Skutnik in Orbit

Lenny Skutnik was a bit unnerved when Nancy Reagan sat down next to him in the House gallery. But it was not until the President began talking about the "terrible tragedy on the Potomac" that Skutnik had an inkling that something was up. "Oh, oh," he thought, "here it comes." Suddenly the leaders of the land were on their feet and waves of heartfelt, nonpartisan applause rolled through the House chamber. Skutnik, looking slightly stricken, stood up with the help of a shove from behind. "My mind went blank, I didn't move a muscle. I was stunned. Not many people get standing ovations, and for somebody like me..."

Skutnik, 28, a $14,000-a-year clerk at the Congressional Budget Office, dived into the icy river to rescue a survivor of the Air Florida crash. Overnight he became a national celebrity, besieged by thousands of letters from admirers, scores of interview requests and more than a dozen invitations from organizations wanting to honor him. To the President, he was a symbol of American heroism.

His wife Linda took the call when the White House phoned to ask them to the State of the Union Address. As she remembers, the aide said the President "had no political motives in mind, that he just wanted us to be there." On Tuesday night they were taken to Capitol Hill in a White House car. After the speech, Mrs. Reagan was hustled away, and the couple did not get a chance to meet the President. Back home in Lorton, Va., they spent the rest of the evening watching themselves on television.

Although he is not altogether comfortable in the sudden glare of the limelight, Skutnik admits that fame has begun to grow on him. His wife says that he might even feel a twinge of regret when it passes. "When things started to calm down a few days ago, he said to me, sort of half joking: 'Gee, they've forgotten me already.' "

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