Pikeville Man Exchanges Letters With President Obama

The President of the United States corresponds with international leaders and political figures everyday but how about with a man from the Tennessee Valley? Well that's exactly what happened recently.

A special letter landed on President Obama's desk shortly after his Inauguration. Michael Powers signed the letter and mailed it from Pikeville Tennessee with a simple message enclosed.

"If you want to be there for your girls then stop smoking now," Powers reads aloud from the letter.

Powers included a picture of his father who died from lung cancer after smoking three packs of cigarettes a day.

And even though he's kept this picture in his wallet for thirty years, Powers decided the President needed it more then him.

"I heard he smoked and I've seen him with his girls and I said I was twenty five when my father passed away and that was almost thirty years ago," Powers says.

Powers says he didn't expect any response. So when he recently opened a letter from the White House he couldn't believe his eyes.

"Michael, thanks so much for the wonderful letter and the good advice, I am returning the picture since it must be important to you but I will remember your dad's memory, Barack Obama," Powers reads aloud from the return letter.

Powers' letter to the President has sparked national attention. The NY Times wrote an article on the letter, Inside Edition came to Chattanooga to interview him and a number of newspapers across the country have done stories on Powers. But he says he really knew he'd hit his fifteen minutes of fame when a reporter from Chicago contacted him and told him he wanted his story.

"He wanted my number he wanted my number he wanted to give me five thousand dollars for this and I said this was a correspondence between me and the President and it's about my dad and it's not for sale," Powers says

Instead Powers has decided to share his story for free after smoking cost his father his life.

"And how do you get a point across to somebody but send him a picture of somebody who died from smoking," Powers says.

Powers says that he hopes his letter will inspire both the President and every smoker who wants to enjoy a long lifetime with their family.