A Donegal businessman said he is still in shock after receiving a personal letter from US President Barack Obama.
James Richard Arnold, who runs a recruitment firm in Letterkenny, wrote to the American President asking him to use his powerful position to encourage smaller nations.
James offered his thoughts to President Obama and then offered his wife Michelle and the couple’s two daughters best wishes.
He also wrote he hoped the US President had enjoyed his recent trip to Ireland.
James said he never expected a response but was delighted when he received a letter back from President Obama on official White House headed notepaper.
“I wrote to the President on the subject of Encouragement of small nations and how the American presidency affects all of us in psychological terms and attitudes!
“Sometimes all little nations around the world need is a word of encouragement – a good word to bring them up from depression or even despair or isolation to a sense of belonging.
“It was a brief concise letter about good leadership and commitment to a world of high values affecting humanity.
“I did not imagine I would receive a personal response from the President – I never expected it but I did,” revealed James.
In his letter President Obama said he was touched by James’ kind words and that he appreciated “our shared values.”
“I believe we all have the power to make the world we seek. Our diversity and differences, when joined together by a common set of ideals, make us stronger. If we hold firm to our principles and back our beliefs with courage and resolve, then hope will overcome fear, and freedom will continue to triumph over tyranny—because that is what forever stirs in the human heart,” wrote President Obama in his letter.