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How I Obtained President Bill Clinton’s Personal Greetings and Autograph
by Tove Myhr
I am a Norwegian autograph collector and I have been collecting autographs for two periods. I started as a 13- year-old girl in 1963, and I collected between 1963 and 1970. From 1970 to 1993 I did not collect anything, but in 1993 I again started. My collection includes about 3200 autographs from present and former Heads of State and government and other important world leaders.
Some leaders are more difficult to receive original autographs from than others. President Bill Clinton is among the most "difficult" Heads of State. When he was President I tried very hard to get his original autograph, but all I got were autopenned autographs or facsimiles of his autograph. To receive an original autograph from a United States President is almost impossible during his period in the White House. The only President who sent me an original autograph from the White House, is George W. Bush. He forwarded me a personally dedicated SP in 2002.
In 2004, former President Bill Clinton visited Norway. He was welcomed by Norwegian Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik at the Prime Minister’s Office in Oslo. I sent a photo of Clinton and Bondevik together to Prime Minister Bondevik and asked him to sign it. The photo is taken when President Clinton left the Prime Minister's Office. Mr. Bondevik signed it and added a personal dedication in Norwegian: To Tove Myhr, with best regards from Kjell Magne Bondevik. Two times I sent the SP to Clinton and asked for his personal autograph as well, but both times I received a letter from his office telling me that it was not possible for the former President to sign it because of hundreds of similar requests. 
In August 2007 I got an idea! I sent the photo to (now) former Prime Minister Bondevik and asked him if he could help me and send the photo to President Clinton. I asked Bondevik if he could write a few words to Clinton and ask him to add his autograph on the photo. In October 2007 I received a handwritten letter from Mr. Bondevik. He wrote that he had been in Now York the week before at President Clinton’s big conference, and that he taken the photo with him to present it to President Clinton. But there was no opportunity to ask Clinton to sign the photo, as Bondevik wrote. He also wrote that he was supposed to meet Clinton again in Madrid in November, and he would bring the photo with him and ask Clinton then to sign it during the conference there.
At the end of November I received another handwritten letter from Mr. Bondevik. Together with the letter the envelope contained the photo - now signed by President Clinton! Mr. Bondevik wrote that he had a chat with President Clinton during the conference, and that Mr. Clinton had signed the photo. So I am a very proud and happy owner of a Bill Clinton original autograph.
The final text on the photo: To Tove Myhr, with best regards from Kjell Magne Bondevik (in Norwegian).
President Clinton had added: - and his friend Bill Clinton.
I think it was very kind of Mr. Bondevik to put so much effort in helping me with the Clinton autograph, and I very grateful that he helped me. His handwritten letters also have an important place in my collection of world leaders.
Some 400 of the autographs in my collection can be seen on my public gallery on the internet: http://groups.msn.com/Statslederesautografer/tovesalbum.msnw .JPG)
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Autograph Article 
