Presidents have a tradition of leaving notes for each other as they pass the baton to the next leader of the free world, author Brad Meltzer tells
Newsmax TV. Meltzer learned of the tradition when researching his new thriller
"The President's Shadow."
President Ronald Reagan, when leaving the White House in 1989, wrote to George H.W. Bush, "Don't let the turkeys get you down," and slid it into the Oval Office desk.
Bush, in turn, left a note for Bill Clinton, who left a note for George W. Bush, who left a note for Barack Obama.
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"It's the greatest hidden tradition of the modern presidency," Meltzer told "Newsmax Prime."
Meltzer said that during his research he asked former President George H.W. Bush if the messages were ever used to send coded information.
"The email comes back to me and it says, 'The president wants you to have this.' I don't know what it is, and I open it up, and President Bush had sent me the real letter that he left for Bill Clinton. No one had ever seen it before publicly, in fact, his own biographers were like, why didn't you give this to me?"
Meltzer said he checked for Freemason or other codes, but found none. "But it was just a generous, amazing letter that again spoke to humanity."
Meltzer wrote in the New York Post on Sunday that he also learned from the Secret Service that
Reagan packed a pistol while president. He told Newsmax that no one knows whether he started carrying the the gun after the assassination attempt on him or if he had carried it from the day he was sworn in.
"The reason for that is because he said that if anyone else comes to shoot him, he wants to be ready," Meltzer said.
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