Being a fiction author can be a difficult job. Not only do you have to come up with exciting and compelling ideas to write about, but you have to convince somebody to publish these ideas once you turn them into books, and publishers are not going to publish an author unless they believe the books will sell.
One thing that can help the career of a budding author is an endorsement from a well respected person—but endorsements don't come easily or for free. However, once in a while an author will get lucky. Once such lucky author was none other than Tom Clancy, when he was unwittingly endorsed by president Ronald Reagan during a speech.
Clancy had written his first novel, "The Hunt for Red October", but had struggled to find a publisher. Eventually, owing to a relationship he had with the US Naval Institute Press, they agreed to publish the book. The Navy Press was not exactly mainstream publishing and Clancy did not have high hopes.
However, during a televised press conference in 1984, president Ronald Reagan referred in passing to the book as "a perfect yarn" and "unputdown-able".
The rest, as they say, is history. Clancy went on to produce 17 bestsellers and has over 100 millions book copies in print.
