I was across the street and a stranger, another young student, asked me if I wanted to go see the new president. I said yes on a whim. We went into the grand ballroom of the century plaza with our student backpacks full of books. He saw that people were showing tickets to get in to the election night festivities. He took out a piece of notebook paper and folded it into ticket shapes and flashed them quickly to get us into the ballroom. We were very early so we walked right up in front of the podium. Our backpacks were never searched and I never saw a metal detector. We stood feet away and watched all the show and speeches and were right there in front when president elect Reagan came up to speak.
Strangely serendipitous as years later I was working in that hotel’s kitchen and cooked for President Reagan.
What a cool story.
I only wish I’d been politically aware enough then to give Reagan my vote, but alas, that level of awareness was still some years off for me.
However, I’m happy to say that I didn’t vote for Carter Even though I was an uninformed Dem voter at the time, I could not bring myself to support the man, as economic conditions all around me were a wreck.
I wasn’t quite ready to vote for the “evil” Republicans, but I liked Reagan, and had no qualms about him becoming the next president.