This day in 1984 then-president Ronald Reagan, notorious for his love of usually harmless jokes, made an off-the-record joke during the sound check for a radio speech.
“My fellow Americans,
I’m pleased to tell you today that I’ve signed legislation
that will outlaw Russia forever.
We begin bombing in five minutes.”
However the sound check was a semi live feed being fed to multiple radio stations who were on stand by for broadcasting the speech.
Someone somewhere kept that recording instead of covering it up like other stations did.
The recording was leaked anonymously.Because of the subject of bombing and the stressful situation of the Cold War, controversy and outrage was the result.
Russia put their military on high alert, just to be sure, because why would the US president make a joke about such a serious matter?
Better safe than sorry…
And sorry Reagan was, because this special day will never stop reminding us that when you’re a politician in a high position you should be very very carefull with your jokes, any time, any where.
Presidential Joke Day reminds us that especially presidents should watch their jokes.
But good jokes are still welcome.
We hope presidents share good wholesome jokes with us today to show us that presidents can very well learn from the past and can make jokes in a sensible wholesome way.
“I am not worried about the deficit. It is big enough to take care of itself.”
(Ronald Reagan)
#PresidentialJokeDay
Sources:
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/We_begin_bombing_in_five_minutes
- https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/31439/19-presidential-jokes-presidential-joke-day
