Airtight Security: Reagan Trapped in His Own Office

President Reagan and Vice President George Bush were held captive temporarily inside the Oval Office today by a balky door as they tried to walk into the Rose Garden for a ceremony honoring charity workers.

As they got up from a previous meeting, the President and vice president, escorted by aides, walked to a set of French doors to be introduced to the waiting crowd seated in the adjacent Rose Garden.

Reagan futilely tried the doorknob several times, then a Secret Service agent rushed up with a key that did not work. After a few moments, Reagan and Bush emerged from another door after walking through the office of the President’s secretary, Kathy Osborne.

Reagan went to the podium and announced, “We really have tight security here. As a matter of fact, the vice president and I found we couldn’t get out of the Oval Office.”