WASHINGTON, Jan. 29 (UPI) -- In the world of politics, a gesture meant to distract or signify a break with the past can sometimes evolve into an enduring tradition.
This is just the case with the First Lady's box and how it figures into the presidential State of the Union address.
During his first State of the Union address in 1982, President Ronald Reagan took a moment to acknowledge the heroism of a young government employee who was sitting in the first lady's box that night at his invitation.
"Just two weeks ago, in the midst of a terrible tragedy on the Potomac, we saw again the spirit of American heroism at its finest -- the heroism of dedicated rescue workers saving crash victims from icy waters," Reagan said.
"And we saw the heroism of one of our young government employees, Lenny Skutnik, who, when he saw a woman lose her grip on the helicopter line, dived into the water and dragged her to safety."
It was powerfully symbolic. Two weeks before the speech, an Air Florida jet that was improperly de-iced crashed into a Potomac River crossing as it was taking off from Washington's National Airport.
With news cameras in abundance, the nation watched as helicopters and rescue workers attempted to drag survivors from the wintery water before they drowned or froze to death. The image of Skutnik jumping into the river to save one woman who had slipped free of the rescue line was indelibly etched on the minds of the American people.
For Reagan, the Skutnik reference was an attempt to connect with the American people. The first year of his presidency had been problematic. The economy was slumping and the Democrats had established a successful political beachhead built on the idea that Reagan didn't care about the average man.
Skutnik was the average man and, by saluting him, Reagan was in shorthand showing his solidarity with Middle America, the ordinary people who do extraordinary things.
And thus a tradition was born.
Throughout the Reagan, George H.W. Bush and Clinton administrations, the first lady's box has been used to highlight heroes, showcase causes and provide a real life counterpart to the themes the chief executive was stressing before the nation.
For George W. Bush, those special honorees include leaders of the interim Afghan government, attendants from the American Airlines flight who stopped Richard Reid from allegedly trying to blow up the plane in mid-flight, Teamster leader James Hoffa, emergency response workers, volunteers, the mayor of Washington, and the widows of some of the U.S. personnel killed in the war in Afghanistan.
It is an eclectic group, each of whom is in the box for a purpose. Each of them underscores some part of the president's speech, a human testament to some point that Bush wants to make and wants the country to understand and absorb.
The tradition of having honorees in the first lady's box is only 20 years old. But it is a perfect device for the television age, when a picture truly is worth a thousand words.
