"it will be strange indeed" if his race doesn't become motivated by his address. Pres. Cleveland is revealing some sort of underlying doubt.

Washington follows the letter by writing of his admiration for him. But personally, i sensed doubt in the president's tone. prob was scared

I agree that the letter was very awkward. I don't think that the Pres. knew how to react or to handle the situation I guess..

Yeah, it seemed that the president was unsure of how to regard an African-American man of such influence

And even after The pres responded to washington with a weird vibe, Washington was more than thrilled to hear back from him. shows what kind

of dude washington was!!!! he maintained a positive attitude throughout his entire cause to better the slavery situation.