Spencer Cox: “The first time I met Ronald Reagan was the day I began work for him in the White House. We shook hands and exchanged…”

“The first time I met Ronald Reagan was the day I began work for him in the White House. We shook hands and exchanged pleasantries in the Oval Office. Of course, it is difficult to forget one's first meeting with the President of the United States, but what I particularly remember is how quickly he put me at ease. Of course, he told a joke. Learning that I was a Harvard graduate, he told me the story of a friend of his who had graduated from Harvard Law School, had become a partner in a large firm but had lost his position due to a problem with drinking and drugs, and consequentially, in succession, he lost his wife, his family, his income, and even ran afoul of the law, being put in jail for shoplifting. But now he was out of jail. He had cleaned up his life and, most importantly, he had met a wonderful woman to whom he wished to propose marriage. But, and it was on this point that he asked the President's advice, he had not told this woman about his background for fear of losing her. So he asked the President, should I tell her that I went to Harvard? I knew immediately where I stood. Two years later, I was with the President in the Oval Office, and I have a picture hanging on my desk of this moment, and I am sitting across from his desk, across from him, just the two of us. He has a big smile on his face, and I am about to burst out laughing because he was, of course, telling another joke.…”