Reagan, Gorbachev and Me, continued

I just want to interject a caveat: I would never reveal Studibert's real name, because the man is not only vicious and vengeful – I’ve seen the letters of condemnation he has mass-mailed on targeted individuals – And, he also threatened my life at one time.

I could not have known this about Studibert at the time. I was still in the middle of realizing my ambition in life, and that was to be a wife and homemaker; raise 12 children (I only had five – boys!); and grow into a fat and happy grandma who would spend her days baking cookies and spoiling her grandchildren. But as I am reminded over and over again, life is an irony, if nothing else. The best laid plans – even plans of mediocrity – can always be thwarted. Sometimes the person you are married to can thwart your plans; or maybe there are health and/or financial issues, or outside events that will carry you away into that unknown place where you have the “opportunity” to become who you are. I was being hurled into that place at this moment, and it would rip me away from my goals and plans, and way of life in the blink of an eye.

I had no idea (having never met him before) that Studibert was the master manipulator. He was the ultimate politician’s politician. He came off as being the charming, smooth operator who knew how to get things done. He seemed gracious and serving; accommodating and willing to bend over backwards to make your day. He knew every advantageous move to make, all the right words to say, how to dress, where to be and when to be there, and how to be. He was the consummate smoke and mirrors kind of sham-artist that could fool even the most clever of them all. People blessed with the gift of discernment could spot him a mile away. I couldn’t see it, so I walked right into his world with a big smile on my face, and my heart wide open. He was clever in his deception as the good guy, though not overly smart. His position as President Reagan's Advance Man was low enough on the totem pole of the political arena to be usually ignored, but powerful enough to make or break the lives of people who came in contact with this man.

It is the job of the Advance Man for the President of The United States to go about 2 weeks in advance to wherever the President is supposed to be. The Advance man is to make sure everything from accommodations, travel, meetings, meals, speeches, facilities, etc., are arranged for and cleared for security before the President shows up. The President’s itinerary had to be planned down to the second from the time he woke up in the morning, to how long it would take to travel from one point to the next, how long each meal would take, and so forth, up until the time the President retired at night.

Studibert had this “funny” story or incident he liked to tell about his adventures as The Advance Man. One in particular that I had heard several times was when he had gone ahead of the President to a neighboring state, to make sure everything was arranged for, including the vehicles that the Secret Service would travel in directly behind the President’s Limousine in the motorcade. Studibert had arranged with the local government to have the use of a 4-wheel drive that would follow the President’s limo. The back door was required to open down, creating a ledge whereby the Secret Service could stand on this tailgate and see over the President’s car and the crowd. This was a very important security detail, however, when the President arrived, and the Secret Service went to climb on the back of the vehicle’s tailgate, it was wrong: It opened out like a door instead of down like a tailgate! This was unacceptable, but time was running out, and everything was governed by time. So in the middle of the motorcade, Studibert swung the vehicle into the nearest fire station, got the bolt-cutters out, cut the back door off this new vehicle, tossed the door off on to the side of the road and off they went, with the Secret Service standing on the back of the door-less 4-wheel drive.

Normally this would be a rather amusing story, but later I learned that this summed up how Studibert approached everything and everyone. If it served his purpose, it was used. If not, then it would be cast off unceremoniously on to the side of the road. Studibert was especially good at doing this to people’s lives. Of course, when I first met the man, I had no idea that he was capable of such dastardly deeds because of the combination of his convincing theatrics, and my sheltered naiveté.