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It's not every day the President of the United States writes a letter to the editor of the newspaper. In our case, it's not ever. But we published one today. Here's how it came about.

We asked.

A month ago, city editor Teresa Prout and I were kicking around ideas for our coverage of the 50th anniversary of the Greensboro sit-ins. Actually we had two events we needed to cover: the 50th anniversary and the opening of the International Civil Rights Center & Museum. We talked about assigning new stories, republishing archival stories from 1960, and soliciting essays from participants, historians and citizens.

"Let's ask the president," she said. She says now that she was only half serious. But I took her seriously. We knew that President Obama had referred to the Greensboro sit-ins during the campaign, that he knew what happened here on Feb. 1, 1960, and that it meant something to him.

Plus, we knew that museum organizers were campaigning to get the president here next weekend for the opening. We figured there was decent chance our request might make it to his desk.

We assigned the task to Raleigh reporter Mark Binker, who contacted Sen. Kay Hagan's office to ask them to pass the request to the president. We gave her staff a deadline. (I know he's the president, but newspaper deadlines wait for no one.) Every few days, Mark would inquire about the president's progress. Once he was asked how long the essay could be. Mark said something to the effect of "400 to 500 words, but he's the president of the United States...he could go longer if he wanted to."

We knew we could always cut it.

We published it this morning online and across the top of the front page. It's a fitting way to kick off our coverage of one of the pivotal events in Greensboro's and the nation's history.

And as always, thanks, Mr. President, for taking the time to write.

P.S. In full disclosure, we did edit him. Because of the way he originally worded the seventh paragraph, the timeline was slightly confusing. Editor Penny Wofford noticed it and fixed it.

Update: A Twitter friend asserted that Obama didn't write the letter. I grant you that he probably didn't tap it out on a keyboard or dictate it, although it contains the same sentiment as his references to it in his speeches. It did come from the White House, though.

Update II: I include the original 7th paragraph and explain the reason for the change in the comments.