Clinton Thanks Students for Opening White House Mail

WASHINGTON —  President Clinton shook hands and traded hugs with schoolchildren Saturday to thank them for help with “a great problem for democracy”--opening the White House mail.

Clinton has received more than 3 million pieces of mail since he took office, the President told 832 boisterous students crowded onto the steps of the Old Executive Office Building.

“We’re getting a lot more than anyone ever has,” he said. “By the time we had been here 3 1/2 months, more letters had come to the White House than came to the White House in all of 1992.”

Adult volunteers who were plowing through 40,000 letters a day suggested that students be brought in to help, said Marsha Scott, director of White House correspondence.

The first youngsters were recruited in March, and since then students from the Washington area have sorted and stapled letters on Saturdays. High school students are taking over the duties for the summer.