clear that any conflict the President had about what it meant to be a man was resolved brilliantly by the man he has become.
60
An American friend of German origins married a woman from Africa and the apple of his eye was his son. Separated, he brought up his child, in looks of a young Obama. He taught me a lot of what it takes to be a father, and when dying, he asked 'Have you ever read 'IF' by Rudyard Kipling'? One the most powerful poems of a father to a son, what it takes to be a man.
I'm a little amused and also put off by the comments here that the article is gossipy and it's Obama's personal decision if/when to read the letters. That would be a valid point for an ordinary person, nor would it be appropriate to demand he read them. But most people aren't the president who wrote a very public book about his father To have supposedly examined his almost non-existent relationship with his father in a book and then not have any interest in reading letters he never knew existed is telling, much like how he didn't attend his own mother's funeral. Obama has been and remains a cipher, with people all to willing to defend him for their own political interests.
15
Or, attack him for their own political interests. Touché.
3
When he leaves the Presidency, he becomes a normal citizen like you and I ( albeit there will be hovering security around him ). He has lived in the public eye for 8 years serving his Country nobly. After his term is over he has the right to his privacy. Whether he reads his father's letters or not is none of our business, making him tabloid fodder. His private pain, is his own. Let's at least, give him the privacy he deserves. I wish this article was not in the NYT.
44
"Nobly?" You are joking right?
6
No not a joke at all. History will tell the future just how nobly he has served, something the hard right has no respect for. You should do a little research, other than on right wing blogs, to find out just how well he has done bringing us back from the brink of destruction caused by the Bush Administration.
8
I chose not to read the published letters, after reading this article. All respect to you, mr. Obama.
49
This portrayal of his family as dysfunctional and showing his parents in a negative light is plain disingenuous, to say the least. The fact is they had this brilliant son, totally centered and against all odds rose to become one of our greatest Presidents. Besides, he has a beautiful, loving family. His two lovely daughters, disciplined and smart, not spoiled by living in a fishbowl while growing is witness to the fact - the fact of their parents' enduring love and support.
45
My son' father deserted them too. I would not expect them to rush to read a collection of documents in which it's been said he never mentioned his son or that son's mother. Oh. And the son is the President of the largest nation in the world. He's a little busy.
41
President Obama's mother was an amazing person, who, together with her parents, gave him his beginnings, taught him grit and respect, but let his spirit soar.
From the Presdent's book, it is not clear that, in spite of the pain of missing his father in his life, he would have become the person he came to be if his father were there.
I am profoundly grateful for President Obama bring my President.
From the Presdent's book, it is not clear that, in spite of the pain of missing his father in his life, he would have become the person he came to be if his father were there.
I am profoundly grateful for President Obama bring my President.
78
Although it probably would not have changed many votes in 2008, this is the kind of vetting that should have been routine for anyone running as a candidate for the President of the United States. It would have helped the nation understand better the man that we would elect.
5
No, it is not. We citizens do not have the right to every personal detail of a politician's life. This is not "vetting", it is intruding.
53
AL: Kelly's reply shows that one man's ' vetting ' is another man's ' intrusion ' - depending upon one's political persuasion. Objectivity and bi-pratisanship is long gone in America. Unfortunately.
2
@richard...yes, objectivity. You're obviously making assumptions about my views that are not in my post. I spoke of politicians in general and I stand by my comment. Perhaps you're showing your hand with respect to the lack of bipartisanship.
1
These letters and documents very likely exist in other forms among family, government, and institutional records, and President Obama is undoubtedly aware of their basic content. He has himself written two acclaimed and revealing memoirs. Biographers of his parents and the American and Kenyan families too have been over the record. Little surprise, then, that the President has apparently not perused these particular forms and copies in person. It would be an unwarranted distraction from his heavy burdens of office and his exemplary pursuit of duty as leader and father.
The story of Obama Sr. is a matter of public interest, but whether a particular reader (in this case, President Obama) has seen given library materials is typically private and protected information. It is moreover a prurient projection to imagine emotional reasons for his reading decisions.
We are wrong too to project middle class American family expectations on Barack Obama Sr. Polygamy is standard in his Kenyan ethnic group, culturally expected, as is the practice of leaving home to find economic opportunity to provide for and better the extended family. The cultural encounter between African and American values must have been incalculably difficult for him, as it surely was for Ann Dunham and for our President. All the more admirable that he when a young man courageously set out to understand this history. Out of these explorations he became a man of uncommon wisdom and grace.
The story of Obama Sr. is a matter of public interest, but whether a particular reader (in this case, President Obama) has seen given library materials is typically private and protected information. It is moreover a prurient projection to imagine emotional reasons for his reading decisions.
We are wrong too to project middle class American family expectations on Barack Obama Sr. Polygamy is standard in his Kenyan ethnic group, culturally expected, as is the practice of leaving home to find economic opportunity to provide for and better the extended family. The cultural encounter between African and American values must have been incalculably difficult for him, as it surely was for Ann Dunham and for our President. All the more admirable that he when a young man courageously set out to understand this history. Out of these explorations he became a man of uncommon wisdom and grace.
254
another "we are wrong" writer. how are you to judge "WE" keep you judgements relative to you instad of trying to introvert people for reading part of history
2
Re American middle class expectations vs. Kenya on polygamy - the issue isn't so much on polygamy but whether he was honest with Ann Dunham about his marriage back home. She was 18 years old, and the fact she divorced him so soon after marrying him suggests that he wasn't.
Unfortunately Obama Sr's behavior is not uncommon - I know a few American women who married or were in relationships with African men who were dishonest about being married with families in their homeland.
Unfortunately Obama Sr's behavior is not uncommon - I know a few American women who married or were in relationships with African men who were dishonest about being married with families in their homeland.
2
Does anyone remember Ann Dunham Obama?
2
Rather sad story.
11
Two different cultures . In many part of Africa it's very common that men don't raise their children but they are their fathers no matter what. When time comes with that father to approach or do something to show that he is the father, nobody will say anything , you as a child is encouraged to accept him. It's the culture, it's normal , it's acceptable . But in the west is a totally different thing . I can see now the comments from my African fellows that would say differently than I see here. I wouldn't be surprised if they said that -he should go live in his father's land ( that son's do in Africa ); he should take care all of his siblings, and the rest of a very large family in Africa ( it's a thing to do if you do well in life ), and the list goes on.
Once an article about his family in Kenya appeared in a NYT and stated that one of his half brother was living in a slam in the capital of Kenya and I still could remember a discussed expression of a fellow African for Obama that" how could he let this happen? He is a president of the US? How could he?". So there u have it.
Once an article about his family in Kenya appeared in a NYT and stated that one of his half brother was living in a slam in the capital of Kenya and I still could remember a discussed expression of a fellow African for Obama that" how could he let this happen? He is a president of the US? How could he?". So there u have it.
6
How does one continue to refer to himself as a young Kenyan back in 1959 when the Kenya wasn't founded until 1963?
9
Kenya was a British colony then, but it was still called "Kenya." It achieved independence from Britain in 1963 but the name remained.
35
"The British Empire established the East Africa Protectorate in 1895, which starting in 1920 gave way to the Kenya Colony. Kenya obtained independence in December 1963. Following a referendum in August 2010 and adoption of a new constitution, Kenya is now divided into 47 semi-autonomous counties, governed by elected governors." Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenya
Obviously, Obama Sr., was a Kenyan.
Obviously, Obama Sr., was a Kenyan.
13
You can't make this stuff up. The Obama story only grows more remarkable.
28
Interesting but really not very different from the story of many (the majority?) of immigrants who came to the US to better their lives -either through education or work. Certainly my father emigrated to the US for similar reasons - he walked barefoot to a school 10 miles away as well. So, the ambitions of the father do not strike me as the least bit unusual for an intelligent young person. What did strike me is that Barack Sr. would marry an American woman, and father a child when he already had a wife and two children in Kenya. Perhaps multiple wives was acceptable in Kenya? That is what I find most striking - the difference between his father's responsibility and beliefs regarding his family and than that of our President - who values his family and derives such pleasure from the company of his daughters and wife.
101
You are very generous to refer to child and wife abandonment as possible cultural differences.
3
Why am I crying? I totally agree with others who have questioned the library and the The NYTimes for making this public. How was President Obama able to turn himself into the extraordinary father and President that he is? How could we have gotten so lucky as a country? Let him be with these letters; I'm sure they'll be painful to read.
73
Obama will read the letters after he no longer carries the 24/7 responsibilities that come with being the most powerful man in the world. After he leaves office, he will be able to give them the concentration they deserve. Then he'll write another book, and it will be a another best-seller.
18
"...the 24/7 responsibilities that come with being the most responsible man in the world." Ya, and all those golf courses that haven't been played yet.
1
The story of Barak Obama Sr. is an important story, a story about the promise and the disappointments of the end of colonialism. A brilliant young man felt an historic mission to make the new Kenya, and for reasons of tribalism, his own history, and his own character flaws, he died an alcoholic who never reached his potential, especially as he himself saw it.
It is great that documents that clarify this story have been discovered at the Schomberg.
But I agree with the comments that criticize this story for placing so much emphasis -- from the headline and lead onward -- on a presumption that President Obama ought to react to these historical documents in a particular way. These are his father, his life, his painful memories. Please respect the president's right to deal with this as he chooses.
It is great that documents that clarify this story have been discovered at the Schomberg.
But I agree with the comments that criticize this story for placing so much emphasis -- from the headline and lead onward -- on a presumption that President Obama ought to react to these historical documents in a particular way. These are his father, his life, his painful memories. Please respect the president's right to deal with this as he chooses.
43
I thought this story was fascinating and I don't even remotely comprehend the criticism of the reporter and the Times editorial policies. We don't pick our parents. Sr.'s behavior is not a reflection on the president's impeccable character and devotion to family. Perhaps the president's devotion to his own family is because of his father's absence. That said, Sr.'s story is a remarkable one even if he wasn't our president's father. It says something good about America and how far we've come. I suppose the will the president read the letters or not question is kind of gossipy and who really cares. It's his business. But the idea that this isn't news that's fit to print, I just don't get it. I say kudos.
14
Very good article. We are interested as it gives insight to the thoughts of of a man whose son would be President. But to Obama this is personal. How he deals with it is his personal business.
29
Family is such a strange thing. My situation is clearly different from the President's, but I understand his hesitancy to even acknowledge the existence of these papers. That being said, they are public records and part of important history, and their contents are newsworthy. It's nice to know that a man with a complicated family history can rise to be such a phenomenal leader; my aspirations are nowhere near as high, but I still find this piece of his story to be inspiring.
109
That's a key issue, though, isn't it?!
Are these *public* records? Current privacy laws would prevent their publication. Plus, anything related to Harvard would be from a *private* not public university.
The article was fascinating, but including the actual documents strikes me as a blatant disregard of privacy -- both that of Obama's father and his own.
Shame on the Times for including them!
Are these *public* records? Current privacy laws would prevent their publication. Plus, anything related to Harvard would be from a *private* not public university.
The article was fascinating, but including the actual documents strikes me as a blatant disregard of privacy -- both that of Obama's father and his own.
Shame on the Times for including them!
So, If Obama has not read these, what did he based his "Dreams of my Father" book on?
What does that say about a still little known president?
What does that say about a still little known president?
9
Yeesh, read the book. very clear he spoke with all the rest of his family. and... we do know a lot about this guy, even his own parenting style.
19
These are some documents, not the only documents, and certainly not the only information. Obama grew up with his mother and grandparents, and they no doubt told him things too.
6
I'm very surprised that a library would publicize whether or not a particular person had looked at certain library materials. I thought that type of thing was confidential, even if you are President.
71
You actually believe that the names of persons who visit a library is "confidential"? Where do people like you come up with these inanities?
1
From the ALA's Library Code of Ethics:
"We protect each library user's right to privacy and confidentiality with respect to information sought or received and resources consulted, borrowed, acquired or transmitted"
http://www.ala.org/advocacy/proethics/codeofethics/codeethics
"We protect each library user's right to privacy and confidentiality with respect to information sought or received and resources consulted, borrowed, acquired or transmitted"
http://www.ala.org/advocacy/proethics/codeofethics/codeethics
2
My mother and I were abandoned by my father when I was 2 years old. Fortunately, I was able to meet my father and half siblings when I reached the age of 24, and have formed a loving bond with all of them. Had my father died, with out my ever getting the chance to meet him, I feel that opening up his past history would have been too much to bear. I would have left that box of history closed forever.
13
I see nothing inappropriate in this article. Anyone interested in American history (and presidential history) would be interested in the family history of the 44th President of the United States, me among them.
Perhaps it is because of, and not in spite of, his family history that President Obama became a person of character, intellect, and virtue.
Perhaps it is because of, and not in spite of, his family history that President Obama became a person of character, intellect, and virtue.
187
Well, I cried. Right here and now. Why must we rake over another man's coals and ashes so relentlessly? No "public need to know" was served here.
I'm a trained library and information specialist with a career-full of privacy and access debates behind me, but I must have missed something. Under what rubric has the Schomburg holding been handed over to this journalist? I'm going to look into their charter this minute, as soon as I say that it looks as if somebody there felt they had been disrespected by an otherwise unassailable defender of the Constitution.
I'm a trained library and information specialist with a career-full of privacy and access debates behind me, but I must have missed something. Under what rubric has the Schomburg holding been handed over to this journalist? I'm going to look into their charter this minute, as soon as I say that it looks as if somebody there felt they had been disrespected by an otherwise unassailable defender of the Constitution.
37
TimeIsNotOnOurSide: It is my understanding that Schomburg Center holds archival materials for research; if this is true, the materials are available to the public. I could be wrong on the ethics of publishing these documents, but I do not think it was the intent of the Times journalist to show disrespect for President Obama by publishing these materials. The opposite effect, that of eliciting admiration for one who overcame such a painful family history, is shown by the many responders here.
Mr Obama's actions are not reflected in his words. He was married in Kenya while he married the young Miss Durham, only to abandon his young son. As a father he appears a very selfish man who is not worthy of romanizing in such terms. It was his mother who raised Obama junior and her parents. Their efforts seem not to garner much attention.
25
@pepperman33
I think their efforts are evident in the one place they should be, in the man we now call the president of the United States. What more attention do you think they'd want? I can't imagine they couldn't/wouldn't be anything but proud of the young man they raised, were they alive today to comment.
I think their efforts are evident in the one place they should be, in the man we now call the president of the United States. What more attention do you think they'd want? I can't imagine they couldn't/wouldn't be anything but proud of the young man they raised, were they alive today to comment.
9
The Times wrote extensive articles in 2007 about his family unit. They were excellent background information.
2
The father's fragmentation fits the behavior of someone with PTSD or Complex PTSD. It is the consequence of severe trauma and interpersonal loss, seen not only in soldiers and holocaust survivors, but in adults who survived less than ideal early childhoods, where there was a profound, prolonged sense of danger or fear coupled with lack of caregiver attunement. In this condition, the self compartmentalizes into separate selves that, because of the threat involved, effectively don't cross communicate. The brain won't allow it.
The diagnosis would not have been available in the father's lifetime. It goes along way to explaining his behavior and also explains the conundrum his life would present to a son.
"The body keeps the score," trauma therapists like to say. Meaning the early fearful states the child experienced actually resides in the body at the cellular level, influencing the brain, long after - it may be decades - after the trauma has passed, continuing to influence the adlut survivor's brain and behavior.
For further elucidation of the phenomena and for methods of treatment, top investigators include Bessel van der Kolk on the East Coast and Peter Levine on the West.
The diagnosis would not have been available in the father's lifetime. It goes along way to explaining his behavior and also explains the conundrum his life would present to a son.
"The body keeps the score," trauma therapists like to say. Meaning the early fearful states the child experienced actually resides in the body at the cellular level, influencing the brain, long after - it may be decades - after the trauma has passed, continuing to influence the adlut survivor's brain and behavior.
For further elucidation of the phenomena and for methods of treatment, top investigators include Bessel van der Kolk on the East Coast and Peter Levine on the West.
8
Does everything need a diagnosis? Can't he just have been extremely selfish?
9
Perhaps one should take note of the comment above which points out the very significant fact that 2016 US cultural norms (or 1963 for that matter) are completely unhelpful in assessing the actions of Mr. Obama, Sr.
6
Whether or not the President chooses to read his father's letters is of no concern to me. As a child, I lost my mother, and while I know part of her story, I cannot conceive of what made her do the things she did that led to her death at the age of 24. Do I want to know? Maybe, or maybe I am content to know that she loved me and my sister and brother, and did the best she could to be a good mother to us. Maybe that's the memory I want to take with me throughout my life. Or, maybe later on, when I'm better able to deal with "the rest of the story", I'll seek answers to whatever questions I may have. Maybe that's what President Obama is thinking, too. Whatever the case, it's his decision to make.
23
Many unkind comments on Barack Sr., judged only on the basis of chronological facts that, admittedly, portray him mostly on unflattering terms. But viewed in context, there is much to admire about him.
Barack Sr. would have made a great father, but circumstances in the 60s did not allow him this luxury. Fact is, Ms. Dunham's pregnancy was unplanned and also unwelcome, not because the couple didn't want a family, but both society and government looked-down on multi-racial relationships. Which would explain why Ms. Dunham left for Washington soon after Barack's birth, and literally the minute she returned to Hawaii in 1962, Barack Sr. left for Harvard. It's almost as if they did not want to be seen together as family, not out of shame, but very real fears of persecution.
For Barack Sr., that meant persecution by the INS and also Harvard, both of whom caught-up with his past and literally plotted, successfully, to force him out, for reasons nothing at all to do with academics. As for Barack Sr.'s sexual philandering, well, no more than Kennedy.
So what you have ultimately, is a family force-broken by then-prevalent racial norms, and not because of any lack of will or love to remain together. All of which the President is likely aware. If he's not ready to read these letters, it is not because of any bitterness towards Barack Sr., but because it would surely be a painful reminder that it was his own country, that he now leads, that deprived him of a father.
Barack Sr. would have made a great father, but circumstances in the 60s did not allow him this luxury. Fact is, Ms. Dunham's pregnancy was unplanned and also unwelcome, not because the couple didn't want a family, but both society and government looked-down on multi-racial relationships. Which would explain why Ms. Dunham left for Washington soon after Barack's birth, and literally the minute she returned to Hawaii in 1962, Barack Sr. left for Harvard. It's almost as if they did not want to be seen together as family, not out of shame, but very real fears of persecution.
For Barack Sr., that meant persecution by the INS and also Harvard, both of whom caught-up with his past and literally plotted, successfully, to force him out, for reasons nothing at all to do with academics. As for Barack Sr.'s sexual philandering, well, no more than Kennedy.
So what you have ultimately, is a family force-broken by then-prevalent racial norms, and not because of any lack of will or love to remain together. All of which the President is likely aware. If he's not ready to read these letters, it is not because of any bitterness towards Barack Sr., but because it would surely be a painful reminder that it was his own country, that he now leads, that deprived him of a father.
162
TMK
The President's father was a bigamist in America, but in Kenya his Muslim religion allowed him to have more than one wife. He did what was convenient for him.Don't try to make him more than he actually was. He callously abandoned his son, & wife
The only positive part of this dark chapter in the President's life is, it shows the strong character of the President who overcame this & became our President. More importantly, he was a wonderful Husband & a nurturing Father who loves & is loved by his beautiful wife & beautiful children. He is indeed a roll model for all children that grow up without having two parents.
The President's father was a bigamist in America, but in Kenya his Muslim religion allowed him to have more than one wife. He did what was convenient for him.Don't try to make him more than he actually was. He callously abandoned his son, & wife
The only positive part of this dark chapter in the President's life is, it shows the strong character of the President who overcame this & became our President. More importantly, he was a wonderful Husband & a nurturing Father who loves & is loved by his beautiful wife & beautiful children. He is indeed a roll model for all children that grow up without having two parents.
16
Not Mark...
What an amazing and probably a correct insight TMK. I had a wonderful home growing up...but after mom died and dad remarried ("an immature insecure idiot", as my sis and I call her) we moved apart, though we were only three (a dad and his two daughters). But it was the time away, for years and years, across several continents, me in the US, my sis in Europe and a father in Asia, that made communication hard, and at times more civil than open (because we did not want to trouble the other with our struggles). It was my experience with racism and sexism in the US, an actual facial burn caused by a negligent business and a husband who ended up Huntington's, that led to confrontation with the family that I felt should have been there for me...when US was disintegrating in its neighborliness and was actually being "mean and difficult". My anger with my father was that he, as a Harvard graduate himself, saw America with glowing eyes too much, and never heard my complaints about this country. But now, after ten years of shouting, venting and tears...my wonderful successful father is coming around to seeing America through my eyes. He said to me, in his own way, "You are amazing to achieve what you have in this country, that has not always been fair, sensitive or just to you. I am sorry about that!"
Thank you Appa. Now I'd like to hear that from all the American institutions that owe me a big apology, and yep, a big compensation too.
Happy Father's Day to you all...
What an amazing and probably a correct insight TMK. I had a wonderful home growing up...but after mom died and dad remarried ("an immature insecure idiot", as my sis and I call her) we moved apart, though we were only three (a dad and his two daughters). But it was the time away, for years and years, across several continents, me in the US, my sis in Europe and a father in Asia, that made communication hard, and at times more civil than open (because we did not want to trouble the other with our struggles). It was my experience with racism and sexism in the US, an actual facial burn caused by a negligent business and a husband who ended up Huntington's, that led to confrontation with the family that I felt should have been there for me...when US was disintegrating in its neighborliness and was actually being "mean and difficult". My anger with my father was that he, as a Harvard graduate himself, saw America with glowing eyes too much, and never heard my complaints about this country. But now, after ten years of shouting, venting and tears...my wonderful successful father is coming around to seeing America through my eyes. He said to me, in his own way, "You are amazing to achieve what you have in this country, that has not always been fair, sensitive or just to you. I am sorry about that!"
Thank you Appa. Now I'd like to hear that from all the American institutions that owe me a big apology, and yep, a big compensation too.
Happy Father's Day to you all...
2
Sorry, but a large percentage of marriages in Hawaii in the 1950s were interracial. One of Obama's classmates at Punahou, his Honolulu prep school, remembered him as "just another mixed kid."
The President doesn't dwell much on his Hawaiian upbringing because it undermines the widespread impression that he was somehow the victim of racism. In reality, Hawaii was much celebrated in the media during his childhood as prototyping the mixed race future.
The President doesn't dwell much on his Hawaiian upbringing because it undermines the widespread impression that he was somehow the victim of racism. In reality, Hawaii was much celebrated in the media during his childhood as prototyping the mixed race future.
4
Do the President a favor and scan all the documents and send them attached to an email. Do not insist he visit the Schomburg Center, a fantastic place, which he may or may not do some day when he feels like it and is not so busy with wars, terrorist attacks and stand up routines. Reading the documents attached to this article, there is not much there. Seems Sr. did well enough according to his own assessment and his reference letter from a Hawaii University professor, but did not do very well at the more academically strenuous Harvard where a professor wrote a decidedly unfavorable reference letter. Harsh.
3
That is some heavy personal stuff to deal with and completely understandable that the President has not yet read the archives. After all, he is too busy consoling the myriads of mass shooting victims and their families, a full time job on its own. He bears the weight of this country's woes and even though he is the President of the United States, still regularly is victimized by extreme racism. How much can one person take?
454
Any man who has been elected twice to the presidency can hardly be said to be "victimized by extreme racism."
1
Interesting article. No problem with information that may be historically significant. We know quite a bit about the Bush family, the Kennedy's and the Adam's, but most others are rarely, if ever, mentioned and have basically faded as time goes on. Within another generation, interest in Obama will substantially diminish, too. His misguided, inept leadership and failed policies will place him along side Jimmy Carter.
5
Yessss, the infamous Jimmy Carter. He's so diminished by history that it must be some kind of 'liberal plot' that he keeps being put into the top 5 most-liked and consequential presidents in US history, even when the general public is asked. Whatever you say, dlmstl. /s
24
This an interesting read. People of intellect are usually like this, they sometimes behave irrational or in eccentric ways. Barrack Obama Snr. should be thanked for giving the world such a great son that has changed the history of America and the world.
19
Knowing the President's background, I deeply admire the father he is to his daughters.
63
President Obama often says that he is determined to be a father who is present and involved, one who is very unlike his own father. Here's what he said in 2013: "I sure wish I had had a father who was not only present, but involved. Didn't know my dad. And so my whole life, I've tried to be for Michelle and my girls what my father was not for my mother and me. I want to break that cycle where a father is not at home, where a father is not helping to raise that son or daughter. I want to be a better father, a better husband, a better man."
59
Ditto. On the other hand, he also made millions and became famous on the strength of "Dreams From My Father", so for him to be so incurious now, or for anyone to expect the rest of us to respect some newly created zone of privacy, rings hollow.
Interesting how you seem to be trying to take the role of Obama's spokesman or biographer. Have you asked his permission? I would hate having some person researching all of my history, quoting my words, choosing to answer questions asked about me, etc. It feels like you are trying to take on his life. No! His life belongs to him. Your obvious relish is so distasteful.
2
My father abandoned me as well and, although I certainly cannot speak for the President, I certainly would not go out of my way to read letters that my father left behind. The memory is enormously painful, and I still foster tremendous resentment. I think these sleeping dogs are better if they're left to lie.
215
It's a very interesting story although I am questioning whether those letters are legally able to be disclosed. lt is not easy to imagine how difficult it was for President Obama trying to understand his absence and to make such absence justified. I have so much respect for President Obama who, I think, has taken the bright part of the story, and become a thoughful father to his own family and his country.
19
It is legal to disclose the letters. Are the letters really all that interesting though? I don't think so. They are rather mundane. Their historical value lies in who they were from, not their commonplace run-of-the-mill characteristics of the typical college application.
1
I'm very sure that after he has left office and has time to do the normal stuff we all do, President Obama will, of course, read his father's letters in the Harlem library. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if he himself, like Clinton, opens his own office in Harlem. NY is a world class city, has everything extraordinary, and would be a good and fitting place for Obama, his wife and family to reside.
6
I too have letters written by my late father as a young man, and I too have found myself reluctant to read many of them. So long as there is something new for him to add, our active relationship continues, leaving ke the difference between reading a suspenseful book for the first time, and the unpteenth rereading of a favorite story.
Conversations with the living are open-ended. Conversations with the dead are not. But long as my father can still add to the conversation, still surprise me with his revelations, he remains closer to a living person than a memory. He died fiftwen years ago, and I still cannot bring myself to finish reading his letters and close the book.
Conversations with the living are open-ended. Conversations with the dead are not. But long as my father can still add to the conversation, still surprise me with his revelations, he remains closer to a living person than a memory. He died fiftwen years ago, and I still cannot bring myself to finish reading his letters and close the book.
111
When my father died in 2008, my brother found ~500 letters he had written to his then-girl-friend, later his wife and our mother, during WWII. I was reluctant to read them for several years but finally decided to. They are WONDERFUL. I am so thankful we have them. To see my dad as a 22 year old soldier away from home for the first time, is an eye-opener.
While he may have had brilliant intellect, at his core, Obama Sr. was irresponsible, selfish, and betrayed his American son. If I were that son, I would be hurt by, and deeply angry with, my father. I would have no great interest in reading anything left behind.
President Obama has a responsibility to the people of this Nation. If anything in that correspondence were to upset him, it would not be good for the country. After he leaves office, he can do whatever he wants. But if he chooses to never read the correspondence, I would fully understand that decision.
President Obama has a responsibility to the people of this Nation. If anything in that correspondence were to upset him, it would not be good for the country. After he leaves office, he can do whatever he wants. But if he chooses to never read the correspondence, I would fully understand that decision.
50
He was not a good man: impregnating a girl while he was married, an alcoholic, seeing his son maybe once, a communist, etc. I'm probably missing a lot, too.
Unfortunate he's even associated with Anerican history.
Unfortunate he's even associated with Anerican history.
8
I agree with you. And...its personal. Why are they dredging this up now. What are they hoping to gain by writing this article. The only thing that is real is what you personally experience. Noone can speak for anyone else. It's the President's choice, or doesj't personal choice matter anymore to read the letters or not. I find the article strange at this time to be coming out.
4
It is revealing and impressive to read the correspondence of the senior Barack Obama. The writer's intelligence and tenacity shine, and shed light on the qualities that led his son to the presidency.
14
I feel pain of Mr. Obama, our president, but also of greater pain by Ms. Dunham. A young woman, swept away in romance with a charming, brilliant man, gets abandoned, left to tend to a new life all by herself!
89
She did fine and went on to remarry and have a productive and adventurous life. And she and her family raised a highly intelligent son who choose an admirable partner and certainly seems to be an attentive and loving husband and parent himself.
13
You watch too many movies. Read up on what old Stanley REALLY was like
4
You believe anything mikevalleyct. I got a bridge I am looking to sell, interested?
Many commenters have slammed the Times for publishing this article. However, it was Junior who chose many years ago to write a book about his relationship, or lack thereof, with his father. In the ensuing years, Junior has received millions of dollars in royalties from that book. Junior became President of the United States with little more than a DNA contribution from Senior. In the balance, it would seem that Junior did very well with the cards he was dealt.
47
Words fail me as I try to comprehend how it is our President came from this crazy screwed up family. An alcoholic, polygamist, abusive father from Kenya who abandoned his son as a toddler, a crazy mixed up teenage mother from Kansas with a penchant for getting involved with exotic foreign men and then mostly dumping her children with her parents and doing whatever she wanted. And notwithstanding the hagiography about his grandparents who mostly raised him, I think there were alcohol and other problems with them as well. Reports are that Obama's mother was a very fine aperson but when you objectively read the story of this biracial boy's childhood, growing up in a time when it was not cool to be biracial, you have to just shake your head in amazement that this singularly brilliant, self-aware and centered man came out of this particular family. I have carefully read what I can about his life and have not found any reference to counseling or therapy. I truly believe that President Obama has been a gift from God and we will not see his equal any time soon.
387
@jlm, "I truly believe that President Obama has been a gift from God and we will not see his equal any time soon."
So true. As the President acknowledges the pain of letting his oldest daughter grow up, I am sad we'll have to let him go at the end of the year.
So true. As the President acknowledges the pain of letting his oldest daughter grow up, I am sad we'll have to let him go at the end of the year.
6
I think your comment is wonderful. I would apply Tupac Shakur's poem "The Rose that Grew from Concrete" our president.
Did you hear about the rose that grew
from a crack in the concrete?
Proving nature's law is wrong it
learned to walk with out having feet.
Funny it seems, but by keeping it's dreams,
it learned to breathe fresh air.
Long live the rose that grew from concrete
when no one else ever cared.
Did you hear about the rose that grew
from a crack in the concrete?
Proving nature's law is wrong it
learned to walk with out having feet.
Funny it seems, but by keeping it's dreams,
it learned to breathe fresh air.
Long live the rose that grew from concrete
when no one else ever cared.
5
I agree that President Obama is a wonderful gift to us, however neither his mother, nor grandparents were disturbed, alcoholic or dysfunctional. On the contrary all were contributing workers to American society and his maternal grandfather had served in the second world war. An excellent book on Pres. Obama's mother has been written by Janny Scott, called A Singular Woman: The Untold story of Barack Obama's mother. It shows where and how the president was raised. I recommend it.
7
Shame on the NYTimes for publishing this. It is a blatant invasion of privacy and is beneath the Times usual level of ethics. I chose not to read the actual letters out of respect to my president and his family.
166
Hi, I'm the reporter who wrote this article. Thank you for taking the time to comment. This kind of concern often comes up when we write about the lives of our presidents and their families. Presidents are public figures, and important ones, which is why we write about them. We write about their parents, how they grew up, crises that they've overcome, etc, because it can provide some insight into who they are and how they came to be who they are.
162
It's the way you've written it that is the problem. You have overemphasized that the President has not read the letters. That could have been communicated in one sentence at the end--that he was advised of their existence and has not read them. You seem to be faulting him for cowardice or familial disloyalty of some kind and you have no idea what he is thinking.
23
Just to be clear:
As one of the critics, my concern about your fascinating article only had to do with the well meaning but -- I believe -- misguided staff at the library who seemed to suggest that President Obama "should" see the letters. Their existence, and what they might reveal about an extraordinary man and president, deserves the first-rate story you wrote.
I am less convinced that President Obama needs even a hint of advice as to whether or not he should look at them.
As one of the critics, my concern about your fascinating article only had to do with the well meaning but -- I believe -- misguided staff at the library who seemed to suggest that President Obama "should" see the letters. Their existence, and what they might reveal about an extraordinary man and president, deserves the first-rate story you wrote.
I am less convinced that President Obama needs even a hint of advice as to whether or not he should look at them.
22
I am going to bet, this *story* will remain open for comment for a long while. A slow news weekend thus far and must be filled. Always interesting to note, when NYT wants to shut down comments, it will close an article after about 100 comments; I'll check back later when this thread reaches into the 500-1000 mark.
10
This article is inappropriate and I am shocked that the Schomburg Center would release information of such a personal matter. After such a terrible week, now this gossip is put on President Obama. The man just had to attend yet another grief gathering to comfort the families of 49 murdered young people. Give him a break!http://www.teletvtime.com/watch-jackie-chan-bhangra-dance-video-on-daler...
72
Hope dare anyone presume to suggest -- even with good intentions -- that President Obama "should" look at these letters?
Under the best of circumstances, relationships between parents and children are complex, lifelong negotiations. The death of a parent further complicates the task of understanding years of often profoundly contradictory feelings.
This is raw, fraught territory and the choice of what route to take and when to take it belongs only to those who actually lived the lives being explored.
Even a polite suggestion of what anyone else "should" do in this quest is presumptuous and invasive.
President Obama knows they are there. Period.
Under the best of circumstances, relationships between parents and children are complex, lifelong negotiations. The death of a parent further complicates the task of understanding years of often profoundly contradictory feelings.
This is raw, fraught territory and the choice of what route to take and when to take it belongs only to those who actually lived the lives being explored.
Even a polite suggestion of what anyone else "should" do in this quest is presumptuous and invasive.
President Obama knows they are there. Period.
698
You are absolutely right that a relationship between a child and parent is complex. I paid for my own college and encouraged myself to be a writer and good student when my parent did not encourage me. My biological dad never paid child support and was absent during my childhood. Then I was 25 and he showed up on my doorstep one day. Even though my life turned out good, I'm thankful for all my blessings like good friends and family. As an adult I still sift through old emotions.
4
I am shocked that The Times
thought this article newsworthy. Just because the letters are part of an historical archive, does not mean The Times should take away President Obama right to have some privacy on this. Shame, shame, shame.
thought this article newsworthy. Just because the letters are part of an historical archive, does not mean The Times should take away President Obama right to have some privacy on this. Shame, shame, shame.
Thank you for the support because love is better than hate in any relationship.
First, the actual documents should have remained private until President Obama decided how to handle them.
Second, I'd like to hear more about the mother and grandparents who raised Obama, not so much an absent father. Absent fathers are given too much regard sometimes.
Second, I'd like to hear more about the mother and grandparents who raised Obama, not so much an absent father. Absent fathers are given too much regard sometimes.
117
The letters were the property of those Sr. sent them to. If the recipients donated them to the Schoenberg center, then the center became the owner.
If the family were to have any role as to disposition, it would probably be the older, legitimate children who would have the right to decide.
If the family were to have any role as to disposition, it would probably be the older, legitimate children who would have the right to decide.
3
My understanding is that the person who donates documents to an archive is the one who sets the terms of timing and extent of access.
My paternal grandfather's papers were donated by my father to a university archive, and my father apparently selected open access.
Traveling to that university archive a year ago and reviewing the contents for the first time, I discovered that some folders of "Correspondence" include all the letters my parents, my brother, and I wrote to him over the decades. There were letters I wrote to him and my grandmother from age 5 or 6 into my teen years.
Fortunately I am not "famous" and my grandfather's fame was not in politics, so I doubt few will ever read these letters.
My paternal grandfather's papers were donated by my father to a university archive, and my father apparently selected open access.
Traveling to that university archive a year ago and reviewing the contents for the first time, I discovered that some folders of "Correspondence" include all the letters my parents, my brother, and I wrote to him over the decades. There were letters I wrote to him and my grandmother from age 5 or 6 into my teen years.
Fortunately I am not "famous" and my grandfather's fame was not in politics, so I doubt few will ever read these letters.
4
You can learn about the mother and grandparents from President Obama booka
1
I lost my mother emotionally, spiritually, and eventually physically, long before my childhood ended. I do not care in the least to read any letters she wrote. I understand Mr. Obama's ambivalence on this matter.
63
My father, a merchant seaman from Catalunya, abandoned me when his marriage to my mother foundered, and she subsequently put me up for adoption. Many years later I reconnected with his family in Spain, though he had already died, and they proudly took me around to his birthplace and the places he had lived in Barcelona, perhaps expecting me to feel proud as well. But for me, the feelings were poignant, tempered by the fact that my father had left me and never came looking for me later, as I did him. I can imagine how our president must feel when he thinks about reading his father's letters, which make no mention of him.
180
Very poor taste. You should be embarrassed to reveal things he clearly isn't ready to process... what is wrong with this paper?
215
KLS : Yes. I am amazed that the NYT would reveal anything unflattering about President Obama's father.
18
Richard, or yours?
1
This article is inappropriate and I am shocked that the Schomburg Center would release information of such a personal matter. After such a terrible week, now this gossip is put on President Obama. The man just had to attend yet another grief gathering to comfort the families of 49 murdered young people. Give him a break!
259
interesting story and another example of the future being an unknown. however, as much as I like Obama, he isn't immune from the classic 'only in America is a story like mine possible' nonsense that non americans see and shake our heads at. it's that insular things americans say with, apparently, not a clue what goes on in other countries and just how insulting and wrong it is......
9
Although Ms. Swarns has great credentials; why this story? It reads like someone snooping and wondering out loud about a very personal and private PREROGATIVE of one man- about HIS father. Yes- Barack Hussein Obama Jr, is the President of the United States, however...
Every Jot & Tittle of this man's life has been examined ad nauseum; we don't need a "Father's Day" examination about the President and his paternal ties. Bad call.
Every Jot & Tittle of this man's life has been examined ad nauseum; we don't need a "Father's Day" examination about the President and his paternal ties. Bad call.
81
A fascinating story about two remarkable men.
I do not understand those who question the reporting, or consider the article somehow critical of the President. To the contrary there are important lessons to be learned, not the least of which is that intelligence and ambition without concern for others are wasted. Fortunately the son learned what the father never did.
I do not understand those who question the reporting, or consider the article somehow critical of the President. To the contrary there are important lessons to be learned, not the least of which is that intelligence and ambition without concern for others are wasted. Fortunately the son learned what the father never did.
23
reply to Mark McCarthy: I've read the comment and no one seems to have stated the article is critical of the "President". Quite the contrary; most- including me, are critical of the reporter and the NYT for running something that reads more like what one would find in The National Enquirer. The President did not contribute any thoughts or comments to this reporter. The release of someone's reading preferences without their permission is a violation of Library Policy; that this is front page rather than on the Opinion page is quite telling. This simply does not pass the journalistic smell test.
53
Anyone can be a biological father, but a nurturing father is rare & special.Our President has risen far beyond this man & does not owe him anything.Let him try to bury his pain & leave him alone.
124
Obviously many different people and events shaped the life of our President, but for your part Mr. Obama Sr. our nation and the world is very grateful.
20
It warms my heart to read all of the comments here that attest to what a great president Mr. Obama has been as well as an exemplary husband and father.
84
How wonderful and incredible to see Barack Hussein Obama's American dream come true and to know that his and Stanley Ann Dunham's son - a boy with a black father from Kenya and a blessed white mother from Kansas and then Hawaii, where she met and loved the African, rose to the pinnacle of achievement as our President! His Father was not a loving Father or Husband to Obama's Mother, alas, but she was the angel who birthed him, adored him and steered him in the paths of righteousness. We, who became acquainted with the son, Barack Obama, in 2004 when his meteoric rise to the Presidency began with his keynote address to the Democratic National convention in 2004, have loyally, respectfully and lovingly had Obama's back now for 16 years, and will have his back as long as we breathe and as long as he walks this mortal coil. Already the stresses and sorrows of President Obama's two administrations have told on the colour of his hair (almost white now) at age 54. How we wish Obama could run again for the Presidency in 4 years. Is there a law against a former President running for the Presidency after a hiatus of 8 years? in 2024, Obama will be ("God's Willin") 62 years old, far younger than Hillary, Donald and Bernie today. Also, Obama's father's writings in the 1950s and before he died at age 46 in Kenya in 1982 are the President's business. The American public has no business reading those writings. We are filled with gratitude to have lived in President Obama's time.
67
Here Here!
3
I agree with the comments of my fellow readers. There was my father’s obituary that I saved for 3 years before I felt comfortable/strong/calm enough to read given his inconsistent, ambivalent relationship with my children. Let our 44th read them, if he ever cares to in his own time. What I take from the article is not it’s actual content, but how it serves to show our president in such start contrast to his predecessor, born with a silver spoon on third base. Forever using his family’s “network of donors” to become the worst president in modern history, helped along by the Supremes appointed by his dad. And as the world changed, Jeb! In his Kennebunkport bubble never could imagine that no one would be buying what he was selling.
47
@Ray Baum: My mother died last October. I wrote the obituary. My father was not mentioned which is what my three brothers and I wanted. He didn't abandon us, though all of us wish he had.
4
I visited Kenya several years ago and met a man who had two wives and 19 children. I believe that it is not uncommon in Kenya to have more than one wife. So from his cultural perspective, it would not have seemed out of the question for Barack Senior to have married twice. Having said that, I would add that I admire Ann Dunham's courage in marrying and having a child in what she must have known was a shaky relationship. I believe that she got a lot of help and support from her parents. President Obama comes from a very strong and unusual family on both sides. Some readers found this article intrusive. I found it poignant, detracting in no way from anyone described. I hope that in time President Obama will find peace with his father who deserted him but who also gave him so much.
38
A very moving and thoughtful response.
19
Not detracting just an invasion od personal privcy and not relevant to anything but a man and his father, especially when he has chosen not to read them.
7
KLS : Privacy is not usually allowed to public figures - especially those we vote on to represent us and to protect our freedoms.
What a shame that an otherwise fascinating article dwells so much on the fact that President Obama hasn't responded to the Schomburg Center's invitation to read Obama Sr.'s papers. With this level of public speculation, if I were the President, I would hesitate to read them, too. I expect the same level of confidentiality granted to me by my local librarian to be extended to the President. Unfortunately, the Schomburg Center doesn't seem to adhere to that principle.
81
President Obama isn't ready for reflection. The president has lots of pivots in policy and his legacy to think about. You listen to the bitter complaints, with a dismissive sneer, from the right-wing media. They brand him selfish and arrogant and are, in fact, envious of his self-assurance.
The president's plate is full; the end of Reaganomics and the refocusing economic growth of the 99%; the pivot from the Middle East, a harbinger of continuous wars of occupiers, enveloping a nation to a graveyard of civil wars, to the opening Asian markets; the unification of the Americas by engaging Cuba; making affordable healthcare a right and not a privilege, et cetera.
Mr. Obama learns little, because his guiding light was always his mother and his maternal grandparents. How proud they would be.
The president's plate is full; the end of Reaganomics and the refocusing economic growth of the 99%; the pivot from the Middle East, a harbinger of continuous wars of occupiers, enveloping a nation to a graveyard of civil wars, to the opening Asian markets; the unification of the Americas by engaging Cuba; making affordable healthcare a right and not a privilege, et cetera.
Mr. Obama learns little, because his guiding light was always his mother and his maternal grandparents. How proud they would be.
11
Interesting that this article is published on what would have been Barack Obama, Sr.'s 80th birthday.
5
The story's essence is of a discovery of typed letters written by an absent father of a president. I leave it to people wiser than I to decide the morality of subsequent judgments: should The Times and Schomburg have published; ought President Obama read them.
It's the letters themselves that I find compelling. We no longer sit at typewriters, write carefully crafted missives, address envelopes, walk the letters to a box and send them on their journeys.
I wonder if the president is hesitant to read the letters less because of what is in them, the gist of which he knows, but because he would be holding in his hands objects that were made by a man with who left him.
It's the letters themselves that I find compelling. We no longer sit at typewriters, write carefully crafted missives, address envelopes, walk the letters to a box and send them on their journeys.
I wonder if the president is hesitant to read the letters less because of what is in them, the gist of which he knows, but because he would be holding in his hands objects that were made by a man with who left him.
9
What an extraordinary President the USA has in Barack Obama. He truly has first hand knowledge of the cultural conflicts that upset our nation, our world. Hillary Clinton, our next President, also does. Her life has mirrored the conflicts & tribulations that women have faced in the past 70 yrs.
Reading this made me cry for Barack the boy, who was not a party to the strange confluence of decisions which created him. Neither was I a woman born of an unhappy marriage in the 1950´s,with a mother who resented her "place" in that society, despite her high education and intelligence she was for cultural reasons more or less forced to marry a doctor and make him & us miserable yet prosperous. My dad once told me that he got married cuz his med school colleagues warned him of appearing gay.
Thank you world for changing for the rights of women, all races and sexualities to be honest.
Reading this made me cry for Barack the boy, who was not a party to the strange confluence of decisions which created him. Neither was I a woman born of an unhappy marriage in the 1950´s,with a mother who resented her "place" in that society, despite her high education and intelligence she was for cultural reasons more or less forced to marry a doctor and make him & us miserable yet prosperous. My dad once told me that he got married cuz his med school colleagues warned him of appearing gay.
Thank you world for changing for the rights of women, all races and sexualities to be honest.
14
Not everyone grew up in a happy family with loving, supportive parents, even people of achievement. Our society puts a lot of pressure on people to express gratitude to our parents, the thought being that the parents were integral to the child's success. However, often the parents didn't earn the gratitude and were an obstacle to be overcome. I understand why the President may not want to read his father's letters. Imagine if his dad was involved in his life and provided encouragement and love. The lack of a dad didn't stop his education and professional achievements, plus he is a great dad to two beautiful young women. Even more reasons to respect President Obama. Happy Father's Day!
33
A vapid, vacuous, voyeuristic article. Shame on you, NYT.
64
To quote John Oliver, "why is this a thing". If President Obama isn't interested in seeing the letters, isn't that his business? His private business, not really the topic for a NYT column criticizing his failure to respond. We have such big problems in this country but as usual the NYT wants to deal with triviality.
69
Mr. Obama should view these letters privately and on his own terms, when and if he is ready.
And everyone else should mind their own business.
And everyone else should mind their own business.
153
The credit for rearing and nurturing Barrack Obama goes to his mother Stanley Ann Dunham and grandparents Madelyn and Stanley Dunham. In fairness to the family that reared him, President Obama should have hyphenated his name as Barrack Dunham-Obama, even though that would be giving his father’s family more credit than they deserve. Until recently, Kenyans combined both the mother’s and father last names, as do Hispanic Americans.
15
This article teeters on the edge on sensationalism, and as such has no place in the Times - or any other newspaper.
An article regarding the documents would be fine, but the piece's titillations and breathlessness are sophomoric, intrusive, and unnecessary.
An article regarding the documents would be fine, but the piece's titillations and breathlessness are sophomoric, intrusive, and unnecessary.
56
BobR....your descriptive vocabulary is so apt...thanks. Email your post to exec editor Dean Baquet.
Enough already about the absent patriarch.
Why about the "Dreams of my Mother"?
Ann Dunham did more to shape President Obama than people appreciate.
She brought him to Indonesia for his early education.
His maternal Grandparents from Kansas played an important role.
Women do most of the "heavy lifting" in our world, with absent fathers as culprits.
Articles like these promulgate this injustice.
Why about the "Dreams of my Mother"?
Ann Dunham did more to shape President Obama than people appreciate.
She brought him to Indonesia for his early education.
His maternal Grandparents from Kansas played an important role.
Women do most of the "heavy lifting" in our world, with absent fathers as culprits.
Articles like these promulgate this injustice.
35
I can understand why the President is conflicted about Obama Senior. If it were me, I wouldn't bother to read those documents because they don't answer the question of why this man abandoned his son. Anyone can make a baby but a father is the man who sticks around to raise his child.
So, Obama Senior, a man who already had a wife and two children, met and "married" a young American woman after she became pregnant. I will fill in what is never said publicly - since monogamy is not legal in this country, Obama Sr and Dunham were never married. He then abandoned this second family, visited his son once and apparently never wrote. If this description was not of the President's father, people would describe this man as a deadbeat loser. The President's maternal grandfather, and his stepfather to a lesser extent, were the key men in his life and they helped make Obama Jr the man he is today. If you look at the widely-circulated beach photo of Grandpa Dunham, there is a very strong resemblance to the President. Perhaps the Times can do an extended story on Dunham.
Happy Father's Day to the President, a man who is committed to his two daughters.
So, Obama Senior, a man who already had a wife and two children, met and "married" a young American woman after she became pregnant. I will fill in what is never said publicly - since monogamy is not legal in this country, Obama Sr and Dunham were never married. He then abandoned this second family, visited his son once and apparently never wrote. If this description was not of the President's father, people would describe this man as a deadbeat loser. The President's maternal grandfather, and his stepfather to a lesser extent, were the key men in his life and they helped make Obama Jr the man he is today. If you look at the widely-circulated beach photo of Grandpa Dunham, there is a very strong resemblance to the President. Perhaps the Times can do an extended story on Dunham.
Happy Father's Day to the President, a man who is committed to his two daughters.
42
Well said.....I agree.
13
Lynn in DC,
I agree, and have always thought that President Obama bears a strong resemblance to his grandfather, Ann Dunham's father. The picture I'm thinking of is also a pleasant one and the grandparents and their grandson look happy and comfortable together at the time it was taken. I don't understand why the Dunhams do not get more press when President Obama's family is mentioned. They are the ones who nurtured and loved him, and spent their evenings together after work and school. They were always there for him.
He, in fact, said his grandmother was the backbone of the family, although this was probably because her husband died years before she did, and her daughter, Obama's mother, died when she was still very young. (Today the 4th and 5th decade of one's life is considered young)
I won't say anything about this article. I think it's intrusive. I only wanted to say what a fine person Barack Obama became as he grew up in the Dunham family.
I agree, and have always thought that President Obama bears a strong resemblance to his grandfather, Ann Dunham's father. The picture I'm thinking of is also a pleasant one and the grandparents and their grandson look happy and comfortable together at the time it was taken. I don't understand why the Dunhams do not get more press when President Obama's family is mentioned. They are the ones who nurtured and loved him, and spent their evenings together after work and school. They were always there for him.
He, in fact, said his grandmother was the backbone of the family, although this was probably because her husband died years before she did, and her daughter, Obama's mother, died when she was still very young. (Today the 4th and 5th decade of one's life is considered young)
I won't say anything about this article. I think it's intrusive. I only wanted to say what a fine person Barack Obama became as he grew up in the Dunham family.
28
Probably just a narcissist as are so many serious strivers who move well beyond their environment--maybe his son is too--but at least we got a President with a brain that can think and a man who knows what it means to be a father--maybe he would not have thought so much about that had he had his own--aok in the end and whatever he chooses to read is his own business and no one else's S
All you "should" folk out there, what makes you so high and mighty and didnt anyone tell you "should" is not a motivating word anywhere, anytime, aside from getting manners across to young children
All you "should" folk out there, what makes you so high and mighty and didnt anyone tell you "should" is not a motivating word anywhere, anytime, aside from getting manners across to young children
11
I really like Obama ....as a human....think he has great heart and soul.....that does have a void from his father....who was very Rich in Soul....and other ways .....his 8 years as elected leader of the U.S.A. has been a even keel battle and I can feel his struggle with the powers that really run the show....who ever takes his place as the new leader of our nation...I feel confidante that the Great American voyage will live Long n Strong/Amen
7
We have been so blessed to have had President Obama as our president for the last 7 1/2 years. Barack Obama's father gave birth to a wonderful man and president and we thank him for that.
13
Important error: Barack Obama's mother gave birth to a wonderful man ...
9
Dreams from My Father, written by Obama long before he ran for any office, is a beautiful book worth reading. One of the most poignant moments -- to me, anyway -- was when Obama Sr. came to visit him at Christmastime, and Obama Jr., after finishing his homework, wanted to watch a Christmas special on TV but Obama Sr, having spent no time with his son over the previous year and knowing nothing of his life, ordered that his son "read ahead" in his books instead. Obama Jr, devastated, complied.
I think this sort of sums up their relationship: Obama Sr. loved his son, I'm sure, but knew little about how to be a father to him, and certainly didn't care about his son's happiness or emotional needs. Maybe I was way too attached to Christmas specials as a kid but I always remember that anecdote every time I see a picture of Barack Sr. Yes, he brought us one of the best presidents in U.S. History, but I don't think he really knew what he had.
I think this sort of sums up their relationship: Obama Sr. loved his son, I'm sure, but knew little about how to be a father to him, and certainly didn't care about his son's happiness or emotional needs. Maybe I was way too attached to Christmas specials as a kid but I always remember that anecdote every time I see a picture of Barack Sr. Yes, he brought us one of the best presidents in U.S. History, but I don't think he really knew what he had.
17
Obama wrote that book in 1992, only a year after finishing law school. He wasn't a public figure or politician (he first ran for state senate in 1996).
That book was completely unheard of until his presidential run, 16 years after its publication.
99 percent of its sales came after 2008.
That book was completely unheard of until his presidential run, 16 years after its publication.
99 percent of its sales came after 2008.
2
And this is important news because??? If Obama considers it private, why are you blasting it everywhere. Surely there are more important things, like, oh say, election fraud?????
41
It is unfortunate that these documents have been made public, when the President has chosen not to look at them until after he leaves the White House.
If we still had manners and thoughtfulness in this country, the Schomburg would have never allowed these to go public now.
I read the article but did not read the additional documents.
I regret now that I even read the article.
Privacy Matters.
If we still had manners and thoughtfulness in this country, the Schomburg would have never allowed these to go public now.
I read the article but did not read the additional documents.
I regret now that I even read the article.
Privacy Matters.
90
His mother and maternal grandparents were his stalwarts. They gave him the foundation and the ongoing love to achieve greatness. Obama's Dreams from My Father was actually and appropriately a paean to his mother. Celebrate the people who do the work, the ones who are present, the ones who stay the course.
58
Jane,
My sentiments exactly.
My sentiments exactly.
14
Barack Obama Sr. was immoral and irresponsible. Try as you might to spin it otherwise, he was a selfish person who didn't even have the decency to be part of his son's life.
25
Thank you for this story. This weekend when we celebrate fathers it is good to remember both the importance of fathers, and that even without a solid father figure in your life you can succeed in life. I wish all children that grow up without a father strength this weekend.
25
My heart ached in reading about the child who was, in effect, abandoned by his father. It would not have been surprising had the child turned out to be so damaged by his parent's defection that he could not make a success of his life. Instead, the child became our President, a man of uncommon grace and civility. What an extraordinary achievement by an extraordinary man. His grandparents and his mother no doubt had much to do with this success. But the boy and the man he became deserve the most praise. May his story offer hope to other children who are rejected.
80
Perhaps Harvard may be after all a great school comparing positively with other schools, who need no naming.
This feels more like an invasion of privacy than news. It's true, I read it because I thought there was some revelation involved. Nope, none. So what was the point? Said Obama's decision not to speculate or comment on motives exhibits more class and dignity than the decision to publish. NYT, you disappoint today.
71
It is amazing that the political passions that Barack Obama Sr. held so dear were passed on to the son he did not know. How different our would may have been had Sr. taken his son back to Kenya. Abandoned him yes; but ultimately for the greater good of our nation. I doubt that our President wouldn't want it any other way.
5
To Obama Sr. women didn't count, weren't worth mentioning, nor were his children unless they did something he could brag about. It seems amazing that Obama Sr. could be married to two women and have children by each without it ever seeming to cause censure or raise an eyebrow. Even in this article where a letter is quoted, Senior's mother's role is faded out. After reading Obama, Jr.'s autobiography (Dreams From My Father) it's clear how women's feelings and well-being are disregarded and trivialized, both the women born in the USA and the women born in Africa are treated as non-entities.
21
I too, am an admirer of President Obama. I believe this story lovingly illustrates the hard-to-believe and very difficult journey he has traveled with grace, dignity and poise. In the end I have an even deeper respect for our president.
24
No log cabin beginnings out of traditional American folk lore for President Obama but a triumph of ceaseless struggle against all obstacles on the part of his father and a defiant refusal on the part of both of his parents to slavishly conform to established social morays for the relatively small benefits of social success and personal advancement.
9
The fact that Obama Sr. was an irresponsible and failed man doesn't hurt President Obama's legacy as a responsible, self-made, and successful american.
I have a similar situation with my father, thus I can fully understand president Obama's avoidance of his father's documents, because they really have no relationship except the biological one. He only met his son once, and did a great job to cover up the presence of his son. Showing off the photograph and school reports of the son he factually abandoned is more likely from vanity than love.
I have a similar situation with my father, thus I can fully understand president Obama's avoidance of his father's documents, because they really have no relationship except the biological one. He only met his son once, and did a great job to cover up the presence of his son. Showing off the photograph and school reports of the son he factually abandoned is more likely from vanity than love.
27
I felt a wave of sadness reading this. The early 60s was such a hopeful time, as new nations emerged from the oppressive yoke of colonialism. Obama senior's lost promise seems to emblematize the disappointments. Now, so many areas remain in the grip of poverty and war (the latter, obviously, including the U.S.) more than 50 years later. Still, there is significant progress toward prosperity, with growing economies and lower birth rates in many parts of the world). If only the early idealism could be resurrected....
I can almost project President Obama back into the past, stepping into his father's shoes, a leader would have been a nation-builder, in a different time and place, when government was seen as a force for progress and positive change, and better times were ahead; rather than in the current morass. As infrequently as he saw his father, the elder Obama must have been an influence. To acknowledge African influences (as distinct from African-American and Euro-American influences) does not diminish his Americanness in any way.
I can almost project President Obama back into the past, stepping into his father's shoes, a leader would have been a nation-builder, in a different time and place, when government was seen as a force for progress and positive change, and better times were ahead; rather than in the current morass. As infrequently as he saw his father, the elder Obama must have been an influence. To acknowledge African influences (as distinct from African-American and Euro-American influences) does not diminish his Americanness in any way.
6
If there is a mini series do be done on TV, this it.
1
IMO, the custodians of this material could have waited to release it until President Obama was out of office. At this point in the President's life, this information is probably just a distraction. After all, he does have a few other things on his to-do list right now.
57
When you lose a parent from your life as a kid--it makes all the birthdays and holidays fraught. Father's Day is likely a day for the President to concentrate on his daughters--on his family. Publishing this at a time of year that may be personally difficult for him is in very poor taste. It's rude and insensitive. If someone did this to me (not that they would because I'm not important or remotely interesting) I would be hurt and livid. I thought the Times had more sense than this. You could have published this at any other time and it would have been intrusive, but not marked by sheer awfulness and total lack of good judgment.
51
They wrote the President and told him about the papers. couldn't they have just waited and/or given them directly to him? I didn't need to see this. I suppose they are using this as publicity in a fundraising campaign. This is intrusive when made available to the public like this.
41
I'm currently reading Obama's autobiography and it indicates that his father died when he was in his 20s.
"Only to vanish from his son’s life a few years after his birth." Is a bit misleading.
"Only to vanish from his son’s life a few years after his birth." Is a bit misleading.
1
He went off to Harvard without a backwards glance at his "wife" and son. From there, went back to Africa. So he really did vanish.
7
He left his wife and toddler son in Hawaii, and didn't see them again until the son was 10. And then only for one month. I'd say he did indeed "vanish from his son's life a few years after his (the son's) birth."
7
I would like to see President Obama's college transcripts.
4
Because? To see if he got better grades than you did?
5
Let me guess, you're a Trump supporter who believed all those wild racially-laced conspiracy theories he spewed about the president, right?
Thank you for confirming that old "white male from Mississippi" stereotype.
Thank you for confirming that old "white male from Mississippi" stereotype.
5
Apparently there is something in them that no one is allowed to see.
3
Interesting article, thank you. I read President Obama's autobiographical book in 2008, and found it very compelling. Clearly he got something from his father, but it was his strong-willed mother and maternal grandmother who really shaped his life. It is indeed a compelling American story!
11
Excellent article, just the right depth and temperature for a weekend. Thank you.
2
What a multitude of deeply colliding currents run through this situation even for a reader, never mind President Obama. That may answer why he is waiting, presumably, until after his presidential responsibilities are over before visiting. Regardless, I appreciate his non-response response and hope he finds peace and closure if and when he finally visits.
15
This is fascinating, but it leaves me wanting more. Was Obama Senior an active anti-colonialist? Was he an organizer, a proselytizer for various causes, or more inward-directed and solitary? Are there other letters between him and his son that touched on weightier matters, such as politics or race?
I ask these out of curiousity, but also a sense of disbelief (and pride) that America could elect a man of this blended, global background as President -- twice. What a sad shame that President Obama's father wasn't able to see his son sworn in as leader of the world's most powerful nation. Perhaps his personal disappointments would have been assuaged, and be a source of pride for him.
I ask these out of curiousity, but also a sense of disbelief (and pride) that America could elect a man of this blended, global background as President -- twice. What a sad shame that President Obama's father wasn't able to see his son sworn in as leader of the world's most powerful nation. Perhaps his personal disappointments would have been assuaged, and be a source of pride for him.
3
You know there's an entire book Obama wrote about what his father, both his absence and his presence, has meant to him? "Dreams For My Father." I think you can find the answers to your speculations there.
2
M.Y.O.B. read your own family papers, for heaven's sake.
This is intrusive. None of our business, Obama's father. We have a remarkable president. He has given us a lot, and he doesn't have to share this information, nor should the Times be publishing it.
83
I'm a late 20s millennial who achieved academic and now professional success in spite of my father fleeing my mum after she become pregnant. Please don't glorify this sperm donor or any other "men" like him who abandoned their children. Obama Sr. isn't misunderstood. He was a polygamist. He exploited Barack's mother for financial support and lodging while in Hawaii. He committed fraud on financial aid documents. He appears to be a serial liar and narcissist, who lacked a conscience.
By sheer luck and deeply supportive maternal grandparents, Barack turned into a remarkable man. Visit South Chicago, East Detroit, or Baltimore to see the tragic outcomes of most black boys born to single mothers.
By sheer luck and deeply supportive maternal grandparents, Barack turned into a remarkable man. Visit South Chicago, East Detroit, or Baltimore to see the tragic outcomes of most black boys born to single mothers.
50
Obama's father being a bigamist may explain the current POTUS's desire to please the rich. OK, now ponder what I just wrote. It will take awhile.
It sounds like President Obama's dad was brilliant and ambitious. We know also that the president is a private man and that his personal history has been twisted by political types. Half the GOP voters think the President was born in Kenya, not his dad so you see what he is dealing with.
That Trump who lied openly about Obama's birth certificate and stoked what can only be called raw racism is running as a candidate for a major American party says everything. That the GOP shows no similar curiosity about the Koch Bros. dad who actually worked for Stalin tells how politically ugly the times are.
That Trump who lied openly about Obama's birth certificate and stoked what can only be called raw racism is running as a candidate for a major American party says everything. That the GOP shows no similar curiosity about the Koch Bros. dad who actually worked for Stalin tells how politically ugly the times are.
39
Any man who abandons his children and the mother of his children does not deserve to be called a man.
14
What a lovely, interesting story!
2
I wish we could thank Barack Senior for coming together with Ann Dunham and gifting America with our 44th president, who has blessed us all.
215
Why does a serial lying polygamist who abandoned his son deserve thanks? Thank Ann Dunham and her parents.
22
Polygamy, and here more appropriately does not always mean bad, may not work for you.
Also, we celebrate this in the U.S. by giving air time to shows like "Sister Wives".
Also, we celebrate this in the U.S. by giving air time to shows like "Sister Wives".
Isn't a person, even a President , allowed to explore his relationship with his father when he wants to and not in the NYT's timeframe? Shouldn't the Shomberg Center surmise when the President doesn't respond to its overtures that he doesn't wish to do so at this time? Are we tone deaf as well given tomorrow is Father's Day? Why not examine Trump or Clinton or Sanders' relationships with their fathers? I think President Obama has enough issues/situations with which to grapple as well as plenty of time post-presidency to choose his own areas of exploration.
452
Well said. I completely agree with this point. This feels very intrusive.
20
I think the President's lack of urgency on this speaks volumes. Shaquille O'Neal faced with a similar situation focused on the stepfather who changed his life and the mother who loved him. Early on in his adulthood he wrote a poignant rap song "Biological Didn't Bother" that summed up his feelings about his absent father and those related by blood or not who were part of his life and struggles. The song is dedicated to Shaq's stepfather, Phillip A. Harrison."Biological didn't bother" is a powerful phrase.
86
I can only imagine that there's a place in the President's heart which is yet empty. But the son was somehow able to overcome this void and rise to the heights. What an amazing accomplishment.
215
The existence of Barack Hussein Obama Sr's letters is of interest to the world because of his son, but that gives you no right to advertise or comment on the fact that the President - who has had a bit on his plate these last 8 years - has not visited or examined the archive.
As a librarian I object to the idea that an archive or a library would make public a reader's choices - or a reader's choice to decline or postpone reading. According the the American Library Association, "Confidentiality of library records is a core value of librarianship."
Surely this is a personal matter. It is not just in poor taste. It is unethical to make a headline out of what should be an entirely private event. Bad judgement on the part of both the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem and The New York Times.
As a librarian I object to the idea that an archive or a library would make public a reader's choices - or a reader's choice to decline or postpone reading. According the the American Library Association, "Confidentiality of library records is a core value of librarianship."
Surely this is a personal matter. It is not just in poor taste. It is unethical to make a headline out of what should be an entirely private event. Bad judgement on the part of both the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem and The New York Times.
859
thank you, AJ Whitt. my sentiments exactly.
9
As another librarian, I couldn't agree more.
18
Yes, I completely agree. This embarasses the president and his family. The NYT should withdraw this article immediately and apologize to the president.
19
Excellent reporting, NYT. I have always wondered about the objective details of Obama's father. Now I would like to read objective details about Obama's mother and grandparents, who apparently reared him.
"Nature v nurture" is always in play when trying to discern why a person is who he is. President Obama portrays an enigmatic facade. To see actual documentation of his upbringing or lack thereof by his namesake helps to understand the shield the President presents to the American public.
"Nature v nurture" is always in play when trying to discern why a person is who he is. President Obama portrays an enigmatic facade. To see actual documentation of his upbringing or lack thereof by his namesake helps to understand the shield the President presents to the American public.
14
There's been a whole lot written about Obama's upbringing and his mother. You just haven't looked for it. Along with his own writing there is also a full biography of his mother which can give you a pretty detailed portrait of Obama's life as a child.
14
Interesting story that reminds us that relationships with fathers are rarely like those depicted on greeting cards, or those sanitized memories shared on Facebook.
40
Dreams of a father, a mother, and their son.
One passed on his brilliance, and the other her compassion, love and kindness, so that the son became the sum of the two.
One passed on his brilliance, and the other her compassion, love and kindness, so that the son became the sum of the two.
90
Arguably greater than the sum of the two, given his amazing accomplishments and demeanor while doing one of the hardest jobs on earth.
13
What sexist claptrap. The mother was pretty brilliant herself and she pursued her own goals despite raising him without his father present.
26
"One passed on his brilliance, and the other her compassion, love and kindness, so that the son became the sum of the two." - so the brilliance came only from the father? That's a sexist statement. Also let's not forget that it was his mother who got a PhD and not his father.
27
This is such a touching and personal story about President and his father. I don't blame him for wanting to wait to read the letters until after he leaves office. The fact that he requests and reads them will inevitably be a public event and lead to a flurry of questions about how they make him feel. whether he has plans to visit his surviving family members in Kenya again to reminisce about his father, how his mother's surviving family feel about his father's two marriages, the dissolution of his marriage with the Mr. Obama's mother, and so forth and so on. He knows where the letters are, in a safe and climate-controlled location. He has wisely chosen to leave the whole exploration for after he leaves office. Why would the Times criticize him for that?
111
reply to Ellie: How is this story *personal*? President Obama did not have a hand in this story as published or contribute anything specifically to this reporter.
1
Many people likely do not relate to the particular struggle of President Obama's family and his father but it is truly another verse in Paul Simon's song, American Tune and another chapter in the American story. More than any country, the U.S. is the center of gravity for much of the world's people, drawing immigrants from all cultures. Many do not understand that America's strength comes from its cultural diversity, always has, always will.
48
President Obama is entitled to deal with the legacy of his father in his own way. Many, many people in the US grew up with absent fathers. The rest of us aren't expected to publically struggle with our feelings of loss. The president wrote of his pain in his book, and that should be enough. If he never looks at the writings of Obama, Sr., so be it. It is a deeply personal decision, and it not for others to judge.
1281
I'll judge what I want, regardless if I have your "permission", thank you.
5
"MsPea", may I add my recommendation to the hundreds you are collecting, and a heartfelt Thank You for saying most beautifully what was on my mind. Whether friend or foe, I join "MsPea" in asking that everyone get off this President's back. Family is not for our viewing pleasure, nor for our "Gawking".
7
The problem the President has is that he chose to be in the spotlight. You take the good with the bad when you take your choice.
1
Incredible story. I doubt we will see another president rise from such roots considering the current state of affairs and entrenched plutocracy that finances the political sphere. Barack Obama will be missed.
145
What a sad story for one of our better Presidents! What a wonderful story of the President's capacity to succeed in the face of this and ofthe place we can access within ourselves that enables success. I was extremely touched.
38
It will be worth it for the President to see these, and wisely after he leaves office. Not for any such inherent value of doing so at that particular time, but for the idea that it removes the burden of these papers being yet another political Rorschach test for armchair psychologist pundits.
18
Now, both mother and father belong to the ages. It is not uncaring to consider the heritage -- the good, the bad and the ugly -- of a son who suffered abandonment by his father, and yet became a President for all time.
President Obama continues to teach us grace, determination and love by example every day.
He will be missed, and he will be remembered with respect and pride.
President Obama continues to teach us grace, determination and love by example every day.
He will be missed, and he will be remembered with respect and pride.
226
Unfortunately I don't think he's going too far. How much do you want to bet he's going to stay in the public like no past president has done before?
These are different times we are in.
These are different times we are in.
1. The President has the future of this country to think about before he delves back into the past. He already spent quite a lot of effort linking back with his father when he wrote the book focusing on him when he was in his 30s. The article seems to forget that.
2. His father had 8 children and married 4 times and died at 46. He was present in his conscious life for only a month. Jr. was not a high priority to Sr. as evidenced by his actions. Sr. abandoned kids along the way in his life. Sr. was a bit too ambitious in other matters to take care of these kids.
2. His father had 8 children and married 4 times and died at 46. He was present in his conscious life for only a month. Jr. was not a high priority to Sr. as evidenced by his actions. Sr. abandoned kids along the way in his life. Sr. was a bit too ambitious in other matters to take care of these kids.
33
Both junior and senior show us the true portrait of a self-made man. Both did not have relatives who would shower them with money. Although senior was probably equally as brilliant as junior, at the end, our fates rest on our character. Unfortunately for senior, he did not share junior's optimism and capacity for adversities. Senior did not live up to his capacity. His son, nevertheless, has ascended to the highest peek despite of similar degree of adversities due his character and capacity to deal with adversities. Junior's presidency has been met with more ugly rumors and uncalled for attacks- almost more than any other presidents- because of his skin color. Yet 8 years later, he has not wavered and is about to finish a very fruitful journal as one of the better presidents in our history.
125
Thank you, Kenya and Africa, for helping Make America Great Again.
Without you, we never would have had one of America's finest Presidents....Barack Hussein Obama.
Without you, we never would have had one of America's finest Presidents....Barack Hussein Obama.
422
I'm an admirer of our President and find this article very intrusive and excessively gossipy in its tone. Throughout his presidency, under often trying conditions President Obama has handled himself with great grace and patience. It's a shame that the NYT cannot reciprocate.
724
The relevance of this piece is lost on me as well. How about some respect for the way Obama has embraced his role as !st father of two amazingly young women. And congratulations to his mother who believed in her son and aided him to be the remarkable man he is today.
302
I too am an admirer of our president, to the point of considering him the best man to hold the job in my lifetime.
I, in no way find this story intrusive and doubt the president would either. He knew what he was getting into when he ran for president and of course the press is going to pursue significant personal stories about such an important public figure.
This isn't sneaking around to find out if a politician is committing adultery or some shameful personal secret, and I found it a sensitive and deeply moving article.
I, in no way find this story intrusive and doubt the president would either. He knew what he was getting into when he ran for president and of course the press is going to pursue significant personal stories about such an important public figure.
This isn't sneaking around to find out if a politician is committing adultery or some shameful personal secret, and I found it a sensitive and deeply moving article.
11
The article is intrusive because libraries are obliged to keep private what people are reading or not.
22