Met Johnson @ 17, Nixon and Bobby and McCarthy @ 20, Obama in '08. Have very physical memories of what they were wearing and even what I was wearing @ the time. Shook hands with all and hugged Barack at the campaign HQ here. Bobby & Barack had/have a natural charisma that was palpable. Was working @ the Oregonian in '68 when I met Bobby, Nixon & McCarthy. Bobby was supposed to go up to the 3rd floor to Editorial to be interviewed. He stopped @ the 2nd floor, which was mostly accounting/engineering/classified ads and poked his head out and asked "where is everybody", as he'd been deluged on the first floor when he came in.
I was standing at the classified window and said that most of the people were down the hall on the phone taking classified ads - it was a big room - pre computers. He said, well take me down there, and I did, (I was wearing a McCarthy button - which he said distressed him) he walked into the room and everyone in there (wearing headsets) just went nuts. One woman, a Catholic, was closest to him and pretty well went apoplectic when she saw him. He went over to her desk, took her headset (after hugging her) and got on the phone and introduced himself and finished taking her ad. I will never forget these experiences. Johnson meeting was just a passby hand reach, Nixon was bizarre - zero charisma, McCarthy was a bit of a disappointment too. This was just 2 weeks before Bobby was dead.
My sister worked there too and was dating one of the staff photographers. She, very pretty, became the "Ballot Girl" that year and was photographed with Nixon and Bobby, priceless photos. She liked Bobby and also got to meet Teddy at their hotel. Nixon was awkward, he'd been coached about local stuff and when he asked her where she'd gone to college and she said Oregon State - he said "Oh, so you're a Beaver" - and then immediately knew how that sounded and wouldn't make eye contact with her again while they took the pictures.
Ah, memories......
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