# Did a US president ever really do this? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 30, 2004, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-a-us-president-ever-really-do-this/247808 "2004-05-30T17:35:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![dnooman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/839c29/32.png) [@dnooman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dnooman)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2004, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-a-us-president-ever-really-do-this/247808/1 "2004-05-30T17:35:08Z")
I heard a story about a newly appointed POTUS being shown around his new office. Apparently his security cheif was explaining to the president that, in case of imminent danger to the president’s life, an evacuation via helicopter or jet could be made at a moments notice. The president said something to the effect of “Really. A moments notice? How about right now?” The cheif said “Yes even right now.” To which the president replied “Well, what are you waiting for? I said NOW.” The cheif frantically tries to scramble the neccesary personnel, and the evac crew arrives almost an hour after being requested by the president. All persons responsible were fired. This seems both possible, and realtively unlikely to me. I couldn’t find it on Snopes, and the pilot that told me this story isn’t usually the type to fall for tall tales. If it helps, I believe it was sometime between 1960 and 1976. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2004, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-a-us-president-ever-really-do-this/247808/2 "2004-05-30T17:46:24Z")
Well, Presidents between those years were JFK, LBJ, Nixon, and Ford. It doesn’t really sound like something any of them would do, although Nixon did have a knack for firing high-level officials. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2004, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-a-us-president-ever-really-do-this/247808/3 "2004-05-30T19:56:41Z")
That story, while almost certainly not true, would have made the news if it happened. Or a memoir. The idea that a helicopter couldn’t be set down on the White House lawn for an hour after requested is far-fetched. Even in 1960. How old is the pilot that told you the story? What position does he hold in the military? Or does he? What’s his qualification to having the inside poop on this story? ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2004, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-a-us-president-ever-really-do-this/247808/4 "2004-05-30T20:04:28Z")
I could believe LBJ did that. I’ve heard weird stories about him. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2004, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-a-us-president-ever-really-do-this/247808/5 "2004-05-30T23:08:43Z")
It was Carter. I’ve heard that story, and if I can dig up the cite I’ll post it. On his first day, the staff was bragging about how quick a helicopter could evacuate the White House, and Carter called their bluff. Much embarrassment all around, and several officers ended up transferred because of it. Off to search for the cite… ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2004, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-a-us-president-ever-really-do-this/247808/6 "2004-05-30T23:33:41Z")
I’d heard a similar but not quite identical story about Carter. I was told this during the Reagan administration. It was used to illustrate Reagan’s warlike pronouncements which were backed up by only lackadaisical attitudes toward preparation. It was claimed that, if Reagan had to launch missiles in retaliation if the Soviet Union launched its missiles first, he probably wouldn’t have been able to do it. It takes some preparation and practice to go through the procedure of having the military aide (the one with the launch codes who stays near the President’s side at all times) take out the launch codes and go through all the steps that were necessary to launch the missiles. Reagan was never willing to spend the time necessary to learn the procedure. Carter, on the other hand, who was a real stickler on details, had actually practiced all the procedures and knew that he could do it in time. The story further claimed that when Carter was being briefed during the early days of his administration about certain military preparations for a crisis, he was told that something could be done in some period of time (something like an hour, if I recall correctly). This was something like getting certain airplanes into the air within that time. Carter said, “O.K., let’s see if you can do it. Get them into the air now.” It actually took something like four hours. However, it should be emphasized that I have absolutely no official confirmation of these stories, nor have I read any reliable source about them. I merely heard these stories in conversation. If you want confirmation for them, you’ll have to look elsewhere. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2004, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-a-us-president-ever-really-do-this/247808/7 "2004-05-30T23:39:04Z")
Tom Clancy mentioned this incident in one of his novels and said it had been President Carter. I don’t know, however, if the incident actually happened. ---
**Author:** ![bonzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/45deac/32.png) [@bonzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bonzer)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2004, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-a-us-president-ever-really-do-this/247808/8 "2004-05-31T00:32:38Z")
A similar story is described by Peter Pringle and William Arkin in _SIOP_ (Sphere, 1983, p169-71), their account of US nuclear war planning. They begin by quoting one of Zbiginiew Brzezinski’s assistants on how thoroughly Carter had taken learning the launch procedures and how he’d toured various facets of the system. Then they quote one General Robert Rosenberg on the story of the surprise test. Apparently Brzezinski phoned the guy on “The Football” duty (i.e. the bloke who accompanies the President with the launch codes) and said: > [@](#): > > This is an exercise, I am the President of the United States. We have just got warning that a raid of warheads is en route to the United States. Get me out of here. This is an emergency exercise. We are going to war. At which point the system degenerated into chaos. Including the Secret Service nearly trying to shoot down the special evacuation helicopter as it arrived at the White House from Quantico. Carter ordered an inquiry, the final report of which became Presidential Directive 41. Even this acknowledges that it’s impossible to ensure that members of the National Command Authority (in the first instance, the President) could be extracted from Washington in time. Pringle and Arkin don’t date when this is supposed to have taken place. ---
**Author:** ![akennett](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ee59a6/32.png) [@akennett](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/akennett)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2004, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-a-us-president-ever-really-do-this/247808/9 "2004-05-31T03:18:07Z")
> [@bonzer](#): > > Even this acknowledges that it’s impossible to ensure that members of the National Command Authority (in the first instance, the President) could be extracted from Washington in time. Now _this_ is exactly why we need to authorize Plan R. We must protect our precious bodily fluids! ---
**Author:** ![tremorviolet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e47774/32.png) [@tremorviolet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tremorviolet)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2004, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-a-us-president-ever-really-do-this/247808/10 "2004-05-31T03:40:16Z")
Wwll, Googling finds [this page](http://www.romanbrackman.com/books/carter/ch8.html) which is pretty interesting. > [@](#): > > More than a year after the event [the Iranian Hostage Crisis], the New York Times reported that on January 21, 1977, Carter’s first staff meeting had produced an urgent post-inaugural decision to test the “arrangements for a nuclear emergency,” and a week later National Security Advisor Brzezinski and his female secretary, playing the role of the President and the First Lady, rushed across the South Lawn of the White House to a Marine helicopter descending from the dark sky, struggling against the blustery winds near the force of a gale. Having picked them up, the helicopter took off for Mount Weather, the nuclear shelter in Virginia. Had the Secret Service men been quick enough, they might well have fired on the helicopter—”for all they knew, the flight was unauthorized.” It was “the first in a series of surprise alerts that President Carter and Mr. Brzezinski have sprung” to test the responsiveness of emergency procedures for evacuation in the event of nuclear attack. This makes it sound like the story the Op heard has been embelished somewhat. The site I found looks kinda flakey tho’, I’d be interestd in seeing a better reference. ---
**Author:** ![dnooman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/839c29/32.png) [@dnooman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dnooman)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2004, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-a-us-president-ever-really-do-this/247808/11 "2004-05-31T06:14:33Z")
I wanted to say that I thought it was Carter, but I agree it doesn’t really seem like the sort of “well, prove it” sort of thing that he might do. He was, IMO a very underestimated man. That aspect of him makes me believe that he would have done such a thing just to make sure it worked. At this point, I’m fairly confident that an incident closely resembling the one I described actually did occur. Keep the answers/recollections coming. This is almost eclipsing the story about the entire US submarine fleet “pinging” the entire Russian fleet at once. I guess sometimes politicians _do_ have good ideas. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2004, 7:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-a-us-president-ever-really-do-this/247808/12 "2004-05-31T07:12:27Z")
Does anyone recall hearing that the “football guy” once accidentally got left behind from some Presidential flight and that if there had been a nuclear crisis while Air Force One was in the air there would have been no way for the President to access the launch codes? Can’t remember the details of when I heard this, including which President it supposedly was. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2004, 7:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-a-us-president-ever-really-do-this/247808/13 "2004-05-31T07:17:25Z")
> [@dnooman](#): > > Keep the answers/recollections coming. This is almost eclipsing the story about the entire US submarine fleet “pinging” the entire Russian fleet at once. I guess sometimes politicians _do_ have good ideas. What was that about? I’ve never heard that story. ---
**Author:** ![edwino](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/35a633/32.png) [@edwino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/edwino)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2004, 8:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-a-us-president-ever-really-do-this/247808/14 "2004-05-31T08:08:25Z")
You must remember Carter, for all of his faults, did have balls. He went to Three Mile Island while the reactor was still critical. As a former nuclear engineer on a Navy submarine, he sat down with engineers and tried to troubleshoot with them in the control room to try and vent the hydrogen bubble that was in danger of igniting. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2004, 10:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-a-us-president-ever-really-do-this/247808/15 "2004-05-31T10:03:05Z")
> [@Little Nemo](#): > > Does anyone recall hearing that the “football guy” once accidentally got left behind from some Presidential flight and that if there had been a nuclear crisis while Air Force One was in the air there would have been no way for the President to access the launch codes? Can’t remember the details of when I heard this, including which President it supposedly was. The version I heard was that Kennedy (and entourage) were using some sort of underground maintenance tunnel to transfer between hotels (so’s he could rendezvous with his then-current mistress), and the “football guy” ended up getting separated from the group, and briefly lost. I don’t know where that info comes from, though. Sorry. Although, it _might_ have been that White House tellall book published by the…former Chief of Staff, I think? ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2004, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-a-us-president-ever-really-do-this/247808/16 "2004-05-31T13:53:09Z")
> [@friedo](#): > > What was that about? I’ve never heard that story. [From here?](http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread43630/pg1) ---
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2004, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-a-us-president-ever-really-do-this/247808/17 "2004-05-31T16:30:08Z")
Sorry to hijack this but who is the “football guy”? Do we know his name? what he looks like? How many football guys have there been? Has any written a memoir? ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2004, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-a-us-president-ever-really-do-this/247808/18 "2004-05-31T17:15:21Z")
Judging from the OP’s use of the word “appointed”, as opposed to “elected”, I can only guess he is talking about the current one. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2004, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-a-us-president-ever-really-do-this/247808/19 "2004-05-31T17:22:00Z")
> [@tremorviolet](#): > > Wwll, Googling finds [this page](http://www.romanbrackman.com/books/carter/ch8.html) which is pretty interesting. > > > [@](#): > > > > More than a year after the event [the Iranian Hostage Crisis], the New York Times reported that on January 21, 1977, Carter’s first staff meeting had produced an urgent post-inaugural decision to test the “arrangements for a nuclear emergency,” and a week later National Security Advisor Brzezinski and his female secretary, playing the role of the President and the First Lady, rushed across the South Lawn of the White House to a Marine helicopter descending from the dark sky, struggling against the blustery winds near the force of a gale. Having picked them up, the helicopter took off for Mount Weather, the nuclear shelter in Virginia. Had the Secret Service men been quick enough, they might well have fired on the helicopter—”for all they knew, the flight was unauthorized.” It was “the first in a series of surprise alerts that President Carter and Mr. Brzezinski have sprung” to test the responsiveness of emergency procedures for evacuation in the event of nuclear attack. > > This makes it sound like the story the Op heard has been embelished somewhat. The site I found looks kinda flakey tho’, I’d be interestd in seeing a better reference. Points of clarification: 1. Carter took office on January 20, 1977. 2. Carter initiated the emergency test on January 21, 1977, according to a New Yort Times article published more that a year after that event itself. 3. The Iranian hostage crisis began on November 4, 1979 and lasted for 444 days. ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2004, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-a-us-president-ever-really-do-this/247808/20 "2004-05-31T17:23:41Z")
> [@Shalmanese](#): > > Sorry to hijack this but who is the “football guy”? Do we know his name? what he looks like? How many football guys have there been? Has any written a memoir? [The Nuclear Football](http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/systems/nuclear-football.htm) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-a-us-president-ever-really-do-this/247808.md?page=2)