Portland family remembers President Jimmy Carter spending the night at their home

Reporter's notebook: OPB producer Nora Colie recounts the time US President Jimmy Carter stayed 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 during his campaign for governor of Georgia: staying overnight in the homes of ordinary Americans. This practice initially saved his campaign some travel costs, but after he became president, these visits also allowed him to connect with his supporters on a personal level.

On May 4, 1978, when I was almost seven years old, President Carter decided to stay in Portland during a West Coast tour to meet local community leaders.

The house his staff chose to stay in happened to be my best friend Kristen Bergeron's (née Olson) house in the Irvington neighborhood on the northeast side of the city. I only lived two houses away.

“When you think about how crazy it was that he did that, not just to our family, but to multiple families,” Bergeron said.

“The fact that the nuclear codes were across the street. That’s actually a little scary.”

For two days before and during the visit, our street was transformed into the epicenter of everything that matters – or so it seemed to us children.

Local celebrities, Oregon politicians and people from across the city flocked to see Carter. Even nuclear protesters joined in and felt just as welcome as the rest of us.

“It was a very moving time”

Carter turned 100 on Tuesday. Ahead of the former president's birthday, I recalled his stay with Bergeron and her parents, Paul and Janet Olson. The two still live in the same house where Carter slept 46 years ago, and they have kept many mementos from the experience.

There's the presidential phone he left behind – set up as a direct line to the White House – the coffee cup he drank the morning he left, a framed photo of President Carter reading a bedtime story to Kristen and her brother Ehren. They all still lie on a desk in the room where he slept, a domestic time capsule.

What I never knew before was how exactly the Olsons, as Portland's “average American” family, were chosen for the president's stay.

“We had worked on a (Portland) mayoral campaign and met a lot of people, some of whom lived in that neighborhood during that process,” Paul Olson said.

“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 be spending the night at their home, some of his staff arrived at the White House to help the Olsons prepare for the overnight stay. Secret Service agents surveyed the neighborhood and conducted security checks at the home.

On the day of the visit, crowds formed hours before arrival and a neighborhood pre-party with food and music was organized.

Then, at 9:30 p.m., the presidential motorcade pulled up to the Olson home. The crowd cheered as Carter exited the presidential limousine and climbed the steps to be greeted by the entire family.

“It was a very moving time. I compared it to the big events that happen in your life when you get married (and) your children are born,” Janet Olson said.

Smoked salmon and rhubarb pudding cake

Then everyone left. The Secret Service positioned itself outside, guarding a lighted area it had set up around the street. Only the Olsons, the 39th President of the United States and his executive assistant were in the house.

President Carter took off his suit jacket, shoes and tie and made himself comfortable.

“He asked me a few questions, and I just expressed to him that I was happy with what was going on in his administration about the emphasis on energy conservation and solar energy,” said Paul, who works in energy conservation for a home remodeling company worked.

“When you're in that situation, I didn't think much about the questions he might ask. I haven't prepared anything. So you’re a bit speechless.”

“And I think we also felt like he was in political situations all day and this was an opportunity for him to relax and be with family,” Janet Olson added. “And so we had really decided not to put too much political pressure.”

The President followed Janet into the kitchen and talked about jarring and cooking.

“We had a simple conversation like you would have with any old friend who is in your kitchen,” Janet said. “He was really easy to be with.”

They ate local smoked salmon someone had caught in the neighborhood, rhubarb pudding pie (Janet's mother's recipe), and drank Oregon wine.

The next morning, after a cup of coffee, President Carter chatted with the Olsons, invited them to visit 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 could remember exactly what it said, but it said, 'Dear (teacher) Mary Ann Sweet, Kristen will not be at school today. Signed, Jimmy Carter,” said Kristen Bergeron.

Then the president stepped out of the front door in front of cheering spectators and belonged to the world again.

“I think the idea of ​​a president staying in someone's home today is kind of a moment in time,” Paul said.

Janet said she was touched. “He was very humble, just a very humble person. And the fact that he was president didn’t change that part of him.”

More from Oregon's turbulent and memorable 1970s: