Obama’s love letters to college girlfriend made public

New York : Letters written by former U.S. President Barack Obama in 1980s to his college girlfriend were made public yesterday by a private research university, revealing a young man grappling with his place in the world. 

The nine full letters, sent by young Obama to Alexandra McNear, are now part of the collection of the Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives and Rare Book Library at Emory University in metropolitan Atlanta, the southeastern U.S. state of Georgia, according to an article titled “Love, Barack” by Laura Douglas-Brown, posted Thursday on the Emory’s website. 

The 30 pages of letters are available to scholars and students by appointment, and there will be an opportunity to view facsimiles of the letters on Friday, from 2pm to 4pm in the Woodruff Commons of the Rose Library, it said. 

Beautifully composed, the letters “reveal the search of a young man for meaning and identity,” Rosemary Magee, Rose Library director was quoted as saying. “While intimate in a philosophical way, they reflect primarily a college student coming to terms with himself and others.”

“In fact, they show the same kind of yearnings and issues that our own students face - and that students everywhere encounter,” Magee said. “Thus they will serve as sources of both inspiration and reassurance to people of all ages and backgrounds.”