Richard Nixon

First edition (third printing, 1978) of "The Memoirs of Richard Nixon" signed in black pen. Although these signed editions of Nixon's memoirs are not particularly rare, this book is an important addition to my Presidential autographs. I'm too young to remember when Nixon died, but I do remember seeing the Watergate complex on my first trip to Washington D.C. when I was a kid.

Richard Milhouse Nixon (1913-1994) was the 37th President of the United States. He was the only U.S. President (to date) to resign from office, following the Watergate scandal - investigation of which led to the discovery of multiple abuses of power by his administration. Nixon passed away on April 22, 1994, following a severe stroke.

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George W Bush

George W Bush
43rd President of the United States

Two true first editions of 41: A Portrait of My Father signed in black marker. I picked these up this morning at a Black Friday sale at Barnes & Noble in Augusta, ME. I had originally intended to just purchase one. I grabbed two off of the shelves to double check that they weren't autopens. As a did that, someone pushed me out of the way and grabbed all of the remaining copies, as well as all of the signed copies of Hillary Clinton's Hard Choices (which I was considering getting a copy of as well). Long story short, I couldn't get back to where Bush's books had been, so I ended up buying the second copy, along with the book by Neil Patrick Harris in the previous post and a signed copy of Neil Gaiman's American Gods for my girlfriend. I now have signatures from all of the living presidents except for George H.W. Bush.

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Barack Obama

Barack Obama
U.S. President

The Audacity of Hope, first edition (later printing), signed in black marker. On Thursday, October 30th, 2014 I attended the final democratic rally of the 2014 Maine election season at the Portland Expo Center in Portland, ME featuring former U.S. Senate majority leader George Mitchell and President Barack Obama. Knowing that is would be a madhouse, far crazier than the rally with Bill Clinton back in September, I and my girlfriend got there early. We arrived at the Portland Expo at about 11:30 in the morning, 4 and a half hours before the doors opened. We weren’t the first people there, but we were close. Four other people were already waiting; apparently the first person arrived around 8:00 AM (apparently a “professional” autograph hunter, more on him later). Luckily, despite being almost November, it wasn’t too terribly cold out, despite there being a little bit of breeze. It was quite pleasant, as long as the sun wasn’t behind a cloud. For about an hour and a half we just stood there, in the cold, reading books we had brought for the wait (for me, Eyes of the Dragon by Stephen King, for my girlfriend, Dragon Slippers by Jessica George – are we sensing a pattern here?).

By 1:00, the crowd was beginning to grow. By 3:00, the road in front of the expo was barricaded, and there was police tape keeping people from wandering through on the street. That didn’t stop people who didn’t have tickets, or who thought they’d try and jump to the front of the line from waiting at the tape. By 4:00 the line stretched out of sight - there were more than 7,000 people in line. Around that time, the event staff told the people who’d wandered up front to go to the back of the line, and let people with disabilities through, to head to the handicapped seating. Right afterwards, they let people representing the unions supporting Mike Michaud through (the people sitting on risers behind the stage). Then, it was our turn.

As soon as I made it through security, I bolted for the front, leaving my girlfriend in the dust (she’d expected this – first one through was supposed to go and grab us a good spot. At first, it appeared that we wouldn’t be able to get right in front – there was a reserved section in front of the general admission section. After a minute or two, though, I realized that the bleachers on the left side of the gym were ALSO general admission, despite having a barrier in front of them. We quickly shifted spots, getting seats in the front row, stage right, directly next to the rope line. And there we sat.

People slowly filtered in after going through security. Sometime before 6:00, the fire marshal cut off new admissions – the Expo only has a capacity of about 3,000. 4,000 people who arrived were not allowed in. We chatted with a lovely older lady as we waited for the show to start and tried not to be crushed by the influx of people. The “professional” autograph hunter was sitting a seat down from us. A little after 6:00, the show got started. Mike Brennan (mayor of Portland) came on stage and spoke, followed by Ben Grant (chair of the Maine Democratic Party) and U.S. Senate candidate Shenna Bellows. After a brief intermission, U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree came on stage to speak followed, after another brief pause, by former U.S. Senate majority leader George Mitchell.

During another brief intermission after Mitchell, the entire front row where I was sitting lunged forward. I don’t know what started it, but, presumably, someone thought that Obama was coming out next, ran to the barrier, and everyone else followed suit. There was a bit of a dustup. The “professional” autograph gentleman was arguing with security, refusing to get back to his seat, while a pushy young woman in an orange blazer was shoving people out of the way to get to the front of the rope line. Bottom line: Obama wasn’t next. Security had everyone sit back down, and stationed someone in the aisle to make sure that people stayed seated. Afterwards, Michaud came out. His speech wasn’t radically different than the speech he gave at the rally with Bill Clinton the other month, but it was still inspiring and energized the crowd.

Following Michaud was the President. Again, the crowd surged forward. This time, those of us right in front were allowed to stay by the barrier (unfortunately my girlfriend had to go back to her seat, but that was just 3 feet back). There was a secret service officer standing directly behind me, and another in front of me (not to mention many more stationed around the President, and in the crowd). Right off the bat, the secret service agent in front of me noticed that I had a book. He told me to put it on the floor, that the president would not be signing anything, and that he didn’t want to see me try and pick the book up again. I was a little disappointed, but did as I was told.

Mr. Obama’s speech was fantastic – the man is an amazing orator. He wove together themes of hope and change, and laid out why he thought that Mike Michaud was the right person to lead Maine. There was amazing energy in the crowd while he was on stage. I’ve heard that in other rallies the President attended this election cycle, people walked out while he was speaking. That didn’t happen up here, and, after seeing him in action, I couldn’t imagine such a thing happening anywhere else. He was electric. Absolutely electric. I was transfixed, standing there letting his words wash over me like waves. Perhaps the most memorable moment of his speech, for me, came near the end when Mr. Obama spoke about cynicism in politics – particularly that sown by the far right:

Cynicism didn’t put a man on the moon, cynicism has never ended a war, or cured disease, or built a business, or taught a young mind ... Hope is what built America.”

-Barack Obama

Portland, ME
October 30th, 2014

After his speech, the President made his way around the rope lines, shaking hands. Again, there was a massive rush forward, but I did get the chance to shake Mr. Obama’s hand (as did my girlfriend) before he headed back stage. Before I turned to leave, however, I noticed a couple of aides gathering books from the crowd. Despite what the gentleman with the secret service had said, the President was going to sign a few items! One of the aides took my copy of The Audacity of Hope, and the security staff told me to wait in the lobby for the aides to come back with the book.

You may be wondering why I have kept mentioning the “professional” autograph hunter. Well, as I was making my way back to the lobby, he very nearly got arrested. He had given one of the aides several books (at least 4, maybe more), and was refused to go to the lobby when directed. The security staff called over the police, as well as some of the secret service officers, to escort him out to the lobby. 2 minutes later, the aide returned with my book, as well as several books for the gentleman who was escorted out. All in all, about 12 people got books signed.

At first, I was worried that they’d set up an autopen machine back stage, but, while I was there I was also able to look at a book that someone else got signed. While similar, the signature was not identical to that in my book (no loop on the "B"). After closer examination, I think that the autograph is genuine. What concerned me at the time were the dots at the start of the B in Barack and at the end of the final letter of Obama. After getting some sleep and getting a look at the signature in better lighting, I was able to see varying pen pressure which would not be present with an autopen signature. Both dots appear to have been the result of a slight backstroke from the pen contacting/leaving the page combined with bleed from the marker.

All in all, it was a fantastic experience. The chance to hear a sitting President speak does not come every day, and I wouldn’t have missed it for the world. The event was made all the more special by getting a chance to shake Mr. Obama’s hand and to have my book signed. I don’t think that it’s too much of a stretch to say that this is now the crown jewel of my collection.

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William Jefferson Clinton

William Jefferson Clinton
U.S. President

True first edition of "My Life," President Clinton's autobiography, signed in black pen.

Normally I try to keep text to a minimum when describing events on this blog, so apologies for running a bit long on this one. Last night I had the pleasure of attending a rally at the Portland Exposition Building for Senator Mike Michaud's gubernatorial campaign, with special guest President Bill Clinton! This was my first time having an opportunity to see a president speak in person!* Although the rally was scheduled to start at 7:30 and the doors didn't open until 5:30, I took the afternoon off from work and showed up at the Expo several hours early, around 2:30. I was the third person there. Half an hour or so before the doors opened I and the other hundred or so people who had already arrived were greeted by Mike himself. I've met him a few times since he was elected to congress, and think he'd make a fantastic governor. Two hours later (the rally started half an hour early, presumably because most of the ticket-holders had arrived) it was extremely hot in the building - it was 80 degrees outside, and the building itself is apparently not air conditioned and has poor air circulation. That combined with 1,600 people pressed together made for intense heat and humidity. Half an hour into the rally a woman standing right behind me fainted and had to be carried out by paramedics.

President Clinton himself came on stage with Mike Michaud around 8:00. Michaud's speech focused heavily on fighting for veterans, specifically on the bipartisan veteran's healthcare reform bill passed earlier this year, whereas Clinton's speech focused on bringing people together, getting things done and Mike Michaud's attributes that will make him a successful governor. You can get a taste for it in the video clip at the Portland Press Herald article linked at the bottom of the page.

Arriving at the Expo four and a half hours really paid off for me. I was at the rope line, about 6 feet from the podium. In fact, that's the back of my head in front of the "I Like Mike" sign on the podium. After his speech President Clinton came around the rope line. I had the opportunity to shake his hand, talk to him for a minute and have my copy of his autobiography signed. I feel very lucky; with 1,600 attendants, I was one of only perhaps 100 people to have the opportunity to shake President Clinton's hand, and one of only 6 to get something signed.

http://www.pressherald.com/2014/09/02/bill-clinton-are-we-coming-together-or-drifting-apart/

*Full Disclosure: I could have seen President Obama speak at the dedication of the Martin Luther King Jr Memorial in Washington D.C., as I was in the area that weekend. Unfortunately, even though I was just a few minutes walk away, I didn't realize that the dedication was going on until the next day.

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Jimmy Carter

Jimmy Carter
U.S. President

Bookplate in a copy of Mr. Carter's Nobel Prize lecture. I had written to Mr. Carter a second time in the hopes of having the book personalized, in any case it's still a wonderful addition to my collection. Arrived June 15th.

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Jimmy Carter

Jimmy Carter
U.S. President and Nobel Peace Prize Recipient

8x10 photo of former U.S. President and 2002 Nobel Peace Prize Recipient Jimmy Carter signed in black sharpie. I wrote to Mr. Carter back in April and received this in the mail this afternoon. Mr. Carter left office before I was born, however I'm a big fan of his post-presidential work. This is my first REAL Presidential autograph, seeing as the George Bush Sr photo is both a secretarial and an autopen. I may send Mr. Carter a book to sign in a couple of weeks, while I wait to see if Bill Clinton takes the time to sign my copy of his autobiography...

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