Behind-the-scenes work pays off
Marilyn Marks
About 24 hours before President Bill Clinton arrived at Richardson Auditorium, 40-plus ushers got their first hint of just how complicated planning a presidential visit can be.
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Conference organizer and American Studies Program Director Sean Wilentz, his wife, History Professor Christine Stansell, and their children greeted President Clinton and Rep. Rush Holt as they landed at Poe Field. Holt, a former Princeton staff member, accompanied Clinton on the flight.
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The ushers took a collective deep breath and got the job done.
It was like that for scores of Princeton staff members -- including carpenters, electricians and public safety officers -- who made sure that Clinton's two-and- a-half-hour visit Oct. 5 went smoothly, even when it meant working overtime on last-minute assignments.
"Of course it was stressful, because things were changing all the time," said Ruth Miller, assistant dean at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, who postponed her planned Oct. 1 retirement to organize logistics for the event. "But the best part of the whole thing was that absolutely everybody who helped in this was fantastic. People from all over the campus were involved, and they were able to turn on a dime."
Planning for the president's visit began in July, when Clinton agreed to give the keynote address at a two-day conference on "The Progressive Era: Politics, Culture and History," organized by History Professor Sean Wilentz. The conference was sponsored by the Program in American Studies, which Wilentz heads, and the Woodrow Wilson School.
In August, Miller and Wilentz convened a 15-member "POTUS Committee" to start working on the details. ("POTUS" -- for those who do not follow television's "The West Wing" -- stands for President of the United States.) The organizing committee included three students and representatives from offices across campus: the Woodrow Wilson School, American studies, visitors and conference services, media services, communications, public safety, the concert office and administrative offices in Nassau Hall.
The first challenge was to determine how many seats would be available in the 891-seat auditorium after press and special guests -- invited both by the University and the White House -- were counted. The second was to figure out how the remaining seats would be distributed. The committee agreed that holding lotteries would be the fairest approach, and computing and information technology Web specialist George Fleming got the assignment to carry them out.
"It was a little intimidating at first," Fleming recalled. "There wasn't a whole lot of time to pull this together." In five days, he built three separate lotteries: one for students, one for faculty and one for staff.
There were some concerns that the server would not be able to handle the load of the lottery applications, as more than 3,800 students registered -- 3,100 in the first eight hours. It did.
Every step was choreographed. Who would be on stage and when? Who would enter through which door? Who would speak -- and for how many minutes?
Laurel Cantor, director of creative services in the communications office, designed embossed tickets, press passes, buttons, a program, freestanding banners and a special floor decoration so that cameras shooting from the balcony would capture the Princeton shield. Planning for four or five television cameras, the carpenters and staff members at Alexander Hall removed 49 seats from the back of the auditorium and constructed a special platform -- only to remove it temporarily so Rosh Hashanah services could proceed there Sept. 30.
Organizers prepared a detailed schedule, a VIP guest list that shrank and grew, a Web site and a set of press advisories. They planned for simulcast locations so that students not selected in the lottery could watch the event together, set up a spot by West College where demonstrators could gather, and hired a ragtime piano player to entertain the audience with music of the era as they waited for the president to arrive.
Only then did the White House advance team arrive and the real planning begin. The White House team -- about half a dozen people who specialize in logistics, security, press and communications -- came to town six days before Clinton. Suddenly, everything moved into high gear.
Along with the advance team came its "West Wing" lexicon. Poe Field suddenly was tagged the "LZ," for landing zone. The president's podium was the "blue goose." Helicopters were simply "helos," and "pool" meant the White House traveling press pool -- which was not to be confused with the network pool or the local pool.
Originally, organizers planned for up to 50 reporters and about five television cameras -- but the advance team wanted no journalist or TV crew to be turned away. So the Richardson Auditorium crew quickly dismantled another section of seats for more cameras and wired four separate sections of the hall to accommodate press needs -- ultimately accounting for 149 seats. Within two days, University electricians and telecommunications employees transformed Maclean House into separate filing rooms for the network and local press, and set up a small filing area for the White House press in Richardson itself.
Urged by Undergraduate Student Government President PJ Kim, the POTUS committee pressed for students to have access to the president. Two days before Clinton's visit, the decision was made to set up a tent with a "rope line," where Clinton would stop to shake hands and chat. The tent was erected on the west side of Alexander Hall and wired so waiting students could hear Clinton's speech.
Requests mounted. The location for the small reception changed. The advance team requested additional ushers and someone to translate Clinton's speech into sign language. With rain in the forecast, the team needed tents for the metal detectors. Requirements for the flowers on stage were revised repeatedly.
Eric Hamblin, director of the Center for Visitors and Conference Services, made certain there were enough tables, phones, tents and reserved-seating signs. Organizers received the final guest list only an hour and a half before the event, Miller said.
"This is a small event -- it should be real smooth," one advance team member said shortly after he arrived at Princeton. "Small" is relative. But he was right; the event went smoothly. "People don't realize how much effort goes into something like this -- it was like a whole underground event squad came in and took care of things," said Don Albury, media services director and a member of the POTUS committee.
After weeks of planning, Clinton's helo touched down at the LZ about 2:30 p.m. Thursday. He met guests at the reception; he spoke; he shook hands in the tent. And then he was gone.
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October 16, 2000 Contents • Close
encounter: Crowd relishes access to
president • Imaginations
drive wall • Spotlight
/ People
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