"Kyle Brennan meets President-elect William Jefferson Clinton"
In January of 1993, President Bill Clinton started his journey to the White House from Monticello, the home of Thomas Jefferson in Charolttesville, Virginia. There was a great deal of anticipation and excitement amongst the people in Charlottesville over this historic moment. President Clinton, Vice President Gore and their immediate family members arrived by airplane on the evening of the sixteenth.
I thought this event would be fun for my two youngest sons, Sean and of course Kyle, both whom were under the age of ten. The evening air being chilly, I bundled the two boys in layers of wool to ward off the cold before leaving for the airport.
When we arrived and saw all the traffic, I questioned if I had made a wise decision. From the size of the crowd it was obvious that I was not alone in wanting to experience an historic event.
The three of us made our way through the crowd trying to find the spot that would offer us the best view of President Clinton and his entourage. We were disappointed to discover that a large chain link fence had been erected to separate the president from the throng of people.
Soon, a young man walking through the crowd started to yell out history questions. If you were the first to answer correctly you could then move to the other side of the fence. I told my two sons to get ready to make a move. The young man yelled out the next question, "What do the colors of the American Flag stand for?" I quickly yelled out the correct answer. We were then escorted through an opening in the fence and placed in close proximity to where the president’s plane would land. I had underestimated how many people in Charlottesville knew their history as the exclusive "other side of the fence" rapidly filled to capacity.
Worried that the boys would get crushed by the crowd, I moved them off to the side, away from the people, with the realization that we would lose our opportunity to see the president up close. Kyle and Sean did not seem to mind the change in venue, as this gave them the opportunity to observe the Secret Service in action. They both exclaimed that they were really cool, like James Bond, and they asked me what they where looking for when scanning the crowd.
There was one agent posted not far from where we were standing. Grim and serious looking, his eyes never left the crowd except when talking in a low voice on a walkie-talkie-type of device. I decided I would try to break his serious demeanor. I asked the Secret Service agent if his serious expression was a part of the job, or if he had been taught to look like that while in training. A small smile broke his continence. He walked over to us, "the three loners apart from the crowd," and started a conversation. Kyle and Sean were enthralled. He told us that he wanted us to stay put as he would soon have a surprise for us.
When President Clinton finished his speech and walked down the steps of the podium, our agent friend greeted him and proceeded to lead the president, vice president and their families in our direction. I became concerned about the boys’ safety as I noticed the large crowd was also moving in our direction. When President Clinton noticed the two youngest faces in the crowd he immediately stopped. Before I even realized what was happening, we were surrounded by Secret Service. They held their hands out and told the crushing crowd to step back and move away from us.
The gregarious and charismatic president decided to take a minute to have a chat with Kyle and Sean. Sean, being very shy, tried to shrink back from the attention and seemed to want to disappear into my coat. Kyle, then only six years old decided to seize the moment. President Clinton dropped down to one knee so that he could be at eye level with his young fan. Kyle asked him why his plane was late, and told him that he had gotten cold waiting for him. Clinton and Gore erupted into laughter when hearing this. President Clinton asked Kyle how old he was and some questions about his school. The president stood up and lightly tousled Kyle’s hair, thanked him for coming out to greet him, and said," I’m sorry you got cold little buddy." Kyle then held up his small hand to shake all of the hands in the Clinton and Gore family.
When we arrived back home I told the boys to memorize the events of the evening, so that one day when they had children of their own they could tell them the story in vivid detail, about their chance meeting with the President of the United States.
Copyright 2007 Victoria Britton
