Reporter’s notebook: OPB producer Nora Colie recounts the time U.S. President Jimmy Carter slept overnight at her childhood best friend’s house in Northeast Portland, Oregon.
In 1977, Jimmy Carter became the 39th president of the United States.
That same year, he continued a practice he had adopted while campaigning for governor of Georgia: staying overnight in the homes of everyday Americans. This practice initially saved his campaign some travel money, but after becoming president these visits also allowed him to connect with his supporters on a personal level.
On May 4, 1978, when I was almost 7 years old, President Carter decided on a Portland sleepover during a West Coast tour meeting local community leaders.
The home his staff selected for the stay happened to be my best friend Kristen Bergeron’s (née Olson) house in the Irvington neighborhood in the city’s northeast. I lived just two houses down.
“When you think about it, how crazy it was that he did this, and not just with our family but multiple families,” Bergeron said.
“The fact that the nuclear codes were across the street. That’s a little creepy, actually.”
Crowds assemble awaiting President Jimmy Carter's arrival at the home of Janet and Paul Olson (left) in Portland, Ore., including protesters (right) demonstrating against nuclear buildup in the U.S. in these photos from May 4, 1978.
Courtesy of Janet and Paul Olson
For two days prior to and during the visit, our street turned into the epicenter of everything that mattered — or at least it seemed that way for us kids.
Local celebrities, Oregon politicians and people from around the city flocked to see Carter. Even nuclear protesters joined in, feeling just as welcome as the rest of us.
‘It was a very moving time’
Carter turned 100 years old Tuesday. Before the former president’s birthday, I revisited the memories of his stay with Bergeron and her parents, Paul and Janet Olson. The two still reside in the same home where Carter slept 46 years ago, and they’ve held onto lots of memorabilia from that experience.
There’s the presidential telephone — set up as a direct line to the White House — that was left behind, the coffee cup he drank from the morning of his departure, a framed photo of President Carter reading a bedtime story to Kristen and her brother, Ehren. All remain propped on a desk in the room where he slept, a domestic time capsule.
What I never knew before was how exactly the Olsons were selected as Portland’s “average American” family for the president’s stay.
“We had worked on one of the [Portland] mayor’s campaigns and got to know a lot of people, some of whom lived in this neighborhood during that process,” Paul Olson explained.
“We’re pretty sure that’s why our name was on the list originally submitted by the mayor’s office,” Janet added.
Shortly after learning that the president would spend the night at their home, some of his White House staff arrived to help the Olsons prepare for the sleepover. Secret Service agents assessed the neighborhood and did security sweeps of the house.
Kristen Bergeron née Olson, then age 5, enthusiastically greets President Jimmy Carter upon his arrival at her family's home in Portland, Ore., May 4, 1978.
Courtesy of the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum
On the day of the visit, crowds started to form hours before the arrival and a neighborhood pre-party was organized with food and music.
Then, at 9:30 p.m., the president’s motorcade pulled up in front of the Olsons’ home. The crowd cheered as Carter exited the presidential limousine and walked up the steps to be greeted by the whole family.
“It was a very moving time. I compared it to those big events that happen in your life, when you get married [and] your children are born,” Janet Olson said.
Smoked salmon and rhubarb custard pie
Then everyone left. The Secret Service stationed themselves outside, guarding a lit perimeter they had set up around the street. Inside the house, it was just the Olsons, the 39th president of the United States and his executive assistant.
President Carter took off his suit jacket, shoes and tie and got comfortable.
“He asked me a couple of questions and I just expressed to him that I was pleased with what was going on in his administration, about the emphasis on conservation and solar,” said Paul, who worked in energy conservation for a home remodeling company.
“When you’re in that situation, I hadn’t given a lot of thought to any of the questions that he might ask. I didn’t prepare anything. So you’re a little bit tongue-tied.”
“And I think we also felt like he’s in political situations all day and this was a chance for him to relax and be with a family,” Janet Olson added. “And so we really had decided to not get into a lot of political pressure.”
The president followed Janet into the kitchen and talked about canning jars and cooking.
“We had a simple conversation you would have with any old friend who’s in your kitchen,” Janet said. “He was just real easy to be around.”
They ate local smoked salmon that somebody in the neighborhood had caught, rhubarb custard pie (Janet’s mother’s recipe) and drank Oregon wine.
President Jimmy Carter, Ehren Olson and Kristen Olson read a card sent to the president by Tillamook Grade School students. Portland, Ore., May 4, 1978.
Courtesy of the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum
The next morning, President Carter talked a bit more with the Olsons after a cup of coffee, invited them to come see him at the White House and wrote a note to excuse Kristen from school that day.
“It was a handwritten note that I wish I can remember exactly what it said, but it was like, ‘Dear [teacher] Mary Ann Sweet, Kristen won’t be at school today. Signed, Jimmy Carter,’” Kristen Bergeron said.
Then the president stepped out their front door to cheering onlookers and belonged to the world again.
“I guess the idea of a president today, staying in somebody’s house, is kind of a moment in time,” Paul said.
Janet said she was touched. “He was very humble, just a very humble person. And being president did not change that part of him.”
Illustration by Sheyla Felix / image source: the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum
