Pat Boone Remembers Pastor’s 1970 Prophecy That Foretold Reagan’s ‘80 Win

Singer Pat Boone was there in person, and he remembers it well. 

"It was during a prayer circle we formed with Reagan and Nancy in the governor's mansion," Boone told Crosswalk Headlines. 

Boone, now 90, and his late wife Shirley became friends with Ronald and Nancy Reagan in the 1960s when their children attended school together. (The Boones started their family at a young age, while the Reagans became parents later in life.) Boone also supported Reagan's political career and even attended the 1976 Republican Convention as a Reagan delegate. 

"Shirley and I and [pastor] George Otis, [and] a businessman and a couple of other Christian people had gone from L.A. to Sacramento to attend and be part of a Kathryn Kuhlman rally," Boone said. "It was in a big downtown arena. And it was mainly worship, but then people got healed in her meetings. And we went up to that because it was really spectacular."

After the Kuhlman event, the group drove to the governor's mansion to visit with Reagan.

"We just had tea and some cookies and talked about what we just experienced," Boone said. "And Reagan was very interested in it, being a Christian himself. And as we started to leave, George Otis said, 'Governor, can we have just a word of prayer with you before we leave?'"

Reagan agreed. 

"And so we just joined hands in a circle, and each of us led part of a prayer," Boone said. 

Eventually, the moment arrived for Otis to pray.

"I called him the electric man because when he was, quote, in the Spirit, when he was talking about Jesus and the Holy Spirit, his hand just quivered. It's like he had an electrical current flowing through him. And he was holding Reagan's right hand," Boone said. "And as he began to end the prayer, he said, 'Lord, we thank You so much for this country, we thank You for our freedoms, our liberties, for the state of California, we thank You so much for this man.' And he stopped, and there was a pause. And we waited for him to finish prayer. 

"And then, in a different voice, we heard him say, 'My son, I am well pleased with you. If you continue to walk uprightly before me, you will dwell at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.' And another pause, and then George finished in his own voice the prayer, and we looked up at Reagan -- he was glassy-eyed because he'd been feeling the current coming from George Otis' hand. All he could say was, 'Well, that that was something.'"

"It was a word of prophecy that if he walked the straight and narrow path, as he was leading as governor, he would be president someday," Boone said.

When Reagan fell short in his 1976 bid for the GOP nomination, though, Reagan's supporters began to wonder if the prophecy was true. 

Reagan did not want to run again in 1980, but Nancy helped change his mind during a meeting with other supporters, Boone said. She reminded her husband of the pastor's words. 

"[Reagan] said, 'Yeah, but you thought he was a crackpot.' She said, 'Well, maybe, but maybe it's real. Maybe it was true.' So Reagan did run again. And as you know, he was elected," Boone said.

Reagan won the GOP nomination and then the general election in 1980, defeating Democratic incumbent Jimmy Carter. Boone phoned Reagan on Election Night. 

"I was in Washington for some reason, and the news anchors were saying, 'Well, it's beginning to look like for sure that this former governor of California is going to be president.' Well, on just a spur of the moment … I called [Reagan] from Washington. And sure enough, the phone rang, and [Reagan answered]. I said, 'May I be the first to refer to you as Mr. President?'" 

Boone reminded Reagan of the prophecy.

"I said, 'Do you remember that evening in Sacramento, when that word came [when] we were joining hands, that you might dwell at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue?' 

"He said, 'I've thought about it many times in the last few months.'" 

Photo Credit: ©Getty Images/Frazer Harrison/Staff/Fox Photos/Stringer

Michael Foust has covered the intersection of faith and news for 20 years. His stories have appeared in Baptist Press, Christianity Today, The Christian Post, the Leaf-Chronicle, the Toronto Star and the Knoxville News-Sentinel. 

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