Word to LIve by & Reagan Forum

Words To Live By - A Campaign for Democracy

If one thinks about Ronald Reagan’s signature causes, the things that come to mind are peace through strength, economic opportunity, individual liberty, and national pride. What many people have forgotten is his campaign for democracy – yes, a global campaign for democracy – which was launched 40 years ago on June 8, 1982. The setting for that speech? The British Parliament and the speech came to be known as his “Westminster Speech.” He became the first American President to deliver an address before British Parliament and stood in a grand and regal setting, speaking at the Royal Gallery of the House of Lords, with paintings of British military victories lining the walls and guards in their red beefeater uniforms standing behind him.

A Reagan Forum - David Gergen

In this week’s “A Reagan Forum” we go back two weeks to our virtual program with presidential advisor David Gergen. David joined us to discuss the release of his latest book, Hearts Touched with Fire: How Great Leaders are Made. David Gergen began his career in journalism, and later as the director of the Center for Public Leadership at the Kennedy School. During his career he also served as White House adviser to four U.S. presidents of both parties: Nixon, Ford, Reagan and Clinton. During President Reagan’s administration, David served as the director of communications. Speaking on David, President Reagan once said, “Dave is devoted to honest, open, and decent government.”

Words To Live By - Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty

The Statue of Liberty was designed by sculptor Frederic Auguste Bartholdi and built by Gustave Eiffel, as a gift to the United States from France. She arrived in 1885 on our shores in pieces after floating across the Atlantic in 214 crates. All the pieces were assembled on Liberty Island the following year. But by 1984, after welcoming immigrants to New York for almost 100 years, she was in bad shape. In this podcast, we’ll learn about how President Reagan in May 1982, 40 years ago, took action to return Lady Liberty to pristine condition. He called upon Lee Iacocca to create the Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation to raise the funds necessary for the restoration, and by the 4^th of July 1986, she was ready for her debut. In the second half of this podcast, we’ll focus on the final result.

A Reagan Forum - David Mamet

In this week’s “A Reagan Forum” we go back two weeks to our in-person program with American playwright David Mamet. David joined us to discuss the release of his latest book, Recessional: The Death of Free Speech and the Cost of a Free Lunch. David Mamet is most known for his work as a playwright and filmmaker. He won a Pulitzer Prize and received Tony nominations for his plays Glengarry Glen Ross and Speed the Plow. Feature films that he wrote include “The Verdict,” “The Untouchables,”, “Hoffa,” “Hannibal” and “The Postman Always Rings Twice.”

Words To Live By - Secrets of WWII and the Armed Forces

Armed Forces Day is upon us – it’s the 3^rd Saturday in May. And right now, there’s an historic exhibit at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley - running through October 9^th – called the Secrets of World War II honoring those brave men and women who served and supported our troops. Our curators have assembled hundreds of artifacts from museums and private collections - never before seen together – which reveal compelling stories of technological advancement, creative problem solving, and incredible human persistence under the backdrop of world’s largest and most destructive war in history. If you have a chance to visit the Reagan Library to see this exhibit, you’ll love it. And we’re mentioning this in our podcast, because President Reagan always remembered to honor those men and women currently wearing the cloth of our nation in a radio address to the nation on Armed Forces Day. It was created by President Harry Truman in August, 1949, to those all serving as well as those who sacrificed to defend our freedom.

A Reagan Forum - Mark Updegrove

In this week’s “A Reagan Forum” we go back a few weeks to our virtual program with Mark Updegrove. Mark is the president and CEO of the LBJ Foundation and serves as Presidential Historian for ABC News. Mark joined us to discuss his brand new book, Incomparable Grace: JFK in the Presidency, an illuminating account of John F Kennedy’s brief but transformative tenure in the White House.

Words To Live By - High School Q&A with the President

It turns out that Presidents like to visit schools and deliver remarks. President George HW Bush told a group of junior high students, “I’m not here to tell you what to do or what to think. Maybe you’re accustomed to adults talking about you and at you; well, today, I’m here to talk to you and challenge you. Education matters, and what you do today, and what you don’t do can change your future.”

In 1988, President Reagan told Junior High students they were living in a “time of unlimited possibilities, bounded only by the size of your imagination, the depth of your heart, and the character of your courage.” But earlier, in 1982, he went a step further. The President visited Providence-St. Mel’s High School in Chicago, and actually answered questions. The kids didn’t mince words – they asked him tough questions…from the meaning of the Falkland Island crisis, to the economy to nuclear weapons to gun control.

A Reagan Forum - Governor Larry Hogan

In this week’s Reagan Forum podcast we go back a week to May 3, 2022 for our in-person event with Larry Hogan, the Governor of Maryland and previous Chairman of the National Governor’s Association, who was a speaker in the Reagan Foundation’s Time for Choosing Speaker Series, a new forum for leading voices in the conservative movement. Governor Larry Hogan, Jr. was sworn in as the 62^nd governor of Maryland on January 21, 2015. In 2018, he was overwhelmingly re-elected to a four-year term, receiving the most votes of any Maryland gubernatorial candidate and becoming only the second Republican governor to be re-elected in the 242-year history of the state. During his Time for Choosing Speech at the Reagan Library, Governor Hogan addressed additional critical issues facing the future of the Republican Party.

Words To Live By - The President Returns to His Alma Mater

It’s commencement address season and like all American presidents, our 40^th delivered quite a few. One of his most memorable was at his Alma Mater, Eureka College on May 9, 1982, celebrating the 50^th anniversary of his class of ’32. So in this podcast, we’ll listen to an excerpt from that historic Commencement address in which he used the occasion to launch the START program for reducing nuclear weapons for both the United States and Russia. In the second half of the podcast, we’ll hear his speech after he had been inducted into Eureka College’s Athletic Hall of Fame – get ready to smile and laugh. It’s a classic.

A Reagan Forum - Former United States Attorney General Bill Barr

In this week’s “A Reagan Forum” we go back just over one week to our Reagan Forum with Former Attorney General Bill Barr. This wasn’t just a regular Reagan Forum – it was also our first Reagan Book Club event, a membership program which connects like-minded individuals with exclusive reading materials, impactful experiences with world-class authors, and a passionate community to cultivate meaningful connections and thoughtful discussions about the history, state and direction of our nation. Bill Barr came to the Reagan Library to discuss his new book, One Damn Thing After Another, his candid memoir which takes readers behind the scenes during seminal moments of the 1990s, from the LA riots to Pan Am 103, to 30 years later while facing an unrelenting barrage of issues, such as Russiagate, the COVID outbreak, civil unrest, the impeachments, and the 2020 election fallout.