Brush With Celebrity

The death of Eunice Shriver reminded me of one of my few brushes with celebrity.

It was the 1972 presidential campaign, and VP candidate R. Sargent Shriver was scheduled to visit the Seattle area. Boeing was in the depths of the deepest cyclic slump in decades and the Democrats were trying their best to capitalize on the local joblessness. Ambassador Shriver was due to arrive at Boeing Field within a half-hour of shift change at our plant, so a friend and I decided to stick around and see what happened.

The plane arrived on time, and the two of us were standing against the fence when Shriver walked the rope line before leaving to make a speech in downtown Seattle. He spent a few minutes greeting all the union people that had been bussed by the locals to make sure there was a big crowd. Then he climbed into his limo. As he turned to wave to the crowd, I gave him a thumbs down and he responded by leaping out of the car and striding directly over to me.

When he got to the fence, three television crews crowded in with cameras and microphones. Instead of asking me why I wasn’t cheering him, Shriver launched into a spiel, promising me that he’d find me a job. I told him I was already working…no thanks to him.

At this point, I should explain that one of the campaign promises was that if elected, the Democrats would pass legislation to immediately replace all the engines on old commercial jets with new, quiet designs that caused less pollution. They claimed it would provide hundreds of jobs for Boeing. Of course, it was an idiotic idea, since the engine manufacturers couldn’t supply the new engines fast enough, and even if they could, normal engine changes would be accomplished by the airlines, not Boeing. A bigger issue was that the airlines would only replace them as the old ones wore out, since they didn’t have the money with the entire aviation business in a recession.

Shriver kept on telling me that he would get me a job, and I kept on telling him that I had one, and I tried to explain the stupidity of his idea, but his ears were closed. The conversation lasted perhaps two minutes, with him sticking to the canned campaign statements and totally ignoring what I was telling him.

Finally, he grabbed my hand and shook it, then rushed to his limo. As he drove away, my friend told me that the moment Shriver headed toward me, two Secret Service agents pushed everyone out of the way and planted themselves on either side of me. Since I was concentrating on the conversation, I hadn’t even noticed they were there.

That night, the local news broadcasts covered the event and all three stations deleted the sound, but showed me talking to him and then him grabbing my hand. Without sound, it appeared that I was a supporter and that there was no opposition to him in the crowd.

When I got to work the next day, I had a tough time explaining to everyone that I was merely a victim of media bias. Some things never change.

FWIW...It took years for the airlines to change all the engines on the planes in service, and their maintenance crews did nearly all the work. Meanwhile, the McGovern/Shriver ticket was defeated in a landslide.