The Legacy is a mystery short story by Isaac Asimov.
Part of the Union Club series, it was first published in the April 1988 issue of Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine.
Summary[]
In the Union Club, a discussion about stories involving long-lost heirs prompts Griswold to recount a case from 1977 concerning the will of a wealthy, popular writer. The writer bequeathed $10,000 each to one hundred people, critics and readers, who had written something kind about his work. The lawyer executing the will, Lewis Rothstein, successfully located ninety-nine of the beneficiaries. The hundredth, identified only as "John Anderson of Washington, D.C.," proved difficult to find.
After Rothstein placed an advertisement, only one man, John Anderson, came forward. He presented documentation proving his identity and residence in Washington. He claimed to have written the fan letter during the Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962, stating a book by the author had helped him through that tense period. To verify his story, Rothstein asked Griswold to sit in on the final interview. Anderson was personable and his account was plausible, except for one detail: he mentioned having voted for John F. Kennedy in the 1960 presidential election.
Griswold immediately identified this as a critical error. The Twenty-third Amendment, which granted residents of Washington, D.C. the right to vote in presidential elections, was not ratified until 1961. The first election in which Washingtonians could vote was 1964. Therefore, no resident of Washington, D.C. could have voted for Kennedy in 1960. Anderson's claim to have been a Washington resident since 1957 while also claiming to have voted in 1960 was impossible. Based on this factual inconsistency, Griswold advised Rothstein that the claimant was an imposter. The legacy was not paid, and the money was distributed to charities as directed by the will.
Characters[]
- Griswold
- Club Member (the narrator)
- Baranov
- Jennings
- Lewis Rothstein
- John Anderson
- Smith
Historical Figures Mentioned[]
- John F. Kennedy
- Richard Nixon
- Lyndon B. Johnson
- Barry Goldwater
- Dwight D. Eisenhower
See Also[]
List of short stories by Isaac Asimov