THE SIXTH PRESIDENT I SAW

It's 5:35 a.m., dark out and Patrick got up and crawled into bed with Junior.

The greatest President of the United States, head and shoulders above the rest, was Thomas Jefferson, in my book. He would hold the top spot, if he had done nothing other than write the Declaration of Independence. JFK said, at a white house dinner for Nobel prize winners, "This room has never seen a more brilliant assemblage of men, with perhaps the exception of when Jefferson dined alone," or words to that effect. Next on my list of Greatest Americans would be George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, Robert E. Lee, Thomas Edison and Ronald Reagan. I really think he was of Rushmore quality. He may have been the most popular President of all time, including FDR. He brought us hope, won the Cold War, and made us proud to be Americans. He was truly inspiring. I saw him on his second election night, November 1984 at the Century Plaza Hotel, when he took to the mic and extended a few remarks to the jubilous crowd.. .Al had wrangled some tickets, since he had worked in the campaign (In one of the most coincidental periods of my life, My high School buddy and best friend, Al Reamon, was working as a member of the Technical Staff at the Space Group of Hughes Aircraft in El Segundo and I was Project Manager on a Project at Radar Systems Group at Hughes not an eight of a mile away). . It was one of several Victory Celebrations being held around the city that Ron and Nancy visited as a way of thanking their supporters and campaign workers. There was more love and Pariotism in that room than I've ever witnessed up to that time or ever since. And that's the way it was. Reagon bought this foundering Republic to it's finest hour and extended it's life cycle by many decades.

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