The day President Reagan came to town

President Ronald Reagan’s visit to Chattanooga on May 19, 1987 was quite memorable.  Upon landing at the airport, he made brief remarks, with some shout-outs to Chattanoogans Tom Griscom (then his Director of Communications) and Bill Brock (former US Senator, then Secretary of Labor) and Howard Baker (McCallie School graduate, former US Senator, then Reagan’s Chief of Staff).  Then it was off to the main event, at the UTC Arena.  The first item on the agenda was lunch with some of the county’s top students.  Many of them described him as friendly and talkative, saying he really didn’t have time to eat very much before the graduation program.  Most of his speech centered around the theme of “Excellence in Education.”

The event was filled with pomp and circumstance, literally, because it served as the commencement exercise for about 3,000 Hamilton County high school seniors.  The class of 1987 was represented most prominently by Deanna Duncan of Red Bank High School, who introduced the president.

Deanna has become well known in recent years for her work as a hospice physician, and is now President and CEO of Hearth Hospice in Chattanooga and north Georgia.  Here is a news story on the eve of the big day, showing Deanna and others preparing for the presidential visit.

Several presidents had visited Chattanooga in the past, but the Reagan visit was the first in the “live TV” era.  By the mid-1980s, all three local stations had the capability of doing remote broadcasts from the immediate viewing area.  In fact, Channel 3 did a handful of live shows from remote locations in the early 1960s, but due to the bulky equipment and elaborate set-up, they were few and far between.  By May of 1987, it was far less cumbersome, so the presidential visit was a “must-do” live event for local stations.  (They would repeat this drill for another big daytime event, the opening of Hamilton Place Mall, three months later).  Here is the story from inside the Arena, featuring remarks by the president, and more from Deanna Duncan.

Another news story from the evening of the president’s visit centered on both supporters and protesters.

Before the president spoke to the high school seniors, he made time for a visit with some of the county’s top teachers and a session with newspaper reporters.  The questions ranged from concerns over the Persian Gulf to textile layoffs in Rhea County, but “The Great Communicator” offered polite responses, and said he was ready for another round after each reporter had asked their allotted single question.

In the decades prior to Reagan’s Chattanooga trip, presidential visits were infrequent.  President Franklin D. Roosevelt spoke at the dedication of Chickamauga Dam on September 2, 1940.

Of course there were no television stations at the time, and there were only two radio stations on the air, WDOD and WAPO.  It is unknown (but unlikely) as to whether they were able to present any live broadcasts of the president’s address.  You might enjoy looking at FDR’s agenda for that day, as he made his way by train from upper east Tennessee, into Knoxville, to Chattanooga, then back north for the dedication of Great Smoky National Park and finally a late night sleepover in Kentucky.  He returned to the area on April 17, 1943, visiting the Women’s Army Corps unit at Chickamauga Battlefield and Barnhardt Circle at Fort Oglethorpe.  He had spent the previous two days at his personal retreat in Warm Springs, Georgia.  From Fort Oglethorpe, he continued his inspection visits (again, via train) to various defense posts in Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Texas en route to Mexico.

Evidently, the next three presidents, Harry S Truman, Dwight D. Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy did not make it to Chattanooga while in office.  The next presidential visitor was Lyndon B. Johnson, who addressed a crowd at Lovell Field on October 24, 1964, in the heat of his election campaign.  WDXB disc jockey Larry “The Legend” Johnson was able to corner the president for a quick interview, as pictured in my book.

No sitting president visited the Scenic City again until 23 years later, when Reagan made the trip.  Since then, both Presidents Bush 41 & 43, and President Obama have visited Chattanooga while in office.  In the early 1990s, about 10 years after he left the White House, former President Jimmy Carter stopped by the Chattanooga Choo Choo with his children and grandchildren for a surprise vacation visit.  I was tipped off that the Carters were in town, and had my own memorable encounter with him. 

One final note from the Reagan visit.  As always, the president was accompanied by national White House news correspondents.  My wife Cindy was serving on UTC’s University Relations staff, and her assignment was to make sure the reporters had telephones and everything else they needed.  ABC’s Sam Donaldson was the big name at the time, famous for shouting bold questions to the president, who would pretend not to hear him, smile and wave as he walked away.  Donaldson became so famous, he even wrote a book about himself, capitalizing on his loud persona.

The book was a big seller, and we had bought one a few weeks earlier.  Cindy, then six months pregnant, decided she would get Donaldson’s autograph. After the reporters were seated for lunch, she walked up to him, handed him the book and said, “If you don’t sign this for me, I’ll tell everyone this is your baby.”

He laughed long and loud, and wrote, “To Cindy and David Carroll: Ronald Reagan made me what I am today.  An act which he may have come to regret.”  On the bus back to the airport, he told the other reporters about the pregnant lady who coerced him into signing that book, laughing all the way.  I don’t know if he still tells that story, but Cindy and I do.

Update May 14, 2017: Then-White House communications director Tom Griscom, a native Chattanoogan, remembers how the trip was arranged, and a fun fact about a local fast food favorite:

“The White House was looking for a school system that had graduation events that met the travel date. There were 2 and Chattanooga/Hamilton County was one of the 2. As the communication director in the WH, the scheduling and advance teams reported to me. It was a surprise to learn that my hometown was one of the 2 communities. As a side note, this was a few months after Sen. Baker had become chief of staff to President Reagan and brought several of us into the WH with him. Sen. Baker, a longtime consumer of Krystal hamburgers, felt it would be a great addition to the trip to serve Krystal’s and chocolate milk shakes on Air Force One. The Krystal Company set up grills in the Hangar One hangar and they were freshly grilled adjacent to the presidential aircraft. As the hamburgers and shakes were being brought aboard Air Force One, the White House physician questioned whether they could be served to the President since there had not been a food test. Sen. Baker quickly interceded, the burgers and shakes were served on the aircraft as it lifted off from Lovell Field for the return trip to Washington. The Krystal headquarters, when it was located here, displayed a photograph of the Krystal’s as they were going aboard Air Force One.”