President Reagan and first lady Nancy Reagan walk with Barbara and Phillip Butler, the victims of a 1977 cross burning, and their daughter Natasha outside the family’s home in College Park, Md., on May 3, 1982. White House Chief of Staff James Baker and Deputy Chief of Staff Michael Deaver walked into the Oval Office, and the first thing he said to them was, “ ‘I’ve read this story. They had lived there for five months when, on Jan. 30, 1977, the Klan burned the cross on their front lawn. He finished his last meetings at the White House at 4:15 p.m. Fifteen minutes later, he and first lady Nancy Reagan climbed aboard a helicopter on the White House lawn. “It makes a difference when the president of the United States will take time to come from the White House to a little community like this,” she told Reagan.

Source: Washington Post August 27, 2017 10:01 UTC