My Reagan story

[Scott]

Greetings all,
What a wonderful website this is. There are those today who would like to rewrite history, alter the perception of the truth to fit their flawed ideology. CBS, Streisand, Brolin, and all the harbingers of deceit cannot change the reality of what really happened. The truth has a way of surfacing no matter how many hatchet job TV shows CBS or others fabricate. If you are a student I urge you to study this website and the great man it honors. Ronald Reagan cherished truth, understood truth would prevail and this and other websites like it will help make it so. As we would have exclaimed back in the day, " it's Rad" (short for "radical" in the slang of my youth.)
Now that I've dated myself I'll tell you my Reagan Story. The first vote I ever cast, once of age, was proudly for Ronald Reagan. Those who can remember the dark days of Jimmy Carter will understand what I mean when I say Reagan made you feel Proud and grateful to be an American.
The majority of people I knew regardless of age felt the same. It was an optimistic time and the music and styles reflected this upbeat optimism.
So there I was with my quasi-Flock-of- seagulls hairdo, when I met the son of a childhood friend of my fathers. A very amiable guy who was attending Pepperdine University. Our conversation soon turned to politics and our shared admiration for President Reagan and Conservative ideology. During this conversation John told me of his work with the Republican Party and his volunteer work with the Whitehouse West when the President visited California. So with some help from John and a background check from the Secret Service I got the opportunity of a lifetime. In the spring of 1986 when the President was about to embark on a trip to Asia he had a stop over in California and stayed at the Century Plaza Hotel in Beverly Hills. I had the great honor to briefly work for and witness history in the making. I did not meet President Reagan as there were three levels of staff and I was on the lowest level. The closest I came to the President was while I was driving a motorcade vehicle lined up at the tail end of Air force One as he exited the plane near the front and his limousine. I had a good view though since I drove the first van, (full of press people), and sat up high over looking the motorcade.
Although often the President would schedule time to meet the staff including this lowest level volunteer staff, sadly this was not on the agenda during my three days with the Whitehouse staff. I did however meet many talented and motivated people. I have many wonderful and sometimes frightening memories, (try driving through the streets of L.A. at 80 miles per hour only inches away from the bumper of the car in front of you!). Some funny memories of the whole event too. Like abruptly introducing the press people to the dash as they started to badmouth the President. Hit the brakes a little hard “opps sorry ‘bout that I told them”. I think they got the message as they quickly changed the tone of their conversation!
All in all I consider it to have been one of the greatest honors in my life. The opportunity to work briefly work with what I consider the greatest Presidency of the 20th century was a wonderful experience. I left being overwhelmed by the intelligence and quality of the people I had worked with. If any one is at all interested let me know I tell you more.
In any case, this is a fantastic site, keep it up!
Scott

[Hane]

Welcome to board, Scott.
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