Read JFK's 1961 letter to a little girl promising that the Soviets won't stop Santa Claus

Read JFK's 1961 letter to a little girl promising that the Soviets won't stop Santa Claus
(Image credit: Central Press/Getty Images)

’Tis the season…for thermonuclear conflict?

Such was the concern of one 8-year-old Michelle Rochon in 1961; she wrote a letter to President John F. Kennedy asking if Soviet nuclear tests at the North Pole would disrupt Santa Claus' schedule for Christmas deliveries.

Fear not, JFK responded, saying that while he was concerned, too, he had talked to Santa only a day before, and the jolly fat man would be making his usual rounds. You can "watch" the letter in this neat reproduction by the Kennedy Presidential Library, below. --Sarah Eberspacher

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Sarah Eberspacher is an associate editor at TheWeek.com. She has previously worked as a sports reporter at The Livingston County Daily Press & Argus and The Arizona Republic. She graduated from Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism.