During our sophomore year a vote was set for the selection of those who would organize and run the annual Yale Prom, scheduled for the following year. Some friends of mine in Jonathan Edwards thought that, as a public school graduate from the South, I probably had the least knowledge of such “high society” functions as this long-term Yale affair. They thought it would be a lark for me to be part of those running this event.
I was not thrilled with the idea to engage in this effort, but they proceeded to put my name up for nomination. I have no idea how they actually pulled it off, but once the votes were counted from across the campus I was one of those elected to plan and run the next year’s Yale Prom.
And that is how I was introduced to elective (and appointed) public office. It obviously stuck, as after Yale, then law school, military service and a brief few years of law practice, I was elected to the Alabama House of Representatives, the Jefferson County (Alabama) Commission, the U.S. Congress, and appointed to run an independent agency by President Clinton.
I guess I must, belatedly, thank those guys who shoved me into running for office that sophomore year at Yale.