Jimmy Carter is my most favorite President from the time I was able to vote – my first Presidential vote was for George McGovern absentee ballot from the USS Ranger CVA-61. (That boat will probably be a recurring theme in these stories!)
I started working in hotels in 1976 and I had seen my share of famous people. At the Hyatt Lake Tahoe, they held “Hyatt Celebrity Tennis” every year and I met Lorne Green, Clint Eastwood, Burt Reynolds, Michael Landon… and a score of others whose names are among the brain cells I have destroyed over time… There was always a so-and-so staying at the Lakeside suites… I’m not generally a star-struck individual – meeting celebrities really wasn’t a big deal.
From Tahoe to Boston and The Hyatt Regency Cambridge. Because of its proximity to Harvard and MIT – as well as Mass General – lots of politicians stopped by. I saw Reagan – did not meet him, fortunately – and a Saudi Prince reserved an entire floor for a month because his mother was undergoing treatment at Mass General Hospital. Probably about 35 rooms. I met Rodney Dangerfield who was doing a show for Harvard, one night – he was really funny and really foul-mouthed. I loved it!
One afternoon I was by myself taking the service elevator up to the Spinnaker – the revolving rooftop restaurant/lounge – when the doors opened and Jimmy Carter and two Secret Service guys stepped in.
He smiled, shook my hand, and asked me how I was doing. I stood there gaping, tongue-tied, and sputtering. It was one of those Geemrpresidentitissogreattomeetyou – heart pumping a mile a minute, overwhelmed, to say the least. Not that I could have actually articulated that at that moment… Red faced, palms sweating… I’m sure he was impressed.
He really was a great man.