But the ring has been positioned where the stage would otherwise be, which means that the people who are at the front of the top tier may almost feel as though they are on top of the action.
Reagan had just been given the award -- a 2-foot-high crystal statue of an eagle -- when a man named Richard Paul Springer, 41, walked through the ring of security around the former president and onto the stage, grabbed the crystal eagle, smashed it forcefully to the floor (with Reagan being struck by the flying glass), and commandeered the microphone.