The heroes of my childhood were Martin Luther King Jr. and John F. Kennedy... but I was inspired by the ideals of our 40th president and became a Republican.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
I don't have heroes, exactly, but I do have people I hold in high respect. Ronald Reagan, for example, stood for ideals that I value: integrity, patriotism and a fundamental belief in goodness and capabilities of mankind.
I came at age in the '60s, and initially my hopes and dreams were invested in politics and the movements of the time - the anti-war movement, the civil rights movement. I worked on Bobby Kennedy's campaign for president as a teenager in California and the night he was killed.
I'm a product of the Kennedy era. Kennedy's Inaugural plus the accident of Dean Rusk brought me into the government. Those were my values.
My all-time heroes are Thurgood Marshall and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., two men who had to really work to achieve what they did. And I had the privilege of meeting them both.
Eisenhower was my war hero and the President I admire and respect most.
In the '80s, Ronald Reagan inspired me to become politicized, because I grew up in that era when everything I cared about was under attack.
The civil rights movement was very important in my house, and then Vietnam was very important 'cause there were two boys, so I came of age during a very heated political climate.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is one of my personal heroes.
I've really had two heroes in my life. My father and Ronald Reagan.
Growing up, my parents were my heroes, in the way they conducted their lives.