President Barack Obama visited Carnegie-Mellon University last week. Patrick was one of 22 students invited to attend the President’s speech. Patrick took some pictures during the event. You’ll find them here. By looking at Patrick’s photos, you’ll see how close he got to the President. The closest I came to a President was in 1960 when JFK visited Niagara Falls. My Mom and Dad, good Democrats, took me to the Airport with them to see the President. JFK walked by about 10 feet away from us. Even though I was only 11 years old, it seemed like a Big Deal to me at the time.
So he didn’t actually meet the President? The only Presidents I’ve seen in person (not meet): Jimmy Carter (at a park three blocks from our house) and Bill Clinton (a couple of times, but a lot farther away). Also was close to Hubert Humphrey in 1968.
You’ve got me beat, Jeff. No, Patrick did not reach out his hand and shake the President’s hand. He was too busy taking pictures.
Great pictures. I attended a conference on Long Island with Phil on the Clinton Presidency and he was there. Phil met George Bush in person at a Bush conference. And I was at a shopping mall when LBJ made a speech in 1960.
You and Phil had more Presidential encounters than I had, Patti. Maybe I need to get out more. Yes, Patrick is an excellent photographer.
Great pictures, Patrick is to be congratulated on them.
I briefly met Richard Nixon, back in 1957, when he visited his brother Don’s burger joint in Whittier, CA, where my older brother was working at the time. He wasn’t quite the big mucky-muck he later became, of course, but he was a California politician.
Nixon has to be one of the most complex political characters ever, Rick. I’m a fan of Garry Wills’ classic Nixon Agonistes. I’ll pass on the congratulations to Patrick when he comes home in a couple of weeks to attend a wedding.
Rick, in 1957 he was Vice President.
That’s a ‘big mucky-muck” by any standards.
And, without Chicago’s Mayor Richard J. Daley’s Election day shenanigans, Tricky Dick would have been President in 1960, Jeff.
Perhaps it was ’56, I was thinking he was a Senator. Anyway, it was a big deal.