<p>My mother worked on JFK’s campaign when I was four. She took me to watch his car go by. He stopped, got out, kissed my mother, and shook my hand. When I went to kindergarten in the fall, the teacher called my mother because I was “telling lies” when I told the story! My mother had to tell her otherwise. (In fourth grade, another teacher called my mother when I said I’d ridden a donkey in Istanbul. Also true. It was a school that encouraged somber facts, not wild stories!)</p>
<p>Everybody in my high school went outside and stood and waved when President and Mrs Kennedy rode by in their open limousine…in San Antonio, TX, the day before they went to Dallas in November, 1963.</p>
<p>My son was with Bill Clinton on a round of golf. I met Jimmy Carter.</p>
<p>I’ve seen George H.W. Bush a couple of times. Seen Barbara Bush once. </p>
<p>I got to meet President Obama on the campaign trail before he became President. Got to shake his hand and told him that I was a registered Republican (moderate) and that I was voting for him. He laughed and said “I won’t tell if you won’t.”</p>
<p>Almost forgot I sat a couple rows from W at a Yankees game when he still had an ownership interest in the Rangers.</p>
<p>I grew up in Gettysburg, Pa., where Eisenhower lived after he left the presidency, so I saw him around town a number of times - on one occasion, exchanged “hellos.”</p>
<p>I shook hands with LBJ when he was VP, while he was working the crowd after he had given a very strong civil rights speech at the 100th anniversary commemoration of the Battle of Gettysburg.</p>
<p>Okay, I can’t claim to have met any presidents. But my son has met… Mitt Romney. He said he was very personable and friendly.</p>
<p>My college choir sang at the National Prayer breakfast. We saw Pres Reagan and most all of the cabinet, but it was VP Bush who dashed behind the curtain as it closed, to shake our director’s hand and <em>beam</em> at us “That was terrific! Thank you so much for being here!”. And then we watched the private chef prepare the president’s food.</p>
<p>My son, working on the crowd control detail, met Senator Obama when he visited Penn State during the campaign. He wrote his senior hs project paper about the Senator and his presidential chances, a full two years before he was an announced candidate.</p>
<p>Met and chatted with Obama when he was running for the US Senate. He was in Boston for the Democratic Convention in 2004 where he gave the keynote speech. One of Obama’s law school classmates (who represents my husband’s company and is a friend of ours) held a fundraiser for Obama at the firm. H asked if I wanted to go, and I did. Obama’s spoke to a group of about 50 people and wowed the audience (I was wowed too.) Afterwards, folks went up to shake his hand and chat. I wasn’t going to go, but my H said–YK, he might be President one day–go say hello. I did and we had a brief conversation. I told him I was probably the only midwesterner in the audience and certainly the only one who had even been to Cairo, Illinois. (He talked about campaigning there for the US Senate seat.) He laughed and then asked me how I got to Boston . . . etc. Brief five-minute conversation–he was very charming and well spoken.</p>
<p>I’ve also met Presidential contenders Mitt Romney (when he was governor of MA) and also John Kerry.</p>
<p>NJtheatreMOM, wow. Just wow.</p>
<p>This doesn’t really count, but with so many lawyers on the forum: my grandmother used to date Hugo Black!</p>
<p>My sister met Bill Clinton as he was walking through a reception area. She was filming him for some PR thing. He looked at her and she said she felt that she was the only person in the room. He came back later to speak with her. She said he was completely charming and truly charismatic.
… and that’s where it ended. ;)</p>
<p>I saw Clinton speak at an event back when he was president. It wasn’t too big, so you could get a good look at him. Even in such a setting, his charisma was noticeable.</p>
<p>George H.W. Bush was the speaker at my sister’s college graduation - this was several years after his presidency. It was held in the schools huge basketball arena, so you couldn’t really see him well. The speech, like most of its kind, was forgettable. </p>
<p>I’ve also been at smallish events with Mrs. Bush (Laura) and Mrs. Obama but never spoken to them. At one, though, Mrs. Obama was seated close enough that I could have leaned over and touched her. I didn’t. ;)</p>
<p>OP - well, it was an amazing experience! Though we were all hot, sweaty and smelly (hours out in the extreme heat!), Obama was well worth waiting for…</p>
<p>Thriilled to add him to my list of Presidential encounters. :)</p>
<p>In middle school I thought I would try to climb the wall to the Western White House in San Clemente when Nixon was in office. The secret service men didn’t find me amusing.</p>
<p>the only president I have seen is not American. Helmut Kohl was in Quebec the same time as I was.</p>
<p>I enjoyed hearing Obama at the club, but my daughter was waiting for a ride after her high school event a few miles away, and after he finished speaking, no one was allowed to leave until he had left.
I could never be in an entourage, not a fan of standing around.</p>
<p>Was at a press event where Hilary and Bill were speaking. Not a particularly large crowd and I agree with the posts above. Bill is amazingly charismatic. When he spoke, it felt like he was speaking to me. I had him autograph a baseball for me. 
I also spoke directly with Hilary and she focused only on me. Very impressed with them both.</p>
<p>My parents met Obama when he was running for the Senate. They said he seemed personable but reeked of cigarette smoke.</p>
<p>I forgot about my Bill Bradley encounter, probably because he wasn’t running for President at the time. He had been my favorite player when he was with the Knicks, so
DH and I went to his induction into the Basketball Hall of Fame. I had a copy of the book he wrote about when he was with the Knicks that he autographed for me. He was very gracious. He was a senator at the time and had a film crew there filming the event for his upcoming reelection campaign.</p>