Continue the 60-year tradition of having Charles Brotman as the Inaugural Announcer.
Continue the 60-year tradition of having Charles Brotman as the Inaugural Announcer.
The Issue
89-year-old Charles Brotman has been the voice of every presidential inaugural parade since Dwight D. Eisenhower was inaugurated for his second term in 1957.
He has been known as "the eyes and the ears of the president" for 11 presidents, and 16 inaugural parades, and was once known as the voice of the Washington Senators baseball team, and various other Washington D.C. sports teams. After his wife's recent death, Charles saw the inauguration as a "welcome" distraction from his grief, and "would have rather worried about the president and the president's parade than be unhappy with what has just recently happened". He has taken pride in this volunteer job for 60 years, and does a great job at it.
But THIS year, just weeks after Mr. Brotman's wife's death, President-elect Donald Trump's team has decided to end Brotman's tenure for 2017, and, instead, replace him with Steve Ray, a freelance radio announcer, and Trump supporter. To add insult to injury, this devastating termination of 60 years of tradition was communicated to Mr. Brotman via email. When he read this email, he was "heartbroken" and "destroyed". In his words, "I felt like Muhammad Ali had hit me in the stomach."
While the country is solidly divided on our support for Donald Trump, it seems very clear that those who voted for him did so because they wanted to shake up the system, and change things for the better... but I am pretty sure that this is not the kind of change those who voted for Donald Trump were looking for.
When things are broken, sometimes it is necessary to shake things up and make drastic changes to improve them... but changing things that are going well just for the sake of change is counterproductive. This kind gentleman has taken pride in serving our country in this volunteer role for the past 60 years, and has done a great job doing it.
DONALD J. TRUMP, we respectfully ask you to please honor this man's long-time service to our country, and this great American custom, and re-instate Charles Brotman to his rightful place as the announcer for the presidential inaugural parade. I'm sure there are other ways to thank Steven Ray for his support, and he will understand.
NY Daily News Article
CNN Article and Interview Video
MSNBC Coverage with Interview
The Issue
89-year-old Charles Brotman has been the voice of every presidential inaugural parade since Dwight D. Eisenhower was inaugurated for his second term in 1957.
He has been known as "the eyes and the ears of the president" for 11 presidents, and 16 inaugural parades, and was once known as the voice of the Washington Senators baseball team, and various other Washington D.C. sports teams. After his wife's recent death, Charles saw the inauguration as a "welcome" distraction from his grief, and "would have rather worried about the president and the president's parade than be unhappy with what has just recently happened". He has taken pride in this volunteer job for 60 years, and does a great job at it.
But THIS year, just weeks after Mr. Brotman's wife's death, President-elect Donald Trump's team has decided to end Brotman's tenure for 2017, and, instead, replace him with Steve Ray, a freelance radio announcer, and Trump supporter. To add insult to injury, this devastating termination of 60 years of tradition was communicated to Mr. Brotman via email. When he read this email, he was "heartbroken" and "destroyed". In his words, "I felt like Muhammad Ali had hit me in the stomach."
While the country is solidly divided on our support for Donald Trump, it seems very clear that those who voted for him did so because they wanted to shake up the system, and change things for the better... but I am pretty sure that this is not the kind of change those who voted for Donald Trump were looking for.
When things are broken, sometimes it is necessary to shake things up and make drastic changes to improve them... but changing things that are going well just for the sake of change is counterproductive. This kind gentleman has taken pride in serving our country in this volunteer role for the past 60 years, and has done a great job doing it.
DONALD J. TRUMP, we respectfully ask you to please honor this man's long-time service to our country, and this great American custom, and re-instate Charles Brotman to his rightful place as the announcer for the presidential inaugural parade. I'm sure there are other ways to thank Steven Ray for his support, and he will understand.
NY Daily News Article
CNN Article and Interview Video
MSNBC Coverage with Interview
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Petition created on January 10, 2017