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The Politics of Hand-Holding

Kragan had been managing Lionel Richie, when Richie teamed with Michael Jackson to co-write "We Are The World," which raised more than $50 million for Ethiopian famine victims.

"Everybody worked for free on that," says Kragen. "To pull off Hands, we knew it would take months to organize and promote. It was much more ambitious from the start.

"We had a staff of 400 people working for nine months," he said. "We hired campaign organizers, and it was very much like a political campaign. Instead of 'get out the vote' it was 'get out and hold hands.' "

While the operating expenses were high, the snowballing publicity brought pressure on Reagan and other politicians to join the chain, Kragen says.

Coca-Cola and Citibank quickly signed on as top sponsors, donating a combined $8 million. By January 1986, Hands Across America would be promoted at the Super Bowl and advertised on millions of McDonald's placemats.

Celebrities like Rogers went to bat, schmoozing insurance companies to underwrite a policy to cover the event.

In the end, it was a massive undertaking. From New York City, the line was to pass through New Jersey and Pennsylvania, and dip down to the Capitol before stretching though Cleveland; Chicago; St. Louis; Memphis, Tenn.; and Dallas. It then cut across the Southwest, crossing Phoenix and finally reaching Long Beach, Calif., at the foot of the Queen Mary.

When the magic day finally arrived, millions of people simply stood with hands clasped for 15 minutes and sang, "We Are the World," "America the Beautiful," and the Hands Across America theme.

While it turned out to be a giant feel-good party, the coast-to-coast link was symbolic at best. The line of Hands volunteers passed through cities and forests, and over mountains. But in stretches of barren land, sometimes more than 100 miles long, yellow ribbon had to suffice.

Still, America rarely involves so many people in a single activity, and all along the route, you could see many sides of a country that truly is diverse, both in its land, and its people.