my personal reagan experience:: what's your's?

[nosmokes]

i was working as a stagehand and we were setting up for a reagan re-election rally. the crew had all been vetted by the secret service and had our security clearences. it was probably 6 - 8 hours before the event when some of raygun's people came through the arena, pointed out all of us with long hair and ordered us off the job! the job steward explained that we'd all still be on the clock, including overtime and any penalties and the staffer didn't flinch, said to get us out of sight, the sooner the better.

in the interest of total honesty, i hafta say i appreciated his politics that day, while my pals and i sat at the bar being paid to drink with ron, the union busting muderin' bastard.

joe

[Speck Tater]

1. I was working at a L.A. defense plant

when he was running for Governor of CA. He visited, gave a speech and shook everyone's hand.

Being politically indifferent at the time I voted for him for cal gov just becuase he seemed like a decent guy. And because he was the first politican I'd ever shaken hands with.

[Trajan]

2. My Reagan Experience ...

I worked at the Rockwell/Downey - Space Division, on the Space Shuttle Program ... He came to visit the plant in 1983 .... and I was one of a few thousand who were there ...

I got to say hi to him .... damn: that man's face was pasty and white as a ghost ... he was covered in pancake makeup for the TV lights ...

HE really was a nice guy: just like many 'good ole boy' conservatives: they havent a clue how hurtful their beliefs are ....

[Mountainman]

3. I think I saw some clips from "Bed time for Bonzo" when I was a kid

Also saw some WWII US Army training films about VD that featured Reagan I think.

He must have been a progressive at one time. He use to say, "At General Electric, progress is our most important product."

[Servo300]

4. He's not progressive any more. (n/t)

[shraby]

5. I was living in Washington state

when he cut aid to the Asians who had helped us during Vietnam and were brought here as promised. I was living at an apartment complex with a lot of Cambodians at the time. They were devastated by the news. Many still had to learn English yet so were virtually unemployable. It really made me angry because these were decent people who were royally screwed.

[Adenoid_Hynkel]

6. i was a kid-unemployment went sky high and my dad was laid off

and we went through very hard times in reagan's america

thanks, ronnie!

[SoDesuKa]

7. Uncle Mort

Uncle Mort used to send me cigarettes when I was in Vietnam. When he died, his daughter said the proudest moment in his life was meeting Ronald Reagan. If I'd known that Mort was that much of a right winger, I think I would have declined the cigarettes.

[Craig Roberts]

8. Uncle Roy

Ok, this is second-hand, but I always thought it was an interesting little anecdote.

My Uncle Roy used to work at Lawrence Livermore Lab here in California. When Reagan was governor, he toured the lab and at one point my uncle was asked to show the Governor the men's room. So he had a chance to chat lightly with him on the way to and from, and said he seemed a nice enough guy, although very average in intelligence. But my uncle said the thing he remembered most about Reagan and would always remember was that the man had the worst body odor.

I don't think I ever asked, but I assume my uncle stood outside the men's room while Reagan did his business. Otherwise there might be more interesting details...

[calimary]

9. When I was news director at one of the (then) RKO radio stations,

our company sponsored a junket to Washington - for all the NDs, public affairs directors, and general managers in the chain. Therefore, I got to go. The highlight of the tour was a private meeting with Reagan in this little presentation room, where we news people were allowed to ask a few questions. I chose a seat on the center aisle, about three rows up so I'd be eye-level with him, and if he looked straight up from his podium, I would be the one he saw. He came out and made a brief speech, and then offered to take questions. My hand shot up. He called on me first. Protocol dictated that, once you were called upon, you stood up to ask the question. I did so, and asked how he could continue to stand by his then Interior Secretary (and National Disgrace) James Watt (after Watt had uttered another one of his stupid, lame, embarrassing comments). He answered the way anybody would have expected - with a non-answer about how he thought the guy was doing a great job and blah-blah-blah.

But it was REALLY amazing. I did not like the guy then. I had never met him or even had a chance to get close to him. But standing there, listening as he answered my question was F-ing EERIE. It was actually frightening - the effect he had. His magnetism was huge. I felt as though, the minute he called on me, somebody had switched on a gigantic vacuum cleaner and pointed it straight at my face. I felt myself almost literally sucked toward him. I had to fight, hard, to remain standing still.

When I sat down again, once he'd finished answering my question, I was literally exhausted. I've never experienced anything like that in my life, before - OR since. It was really remarkable.

[Lisa]

10. one of my co-workers met Reagan when she was a little kid ...

He was presenting some scholastic award. She's in her mid-20s now, so it was probably in his second term.

Anyway, she is now an outspoken leftist, a peace and environmental activist, a recent single mom, and has a nose ring -- so I know for sure that conservative Republicanism can't be that contagious!

[Piperay]

11. Actually I met him several times

when he was running for Governor here in CA because at the time my parents were repukes and my mother was active in his campaign :puke: . Ronnie was always very friendly and pleasant, signed autographs and chatted, he was very personable. Luckily I was too young to vote for him, else at the time I would have been stupid enough to do it. After two terms as Governor my whole family had had enough of him and the repuke party and by the time he ran for President we were Carter supporters and are now hardcore yellowdog Democrats. :-)

[Wapsie B]

12. Ronnie was coming to town

in a campaign stop in his re-election bid. I had just worked a 12-hour graveyard shift. My eyes were bloodshot, my hair was messed, and I had this overall disheveled appearance. He was speaking at the airport, so I drove there directly from work. I went in past the security checkpoints. In the crowd near me I could swear there was a SS agent, just keeping an eye on those that didn't look like rich repug bankers, but especially me.

I also had the opportunity to hear a speech by Ronnie when he was still guv. I had won a drawing by the local gop at the county fair. I got tickets to his speech which was a limited seating event. Even back then a little voice inside told me that something's not quite right with Ronnie. I gave the tickets to a college young repugs group.

[shihtzu5]

13. Attended Calif. Inauguration Ball and much more

My husband was the news photographer for the Time-Life bureau during the time Reagan was Governor. In addition to attending the inauguration ball, we were also invited to the Reagan's mansion for a party for the press. My husband was mostly working during the inaugural ball, so I just sort of floated around watching the rich at play.
The evening of the press party, my husband and I had had a huge fight, so my fun and memories were kind of dull. I remember Reagan wandering around being friendly and jovial, but Nancy being quite aloof. The party was held outside in the large pool area, and at some point we peons were offered a tour of the mansion. I declined, since I stayed angry that the old mansion used by Governors for years, was not good enough for the Reagan's.
I was with my husband in Sacramento for two years, and during that time was invited to many important dinners attended by the top political elite in Sacramento; there came a time when the cold chicken and peas became tiresome, and much of the time, although invited, I let my husband attend alone.
Many years later, I was working as a waitress at the exclusive country club in Indian Wells where the Reagan's attended the New Years Eve party each year. Although I worked days, the maitre dee offered all waiters and waitress's the opportunity to work the night of Reagan's visit. I declined, as I had really come to hate the old fool by this time; had seen him once too many for my taste; and my girlfriend who worked there also didn't trust me around him. What was memorable from these party's was that as Reagan was getting ready to leave, he would gather a small group of waiters and waitress's around him for a "joke". The story goes that he would tell the joke, but when the punch line came, no one, absolutely no one, would get it.......but of course they were required to laugh.

[jdj]

14. I was a sophomore in college when he cut student aid.

I almost didn't get to go back that year when he cut the Pell Grants. My Mom called the college and begged and pleaded and they found a handful of alumni scholarships for around $500 each to make up the difference. If it weren't for the generosity of those alumni, I wouldn't have been able to go back.

I was incensed...I can still remember the exact moment of seeingReagan's response on the news that college students would "just have to sell their stereos", etc to make up the difference. I am still angry about it, that he would pretend not to know that the students that needed this aid the most were the ones like me that didn't have stereos and cars. He was an asshole then, and now he is a dead asshole

[graphixtech]

15. 1979 or 1980

my Republican father adored Reagan and bought my brother and I tickets for some type of rally at the Peoria Civic Center. I was pretty apolitical at the time, so went with an open mind.

I remember being totally floored by Reagan's lack of verbal coherence and memory. This event happened before Reagan's second term. The man had serious Alzheimers starting way back then.

[tom_paine]

16. Of course he did.