Ronald Reagan and Clapping

Ronald Reagan was a favorite of mine. He served as President as, hopefully, most of you know, and also before he was President, he was Governor of California. He was Governor of California from 1967 to 1975. Ronald Reagan shares a story about going to Mexico City when he was Governor of California. And he gave a speech, and there was a big crowd. And after he finished with his speech, it just didn't go very well, and it was a very unenthusiastic little kind of clap like that when he was done. And he's like,

"Man..." And he thought did I do that bad' Is it just a rough crowd' What is it' Well, he went to sit down on the platform, and the guy that got up after him, man; he showed him it wasn't a bad crowd because he was slaying the crowd.

They were just clapping and cheering. And he was speaking in Spanish and Ronald Reagan didn't understand anything he said. He felt embarrassed and awkward. And he thought, You know, this is going to be weird. So he said, "Well, I'm just going to start clapping, too, and I'll clap longer and louder and first and then they'll know that, hey, I'm okay with who I am. And just because they didn't clap for me, that's okay. I'm still going to clap. And so he was doing it, clapping first, and clapping longest, and clapping loudest.

Finally, somebody leaned over to him and said, "Hey, I wouldn't do that if I were you." He said, "That man's interpreting your speech" (laughter). A little embarrassing!