 Author J.K. Rowling |
President George W. Bush’s administration denied the author of the Harry Potter series the nation’s highest civil award because her popular books “encouraged witchcraft,” a former Bush speechwriter claims.
J.K. Rowling, who penned the best-selling seven-volume series, was out of the running for a Presidential Medal of Freedom, according to Bush speechwriter Matt Latimer’s “Speech-less: Tales of a White House Survivor.”
“This was the same sort of narrow thinking that led people in the White House to actually object to giving the author J.K. Rowling a presidential medal because the Harry Potter books encouraged witchcraft,” Latimer wrote on Page 201 of his new book.
The Presidential Medal of Freedom is awarded to people who have made outstanding contributions to security or national interests of the United States, world peace or culture.
However, in a 2003 interview with the “Today” show published in the George Bush White House archives, first lady Laura Bush said she “really loved” the Harry Potter books.
“I read all the Harry Potter books, all five of them, this summer and it was like finding a great mystery writer and having that whole body of work to read at once,” she said. “I really loved them.”
The series follows an orphan as he and his young wizard friends fight to preserve a magical world. According to the BBC, Rowling’s series has sold more than 400 million copies.
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