CLINTON — The auditorium at Clinton Town Hall was packed on the evening of March 16, 1977. Hundreds more gathered outside.
President Jimmy Carter was the special guest, in town for “Smalltown U.S.A.,” a push to connect with the American people. The town was abuzz for days, its appetite for politics never more satisfied.
And the president stayed the night.
Carter, the 39th president, died at 100, the Carter Center said Sunday.
After delivering his speech at Clinton Town Hall, Carter and his contingent made their way to 309 Chestnut St., the home of Edward and Katherine Thompson. Word has it that the president made his bed in the morning.
And Katherine Thompson would later tell a Gazette reporter: “We didn’t even know he was up until we heard the shower running.”
In the speech at Town Hall, with townspeople packing a hall typically used to address municipal matters big and small, Carter touched on tax and welfare reform, the Soviet Union and Vietnam. He took 18 questions from residents.