Inspiring Legacy: David and Carmen Kreeger's Journey to Philanthropy

There were other tasks of great importance that required David’s unique writing and editorial skills. Readers familiar with editorial notation know that the term stet means to ignore a correction and return to the use of the original words. In the following anecdote, David’s editorial chutzpah struck again:

One of my assignments was to draft a Federal Torts Claims bill in 1941 to end the traditional immunity of the federal government from damage suits for the negligence of its employees. I was also asked to draft a one-page message for President Roosevelt to accompany the bill when it was introduced in Congress. After familiarizing myself with FDR’s style by reading dozens of his messages to Congress, I prepared a draft summarizing the bill and the reasons for its enactment that I felt was completely in character. I was quite pleased when it was returned with only three changes interlined by FDR in his own handwriting. Two of them I agreed were an improvement on the original, but I disagreed with the third. I had the temerity to draw a line through that change and wrote “stet” alongside my original phrase that FDR had crossed out. It was promptly returned to me with my “stet” firmly crossed out and a larger “STET” in capital letters written alongside FDR’s own words, which I had so presumptuously deleted. I learned then not to tinker with the presidential language.