Thanks for sharing.
I worked on RWR's 1980 campaign. My first campaign and my first election. I showed up to vote on election night. I must have had 10 RR button's on my jacket. The line was long... I politicked even while in line. "You're going to vote for RR, aren't you?" "You're not actually going to vote for Carter, are you? You want four more years of this?"
The Sunday before the election RWR came to Cincinnati. I worked the venue. He came to the Convention Center along with Charleston Heston, Jim Rhodes, Hugh O'Brien... I was a Reaganette. Had a cowboy vest on and a cowbay hat. I stood in front of the stage. The organizers were expecting maybe 2,000 to 3,000 people. I remember that the place was packed. The organizers had to keep opening up folding walls to allow the people in.
When RWR was leaving the state, I piped up... "It was nice to meet you, Mr. President." He turned and looked me and smiled as only he could. "Mr. President, I like that."
Made my young life...
God bless this great man! I miss him so much!
I have my own Reagan encounter story --
I was attending community college in the San Jose, CA, area in 1970. Since high school days, I had done volunteer work for the Santa Clara County Republican Central Committee (registration of voters, GOTV, helping at rallies, that sort of thing). At this time, Pres. Nixon had just approved the tactic of following the Vietcong into Cambodia. The libs, of course, were scandalized by the "escalation" of the war. The local GOP decided to do a petition drive to send signatures of support for the policy to Pres. Nixon.
When the petitions were handed-out to volunteers at the GOP headquarters, Governor Reagan was to speak that night at a fundraiser for a local GOP assemblyman, running for re-election. I got the hairbrained idea that I'd show up at the Hyatt in San Jose (where the function was being held), and see if I could get Gov. Reagan to sign line #1 of my petition. I hung around the entrance where I figured he and his party would enter the hotel. His limo eventually rolled up, security guards started pouring out of everywhere, but I didn't give my intentions a second thought. As Reagan approached the door, I moved in, blurting out, "Governor, would you sign this petition supporting Pres. Nixon's Cambodia policy?" He stopped, turned, and said, "By all means." He signed my petition, I thanked him as he handed it back, and he turned and headed into the hotel. A guy I knew who took photographs for the local Republican Party was on hand to take photos of Reagan's visit, and he snapped a picture of the Governor signing my petition. He later gave me a copy. There was Ronald Reagan, holding my clipboard, signing the petition, me on the left of the photo with a big goofy grin on my face, and big burly security guy in between us. You can imagine, Ronald Reagan's signature at the top of my petition generated a lot of other signatures. The executive director of the county GOP made a photocopy of the Reagan-signed petition, allowing me to keep the original. I still have it, and the photo, buried in my file cabinet at home.