Last night I watched the old movie "Advise and Consent," a movie about the operation of the US Senate based on the novel written by Alan Drury. In the movie a Senator goes to the airport and catches a plane for which he does not have a ticket. He simply strolls onto the plane. On board the Vice President of the US, who is traveling alone, comes up and asks the Senator if he can sit beside him. The novel is set in the 1950's, and the movie was made in the early 60's. That was about the time I started traveling on airplanes, and the movie is correct in that at that time there was no security at airports. And apparently the Vice President really could travel without any security. I sat beside the Congressman from San Antonio once on a flight from Washington to Dallas, and he was alone. (The Congressman, who was a Democrat, told me a lot of stories about LBJ who apparently drank a lot and was rude to people.) Regarding security, I recall that at around that time President Truman used to go for walks around Washinton by himself. He did carry his pistol: he was a feisty guy who didn't think he needed a bodyguard. (More recently Bill Clinton often slipped away from the Secret Service Detail, but apparently that was to meet a "friend," not to go for a walk.) After Truman left office he was invited back to Washington; he drove himself from Missouri because he didn't have the money to fly. Ex-Presidents today wouldn't have that problem. Truman was the last "average" American to be President, and there probably won't be another. That is sad for the country.