Picked up a couple of Humphrey/Muskie buttons from the 1968 campaign yesterday as part of a larger (non-political) transaction. Reminded me that I had met Vice-President Hubert Humphrey in January (I think) of 1967.
A bunch of us ASA types were in a contract language school just off Connecticut Ave. in D.C.. Just down the street were the offices of the Students For A Democratic Society. At that time the SDS had not won its spurs as an anti-war juggernaut, in fact we ate lunch outside on the stoops with them quite often and talked politics. One day right at lunch we walked out of the old home being used as the school and ran directly into the SDS Students, the Press, Humphrey, and the Secret Service. So we stopped and mingled in. Dressed in civilian suits and ties we we not conspicuous in 1967 D.C. (except for our glasses and shoes which I saw the secret service pick up on immediately) Humphrey came out the SDS office glad handing everyone.
We were between him and his limo so he glad handed us too. He shook my hand and grasped my shoulder and said something about study hard in school. About half the people on the sidewalk that day were ASA agents being trained in various languages. One of my classmate name Stuart was interviewed by the press there at the time, and latter that evening we watched it on TV in our barracks rec-room. One of the reasons this sticks in my mind is that was the evening that some public television station played Doctor Who in the late evening at 10 PM, and we missed it because we had to see Stu grandstanding on TV for the third time that evening.
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