Diana’s encounter with “Slick Willie” happened in the spring of 1993 and, yes, she did give him a “full Nelson” (that reference is now more than somewhat obscure: VP Nelson A. Rockefeller). The event occurred on a brightly sunlit afternoon on the sidewalk in front of our apartment in Sunnyvale.
That particular day, both Clinton and Gore were visiting local officials, ostensibly to learn about governmental efficiencies since (to cite one example) Sunnyvale cross-trains cops as fire-fighters and vice-versa so that, in case of emergency, whoever responds is well-equipped to handle much more than other cities.
At any rate, one of our neighbors at the time who needed a walker to get around asked Diana if she’d go with him to see the motorcade as it left the community center (across the street). She told him that, as a general rule, she avoided any incumbent president, veep or the Pope and she pointed out that two of the three were going to be driving in front. He pleaded and she finally said, “Okay, but I’m only giving him 10 minutes.”
They were waiting almost 5 minutes when the neighbor said that the two motorcycle cops were starting. After they went past, the first black limo to drive by was Gore’s. After that came Clinton’s limo and he was sitting on the right side near Diana and smiling while waving. As he looked at her, the way the sun hit his face, Diana said he looked exactly like her first husband. That (more than his position on NAFTA, she later told me) was what prompted a bird in each hand.
The neighbor phoned me (i was still at the office that afternoon) to say, “You won’t believe what Diana just did!” After he hung up i phoned her and said that i would’ve been too scared to do anything like that since the Secret Service can shoot the eyes off a hummingbird at 50 yards. Diana countered, “Hey, they could see I was unarmed!”
When i told one of our good friends (a lady almost Diana’s age who came from Milan and is a staunch GOP voter) about the incident, she exclaimed, “That is ‘von-der-ful.’ God bless her!”
That’s all i remember of the story nearly a quarter century later.
April 2017