Your First President of the United States
Dean
If you have even a middling level interest in politics, you have this memory I'll bet:
When did you become aware that there was such a thing as a President of the United States, and, when did you become aware of who the man sitting in that office was at the moment by name?
For example, I knew George Washington and Abraham Lincoln's name probably around the age of 6 or 7. But, being born in the middle of 1966, I have no memory of who the (then) current sitting President was except a very very nebulous memory of some funny looking balding guy with a big nose resigning. Gerald Ford is the first POTUS (President Of The United States) that I clearly remember. And of course since I was just a child, all I remembered about him was his geniality, his sincerity, and he seemed to calm down a lot of the adults around me who were upset.
Now, to be clear, I am not writing this as a peaen to Gerald Ford. My own judgment of him is that he was a mediocre President, a middle-of-the-road Republican, and an American success story in his own right. He's wrongly accused of backing genocide in East Timor, by the way, but that's another subject. I'm telling you, he was the first President I remember with pristine clarity, and the most powerful impression I had of him as a kid was that he calmed people down in a time when they were very angry and upset.
Now, rather than turning this into a discussion of the merits or demerits of Gerald Ford, I invite you in the comments to share this:
Who is the first *sitting* President of the United States that *you* mostly clearly remember becoming aware of? And what impression of him did you have at the time?
For example, I'll bet our regular commenter and surly curmudgeon Arnold Harris will treat us to his memories of Harry S Truman. I look forward to reading such reminscences if he shares them.
But I'll bet others among you have such memories too, and would like to share them. Who was *your* first President?
By the way, when it's all over, I have a Richard Nixon story to tell that you won't believe. Actually, it's The Queen's story, so maybe I'll invite her to write an essay on it later on. The Esmay extended family (through the Kondraciuks) has an interesting Nixon story to tell. But for now, let's forget that:
Who was *your* first sitting President that you remember clearly, and what did you think about him at the time?
(Note: While I'm an American and thus asking this from an obviously American perspective, I'll be curious to see what people born outside the United States have to say to the same question.)
I thought he was a phony. And later, I learned through scholarly research that Josef Stalin thought he was a useful idiot.
Arnold Harris
Mount Horeb WI
The first president I remember knowing about was Harry Truman. I remember the coverage of Douglas McArthur's farewell address. I remember Eisenhower's first and second campaigns vividly.
And I still hate and despise politics in general.
Man, have I made up for it.
I remember my neighborhood drowning in yellow ribbons (dang that Tony Orlando ;) for the American hostages in Iran and watching tv news about stagflation. That's not a condemnation of Carter, in fact, I'm one of his few defenders.
Then Watergate came along, and the hearings preempted my afternoon "Gilligan's Island" reruns. Unforgiveable.
I was much more aware of Jimmy Carter, and I knew that lots of people didn't like him because he was seen as weak and incompetent. That wasn't my view -- I was too young to have an opinion on something like this. But I was aware that many others had that opinion. My father is and was a Republican, and my mother is and was a Democrat. Neither seemed to like him very much.
I was happy that Reagan won the next election. He seemed like everyone's grandpa. But what did I know, really? I was ten years old. I vividly remember that almost everyone my age -- at least in my home town of Salem, Oregon -- adored him. We talked about it at school. Again, though, we were kids and didn't know anything.
As I got older I didn't like Reagan at all. In hindsight, now, I have mixed opinions about him. He was great in some ways that I did not realize at the time.
I have vivid memories of Richard Nixon's Presidency, both his first and second terms. I have vague memories of LBJ, but nothing specific. I do remember that I knew who LBJ was (being a Texas-born child myself), but I can't say I fully understood what it meant that he was "President."
I watched the space program pretty closely, so I'm sure I saw a lot of LBJ in that context.
Later I learned that it wasn't quite that simple. In Mark Bowden's book Guests of the Ayatollah, it is clear that the hostages were becoming a political liability for the Iranians, and they waited until after Reagan's inauguration (not merely after he won the election) to release them as a final insult to the hated Carter.
Then Reagan proceeded to follow Carter's policy of complete wussiness towards Islamists everywhere; although, I guess he did have bigger fish to fry.
Franklin Roosevelt on the radio (live) addressing Congress on December 8, 1941.
Harry Truman being boo-ed while the national anthem was played at the opening of a Ringling Bros circus that my Dad took three of us kids to, in the summer of 1951 after having fired Five-star General Douglas MacArthur (“There is no substitute for victory”). I wonder how many people know that MacArthur had completed his military career and retired prior to WWII.
I remember Eisenhower well and felt cheated that I was a month too young to vote for him in the Presidential election of 1956.
Nixon, Jimmy Carter, Bush 41 and Bush 43, I forget as often as possible. I actually voted for Lyndon Baines Johnson. LadyBird used to say something like, "I have my BA, my MA and my LBJ".
I, also, dis-remember Spiro Agnew (the crook) and his “nandering nabobs of nihilism”. And I remember Nelson Rockefeller (VP) giving a televised press conference and gave one of the journalist-newsmen the finger salute.
I, hereby, apologize to all republicans that have ever lived for having voted for Lyndon Baines Johnson, the point being that Barry Goldwater was really a big idiot.
And who couldn't forget, the vice president who couldn't spell potato during Bush 41.
Last but not least, I received a letter signed by Gerald Ford while he was Vice-President, that he would do all he could regarding the Nixon controversy pending in Washington at that time.
Remember:
"Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice. And moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue." Whatever that means.
I was one of the first of the TV Generation, busily reading until TV came on the air at around 0600. All the political hearings, A-bomb tests, Korean War, etc. were in our living room with me sitting in front of a 9" RCA screen, literally the second TV on our block.
Dwight "Ike" Eisenhower is the first President that I clearly remember. I was 8 when he took office, but I can't recall much before the Korean armistice. By then I was twelve, and there was more to remember because the teachers were making a pretty big deal of an end to the war in school.
I remember the Soviet launch of Sputnik 1 in the late fifties, effectively launching the space race, and spurring the Eisenhower administration to enact the formation of NASA.
The first time I paid attention to who the president was when my dad had me watch the news and said "we just bombed Libya, and let me explain why".
He told me the story, and even at that age I fully agreed that it was justified.
I think at that point I became a Republican.
Later I learned that Lincoln was a republican (yes, I knew of Lincoln before then, but not his party).
Lincoln was the finest president in my opinion, then possibly Reagan, but I'd have to give the Democrats credit for WWII.
Hey Mal: "Then Reagan proceeded to follow Carter's policy of complete wussiness towards Islamists everywhere".... are you sure about that?
My mother told us kids to BE quiet as something very important was happening. That that is advailable on YouTube 2007 is remarkable.
Not a bad understanding of world politics, for a preschooler.
There was a TV commercial on in those days which scared the willies out of me. It showed a young child sleeping in a crib. Then a voice declaimed, "We will bury you!", and a hand reached in with a rubber stamp from off screen, and stamped a hammer and sickle on the headboard of the crib.
At that age, I thought that this commercial was produced by the Soviet government itself, which was buying time on American TV stations to advertise to us their intentions of world conquest. I also thought that some day when I was taking a nap, Khrushchev was going to come to our house and rubber-stamp a hammer and sickle on the headboard of my bed.
Nobody in those days would have imagined in their wildest dreams that, in little more than 30 years, the Soviet Union would fold up and go out of business.
Anyhow, the first President I remember was Eisenhower. 1959, age 3.
Anyway, I know I was aware of Reagan in a general way before 1984 but the first thing I really remember was election night that year, and figuring out that Reagan might not be President at some point, which seemed wrong because I was still young enough that everything "now" was eternal. "You mean some other person could be President?"
I was very happy when the map turned out the way it did (I think Reagan's color was purple that time) because even though my parents explained to me that in four years, somebody else would be elected, I figured that was plenty of time to get used to the idea.
Anyone remember "Family Ties"? The story of two former hippies dealing with their yuppie son (Michael J. Fox as Alex P. Keaton.)
The funniest part is that I didn't realize that was supposed to be the center of the show. I took it for granted that of course Alex loved Reagan. Reagan was President, right? Seemed natural to me...
A high point was when my dad took me to Philadelphia to see Eisenhower's motorcade procession (this was maybe 1959 or 1960). He hoisted me on his shoulders so I could see and wave at the president as his open car drove by. And (so it seemed) the president waved back -- at me!
Last time anyone mentioned those two in the same breath!
One of my earliest memories, and one of the best.
JFK's biggest fan was my mother, who sobbed rivers in our living room, kneeling in front of our black and white console television set. She was wearing green straighleg pants that zipped on the left hip and a blue and green top that matched. Her hair was up in her usual French twist, and her brown loafers were on the floor next to her. Her makeup had run and there were tissues everywhere.
That's how she looked when I walked in the door - school had been let out early, of course. I was 6 years old in 1963, and getting out of school early was pretty neat. Getting out of school early and finding my mother home from work already was just unsettling. She was unconsolable. She cried and cried for him.
We watched the events as they unfolded and were broadcast, and even I cried when John-John saluted the casket - I don't know for sure why I cried, but my Mom was so sad, and the little boy and girl had no Daddy anymore, so that's why, I guess. I was horse crazy at 6 and I vividly remember the beautiful black horse with the boots riding backward in the stirrups. My mother hugged me over and over, reminding me that Caroline Kennedy and I were born on the very same day and were exactly the same age, and John-John was the same age as my brother Jerry, and Danny had been born exactly one year later than Patrick, the baby the Kennedys had lost shortly after he was born. My mother was convinced that she had a special bond with Jacqueline Kennedy because of the children.
A few years later, my mother and grandmother went to Albany to see Bobby, who was in town campaigning for the presidency. We have a picture of him shaking hands with my grandmother. My Mom loved him almost as much as she loved John, and when he died she was overwrought with grief.
The presidency of JFK, or rather, the end of it, was the beginning of my awareness of presidents and the leadership of our country.
Linda
Then, at the age of five, I thought he was a God, or at least the greatest of all men.
Gradually I came to regard him as skillful, then as pragmatic and clever.
Now I regard him as a typical American of that time; "do your best, keep doing it, and hope you get dinner." Not thoughtful but tough.
Kukla, Fran, &Ollie; Howdy Doody; Rootie Kazootie. Soupy Sales had a program on at lunch, just as I got back from kindergarten. And then there were the 'Holy Cow!' moments as when Superman and the Wonderful Word of Disney made their TV debuts.
And since it's anniversary time, I do remember TV shows being interrupted to announce the launch of Sputnik. And going out at night to see it floating across the heavens.
Nixon. I remember, vividly, his re-election campaign in 72'. I couldn't understand how everyone I knew (parents, teachers, bus driver, neighbors) were voting for McGovern, despite all the newspapers and Cronkite news stories reporting that Nixon would win in a landslide.
I remember all those boring Watergate hearings, too, but I was glad when he resigned.
HBarnes
It's intereating that I was born when Kennedy was in office, and Deb was born while Ford was in office. They were both in for truncated terms.
Very cool question.
Boo-yah! I'm younger! Youngest I'd think because I wasn't even aware of Reagan. My first memory of any President was George H.W. Bush. Well, his campaign against Dukakis to be specific. I remeber my teacher at the time noting to the class that election would probably be the first any of us would ever recall. She was right. I think I was in the 4th grade.
However, it wasn't until high school, and the Clinton Administration, that I started giving a hoot about politics.
Yeah, I'd say Nixon.
I remember that I didn't like Carter very much, probably because my father didn't like him. My grandmother did, though. She though he seemed like a nice honest gentleman who deserved a chance.
I was 10 years old when he told Gorbachev to "tear down this wall," and I never looked at him the same again. The man who said that was no buffoon. (That was also when I realized that the only reason there was anyone in a communist country is that they shot them if they tried to leave.) I was 13 when they actually tore it down, and was a libertarian from that point on, even if I didn't know the word for it.
I still remember the way he carefully enunciated that name in his little-boy voice. I was disgusted with our president for putting me in the position of having to figure out an appropriate answer to that question.
Like Linda, JFK's assassination was it for me, at age six. I remember the funeral procession, and I also remember being annoyed that we couldn't get any cartoons for a few days. The following year, my parents campaigned for LBJ, and they took me to visit the local campaign HQ.
I remember my family getting in the car to go vote. When we arrived at the school(?) where my parents would vote, they said something about the Presidential Race. In my 4-year-old mind, that meant that Mr. Kennedy and Mr. Nixon were lined up on the track (in their suits), waiting for the starter's pistol to sound, and they would see who could get around the track the fastest. Ah, the innocence of youth!
Then, a little over three years later, I recall the President being assassinated 150 miles northwest of where I lived, and we were shepherded out to the flag pole to observe it being lowered to half-staff. Then after school, we went over to Dave's house for the party in celebration of his 8th birthday. Ah, the innocence of youth!
That weekend, I wrote "Mr. Kenedy" and "Secret Servis Man" in the Deaths section of my Bible. Dad (a Southern Baptist minister) told me that was just for family members, so I tried to erase the entries, without much success. I still have that Bible to this day. Ah, the innocence of youth!
The earlies non-family events I remember were those of the Apollo space shots and of the moon landing; I always reminded my grandma to wake me up early (we live in California) so I could watch the lift-offs live.
1) visit to China
2) ending the Vietnam War/bringing the troops home
3) Watergate
4) His appearance on Laugh-In. I was a little boy, but I vividly remember his "Sock it to me?!" moment on the show, which appearance was the answer to the very first million dollar question on Who Wants To Be a Millionaire?.
Even then, I thought he was a bit paranoid and stupid at times, but not evil. I still think so to this day.
Of course we all lose our tempers now and then. Dean freely admits to being imperfect in this regard, which is why regulars to this establishment will generally be cut more slack than people who we don't know very well.
Still: behave like an adult, or go find somewhere else to play. Thanks.