John Kasich announced his campaign for president in July of last summer, but the Ohio Governor’s real run for the oval office began in 1970, with a letter to then-president Richard Nixon. “I was a first-quarter, 18 year-old freshman at Ohio State, and I wrote a letter to the president, basically inviting myself to the White House,” Kasich said in an interview with Boston Public Radio on Wednesday.
“I would immediately pass up a Rose Bowl trip to see you. My parents would permit me to fly down and see you anytime and I know my grades wouldn’t suffer,” the letter reads. “I know how busy you are and this is probably a ridiculous request but to me it would be a dream come true.”
The next day, Nixon wrote back, “I would be happy to have the opportunity to welcome you to the White House at some time in the not too distant future, and I have asked that someone on my staff get in touch with you to make the various arrangements necessary.”
“I went down and spent 20 minutes in the Oval Office,” Kasich said. “That’s the good news. The bad news is, I spent 18 years in Congress, and if you add up all the time I spent in the Oval Office, I peaked out at the age of 18 and should have gone into radio with you guys.”
To hear more from Governor Kasich’s interview with Boston Public Radio, click on the audio link above.
