THE PRESIDENT AND ME

For this special Presidents Day feature, The Times asked readers, “Have you ever shaken Bill Clinton’s hand? Played golf with Gerald Ford? Traded quips with Harry Truman?”

One hundred ninety-one people responded to say that they had--and much more. Writers described close encounters with 14 chief executives--one with Taft and every president from Coolidge to Clinton--in settings as varied as the Oval Office, the campaign trail, a hospital delivery room and a high school reunion.

“It was truly one of the most exciting days in my life,” William Bernstein wrote of meeting President Clinton last year, a feeling many writers shared. Clinton himself has often cited shaking hands with President John F. Kennedy as a teenager in 1963 as his inspiration to enter politics.

Following are some of the essays the Valley Edition received. Some submissions have been edited.

William Howard Taft, Calvin Coolidge

As a 9-year-old, Robert J. Leonard visited Washington, D.C., with his father.

One day we visited the Supreme Court in session. I was intrigued by the huge size of one jurist, identified by Dad as former President William Howard Taft, who had become Chief Justice.

But the highlight of our trip was to be an opportunity to meet President Calvin Coolidge, by special invitation. In a large first-floor room in the White House, there were uniformed guards and a long, slow-moving line. I was getting impatient, and as we got closer, I darted out of line toward the president. As my father came after me, a guard approached. But President Coolidge just smiled, patted me on the head and said, “How are you, sonny?” I remember a quality of warmth that belied his reputation for shyness.

When I returned home and to P.S. 52 [in New York] and described my Washington adventure, I was an instant celebrity. This serendipitous experience remains one of my fondest memories to this day . . . almost 70 years later.

ROBERT J. LEONARD, M.D.

SHERMAN OAKS

Herbert Hoover

In late 1945, after my discharge from the Army, my sister’s friend took me on a tour of Stanford University in Palo Alto. We went to the Hoover Library to take the elevator to the top of the tower for a view of the campus.

The library lobby was dominated by a large photograph of a dark-haired Herbert Hoover. When the elevator arrived, we stepped inside, joined by an Army sergeant. We did a double-take at the elderly, white-haired man near the controls and then realized it was Mr. Hoover. With him was Dr. Wilbur of Stanford, who I believe had been his secretary of state. Mr. Hoover asked if we minded going first to the basement. Of course, we all agreed that it was all right. After Mr. Hoover departed the elevator, the sergeant remarked on how much Mr. Hoover had aged. Dr. Wilbur responded, “We all have aged.”

GEORGE MAJOR

BURBANK

*

I was a 10-year-old Boy Scout when I was taken to Washington, D.C., on a field trip. I shook hands with then-President Herbert Hoover on the White House porch.

It was a thrill and I remember him telling everyone about “a chicken in every pot” being his goal for the American people. Nothing fancy, but a nice gesture and plain talk.

NORMAN S. BERNEY

VAN NUYS

Franklin Delano Roosevelt

In 1944 at Camp Lejuene, N.C., Franklin D. Roosevelt visited a company of women Marines.

I had grown up idolizing this powerful man, now so frail and gaunt, and wonder of wonders, I realized my C.O. had ordered: “Sgt. Pyeatt, front and center!”

The president spoke to me by name and asked me where my home was. When I told him I came from Texas not far from Weatherford, he said, “Oh, yes. My son Elliot lives in that area.”

Impulsively, I remarked, “I know, sir. We often drove by his ranch hoping to catch a glimpse of his famous father.”

Immediately, I regretted being so forward, but was rewarded by his hearty laugh.

HELEN PYEATT SALYER

WEST HILLS

*

My father, Nathan Koenig, used to relate the following story about one of his meetings with Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

My mother and father attended a dinner reception at the White House during the Roosevelt Administration. When they went through the receiving line, my mother shook hands with the president, and when my father greeted the president, President Roosevelt put his arm around my father and whispered something in his ear.

This was followed by a hearty laugh from both the president and my father. When my mother asked what the president had said that caused such laughter, my father replied that he did not hear him, but “when the president laughs, I laugh too.”

SUSAN R. FREED

ENCINO

Harry S. Truman

On March 5, 1946, at Westminster College in Fulton, Mo., Winston Churchill, at the invitation of Harry S. Truman, gave an address that historians would later call his “Iron Curtain Speech.”

The streets were full of people. Public-address speakers were at every corner with patriotic music playing. Later, Churchill’s speech would be played over these same speakers so that those unable to get inside could hear Churchill give his address. Few recognized the implications of Churchill’s words, “From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the Continent.”

As a 12-year-old, I was everywhere, taking pictures of the crowd and anything else that seemed of interest. As only a young boy could do, I soon found myself in a position on the front row of the crowd when the open car with Truman and Churchill sitting on the back of the seat, surrounded by G-men on the running boards and rear bumpers, came driving by.

In 1946 cameras did not have built-in light meters, automatic focus or auto-wind features. You had to do all that before you took your picture. If you were taking an action shot you got one chance. The [accompanying] picture shows the results I got.

I still have vivid memories of the day I got close to not one but two world leaders.

SCOTT T. PORTER

GRANADA HILLS

Dwight D. Eisenhower

On meeting Eisenhower in the early 1950s:

I was an engineer assigned to White House news pickups by the ABC affiliate in Washington, D.C. There was inevitably a ripple of amusement when I arrived at the White House and requested permission to enter the grounds.

One day, President Eisenhower was waiting to go on the air in the communications studio and overheard the byplay between Secret Service and reporters over my clearance.

Then-ABC White House correspondent Bryson Rash explained, “St. Peter is at the gate, Mr. President, and wants to come in.”

Without a moment’s hesitation, Ike flashed his broad grin. “Admit him by all means!” he ordered. “But with the firm understanding that this is on a reciprocal basis!”

LIONEL ST. PETER

SHADOW HILLS

John F. Kennedy

In June 1963, the John Burroughs High School senior class planned to hold its prom in the grand ballroom of the Beverly Hilton Hotel. Although the room was reserved a year in advance, the class got word that its event was being preempted by a California Democratic fund-raiser that President John Kennedy was due to attend.

The news media covered the story and soon the president heard of the situation. Kennedy press secretary Pierre Salinger soon announced that the fund-raiser would move to another room, and the graduating class sent the president a thank-you telegram, inviting him to the prom.

In hopes that he would come, the class ordered a silver platter inscribed, “To a Real American President.”

It was the night of the prom and all of us held our breath each time the doors to the grad ballroom opened. At 10 o’clock, the band struck up “Hail to the Chief,” and we all pressed forward to the stage. And there he was, President Kennedy accompanied by Jack Benny!

I pinched my arm to make sure this was real. He was so young and handsome. He put us at ease when he joked, “Thank you for letting us have the smaller room upstairs.”

We presented him with the platter, and he seemed genuinely pleased. After several minutes, it was all over.

It was a night I’ll never forget. Our prom pictures were engraved, “The prom was honored by a visit from the 35th president of the United States.”

It was probably the only high school prom ever to receive front-page coverage in the L.A. Times.

CARLA FINK CHILTON

SYLMAR

*

In the summer of 1960, I was 10 years old and I heard that presidential candidate John F. Kennedy was going to ride down Victory Boulevard in North Hollywood.

My family was voting for Nixon.

The day Kennedy came to our city, my three friends and I made “Vote for Nixon” posters in large red lettering. We waited for a half-hour in front of our summer camp, holding them anxiously.

Kennedy came riding in a white Cadillac convertible, waving from the top of the backseat. My friends and I proudly raised our posters as he approached.

“Boo! We want Nixon!” we yelled.

His car slowed and he pointed to our posters and laughed. He yelled, “Hi!” when he was right next to us.

As I looked into his eyes, I felt the warm radiance and sincerity of his smile. I knew this was a special human being, and I would have voted for him that day if I could have.

MARILYN J. OVERHOLT

WOODLAND HILLS

Lyndon B. Johnson

When I was about 9 years old, growing up in the Midwest, I belonged to Troop 467 of the Cub Scouts. Bellevue, Neb., was the town I lived in and it was just outside Offutt Air Force Base. Our den mother was the wife of an Air Force officer.

One afternoon she learned that President Johnson was landing at SAC (Strategic Air Command). She rounded up the 10 or so Cubs in our den and off to the base we went. I have no idea why LBJ landed there, but when he disembarked from Air Force One, he saw us.

He walked over and, as we stood on the tarmac, he shook our hands. It was around 1966 or ’67 and we were too young to know the turmoil of the times, just that we had met the president, WOW!

DAVID B. HOLCOMB

QUARTZ HILLS

*

In 1965, Patricia Cope Mackenzie performed at the White House as one of the dancers in a production of “Guys and Dolls.” In the last number, “Take Back Your Mink,” the dancers stripped from their coats and tear-away formal gowns to fancy merry-widow corsets. After the performance, the dancers quickly got back in their gowns, got in line for a curtain call and awaited President Lyndon B. Johnson’s arrival on stage.

Since I was from Texas, I wanted to say a special Texas “Howdy!” The public relations woman told him of my request, and when he got to me, this giant of a man with shoulders that seemed to stretch from sea to shining sea literally picked me up in the air and said, “Is this the little lady who wants to say ‘Hi’? As it happened, his hand slipped and got caught in the Velcro holding my dress together, and the whole thing unwrapped from around me and he was left holding a 5-foot dancer in a fancy corset! Were our faces red!

PATRICIA COPE MACKENZIE

SHERMAN OAKS

Richard M. Nixon

On meeting President Nixon in 1973 at a Mayport, Fla., naval base:

To provide my 2-year-old son, Jay, with a good view and perhaps his only chance to meet a president, I hoisted him on my shoulders. When he asked me what was going on, I told him he was meeting a famous person and that when he arrived opposite us that he should be greeted with a “high five” or slap on the hand.

When Nixon arrived to say hello, our son began to move his hand toward the president to “high five” him. As is now well-known, Nixon was somewhat stiff and official in his demeanor despite his desire to appear hip.

He failed to react to the gesture, but my son’s palm struck Nixon on his famous nose. Immediately, the Secret Service descended and pushed us back away from the president.

The encounter lasted only a few seconds, but the experience is imprinted for a lifetime. My son, now 26 and about to graduate from medical school, recalls that day as the day he struck the president and was “almost arrested.”

HERBERT M. GOLDBERG, M.D.

CALABASAS

Gerald Ford

Musician Craig T. Fall played with singer Roger Miller in a 1976 bicentennial concert at the White House.

Afterward, we walked giddily through the haze of a White House soiree, among diplomats and congressmen. I watched Roger dance with Betty Ford as the Marine band played standards. Betty seemed charming and sweet.

I suddenly realized I was standing alone next to Gerald Ford. Seizing the moment, I leaned in and whispered, “You’re doing a hell of a job, Mr. President.”

Without hesitation, he leaned back and said, “Thanks. We try really hard around here.”

I smiled and he became my favorite president for no particular reason.

CRAIG T. FALL

SUNLAND

Jimmy Carter

There I was in the White House, in a private ceremony shaking Jimmy Carter’s hand. I had a big smile on my face and was caught up in the moment of this awe-inspiring event.

There was a slight glitch, however. I hated the president of the United States more than anything that day.

In early 1980 his office decided to lead the boycott of the Moscow Olympic Games. There I was shaking hands with the man who kept me from my dream of swimming in Moscow as part of the Olympic swimming team.

Despite the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, despite the fact that the dreams of hundreds were ruined, there I was saying hello to one of the most powerful men in the world--and loving it!

We were escorted into a room with more Secret Service than us. The protocol officers reviewed the do’s and don’ts. Be sure to greet him as “Mr. President,” we were told.

Then, suddenly, Secret Service men shuffled, doors parted and in walked the man himself. A quiet fell over the room and he made his way through, greeting each Olympian individually.

He shook my hand and the bitterness all faded away. No matter how mad I was at this man, at that very moment I was so overwhelmed with positive energy. I was impressed with his simple and kind greeting.

BRIAN RONEY

SANTA CLARITA

Ronald Reagan

In the 1970s, Pat Scarpelli worked as lobby director at the Tishman Building in Westwood, where then-former California Gov. Ronald Reagan had an office.

One time he said to me, “Pat, if I ever make it to the White House, I’m going to invite you to dinner.” As sincere as he was at the time, and as happy as that statement made me, I couldn’t help wondering if he would even remember me when he became president. . . .

In 1982 President Reagan kept his word to me. I can close my eyes and still remember the shock, surprise and pride I felt when I got the invitation in the mail. It stated that my wife and I had been invited to the White House for dinner. The date was March 25, 1982. The occasion was a state dinner for the president of Italy, Sandro Pertini.

He remembered!

PAT SCARPELLI

NORTH HOLLYWOOD

*

Patricia Machkowsky’s daughter Daryl rides with Heads Up Therapy on Horseback, a group that works with the disabled. In August 1991, at the home of industrialist David Murdock, Daryl participated in a presentation for President Reagan and his wife, Nancy, on behalf of North American Riding for the Handicapped Assn.

After speeches by President Reagan and others, the riders began their presentation. Two “sidewalkers” accompany each rider for safety purposes. . . . Daryl rode one of Mr. Murdock’s beautiful animals. Both the president and Mrs. Reagan were extremely gracious and participated as sidewalkers with Daryl. They each walked several laps alongside the horse, chatting and interacting with Daryl, while she laughed, waved and threw kisses to everyone around the arena.

Later, Daryl’s grandmother wrote to the president requesting he autograph a picture that showed Daryl and the Reagans. I now have a picture of the three of them, autographed by both the president and Mrs. Reagan. Unfortunately, we were not able to speak with the Reagans personally; however, I will always remember their genuine warmth.

PATRICIA MACHKOWSKY

VAN NUYS

George Bush

I am a security supervisor at the Century Plaza Hotel. I have been fortunate enough to have assisted the Secret Service in providing protection for all of the presidents from Nixon to Clinton.

My most memorable moment was when President Bush came to the hotel during his reelection bid in 1992. I was assigned to operate the elevator to take President Bush from the underground entrance to his suite on the 30th floor.

As President Bush entered the elevator, we shook hands and exchanged greetings. He then took off his tie bar with the presidential seal and handed it to me. That was a moment I will always remember.

SCOTT BARBOUR

WOODLAND HILLS

Bill Clinton

On meeting President Clinton in France during the 50th anniversary of D-Day:

On the morning of June 6, 1994, President Bill Clinton gave a speech at Utah Beach commemorating the occasion.

At the conclusion of his speech, surrounded by his Secret Service guards and generals, he stepped off the podium to return to his helicopter. I ran down out of the viewing stands to the front of the presidential party, the only one of the thousands there who left their seats.

There I was, a 72-year-old former first sergeant, a member of Gen. Patton’s 3rd Army, in my original resplendent uniform.

I caught the president’s eye and the eyes of his guards. I stuck out my hand, and sensing that this old veteran posed no threat to the president, the circle of guards parted immediately and I grasped the president’s hand.

He greeted me, saying, “Happy to see you, sergeant. I see that you are still able to wear your original uniform.”

“Good clean living,” I replied.

ELLIOTT R. GORDON

STUDIO CITY

*

I can remember when I met President Clinton at City Hall. My mom took me to meet Bill Clinton.

I stood in the front row and I was very surprised that he shook my hand and said hello. There were lots of people there who did not get to meet him, but I think they were excited to be there too.

JILLIAN BARTELS, age 6

BURBANK

*

On meeting President Clinton at an American Cancer Society event in February 1994:

My son Blake and I were right by the door. The first hand Clinton shook was Blake’s. He smiled and gave him a thumbs-up.

Later he sat down for questions from everyone. My son asked, “I hear you like to bowl, so what is your bowling average?”

The president responded that he had bowled three times at the White House that very morning. He told Blake he averaged about 140.

For both of us, it was very exciting, especially the next morning when we read the newspaper. My son’s question and the president’s answer made news.

Blake died of cancer on April 9, 1995, at age 12. He always bragged that he was “pals with the president of the United States.”

SUSAN UBIAS

RESEDA