Magnet #698 - Ronald Reagan (1981 - 1989)Noooo, I'm not trying to make any sort of political statement about yesterday's elections in Massachusetts. I know better than that, given the reactions in various Tweets and FB statuses. Besides, hello, magnetblog.
Today in 1981, Ronald Reagan at 69 years, 349 days old, became the oldest president to assume office, and there he stayed for the next two terms. I think that's why Reagan's one of my favorites, because he was president during my formative years from grade school to high school.
It's the big things from his presidency that I remember, obviously. And whether or not I understood them what was happening at the time, most of those memories are tied in to school somehow.
The Columbia landing was the cover of my second grade yearbook. We found out about Challenger in seventh grade English class. I came home from school to hear about Libya being bombed. One teacher tried hard to explain Reaganomics to me. The Cold War and Afghanistan were discussed in our Weekly Readers. I found out that Reagan was an actor(!) in fourth grade, through one of the books Mrs. Honbarrier made me read. And lord knows, I'm totally a product of Nancy's Just Say No generation.
Sigh. It's amazing the things you remember growing up, and the context in which you remember them.
4 comments:
NOISOK. Heh.
But where were you when you heard that Reagan had been shot? I was on a school bus, waiting in the school driveway about to head home. I was sitting on the left-hand side of the bus, about halfway back. [/vivid]
Heh. I had thought my timing on NOISOK was out of the 80s, but, maybe not, because our rally point was Erwin's library.
And, I dimly remember Reagan getting shot, but not to the extent of where I was or how it happened. I just checked the timing, it's entirely possible that we were in the Philippines at the time. (We went for Easter, but it was like a 3-week trip, my parents packed all my homework for that trip. Ugh.)
How odd!
Heh. I remember discussing the election with my fellow 5th graders, that he would never be elected because he was just an actor!
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