With a career spanning nearly four decades, journalist Andrea Mitchell still fondly remembers the first time she questioned President Ronald Reagan at a news conference in 1981.

She told the story about that meeting with the president during her sold-out appearance Monday night at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum in Simi Valley.

Mitchell, a junior NBC correspondent in 1981, said she was sure Reagan didn't know who she was at his first news conference as president.

But Reagan was aware of Mitchell, who got the nickname "The Designated Shouter" because she often tried to ask the president questions when he walked from the White House to his helicopter.

Mitchell said Reagan told his advisers in private that he wanted to call on Mitchell, "the woman who's been trying so hard to ask me questions."

Mitchell said Reagan, against the advice of his staff, pointed at her as she sat in the back of a crowded room of well-known seasoned reporters and said, "Now Andrea, what have you been trying to ask me?"

She ended up asking the president about the deployment of the MX missile, a question she said seemed important at the time, but seems irrelevant now.

"(President Reagan) was always very kind," Mitchell said.

During her appearance Monday, the Mitchell often talked about Reagan, who she covered in the White House during both his terms from 1981-88. She often directed her comments to former first lady Nancy Reagan, who was in the audience along with Mitchell's husband, former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan.

"(President Reagan) probably thought I was pesky and pushy, though I went to the White House as a reporter, but came out as a friend," Mitchell said.

Mitchell, who has been chief foreign affairs correspondent for NBC News since 1994, has covered every presidential election since 1972. She wrote in her 2005 book, "Talking Back," about her experiences as one of the first women to cover five presidents for the news.

Mitchell said President-elect Barack Obama is taking office in an atmosphere much like Reagan, during "such a period of crisis and time of opportunity."

She said both have projected in times of economic travail and malaise "a sense of hope, optimism, and confidence."

She said only time will tell if Obama proves to have the same world view and success as Reagan did. But she said Obama has already been very pragmatic in working with Republicans, especially with his recent decision to have Defense Secretary Robert Gates stay on board.

"I believe the early efforts of this new team to reach across the aisle are sincere," Mitchell said.

Mitchell said talk radio and cable news shows have contributed to a combativeness between Democrats and Republicans, who once worked together for a common cause shortly after the 9/11 attacks.

"Now, since we are in a recession, maybe both sides can come together again," she said.