Ronald Reagan Clapping For His Own Speech

Ronald Reagan, recalling an occasion when he was governor of California and made a speech in Mexico City: “After I had finished speaking, I sat down to rather unenthusiastic applause, and I was a little embarrassed. The speaker who followed me spoke in Spanish-which I didn’t understand-and he was being applauded about every paragraph. To hide my embarrassment, I started clapping before everyone else and longer than anyone else until our ambassador leaned over and said, ‘I wouldn’t do that if I were you. He’s interpreting your speech.’” (Quoted by Gerald Gardner in All the Presidents’ Witts (Morrow), in Reader’s Digest)