Hard to Forget

About a month ago in one of my TWiA posts, I alluded to a story involving my father-in-law Bill and Al Gore. Today seems as good a time as any to spin out the tale...

For a number of years my father-in-law worked as a journalist. He was old school before it was even called old school, and was thoroughly versed in churning out concise, accurate copy on deadline, which also meant using proper spelling, grammar, and punctuation at all times. (And believe me when I tell you that even if he wasn't writing for a living, he was the sort of person who would have followed those rules anyway.)

He spent about eight years at the Nashville Tennessean as a science and environment reporter. During that time he mentored some of the younger reporters, including Al Gore, who worked there for about a year around 1970. He felt it was his responsibility to emphatically impress his beliefs regarding the fundamentals of good writing upon all the young reporters, including Gore.

Many years later Bill ended up working as a consultant to local political candidates in the southern California town where he lived, so he was acquainted with many members of the city government. At some point after Clinton and Gore left office, Gore was scheduled to give a speech in one of the nearby towns, so Bill went with one of the city council members.

Outside the venue, they stood behind a barricade along the path Gore would take to enter the facility. He arrived and climbed out of his limo along with his Secret Service detail. Gore made his way down the walkway, waving at various people. He spotted Bill, shouted out Bill's name, and veered off his path toward him, confusing the Secret Service agents.

He shook Bill's hand and Bill said, "I wasn't sure you would remember me." Gore replied, "Remember you? I used to have nightmares about you."