I was living in the USA as a young kiddly when Watergate happened. I remember whatsisname, Nichard Dixon, very well. He had an arse on the end of his nose, which at the time seemed the most pertinent fact.
Uh, I was born during the Clinton administration, and he’s the first president I was aware of. I guess that makes me the youngest Doper. (1994)
Aw shit, 1994 was the year I graduated from high schoo!l Way to make me feel old, Captain Socks. get offa my lawn
I was born in 1976 and the first one I remember. I voted for Clinton in my first presidential election once I was of age.
Crap. Add “the first one I remember is Reagan.” I’m not sure how that didn’t get in there.
Born at the end of '63, almost exactly one month after JFK was killed. I remember the Nixon-McGovern election in '72 and knew of Nixon before that but not LBJ. I remember when LBJ and Truman died, within a month of each other.
I was born in 1966. I remember the incompetent Edward Heath being Prime Minister; I remember the power cuts and using pre-decimal money.
I was born in 66. The first president I remember was Nixon.
If your wife was born in 1980 and doesn’t remember all the HW Bush talk in school during the Gulf War, then I’d be totally shocked.
Because I was born in 81 and we talked about HW Bush and the Gulf War a lot.
I also remember quite a bit of school talk about Reagan too because of the whole Berlin Wall thing. And Back to the Future of course.
I was born in 1986. I don’t remember Reagan at all. I have a memory of being four or so and being told that the president’s name was George Bush. The first election I paid attention to was 1996; my fifth grade class went to see Clinton speak, and I remember making a voodoo doll of Bob Dole at school (not an assigned art class project, obviously - although my school was very liberal - just something I wanted to do). I drew a picture of him, cut it out, laminated it, coughed on it repeatedly (I had a cold at the time), and stuck it in a box.
The day my sister was born, my dad had taken me in the afternoon to see Bob Dole speak. When we got home and found that my mom was in labor, I felt guilty for having been to see a nasty evil Republican instead of being at home with her. Yeah, I was a bit partisan as a kid (still am, but I try to be more tactful about it).
Have you read Philip K. Dick’s The Simulacra, by any chance?
No I haven’t. Should I?
I was born in 82 and the first president I remember is Reagan. And I definitely remember the Gulf War. Our school did some weird patriotism show where we waved flags and sang patriotic songs through our patriotic tears.
Born in '86.
Don’t remember Reagan whatsoever. For me it was Bush, Clinton, Bush, all my damn life. If it’s Clinton vs. McCain, I’m voting McCain.
I was born in 1981 and I remember Reagan clearly; HW Bush completely (I got a letter from him and everything). And that’s even with all the drugs I did during the Clinton administration.
I was born in 1980, remember Reagan well (of course, there was a Bush in the White House then) and when George HW was elected I wrote him a letter for an assignment and he sent me a signed picture. I’m sure I still have it somewhere. It’s hilarious to think back how excited I was because the President sent me a picture of himself! (My mom had to explain how politicians have signature machines.)
Then in college, I stayed a week into the summer one year with the collegiate chorale to sing for this American Cancer Society thing that had him in it, and he came back and shook all of our hands and really spent a nice amount of personal time with each of us. Would you believe the man is incredibly charismatic in person? Seriously!
One of my first presidential memories is watching Reagan’s speech to the nation after the Challenger disaster. I was 7. And I remember the Iran-Contra hearings even though I had no clue what was going on.
I was born in late April 1988, and of course can’t remember Reagan.
I have some memory of being at an airport and talking about George HW Bush, and saying “read my lips!” because I thought it was funny. I also watched tanks drive across deserts on TV.
I can definitely remember Bill Clinton’s inauguration- it was the day the seagulls flew backwards. That sounds ominous, but it was just a really big storm. I was really confused before the telecast- “If everyone is at home at once on a weekday in the daytime, is it still MLK Day? That’s why Dad was here on Monday*, right? Was he here yesterday? I went to school yesterday, right? You’re a silly cat,” I said to our cat Schnoodle, who was walking by, and asked her, “Who’s Martin Luther King? Or is this that word I couldn’t pronounce? Also, will Bill Clinton play his saxophone? Look! I have a saxophone!” (I played it horribly and with much spirit.) The power went out in the middle of the telecast, so we went to my grandmother’s house, because she had a wood stove, to drink milk that had frozen in the outside fridge (which had no power) and tea by candlelight. I think that if there hadn’t been a huge storm, I wouldn’t remember the inauguration- but backwards seagulls and frozen milk is a pretty memorable set of events for a not-quite-five year old.
Between the inauguration and the Lewinsky scandal, I was vaguely informed through NPR, confused Watergate and Whitewater, didn’t know what Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell was about, and didn’t understand exactly what was going on with healthcare but knew something was up. I didn’t pay much attention to politics until the Lewinsky scandal, where I kept saying things like “He’s still a good president! Just not as good a person! Other presidents were adulterers too!” My class had a prayer journal that we passed around, and then our teacher said a class prayer based on what we had written. I would ask God to support our president in difficult times, and one of the other girls would pray for the adulterer to get forced out of office. Ah, Lutheran school.
I don’t mind that all I can remember is Bush, Clinton, Bush, but I do hate W for ruining John Quincy Adams’ “only son of a president to be president” distinction.
*Dad worked nearly 50 miles away from home at a community college, basically running every single computer in the place. He had more keys than the custodians. He worked longer hours, too. So him being home when it was daylight and a weekday was weird.
True. I guess this is why we don’t let 5 year olds vote.
Well, if you like his work, you’ll probably like it. I just thought of it as in the book the situation is exactly as you describe it: the First Lady remains, getting a new husband each presidential election.