The True Story of Little Casper and Alfonse

By Larry Cohen c. 2026

A long-time friend of mine who lives and works in Washington, DC, told me this story. I cannot testify to its veracity, but my friend claims it to be true. I will relate the story as was told to me for my readers to decide.

One day, a staff member to the Secretary of Defense under President Ronald Reagan, Casper Weinberger (1917-2006), received a handwritten letter from a youngster in which the young boy said his name was Casper, too, and that he was constantly being picked on about his name. The other kids would call him Casper the Ghost among other funny names. So, in his letter, he asked the Secretary how he felt having a name like Casper.

When the staffer showed the letter to the Secretary, Weinberger carefully crafted a thoughtful note back to the young boy, writing that it wasn’t the name that makes a person, but the person makes the name.

Coincidentally, that very same week, the U.S. Senator from New York, Sen. Alfonse “Al” D’Amato (1937- ), received a similar letter, in the same childlike handwriting, asking the same questions about the name Alfonse, and how the Senator felt having a name like that. In the letter, the youngster claimed that he was getting picked on for having a name like Alfonse

None of this would have come to light but the two staffers from the Senator’s office and the Sec. of Defense’s office were having lunch together when one mentioned getting a letter as the above. Then, the other staffer said that they, too, had received a very similar letter.

Well, that was too coincidental to be just that, a coincidence. The gig was up. It turns out that a newspaper reporter was behind both “aren’t you ashamed of that name” letters. I don’t think they ever found out who penned those letters, but what are the odds that two staffers from two different offices would be having lunch and happen to talk about a kid’s letter? I wouldn’t have taken that bet, and probably the newspaper reporter who wrote those letters wouldn’t have taken the bet either.