LTC Gene T. Boyer with Army One, during the Nixon Administration. / Photo courtesy

The book, “Inside the President’s Helicopter: Reflections of a White House Senior Pilot,” was authored by Army Lt. Col. Gene T. Boyer, the senior presidential helicopter pilot during the administrations of Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford. The local connection is provided by Jackie Boor, listed on the book cover as a co-author with Boyer. The book lists Boyer as the author and is written in the first person, but the title adds Boor’s name as participating in authoring the book.

A South Area resident for the past 35 years, Boor, 59, makes her home in Sacramento.

Over the years, she has been active locally in a number of areas. She’s worked as a freelance writer and facilitator for several local organizations, achieving recognition and special awards from Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson, the County Board of Supervisors, Sheriff’s Department and other Sacramento-area agencies. She is now an associate for Land Park-based Lang and Associates, a human dynamics consulting firm.

Boor first met helicopter pilot Boyer in 1995 at American River College, when the retired helicopter pilot lived for a time in El Dorado Hills after retiring from the military. The idea of an autobiography based on Boyer’s years piloting U.S. presidents along with numerous other world leaders developed gradually.

By 2007, when Boyer had moved to Huntington Beach on the Southern California coast, the book-writing project finally began to bear fruit. Over the next three years, there were frequent trips by Boor to Boyer’s new home, where the two conferred, wrote and edited the book’s 412 pages of history as recalled by the presidents’ helicopter pilot.

Gradually, the volume began to take shape and was finally completed in late 2010.

Boyer protecting First Lady Pat Nixon in Saigon, 1969. / Photo courtesy

Boyer began his military career during the Korean War in the 1950s, when helicopters were used primarily to evacuate battle casualties. Later, during the Vietnam War, the value of helicopters to pinpoint sites of battle action began to become clearer and they were increasingly used in actual combat operations.

By this time, Boyer had decided that his own future would be concentrated on helicopters and their unique uses in air travel and combat missions. He was assigned to the White House in 1963 and became the Army’s Executive Detachment commander in 1969.

All told, Boyer’s career included in 6,900 hours devoted to copter flights, 368 in combat operations in Korea and Vietnam, and 580 on presidential missions, some of them taking him to far corners of the world, such as Egypt and the USSR.

Although he was raised by staunchly Democratic parents, Boyer makes it clear in his book that he didn’t think much of Democrat Lyndon Johnson as president – “a drinker and a phoney” he says. He said he ended up voting for Republican Richard Nixon as president and he appears to admire him as a public figure even in the face of Nixon’s eventual removal from the office at the end of the Watergate scandal.

Co-author Jackie Boor seated in the cockpit of Nixon’s “Last Flight” helicopter during its restoration at March Air Reserve Base in 2006. / Photo courtesy

At the end, he writes candidly about the presidents and other leaders who came after he retired.

Noting that new President Gerald Ford selected Donald Rumsfeld as his secretary of defense and Dick Cheney as his vice president, Boyer writes that “We do know the most unforgivable and devastating imprint was their alignment with President George W. Bush to lead the U.S. invasion of Iraq – an insane war that should never have made it out of the Oval Office.” That is the way Boyer feels about the Middle Eastern conflict that continues to take a heavy toll of U.S. lives.

Boyer writes that he hopes his book will be viewed as paying tribute to those who fought for the nation in its foreign wars.

The pilot author also describes his effort, long after his military service was over, to salvage the helicopter that he piloted when Nixon departed from the White House when he was removed from the presidency – Nixon’s arms outstretched in a gesture of farewell to the nation. Boyer’s effort succeeded. The copter was eventually located in a warehouse and has been refurbished and moved to its permanent resting place in the Nixon Presidential Library in Yorba Linda, Calif.

The book has received glowing endorsements, including one from Julie Nixon Eisenhower, who states “Inside the President’s Helicopter is a story of high adventure, courage and history-making moments…a very human, up-close look at the Presidency. It is a must read for anyone interested in the White House.”

The first author’s book signing ceremony was held Dec. 12 at Avid Book Store, across the street from the Tower Theater at Broadway and Land Park Drive. Boyer, who is dealing with recurrent health problems, was unable to attend, but additional signings are expected to be scheduled around the nation in the months to come.

The book is being offered in both paperback and hard cover forms by the publisher, Cable Co. of Brule, Wisconsin. It is available to purchase at Avid Book Store and online at www.amazon.com.

Eighteen years after she retired as Sacramento’s mayor, Anne Rudin made it clear last week to a capacity audience at California State University, Sacramento that she’s totally opposed to current mayor Kevin Johnson’s plan to install a strong mayor system for the city.

Former Sacramento Mayor Anne Rudin, pictured here with former City Council colleague Michael Sands, made it clear she’s totally opposed to current mayor Kevin Johnson’s plan to install a strong mayor system for the city. (Photo by Art German)

She indicated that her answer to all three questions is a resounding “no.”

Rudin, who served 21 years on the Sacramento City Council, including two four-year terms as mayor before retiring in 1992, was introduced during the CSUS Friday forum by a former City Council colleague, Michael Sands.  The scene was the Hinde auditorium in the Student Union, an event sponsored by the Renaissance Society, a learning program at the university for retirees.

Sands, a retired attorney, served on the City Council with Rudin during the 1970s, “and we were good friends,” he added.  Sands now heads the Renaissance Society’s forum committee and introduced Rudin as the weekly speaker.

Johnson’s strong mayor plan would give him authority to hire (and fire) such key officers as city manager and city attorney. The strong mayor arrangement would also give Johnson (and all future mayors) wide discretion to make decisions for such current issues as developing the city railyards; restoring the K Street mall as Sacramento’s downtown hub; and relocating the current basketball arena site of the Sacramento Kings without necessarily obtaining approval from the City Council.

Although a cornerstone of his 2008 election campaign, Mayor Johnson has had difficulty implementing his vision for a change in city governance policy. Mayor Johnson’s plan had originally had been earmarked for the ballot this June but the action was disqualified by the courts.  The fate of the strong mayor plan is currently up in the air and it will be up to the City Council to decide on what final action to take.

Rudin said the current council-manager form of government is widely used throughout the U.S. and provides opportunities for the mayor to exercise leadership – “and he doesn’t just have to be a figurehead.”

But if the relationship is changed to one in which the mayor can veto an action that is supported by a majority of the City Council,  “it would make the council and the mayor ‘adversarial,’” she said.

“Is this democracy?” Rudin asked.  “Is there really a need for such a change?  I am sure that Sacramento would be tied up with legal disputes for a long, long time.”

Rudin said the change to a strong mayor system might also create problems for Sacramento in its relations with the county, which doesn’t have a mayor at all in its overall government structure.

Recalling her own years as mayor, she noted that problems with the other council members were inevitable from time, but we always tried to work them out. 

“You just needed to sit down and talk it over with the other people,” she said.

Such cooperation, she added, led to joint city-county planning for successful outcomes of the closing McClellan and other military bases during recent years.

At the end, Rudin did sidestep one comment from a Renaissance Society member.  As a reply to one questioner who asked if men or women would be more effective mayors, she replied, “I can’t answer that” and the forum was ended.

E-mail Art German at reporter@valcomnews.com.

A citywide campaign to keep local residents, especially seniors, safely on their feet moved to Sacramento’s south area this month with a four-hour “Stand Up to Falls” seminar at the South Land Park Community Center.

slip-Good muscle tone can help an individual respond quickly when he or she trips to head off an actual fall.

“Is there any explanation for this 28 to 2 breakdown among women and men?” I asked Kim Metcalf, the city’s 50+ Wellness coordinator, and Kelly Ward, a certified fitness trainer and Sac State graduate student in gerontology, who handled most of the anti-fall exercise program, inspiring us to devote three hours to constant calisthenics. Both shook their heads and said they had no explanation for the attendance imbalance.

In my case, the danger from falling has long been a no-brainer. Five years ago, while strolling down on 24th Street after a Runaway Stage production of “The Music Man,” I tripped and fell on an uneven sidewalk. My left femur was broken and an earlier hip replacement was dislocated and had to be redone. I’ve never forgotten the advice of South Area Kaiser orthopedist James Sehr after all the harm was done and repaired: “Don’t Fall Again!” he admonished.

That’s easier said than done. I’ve fallen at least twice since the big thigh bone break of 2005, but lucked out both times with no further damage. It’s clear, however, that getting a free ride down when you have a fall can’t be counted upon forever. A show of hands in reply to Metcalf’s question about how many have fallen during the past year indicated a “yes” reply from about half the attendees. Audience members were not invited, however, to describe their own experiences involving falls. Coordinator Metcalf told the audience that the “Stand Up to Falls” program was devised by the city’s Older Adult Services division with support from Kaiser Permanente’s South Sacramento Community Benefit service. In addition to the South Land Park seminar, similar programs are being offered at five other sites around Sacramento and Elk Grove through March 6. So far, Metcalf added, the free programs have been filled to capacity and reservations to attend future dates must be made in advance by contacting her at 808-1593.

In contrast to my own concern with tripping and falling outdoors, Metcalf and Ward agreed that most falling accidents happen in the home. Bathrooms are viewed as especially vulnerable falling sites. Slippery, wet floors and glass shower doors are considered special hazards. Stairs inside and outside the home are other prime accident sites. Metcalf also advised the seniors to watch out for loose throw rugs and to steer clear of small pets that may run underfoot.

At one point, Metcalf introduced David Grantham, a project manager for Rebuilding Together, a non-profit service using volunteers who install safety improvements for low-income seniors without charge. Other seniors are charged a small fee, he added, if they can afford to pay. Offerings include grab bars, railings and banisters, stools where needed, fire alarms, safe electrical switches and other needs. Rebuilding Together can be contacted at 455-1880.

Most of the four-hour session was devoted to an exercise program led by Kelly Ward, who provided each participant with two elastic bands that were used to challenge muscles on various parts of the body, including arms, legs, neck and stomach. Good muscle tone, she said, can help an individual respond quickly when he or she trips to head off an actual fall. And if a fall does occur, she added, the victim needs to respond carefully to make certain there were no serious injuries.

“There’s no need to hurry,” she said. “Remain at first on the ground. Then roll over on to your stomach, and then pause before your use your hands to get back on your feet.”

She urged her audience to set up a daily exercise regimen, drink at least five glasses of waters, which she described as “like what oil is to a car” and then get plenty of rest. At the end, all hands were treated to a free and delicious picnic lunch provided by Hannibal’s Catering.

E-mail Art German at reporter@valcomnews.com.