White House Invites Austin Man To State Of The Union Address

DOWNTOWN AUSTIN-UT, TX -- Earl Smith, director of security for the Hyatt Hotel downtown, has been invited to attend the president’s last State of the Union address this coming Tuesday.

The White House confirmed the invitation, according to the Austin American-Statesman. A Vietnam veteran, Smith met President Barack Obama in 2007 during the Democratic presidential debates at the University of Texas at Austin.

Smith will be a guest in the First Lady’s box for the president’s last State of the Union address scheduled to be broadcast Tuesday at 8 p.m. CST.

It’s the second time Smith has been a guest of the president, the newspaper reports. He was previously invited to the White House for the president’s 2013 inauguration with a subsequent private meeting in the Oval Office.

At their first meeting, Smith offered the president his patch from the 101st Airborne Division--one of just a handful of mementos he had from his military service. Obama tried to decline the gift but relented at Smith’s insistence.

The then-senator carried the patch with him for the rest of his campaign for the presidency.