CORBIN, Ky. (FOX 56) — The 11-year-old Reed Elliotte spends a lot of time doing research in his Presidential Museum and Library. It’s really his bedroom, but good luck finding the bed.Every nook and cranny of his room is taken up with presidential memorabilia, bobbleheads, blankets, plates, and posters. The fifth-grader is a walking encyclopedia of White House wisdom.
Ask him to cite some odd facts about presidents, and he’ll tell you, “William Taft got stuck in the bathtub, John Quincy Adams swam naked in the Potomac River, and Warren Harding had the longest feet in presidential history.”
Reed became captivated with presidents in 2018 when he watched news coverage of the death of George H.W. Bush.His mother, Larrietta Reed, said, “Something clicked in him and he became immediately obsessed.”
She posted a picture of Reed saluting the TV during Bush’s funeral procession, it got widely shared, and he became known as “The Kid Who Loves Presidents.” All politicians, really.
“I’ve met Jimmy Carter, Mike Pence, Mitch McConnell, Matt Bevin, Andy Beshear, and so many more,” he said.
Reed is photographed with the politicians he meets wearing a red, white, and blue, stars-and-stripes suit.
“This is the second one because I outgrew the other one,” he laughs.
You don’t get into a trivia match with him. FOX 56 anchor Marvin Bartlett tried to stump him with a quiz, but Reed knew all the answers.
Marvin: “Who was the first president to appear on TV?”Reed: “Franklin Roosevelt.”Marvin: “When was Alexander Hamilton president?”Reed: “He wasn’t president.”
Reed: “Which president’s father was a blacksmith?”Marvin: “Abe Lincoln.”Reed: “No, Herbert Hoover.”
To see this bright kid today, you’d never know of the dark days in his past. A complicated birth damaged his kidneys, and he had a transplant at age two. His dad, Bill Elliotte, was the donor. Then, Reede had two bouts of cancer, spending three months in the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital for chemo treatments. He’s in remission now.
“I just trust the Lord to help me,” he said.
His family is delighted that he has a presidential fascination to keep him focused on the future.
“I have joked for several years that I have had to give up my beach trips for presidential trips, but they’ve been some of the best family vacations we’ve had,” his mother said. They’ve been to several Presidential Libraries, The White House, and Mount Rushmore. They even attended church with Jimmy Carter in Plains, Georgia.
Reed has other obsessions, too, such as a love for country music and Loretta Lynn, whom he says he’d marry in an instant. The age difference is of no concern to him.
What does he want to be when he grows up? President, of course, in 2048, the first time he would be eligible to run.
“I just want to get Democrats and Republicans to get together and come united as a nation,” he said. “We’re just divided and that disappoints me.”
A lot of people have already told Reed he has their support when the time comes which is music to his ears.Until then, he’ll keep Biden his time and thinkin’ like Lincoln.