Elementary, Mr. President

Joanne Freeman: And now the Back Story Players present The Strange Case of the Famous Detective and his Unlikely Admirer.

Brian Balogh: It was a chilly July evening, as the wind whistled down Baker Street, rattling the shudders at 221-B, and groaning around our chimney pots. My friend lay deep in thought on the couch, his eyes half closed, when suddenly from the street, we heard the sound of vehicles screeching to a halt.

Joanne Freeman: Oh, my goodness! Mr. Holmes! Mr. Holmes!

Ed Ayers: Now, listen, Watson. If I am not very much mistaken, our redoubtable landlady Mrs. Hudson is about to tell us about the arrival of a convoy of heavily armored vehicles at the door of our bachelor digs.

Joanne Freeman: Some burly men are at the door! They say they’re from the secret service, but they’re making quite a racket!

Ed Ayers: Is there anything you noticed about their vehicle, Mrs. Hudson?

Joanne Freeman: Well, yes, it’s marked with a seal.

Brian Balogh: Not that kind of seal.

Joanne Freeman: Well, round it is, with an eagle on it. And they gave me this note.

Brian Balogh: What does it say, Holmes?

Ed Ayers: As it happens, Watson, a great deal. The paper is fine as vellum, the color a distinctive off-white, the seal unmistakable. This letter has come from the desk of the President of the United States, and if I’m not mistaken, it is a sign that the resident of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue has an unlikely enthusiasm for the resident of 221-B Baker Street.

Brian Balogh: You mean …

Ed Ayers: I mean that the President of the United States is an admirer of my work!

Brian Balogh: How did you work that out, Holmes?

Ed Ayers: Elementary, my dear Balogh.

Brian Balogh: Terry Hunt is a member of the Baker Street Irregulars, one of America’s most exclusive literary societies devoted to the study of Sherlock Holmes.
“221-B. Here dwelled together still two men of note, who never lived and so can never die. How very near they seem, yet how remote, that age before the world went all awry. But still, the game’s afoot for those with ears attuned to catch the distant view halloo. England is England yet for all our fears. Only those things the heart believes are true.
“A yellow fog swirls past the windowpane as night descends upon this fabled street. A lonely handsome splashes through the rain. The ghostly gas lamps fail at 20 feet. Here, though the world explode, these two survive, and it is always 1895.” Vincent Starrett.

Terry Hunt: Vincent Starrett is described in a biography as the last bookman, and he was incredibly knowledgeable in literature. He was an accomplished poet, and also did fiction pieces, did essays, and had a particular interest in Sherlock Holmes, and mysteries. And met Franklin Roosevelt when Starrett was a newspaperman in D.C., about 1914, and they had a shared interest in both Holmes and Franklin Roosevelt’s cigarettes. Starrett would come and strike up a conversation, and bum some cigarettes, and Roosevelt enjoy that, his company, and he even told him at some point if FDR was not in the office, the cigarette case is in the top left drawer of the desk. Help yourself.
Starrett was seminal in the beginning of Holmesian studies. He edited a couple of books of essays about Sherlock that really brought interest in the early 1930s, and even before the initial creation of the Baker Street Irregulars’ organization in 1934.

Brian Balogh: “Constitution, Article One: the name of this society shall be the Baker Street Irregulars.”

Terry Hunt: The Baker Street Irregulars is the earliest Holmesian group in the world. It was started by Christopher Morley in beginning of 1934.

Brian Balogh: “Article Two: Its purpose shall be the study of the sacred writings.”

Terry Hunt: It takes its name from the group of street urchins that Sherlock Holmes utilized to get information for him in London. They could go everywhere, hear everything, see everything, as he put it. So this was the name that Morley adopted for the group.

Brian Balogh: “Article Three: All persons shall be eligible for membership who pass an examination in the sacred writings set by officers of the society, and who are considered otherwise suitable.”

Terry Hunt: It has grown from a group of Holmes aficionados, as he put it in 1934, for men only, and has grown to a large organization. That and the Sherlock Holmes Society of London are the premier groups in the world, and Baker Street Irregulars publish a journal. They have a book publishing arm. They have conferences, and they have an annual gathering in New York around January 6th every year. And January 6th is, by Morley’s figuring, Sherlock Holmes’s birthday.

Brian Balogh: “All other business shall be left for the monthly meeting. There shall be no monthly meeting.”
In 1942, the Baker Street Irregulars’ Edgar Smith wrote to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt to ask him to join the society.
“The White House, Washington. August 5th, 1942. Private.
“Dear Edgar Smith,
“Of course, I shall be delighted to accept membership on [foreign language 00:31:39] in the Baker Street Irregulars. I am glad to have a part in any movement whose purpose is to keep green the memory of Sherlock Holmes.
“Now that I belong to the BSI, I cannot restrain the impulse to tell you that since I have had to give up cruising on the Potomac, I sometimes go off the record on Sundays to an undisclosed retreat. In that spot, the group of little cabins which shelter the Secret Servicemen is known as Baker Street.
“Many thanks for the honor. Very sincerely yours, Franklin D. Roosevelt.
“The White House, Washington. December 18, 1944.
“Dear Buttons,
“Please tell the Baker Street Irregulars how much I wish I could be with them on January 5th. Select indeed will be this assembly of the 40 aficionados, and it would give me a real thrill to be of the number. Gladly do I embrace this opportunity in absentia to send hearty greetings to the Irregulars in whose membership I am honored to be included.
“On further study, I am inclined to revise my former estimate that Holmes was a foundling. Actually, he was born an American, and was brought up by his father, or a foster father, in the underground world, thus learning all the tricks of the trade in the highly developed American art of crime. At an early age, he felt the urge to do something for mankind. He was too well known in top circles in this country, and therefore chose to operate in England. His attributes were primarily American, not English.
“I feel that further study of this postulant will bring good results to history. Very sincerely yours, Franklin D. Roosevelt.”

Terry Hunt: And he had a correspondence that went on ’til his death with Edgar Smith and the Irregulars about Sherlock Holmes, and he enjoyed that, but he did ask that they keep it secret. That it just be known to the members of the Irregulars, because he felt that spending time studying and discussing the Holmes stories might be seen as frivolous, and in fact it was kept secret until his death.

Brian Balogh: “It’s always good to hear of the activities of the Baker Street Irregulars. I am delighted to know that my postulant with reference to Holmes’s criminal background in America brought such heated discussion and debate. It only goes to show that interest in the whole field of Sherlockiana is perennial.”

Terry Hunt: His successor, Harry Truman, also had an interest in Holmes, and was invited an accepted honorary membership. But he didn’t take as active a role as FDR did. He did not write about it partly because when he was asked to send messages for the annual dinners, his secretary wrote that he gets so many of these requests, that as a matter of course, the White House has decided that he will not honor any of them because he can’t do them all.
But Truman did have an interest, and he was an honorary member.

Brian Balogh: And in original research conducted for Back Story, Terry Hunt has discovered that the Sherlock Holmes connection reached to the desk of President Eisenhower.

Terry Hunt: Yes. This is something that I was able to find out through the Eisenhower Library in Abilene, and the Eisenhower farm in Gettysburg, that Ike had an interest in Arthur Conan Doyle. And Arthur’s son Adrian thought very highly of Eisenhower, thought that he was quite knowledgeable about his father, and told him so, and sent Ike a limited edition centenary volume issue that Adrian issued in 1959, and this was a gift.
Well, Ike was seriously interested, and one of the great things that the staff in Abilene took me off to is there is a photograph of Ike as Supreme Commander of NATO, and he is formal in his uniform, he’s seated at his desk, and the one book on his desk is a biography on Arthur Conan Doyle. And, in fact, that is at the Eisenhower farm, and also a copy of the complete Sherlock Holmes.
So Ike, while not a Baker Street Irregular, did continue that interest that presidents had in Holmes.

Brian Balogh: Terry Hunt of the Baker Street Irregulars on Sherlock Holmes’s presidential connections.
That’s going to do it for us today, but you can keep the conversation going online. Let us know what you thought of the episode, or ask us your questions about history. You’ll find us at BackStoryRadio.org, or send an email to Backstory@virginia.edu. We’re also on Facebook and Twitter @backstoryradio. Whatever you do, don’t be a stranger.

Joanne Freeman: This episode of Back Story was produced by David Stenhouse, [Nina Ernest 00:38:09], and [Ramona Martinez 00:38:10]. [Jamal Milner 00:38:11] is our technical director, [Diana Williams 00:38:13] is our digital editor, and [Joey Thompson 00:38:16] is our researcher. Additional help came from [Angelie Bishosh 00:38:20], [Sam Blumstein 00:38:21], [Hannah Cho 00:38:21], [Emma Grigg 00:38:23], and [Gabriel Hunter Chang 00:38:23]. Our theme song was written by [Nick Thorburn 00:38:25]. Other music in this episode came from [Quetsa 00:38:28], [Poddington Bear 00:38:29], and [Jazar 00:38:31]. And, as always, thanks to the Johns Hopkins Studios in Baltimore.

Ed Ayers: Back Story is produced at Virginia Humanities. Major support is provided by an anonymous donor, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Provost Office at the University of Virginia, the Joseph and Robert Cornell Memorial Foundation, and the John Hopkins University.
Additional support is provided by The Tomato Fund, cultivating fresh ideas in the arts, the humanities, and the environment.

David Stenhouse: Brian Balogh is Professor of History at the University of Virginia. Ed Ayers is Professor of the Humanities, and President Emeritus at the University of Richmond. Joanna Freeman is Professor of History and American Studies at Yale University. Nathan Connolly is the Herbert Baxter Adams Associate Professor of History at the Johns Hopkins University. Back Story was created by Andrew Windham for Virginia Humanities.