1985: The Reagan Show (Series 2)

Quotes from The Clothes Have No Emperor: A Chronicle of the American '80s;
Paul Slansky, 1989.

On January 20, 1985—

Not content to have his inauguration televised, President Reagan's aides inject him into the Super Bowl coin toss. The live feed linking him to Stanford is open ten minutes before he goes on the air, enabling satellite dish owners to spy on the leader of the free world as he:

• Practices the coin flip three times—"It is heads.... It is tails"—so he's prepared for all possibilities.
• Reveals a really neat idea a friend of his had—"Frank Sinatra had a recommendation, instead of tossing the coin, what would have been a lot better. You'd have had me outdoors throwing out the ball. I would have thrown it—a little artwork of maybe a ball going across a map—and out there, one of them catching a ball, as if it's gone all the way across the United States. How about that?"
• Stands immobile, almost deflated, as the minutes tick by, as if he doesn't quite exist when the camera's not on.

Finally, he gets his cue and—suddenly animated—he flips the coin. "It is tails!" he announces, adding some banality about how all the players should do their best. The network cuts away and, somewhat forlornly, he resumes the less satisfying non-televised portion of his life.

1/21 With the inaugural parade cancelled due to extreme cold, several high school bands perform for the Reagans at an indoor arena, where Nancy forgets to introduce her "roommate," then overreacts to this omission in Edvard Munch-like horror.