As if Newport Beach and Ventura were not enough for one Southern California visit, we also visited the Presidential Library of my favorite President "Ronald Wilson Reagan" while we where out there and close to it. They had just a few months earlier added the "Air Force One" Plane that President Reagan used to fly around the world meeting with heads of state on.That alone was worth the visit. We got to tour it as well. And even though I have never been wild about posting photos of either "Things" or "People" on my blog posts, I have done it as you can see here. And for those of you who have wondered if there REALLY IS a Mrs. LZ, well... here she is with The LAZY Blogger.
You have to believe me when I say that we were really very impressed with this library. We even asked a question about President Reagan that one of the tour hosts didn't know, and before we had a chance to get out of the building, he was on his way back to us with the answer. Not only did I find that pretty unbelievable, but I also found out that all 250 of those hosts are ALL volunteers. What a neat thing to do and what a nice place to be able to do it in.
One of the reasons that I was always fond of President had to do with that fact that when I was a young Army soldier from California in Vietnam in 1969 and 1970, Ronald Reagan was the Governor of California at that time. His daughter Maureen was over in Vietnam doing a USO show for us guys in the Mekong Delta. I took pictures of her in the show and mailed him the pictures. He sent me back a personal letter (which he was famous for) that I was very impressed with. He thanked me for the pictures, and then he also thanked me for serving my country over there. That was something that most Vietnam Vets NEVER heard from anyone. I thought at the time, what a GREAT guy! My opinion of him never changed from that point on.
In around 1976, I also happened to be on a direct flight (AA #76) from Orange County, CA to Washington-Dulles Airport with both he and Nancy (when they were traveling to Washington DC to talk about him running for President). He was then just the Ex-Governor of California. Who knew at that time what was is store for him and as it turned out... for the WHOLE world?
The Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum has informed and inspired more than one million visitors since opening in 1991. Perched on a mountaintop with sweeping views of mountains, valleys, and the Pacific Ocean, this 100-acre site, 45 minutes from downtown Los Angeles, offers memorable experiences for people of all ages. Visitors can follow a young Ronald Reagan on his rise from local hero and college standout to the glamorous world of Hollywood stardom. His campaign trail and inauguration as the 40th President of the United States, the Oval Office, and key events of his two terms are revealed through documents, photographs, and artifacts from eight dynamic years in the White House.
These opportunities and many more await visitors at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum, home to a world-class research facility featuring original presidential documents that forever changed our world. This facility is one of twelve presidential libraries directed by the National Archives and Records Administration. And now they even have Air Force One there too!
As a Presidential library administered by the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), the Reagan Library, under the authority of the Presidential Records Act, is the repository of presidential records for President Reagan’s administration. Our holdings include 50 million pages of presidential documents, over 1.6 million photographs, a half million feet of motion picture film and tens of thousands of audio and video tapes. Additionally, the Library houses personal papers collections including documents from Reagan’s eight years as governor of California. Information on accessing all of these records, including how to file a Freedom of Information Act request, can be found in their Research section.
Ronald Reagan was born Feb. 6, 1911, Tampico, Ill.,(a site that Mrs. LZ and I visited a couple of years ago). He was the 40th president of the U.S. (1981–89). He attended Eureka College and worked as a radio sports announcer before going to Hollywood in 1937. In his career as a movie actor, he appeared in more than 50 films and was twice president of the Screen Actors Guild (1947–52, 1959–60).
In the mid-1950s he became a spokesman for the General Electric Co.; he hosted its television theatre program from 1954 to 1962. Having gradually changed his political affiliation from liberal Democrat to conservative Republican, he was elected governor of California in 1966 and served two terms. In 1980 he defeated incumbent Pres. Jimmy Carter to become president.
Shortly after taking office, he was wounded in an assassination attempt. His administration adopted policies based on supply-side economics in an effort to promote rapid economic growth and reduce the federal deficit. Congress approved many of his proposals (1981), which succeeded in lowering inflation but doubled the national debt by 1986. He began the largest peacetime military buildup in U.S. history; in 1983 he proposed construction of the Strategic Defense Initiative.
His administration concluded a treaty with the Soviet Union to restrict intermediate-range nuclear weapons, conducted a proxy war against Nicaragua through its support of the Contras, and invaded Grenada ostensibly to prevent the island nation from becoming a Soviet outpost. He was reelected by a large margin in 1984. Beginning in 1986, the Iran-Contra Affair temporarily weakened his presidency.
Though his intellectual capacity for governing was often disparaged by his critics, his affability and artful communication skills enabled him to pursue numerous conservative policies with conspicuous success, and his tough stance toward the Soviet Union is often credited with contributing to the demise of Soviet communism. In 1994 he revealed that he had Alzheimer disease. He died June 5, 2004 in Los Angeles, Calif.
This trip through his Library was a very fun adventure for us and especially given my fondness for President Ronald Wilson Reagan. The Gipper lives on in our hearts forever. Instead of us winning one for "The Gipper" he actually won one for us! May God Bless and Keep you FOREVER "Mr. President"!
"Double, no triple, our troubles and we'd still be better off than any other people on earth. It is time that we recognized that ours was, in truth, a noble cause." Ronald W. Reagan
