Word to LIve by & Reagan Forum

Words To Live By - America the Beautiful at Fudan University

China’s activities of late – showing off their military muscle after Speaker Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan – are top of mind and call us to review the President’s objective when he visited China in 1984, and that’s by spreading the good news about democracy, particularly to students. We thought our listeners might be interested in his truly beautiful speech delivered to college students in China at Fudan University in 1984. In the first half of the podcast, we’ll cover a few excerpts from the speech in China and in the second half, we’ll be inspired by hearing his heartfelt description about everything that’s great about America at Fudan University.

A Reagan Forum - Vin Scully

In this week’s Reagan Forum podcast we pay tribute to legendary Dodgers Baseball announcer Vin Scully, who passed away on August 2, 2022. As part of our baseball exhibit that was on display in 2014 in the Reagan Library, Vin Scully came out to share stories with our sold-out audience. This program is not on our YouTube channel, so this is the first time you might be hearing this amazing program.

Words To Live By - To Taiwan or Not To Taiwan? That is the Question

In August this year, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi made a somewhat controversial visit to Taiwan, making her the highest ranking US official to visit the island in 25 years. In the lead up to the trip, President Biden told reporters that the military “thinks its not a good idea’ to visit Taiwan due to rising tensions over the island’s status – also further complicated as the Biden administration has urged China not to back Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. So, what would Ronald Reagan do? We don’t know but we can tell you what he said in an interview with journalists before he left for his trip to China in the spring of 1984.

A Reagan Forum - Reagan Retrospective Season 5

In May of 2020 we came to you each week to bring you some of our favorite Reagan Retrospective podcasts. These podcasts are stories shared by people who knew President and Mrs. Reagan best – people who worked with them, were friends with them, and knew them throughout their life. Each podcast brings you new behind the scenes stories from the Reagan years. They’re funny, poignant, and rich in history. Throughout May of 2020 we shared 6 Reagan Retrospectives from season 1, 6 more from season two, 6 from season 3, and 3 from season 4. Today, yes two years later, we are going to share four episodes from our current season – season 5 - of Reagan Retrospective podcasts.

Words To Live By - The Tonight Show 1975

In Ronald Reagan’s lifetime, he made numerous appearances on the Tonight Show hosted by Johnny Carson, and as you can imagine they’re not only entertaining but fascinating. As an actor, he knew how to charm and communicate – but as a politician, he knew that an opportunity to clarify his ideas on a national basis was rare, so these interviews with Carson provided a platform for doing just that – thoughtfully, carefully, and casually, explaining just what he believed in.

A Reagan Forum - Senator Joni Ernst

In this week’s Reagan Forum podcast we go back a week to August 25, 2022 for our in-person event with United States Senator Joni Ernst, who was a speaker in the Reagan Foundation’s Time for Choosing Speaker Series, a forum for leading voices in the conservative movement. Senator Ernst is a native of Red Oak, Iowa, and has dedicated her life to her state and country, having served in the military for over 23 years and now in the United States Senate. In November 2014, she was elected as the first woman to serve in federal elected office from the State of Iowa and also became the first female combat veteran elected to serve in the United States Senate. During her Time for Choosing Speech at the Reagan Library, Senator Ernst addressed additional critical issues facing the future of the Republican Party.

Words To Live By - The Personal Side

So we thought we’d dedicate this podcast to the personal side of our 40^th president who was described as an ordinary man who accomplished extraordinary things. Ronald Reagan often credited his political success to an empathy with ordinary Americans. Asked by a reporter on the eve of his election in 1980 what Americans saw in him, Reagan replied: "Would you laugh if I told you that I think, maybe, they see themselves, and that I'm one of them? I've never been able to detach myself or think that I, somehow, am apart from them." Even after two terms as president, Reagan called himself a "citizen-politician," the phrase he often used to describe himself in 1966 when he was elected governor of California in his first race for public office. Reagan said he wanted to become part of government in order to reduce its influence.

A Reagan Forum - Don Brown and Amy Peacock

In this week’s “A Reagan Forum” we go back one week for our in-person event with Don Brown and Amy Peacock for their new book, Old Breed General: How Marine Corps General William H. Rupertus Broke the Back of the Japanese in WWII from Guadalcanal to Peleliu. We invited them to share their book with our audience as part of our programming surrounding our new special exhibition at the Reagan Library – the Secrets of WWII. Amy Peacock is actually one of the three granddaughters of General Rupertus and current keeper of the family archives. Don Brown is a former US Navy JAG officer and Special Assistant US Attorney. He’s written 14 other books, including The Last Fighter Pilot, which he came out to the Reagan Library for back in 2017. During today’s program, Amy and Don sat down in conversation with Reagan Foundation and Institute Chief Marketing Officer Melissa Giller to discuss Old Breed General, which is the biography of General Rupertus and the story of the Marines at war in the Pacific. As a side note, Marine general Rupertus is actually best known today for writing the Corps’ Rifleman’s Creed, which begins, “This is my rifle. There are many like it, but this one is mine”—which has been made famous by films such as Full Metal Jacket and Jarhead.

Words To Live By - The Soviets

Ronald Reagan was a loving guy – he never hated anyone, except, maybe two things: Communism and Liars. In his mind, the two were definitely intertwined. And, as we observe Putin’s assault on Ukraine, it’s the same old Soviet tune – one that says “we’re for peace” and oh by the way, just ignore the tanks invading your country, we’re hunting for nazis. No one believes them. And Reagan didn’t drink the Soviet Kool-Aid, either. There’s one Town Hall that he conducted in 1987 in California at the Century Plaza Hotel with transmission also on the East Coast AND supposedly in the Soviet Union. The Chautauqua Institution in upstate New York had, since 1984, sponsored a week of debate between Soviet and American scholars and officials and August 1987 was no exception. To put the time frame in perspective, by August 1987, Gorbachev had been General Secretary for about 2 ½ years. Two summits – one in Geneva and one in Reykjavik - had taken place with the signing of the historic INF Treating looming in four months, in December of the same year. We love this town hall and we’ll focus on it in this podcast.

A Reagan Forum - Congressman Mike Garcia

In this week’s Reagan Forum podcast we go back to August 9, 2022 for our in-person event with Mike Garcia, the California Congressman who has overseen the district which includes the Reagan Library since 2020. Congressman Garcia was a speaker in the Reagan Foundation’s Time for Choosing Speaker Series, a forum for leading voices in the conservative movement. A first-generation American citizen, Congressman Mike Garcia was a highly decorated United States Naval Officer and businessman before serving in the United States House of Representatives. He was one of the first F/A-18 Super Hornet strike fighter pilots in the Navy. He participated in combat operations during the first six months of Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003 and accrued over 1,400 hours of operational flight time over nearly 20 years of active and reserve military service.