On the evening of July 4, 1976, I was working in the Operations Center of the State Department. The fireworks were starting on the National Mall. Henry Kissinger was the Secretary of State. He was having a commemorative dinner on the eighth floor of the State Department in the diplomatic reception rooms. He invited all the people who were working in the Operations Center to come up for about 15 minutes to see the fireworks on the mall. It was a huge group on the balcony of the eighth floor. I’m sure they were important people there, although I don’t know who, but I had my 15 minutes of looking out over the mall at the fireworks, and then I had to go back to work in the Operations Center.
