Columbia Chronicles–The Day Gov. Reagan Came to Town
Columbia’s 4th of July celebration was an event I looked forward to every year in my younger days. I was also not immune to succumbing to the curiosity and the quickening of the senses that accompanies being in the presence of celebrity. Accordingly, it was not in my nature to forego a chance to rub shoulders with a famous person. But, when it was announced that then Governor Ronald Reagan would be the keynote speaker at Columbia’s Glorious Fourth of July Celebration that year, I chose instead to go camping.
When the day came around, my then wife and I found ourselves camped for what we thought would be the weekend with a bunch of friends just downstream from Italian Bar. Several of us were skinny-dipping when some men stopped their truck and began yelling down at us from the road above, saying things like “put your clothes on” and “damn hippies,” etc. They became quite verbally abusive and threatening, even going so far as to say that if we were still there that night, they would return and “pick us off” with their rifles. They said these things even though there were children camping with us!
We took their bluster as a real threat and broke camp and returned home. We also viewed the affair through the same lens we viewed Reagan, as manifestations of a fascistic world view where well-reasoned thinking and fact-based discernment are replaced by narrow minded self-interest guided by beliefs that are often at odds with objective reality. Reagan’s ascension heralded a dark time; the country is still suffering the adverse effects of his administration to this day.
Tim Konrad
June 10, 2021
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