Word to LIve by & Reagan Forum

Most people don’t associate Ronald Reagan with country music, but in today’s podcast, we’ll hear another side! The President actually journeyed to Nashville, Tennessee to celebrate the birthday of one of country music’s all-time greats, Roy Acuff. He met with Mr. Acuff and his family early in the day, then journeyed to the Grand Ole Opry Theater at Opryland, USA to deliver these remarks. You’ll hear the President mention Barbara Mandrell early on because as you might recall, she had been in a terrible automobile accident.

On August 7, 2024, the Reagan Foundation hosted a virtual event with award winning historian, biographer and curator Heath Hardage Lee for a discussion on her latest book, The Mysterious Mrs. Nixon: The Life and Times of Washington’s Most Private First Lady. In The Mysterious Mrs. Nixon, Heath Hardage Lee presents readers with the essential nature of Mrs. Nixon, an empathetic, adventurous, self-made woman who wanted no power or influence but connected warmly with ordinary Americans and people from different cultures she encountered world-wide.

The Press. In this podcast, we’ll cover some interesting, short, informal exchanges between the President and the Press in September 1984 – Yes, the president was in the intense throes of a political campaign and at the same time, it was the height of tensions with the Soviet Union when an impromptu meeting with Andre Gromyko, the Soviet foreign minister, was arranged. Above all, we have to remember that the story of the White House cannot be told without discussing interactions between presidents and the press. Sometimes cordial, sometimes confrontational, this relationship is fueled by the public’s desire for news about the leader of the nation and the administration’s work. Yes, all American presidents have a love-hate relationship but the harsh reality is they have to deal with them.

Tomorrow, August 30, 2024, the movie REAGAN will be released in theaters nationwide. REAGAN is a cinematic journey of overcoming the odds. The movie is told through the voice of Viktor Petrovich, a former KGB agent whose life becomes inextricably linked with Ronald Reagan's when Ronald Reagan first caught the Soviets’ attention as an actor in Hollywood and stars Dennis Quaid, Jon Voight, Penelope Ann Miller, Mena Suvari, Lesley-Anne Down, David Henrie and Kevin Dilon. A month earlier, on July 25, 2024, a handful of the Reagan movie cast joined us at the Reagan Library for an in-person moderated discussion about the film and their roles. During the program, cast members Dennis Quaid, who plays Ronald Reagan, Elya Baskin who plays a soviet defector, Amanda Righetti who plays Nelle Reagan, and Will Wallace who plays Ed Meese, sat down in conversation with Reagan Foundation and Institute President and CEO David Trulio to share these stories and more.

Ok a little quiz…when I say August 1984 and Ronald Reagan, what comes to mind? His acceptance of the presidential nomination, of course. It’s important to remember that the President regarded the 1984 election as pivotal. Why? Because he believed the gains he had made during his first four years were in jeopardy. He wanted to preserve what he had accomplished and there were still things he wanted to do. What were those two things? Cutting the deficit and balancing the budget. Although an economic expansion was underway, he thought he could do more to stimulate the economy by making our tax system fairer and simpler. Our optimistic 40th president believed he could persuade Congress to cut more waste out of the budget and continue making our government smaller and less intrusive. So for this week’s podcast, we’ll walk down memory lane with the President to hear his remarks when accepting the nomination in 1984 in Dallas, Texas, what his objectives were, and his thoughts on his opponent, Walter Mondale. You’ll hear the President refer to San Francisco because that’s where the Democrats held their convention in July of 1984.

In today’s Reagan Forum podcast, we bring you our August 8, 2024, in-person event with Justice Neil Gorsuch; his second visit with us. During the program, he discusses his book, “Over Ruled: The Human Toll of Too Much Law,” which highlights increasingly complex laws that take away Americans’ freedoms and undermine respect for the law. Centered around the lives of real people who feel the tolls of excessive regulation, “Over Ruled” provides readers with key insights into preserving liberties for future generations. During the program, Justice Gorsuch sat down with Reagan Foundation and Institute Board Chairman Fred Ryan.

The Warsaw Uprising, which officially began on August 1, 1944, and lasted until October 2, 1944, was a major military endeavor of the Polish resistance movement during World War II. From the beginning, civilians were embroiled in the 63-day conflict enduring relentless airstrikes and the resulting fires that forced them from their homes. They were also working to procure arms, provide supplies for insurgents, erect defensive barriers, extinguish fires, and carry messages underground.  Yet, as the Soviets halted their offensive—which to this point had been a remarkable success—Nazi units had time to regroup and organize a counteroffensive, forcing the armed insurrection to hold out much longer than originally planned. Civilians were initially in favor of the uprising since they believed that the fighting would last only a few days. As the unrest raged on and Warsaw received little help from the Soviets, however, civilian support diminished, leading to tensions between the AK or the Polish army and the population of Warsaw. Remember, in 1984, the Polish people were again fighting for their freedom from the Soviets, a struggle that the President addresses in this speech.

On March 23, 1983, in a televised address to the nation, President Reagan announced his intention to embark upon groundbreaking research into a national defense system that could make nuclear weapons obsolete. At the heart of the Strategic Defense Initiative was the development of a space-based missile defense program that could protect America from a large-scale nuclear attack. Flash forward to today, and now our country has the Missile Defense Agency to develop and deploy a system to defend the United States and its allies - exactly what President Reagan envisioned 40 years ago. On August 1, 2024, the Reagan Foundation was honored to host an in-person event with Lt. Gen. Heath Collins, the Director of the Missile Defense Agency, whose job it is to advise the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering on Missile Defense programmatic policy, requirements, priorities, systems, resources, and programs. During the program, Lt. Gen. Collins sat down in conversation with Reagan Foundation and Institute President and CEO David Trulio to discuss the Missile Defense Agency - its responsibilities, its challenges and opportunities, and the importance of what the Agency does every day for our nation's security.

We know our current Congress ranks as one of the most inactive in history. Here are the stats: the 118th Congress, at the end of 2023, hit a historical mark for inactivity, the lowest tally since the Great Depression. Now let’s go back 40 years ago, when President Reagan became so frustrated with Congress, that he drafted a radio address to alert the American people to his massive frustration.

In his first inaugural address, as he looked out over the National Mall, President Reagan declared, “Above all, we must realize that no arsenal or no weapon in the arsenals of the world is so formidable as the will and moral courage of free men and women. It is a weapon our adversaries in today's world do not have. It is a weapon that we as Americans do have.” They are words that defined his foreign policy. They are words that defined his presidency. They are words shaped by Ken Khachigian, Ronald Reagan’s chief speechwriter. Less than two weeks ago, on July 30, 2024, the Reagan Foundation hosted an in-person event with Ken to discuss his latest book, Behind Closed Doors: In The Room with Reagan & Nixon. It’s a book that Fox Business Network’s Larry Kudlow calls, “essential reading for anyone wanting to know how Ronald Reagan shaped his crusading message of economic growth through tax cuts and limited government.” Behind Closed Doors is a compelling insider’s account by the trusted adviser and confidant to America’s presidential giants and political legends. During the program, Ken sat down with Reagan Foundation and Institute President and CEO David Trulio to share these stories and more.