When I was in LE in 68, Ronald Reagan came to our town to stump for Nixon. He was governor of Cali then. I was assigned as his local driver/bodyguard along with another officer and Reagan's California State Trooper Captain. I spent a couple days with him, even he and I sneaking out of the hotel so I could take him to a store to buy an overcoat.
He attended a R muckety Muck dinner the first night. My partner and I escorted him over to the venue. One of the Big Wheel Rs told us to go in the kitchen and have some food. Reagan tapped the guy on the shoulder and said, "These guys are with me. Set them up a table in the banquet room" A little later while my partner and I were chowing down on filet's, I noticed Reagan looking around as he sat at a table on the dais with the R Swells. I sort of waved and he got a big smile and gave us a thumbs up. Reagan treated folks around him as friends. He was also much smarter than many folks thought. He carried a box on newspapers and books around with him that he read. His State Police Captain said he was a much better man and a lot smarter than he was given credit for. The morning he left town, my partner and I helped load his stuff into the car to transport him to the airport. He thanked both Jack and I and called us by name, which was quite a surprise that he'd remember.
I wrote him a congrats letter some time after he won the election for president. I reminded him about our escapades in 1968, though I didn't think he'd remember. A couple weeks later I got an envelope in the mail that the return address said The White House, Washington DC. Inside was a personal letter from President Reagan who included a couple comments that made it clear he'd read my letter as anyone else wouldn't have known about what he referred to.