A quick and chance meeting with Gov. Ann Richards in Washington DC.

I was in Washington DC to make recordings of the former Senator and Presidential and Vice Presidential candidate Bob Dole. We were bringing in some early equipment in to play recordings of Theodore Roosevelt for him. It took a while to get all of the machine and equipment in. Had to bring the horn, the crane, the box of cylinders, the machine and the cameras and the like.  It was near lunch time when we arrived and had all of this. Ann Richards by this time was working at a law firm in Washington in this same building that Dole was in. She had just entered the lobby as I had it all together and was carrying a large horn in my hand.

So as I got all of this together and it needed to be checked by security. It was not much of a check to be honest, this was before 9/11.

Ann Richards came by and knew what the equipment was. She asked why it was there and I explained we were going to record Bob Dole on wax. She said I would love to see this machine in operation.. So in the lobby of this most fancy building I set up the Edison machine and played a cylinder of President Theodore Roosevelt.

 It was originally just a few listening including Governor Richards and this crowd grew to about 100 people while Theodore Roosevelt spoke from the horn . As soon as it was over the crowd broke into applause for the 26th president. Richards came to me and said "That was great, love to see more of this"  Soon she and her partners were on their way to lunch and the lobby was quiet. It was one of those most interesting moments you could never plan.

No pictures were taken, no video, it was just a moment that came crashing together without any plans. But it was pleasure to meet Gov. Ann Richards that day.


What happened with the Senator I will write about in a later post