Like a lot of young students in 1980, Howard Klausner was a Jimmy Carter guy when the first-term president ran for reelection against challenger Ronald Reagan, the former California governor.
For many, Carter was likable and progressive, making it easy to overlook his long list of failures. “Great man, terrible president,” said Klausner, who worked on Carter’s campaign in his home state of Tennessee.
After Reagan won, Klausner moved on to college. But then, the Gipper was shot and almost killed coming out of a Washington hotel in 1981. His survival and how he handled the episode made Klausner and a generation of young Democrats Reaganites forever.
“I flipped in college the night he returned for a joint session to Congress after getting shot. I watched that day, I was in school, and I just went, ‘Whatever this is that’s going on, I want to be a part of it,’ and that’s when I said I like Ronald Reagan,” he told Secrets.
Klausner studied cinema and writing at the University of Southern California and eventually became an author, filmmaker, and screenwriter, penning the popular Space Cowboys movie starring Clint Eastwood, Tommy Lee Jones, Donald Sutherland, and James Garner.
