Can you guess which local elected official is highlighted in this 1984 photo at a pro-Reagan rally?
One of my earliest memories as a freshman Trojan at USC in 1984 was the visit of presidential candidate Walter Mondale, who ran into what was probably one of the nastiest college receptions a politician has ever faced.
I’ll never forget that September day — walking past Bovard Auditorium, the anchor building to the famous Tommy Trojan statue where I usually sat through morning biology classes — and realizing that Mondale’s campaign appearance had turned into a face-off with a crowd of jeering students.
As a young Cuban-American political science student in what I thought at the time was the midst of the Cold War, I was no fan of Democrats’ vision for taking on the Soviet threat and made sure to walk over and let Mondale know what I thought — in the loudest and most energetic manner possible.
Mondale famously shot back at the sign-holding students across from him, calling them “Republican hecklers.”
Yet little did he — or I — know, we were actually standing right across from one of Orange County’s future leading politicians.
Can you guess who we were looking at?
Update: Today’s winner is commenter, Truevoice, whose keen eye identified Supervisors’ Chairman Shawn Nelson.
Do you have an interesting photo from the past life of one of today’s elected leaders? Send it our way at voiceofoc@gmail.com.