Griscom: Welcome to Chattanooga, Ronald Reagan

President Ronald Reagan is applauded by high school students during a vist to the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga in 1987.
President Ronald Reagan is applauded by high school students during a vist to the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga in 1987.

On May 19, 1987, the UTC arena was packed - not for a basketball game, a tractor pull or a local political rally but the graduation of almost 3,000 high school seniors attending Chattanooga and Hamilton County schools. The speaker was Ronald Reagan, the president of the United States.

In attendance at the Roundhouse were two school superintendents (the city and county school systems had not yet merged), 43 teachers who received Laura Handly Brock memorial grants and valedictorians from the 13 local high schools. (Twelve of the schools represented remain operational today, with the lone exception being Kirkman Technical High.)

The Reagan event was the first time a sitting president visited Chattanooga since Lyndon Johnson's appearance in 1964.

There is a back story as to why Chattanooga was chosen for a presidential appearance to recognize the class of 1987 that day. Months earlier, former Sen. Howard Baker of Tennessee had been tapped to be the new chief of staff for Reagan. A series of political missteps led to the ouster of Don Regan as the president's staff chief. The White House was mired in the political fallout from Iran-Contra, a scheme to divert funds to support freedom fighters in Nicaragua. The political balance in Washington had shifted, with the Democrats taking control of the U.S. Senate.

It was time for a road trip. Reagan had a knack for being able to connect with the country outside of Washington

Faced with the upcoming Congressional inquiries of an investigation of trading arms for hostages, the president's staff knew that having Reagan on the road was preferable to his being tied down in Washington. Education was a consistent theme for the president, and a broad net was cast to identify school systems with graduation ceremonies in May. Chattanooga emerged, and two cabinet members, Baker and Labor Secretary Bill Brock, who both attended schools in Hamilton County, influenced the selection.

The presidential visit began with the valedictorians eating lunch with the president at the UTC Arena. There was an interview session with members of the local media. At the ceremony, Harold Coker, chairman of the Hamilton County Commission, served as the emcee. (Coker had been a Reagan delegate at the 1980 Republican convention in Detroit.) Chattanooga Mayor Gene Roberts and County Executive Dalton Roberts made comments.

Reagan touched on "paying more attention to basics so that by the year 2000 every American can speak, read, and write English and fully participate in the opportunities of our great country."

Preparing for the new century, the president pointed out that all young Americans need a good education, parents need to be involved in local schools and schools must set high standards.

Reagan read from letters he received as the basis for making a broader point. He shared a letter on immigration: "You can go to Japan and live, but you can't become a Japanese. You can go to France; you can't become a Frenchman. You can go live in Turkey or Germany, and you can't become a Turk or a German or any of those other people. But people who live anyplace in the world can come to America and become an American."

There are other memorable moments from the 1987 presidential trip:

First, as many have done in the past and still do today, Reagan read the list of schools represented at the graduation and mispronounced "Ooltewah."

Second, celebrity autograph seekers tracked down Sam Donaldson, the White House correspondent for ABC News, who was notorious for shouting out questions to Reagan. Donaldson gladly shared the spotlight.

Third, chefs at the cooking grills in the Lovell Field hangar prepared Krystal hamburgers for Reagan and his traveling party. As the hamburgers were being put on Air Force One, a Secret Service agent stepped in to prevent the hand-off; the burgers had not been tested. Baker, a longtime aficionado of the small, square delicacies, intervened, personally vouching for their wholesomeness - three Krystals with a chocolate shake and fries.

The retired Air Force One at the Reagan Library in Simi Valley, Calif., seems to have retained the faint smell of a Krystal.

Tom Griscom served as an assistant to the president for communication and planning, including the Chattanooga graduation event. For more visit Chattahistoricalassoc.org.

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