What follows is a story I have told to many of my friends. It is a story about Ronald Reagan. Since his passing on June 5th, I have reflected greatly on this brief little encounter, and thought it was time to share it in more public venue. Here it is.
In the summer of 1980, I arrived at the site of Fantasy Faire, a pretty good sized Science Fiction and Fantasy convention, being held at the Travel Lodge by LAX (Los Angeles International Airport). I was surprised to see a number of men walking around in suits, earpieces hanging out of their ears, and bulges under their armpits. I thought, wow, thats a lot of heavy security for an SF convention. When I got to the convention registration desk, I asked the people there what was going on. One of them responded Oh, Ronald Reagan is staying at the hotel next door, and is holding strategy sessions here. Reagan had also just won the Republican nomination for the Presidency. And that explained the heavy security at the con. This was on Friday.
On Saturday morning, there were more secret service agents, and a large contingent from the press. Okay, there were about 20 or so, and to me that WAS a large contingent. Then suddenly, there he was Ronald Reagan, holding a press conference in the middle of the con. Go figure. So, some of us wandered over to watch. There was a wookie costume, a couple of Princess Leias, a Boba Fett, and a Klingon (original series). Can you guess which one was me? If you said the Klingon, you got it right.. There were other SF fans gathered around, and I am sure Reagan spotted some of us out there. After he ended the press conference, and went off to hold his strategy meetings (needless to say, I was NOT invited), things calmed down, except for the continued presence of the secret service.
This was 24 years ago, and I still remember it. I regret not taking my camera that weekend, as I wish I had some pictures of this event. If anyone reading this has such pictures, I would like to see them. You can use the feedback form, linked on the left side of the site, to contact me.
