by Wesley Harris
Long before he became the 40th president of the United States, Ronald Reagan came to Ruston.
On March 16, 1978, Reagan visited Louisiana Tech University at a time when many Americans still knew him simply as the former governor of California, a gifted speaker, and a rising national conservative voice. Two years later, he would win the presidency. But on that spring evening in Ruston, he was still moving across the country one speech at a time, shaking hands, meeting students, and building the coalition that would eventually carry him to the White House.
The Reagan who arrived in Ruston that day was already a political celebrity.
And Howard Auditorium was packed.
People crowded inside to hear him speak. Students mixed with local residents, Republicans, curious Democrats, and those who simply wanted to see the man many already believed would someday become president. Reagan had a natural ease with audiences, and even critics admitted he possessed a rare ability to make large rooms feel personal.
His speech touched on many of the themes that would later define his presidency—American strength, economic frustration, inflation, government overreach, and the need for renewed confidence in the country.
One issue especially energized Reagan in those years: the Panama Canal.
Congress was debating whether control of the Canal should be returned to Panama, and Reagan strongly opposed the move. During his 1976 presidential campaign, he repeatedly argued the United States should retain control of the waterway, famously declaring:
“We bought it, we paid for it, it’s ours, and we’re going to keep it.”
For many conservatives in 1978, the Panama Canal debate symbolized larger questions about American strength and leadership in the world, and Reagan’s position helped sharpen his national profile.
But what many in Ruston remembered most happened after the speech.
Following the address, Reagan attended a reception in the Adams Dorm parlor, where students and guests crowded around him. There was no presidential security bubble then. Reagan moved easily through the room, shaking hands, laughing, answering questions, and rubbing elbows with college students who likely never imagined they were speaking with a future president.
The visit also included a stop at the Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity house on South Homer Street behind the Baptist Student Union.
That stop mattered to Reagan personally.
Before politics, before Hollywood, before California and Washington, Reagan had been a student at tiny Eureka College in Illinois, where he joined Tau Kappa Epsilon. Reagan often spoke warmly about his college years and remained proud of his connection to TKE throughout his life. Wherever possible, he made time to acknowledge fellow fraternity members during campaign and speaking trips.
And so, in Ruston, Reagan spent time with Louisiana Tech’s TKE chapter brothers, sharing conversation and fraternity connections that stretched back decades to his own college days.
At the time of Reagan’s visit, I was carrying a full load at Louisiana Tech while also working every night at the Ruston Police Department.
I was so busy I did not even know Ronald Reagan was in town.
While Howard Auditorium filled and students gathered around a future president, I was sitting in the dispatch room sending patrol cars here and there, completely unaware a presidential candidate was walking across the Louisiana Tech campus.
Several people I had attended high school with were far luckier.
Elisabeth and others had lunch with Reagan and later recalled him telling funny stories from his Hollywood years. Danny remembered patting Reagan on the back during the Adams Dorm reception. Others attended the speech or managed to get his autograph.
And me? I missed the whole thing. Looking back now, it also says something about another era in American politics.
Today, a presidential candidate would arrive surrounded by layers of security, advance teams, barricades, and national media. But in 1978, Reagan could still walk through crowded rooms, mingle with students, visit a fraternity house, and shake hands almost freely.
Security around candidates seeking the Oval Office was remarkably low-profile—sometimes nearly nonexistent by modern standards.
At the time, few could have known how quickly history was moving.
Within two years, Ronald Reagan would defeat Jimmy Carter and begin one of the most consequential presidencies of the 20th century. The speeches, handshakes, and college visits of the late 1970s would become part of the long road that led him to the White House.
But for those who filled Howard Auditorium that night, history had already walked in. Ruston. And for a day in March 1978, the future president of the United States belonged to Ruston.
