# 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:** 5\ **Page:** 2
**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, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-a-us-president-ever-really-do-this/247808/21 "2004-05-31T17:36:22Z")
> [@Duckster](#): > > 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. Thanks for the clarification. I inseerted the [Iranian Hostage Crisis] part in the quote I posted for clarification but I guess I must have misread the article. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Rieux](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Dr.Rieux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Rieux)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2004, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-a-us-president-ever-really-do-this/247808/22 "2004-05-31T20:49:11Z")
> [@Dewey Finn](#): > > I could believe LBJ did that. I’ve heard weird stories about him. One of my favorite LBJ stories is the one where he was at a military base, getting ready to fly somewhere in a helicopter. He started to walk toward the nearest 'copter, only to be stopped by an airman who pointed at another machine and said, “No, Mr. President, _that’s_ \*\*your \*\*helicopter.” LBJ looked down at the man and said, “Son, they’re \*all \*\*\*my \*\*helicopters.” ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2004, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-a-us-president-ever-really-do-this/247808/23 "2004-05-31T22:56:11Z")
> [@tremorviolet](#): > > Wwll, Googling finds [this page](http://www.romanbrackman.com/books/carter/ch8.html) which is pretty interesting. > > 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. I just read the original 1978 NY Times story referred to in that article. The author of the book made a few minor mistatements. The event happened. But the Secret Service was supposed to have been advised that it was gonna happen, just so they didn’t fire at an unannounced helicopter. They _weren’t_ advised. The book’s author said that Brzezinski and secretary were whisked away to “Mount Weather.” The Times story said they were carried to Andrew’s AFB in MD, where the President’s 747 Airborn Command center was on standby. The Times story also said that it is a 10 minute helicopter trip from point to point. But it took _twice that_ for the helicopter to arrive to pick them up. NOt exactly an hour. The Times story said that later, similar test took _less_ that the allotted time because of all the practice drills that Carter/Brzezinski called. ---
**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, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-a-us-president-ever-really-do-this/247808/24 "2004-05-31T23:09:51Z")
> [@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? While I suspect the identity of the current holder is not something the White House particularly publicises, there’s traditionally no secrecy about those who’ve held the position in the past. For example, the “bagman” accompanying Kennedy to Dallas (and LBJ back) was Warrant Officer Ira D. Gearhart. To my knowledge, none have ever spoken about the role. By all accounts, they tend to be relatively isolated figures, even within the retinue. ---
**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:** [June 1, 2004, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-a-us-president-ever-really-do-this/247808/25 "2004-06-01T05:01:55Z")
> [@](#): > > 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. This may have happened, but it wasn’t the incident I was thinking of. I recall reading it in the newspaper so it must have been more current than the Kennedy administration. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-a-us-president-ever-really-do-this/247808.md?page=1)