AMARILLO, Texas-Richard C. Corbyn certainly wasn't shy about asking. The worst they can do is tell you no.
The Amarillo Globe-News reports Eric, his son, has walls full of what happens when you ask at his store, Corbyn's Clothiers.
At age 25 in 1939, seeing the threat of Nazi Germany in World War II and not believing the United States would enter the war, Richard Corbyn wrote to officials in Great Britain to see if they would accept him into the British Army. Alas, he was denied because he was not a
British citizen.
But darned if he didn't get a
nice rejection letter-"I assume
that you are of American nationality and, therefore, I fear there is nothing I can do as British nationality is a prerequisite for all candidates for commissions."
The letter on stationery is framed, neatly typed and signed by
some fellow named Churchill.
At the time Winston Churchill was First Lord of the Admiralty in Great Britain. But a year later, he became Prime Minister, one of the most famous men of the 20th
century.
"Dad tried to get a Churchill
autograph with one of his famous sayings a thousand times and
never could do it," Corbyn
said.
Oh, but there are others who did: There are two autographs of Gen. Douglas MacArthur, who also wrote, "I Shall Return," and "In War, There Is No Substitute For Victory." General Anthony McAuliffe added the noteworthy word, "Nuts!," a famous replay in World War II when the Germans asked if he would surrender in the Battle of the
Bulge.
Among Hollywood elite, Mae West signed her name with the "Come Up And See Me Some Time." Clint Eastwood? What else, "Go Ahead, Make My Day." James Stewart just had a simple, "To Rick Corbyn, Best Regards, James
Stewart."
There's two John Wayne autographs, one that includes the
note: "I believe government is a necessary evil-bureaucracies
proven evil and failures when just measured for performance"-John Wayne."
In and around his Civic Circle
store are personalized letters from Gen. Dwight Eisenhower in
1952, Lyndon Johnson when he
was a Texas senator in 1959, a chatty letter from Lord Mountbatten, and Harry Truman signing his father's military training
certificate.
"But back here's my pride and joy," Eric said.
And it says something about what's at the back of the store when a framed letter written in Japaense in 1963 from Kohei Hanami, commander of a Japanese destroyer, explains how his ship sunk John Kennedy's PT-109 boat, is only the second most famous document on the
wall.
Next to it is a large framed photo-stat document, as they all are. The real ones are in a safe deposit box in a bank. This one is the only known document with 13 presidential signatures. The Guinness Book of World Records documents it
as such.
It's a letter, dated in October 1932, from Franklin Roosevelt, at the time just a few weeks from winning the presidential election. He's writing to his Eric's father, who at age 18 had earlier had written Roosevelt asking if it were true that he would campaign near Williams, Arizona, where he was staying.
"My Dear Richard:
"I have just returned from my second campaign trip, so that I have only a moment to answer your nice letter sent to me at Williams,
Arizona."
He ends with "Very Sincerely Yours, Franklin D. Roosevelt."
Corbyn, later a Major in the
Korean War, was busy with other things, but about 30 years later, he decided this valuable letter could be much more valuable if he could get other presidents to
sign.
"How he could find some of their addresses, I don't know," Eric said, "but he was amazing."
He mailed the letter, asking former or current presidents to sign and date it. Eisenhower signed in 1962-on the famous Dec. 7. In 1963, it was the mother lode-Truman, current president Johnson, and Herbert
Hoover.
"And that was pretty nice for Hoover to do it because he hated Roosevelt," Corbyn
said.
The request for Kennedy was stopped by the assassination. It was 12 years later before he got the next one. Gerald Ford signed when he was president in
1975.
"My dad thought he would never get the letter back from Ford," Corbyn said. "He'd call, 'Where's my letter?' Finally, about two months later, he got it."
Carter signed as president-elect in 1976. Nixon signed in 1978. Reagan, as president-elect, in
1980.
Corbyn, whose dad died at age 99 in 2014, took over for his father for George Bush in 1988. Both Bushes-George W. in 2002, and Bill Clinton in 1993 signed as
president.
"I tried for seven years to get Obama-and never heard a word," Corbyn said. "Not one single answer."
Then when Congressman Mac Thornberry became chairman of the Armed Services committee, Josh Martin, his chief of staff, was able to finagle the letter and Corbyn to meet Robert Marcus, special assistant to Barack Obama. Through him, he was able to get No. 44's signature on Nov. 12, 2015.
Most of the letters come with another letter that's a verification of signature. Now comes the next. Eric, 71, has the letter waiting for Donald Trump, possibly to sign this
summer.
"I hope to do in the Oval Office or somewhere in the White House," he said. "That would be neat. Maybe he'll write, 'Make America Great Again.'"
Hey, like his dad, all he can do is ask.