Words to Live By

The President’s News Conference

Today’s subject? The Presidential Press Conference. We’re going to cover his July 1982 press conference which President Reagan noted in his diary that…went well – after feeling less than pleased about previous press conference. When and why did this tradition start? Since Woodrow Wilson held the first presidential press conference in March 1913, all of his successors have used the sessions as a basic part of their publicity strategies. The sessions have survived because reporters found them useful for developing information, citizens saw them as valuable for making judgments about their chief executives, and presidents and their staffs saw them as a primary strategy for explaining their policies. Of course, presidents could give speeches laying out their policies, but press conferences have become a major way to explain the intricacies of those policies as the proposals made their way through the legislative process.

Captive Nations and Ukraine

In light of the war in Ukraine, we thought that looking back to Ronald Reagan’s ideas on human rights and the captive nations might be pertinent. Going back to 1975, Ronald Reagan opposed President Gerald Ford’s signing of the final act of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe – known as the Helsinki Accords on August 1, 1975. Why, you ask? Well, he objected on the ground that it codified the captive nation status of Eastern Europe; that the Soviet Union and other communist states routinely violate human rights; and once again, that such states cannot be trusted to honor agreements.

Harley-Davidson and Free Trade

About 40 years ago, President Ronald Reagan took bold steps to protect a storied U.S. manufacturing company from foreign competitors. At the time, challenges in international trade, specifically, how to deal with the flood of Japanese car and motorcycle imports, was a serious problem.

Ronald Reagan, An American Patriot

If you look back at Ronald Reagan’s career, whether you agree with his policies or not, there’s one thing no one can dispute, and that’s his staunch, hopeful patriotism. Journalist and author Nancy Gibbs wrote, “Hope is an infectious disease, and Reagan was a carrier. The country he courted and finally won over in 1980 was a dispirited place, humiliated abroad, uncertain at home, with a hunger for heroes but little faith that they could make any difference. But you can, he told us. I am not the hero, you are.” "Let us renew our faith and our hope," he declared in his first Inaugural Address. "We have every right to dream heroic dreams." And he would serve as Dreamer in Chief. "What I'd really like to do," he said after six months in the White House, "is go down in history as the President who made Americans believe in themselves again."

Inflation

The subject of today’s podcast is inflation…yes, just like the song, everything old is new again. What we’re going to hear today are two angles: a radio address he delivered on Inflation and Recession in 1975 and in the second half of the podcast, we’ll hear the president report directly after leaving Washington on how he handled the problem of inflation.

Berlin in 1982

The place is…Berlin and the date is June 1982, FIVE years before he delivered his historic speech at the Brandenburg gate, demanding that the wall be torn down. This was during the Brezhnev years, long before Gorbachev and Glasnost were in the picture. It’s easy to forget how clearly President Reagan expressed his disgust with the Soviets and the Berlin Wall, many years before the so-called climax at the Brandenburg Gate in 1987.

Background at the Brandenburg Gate

Constructed in the early hours on August 13, 1961, the Berlin Wall was characterized by the Soviets as “a democratic anti-fascist protective structure.” Now isn’t that an interesting statement? Today Putin is using the same angle, claiming their intrusion into Ukraine is an anti-fascist gesture. The Berlin wall was built to end the flow of East Germans into the West. The Wall was built and within hours, friends and family were divided by barbed wire and concrete. Fast forward to the Spring of 1987. Negotiations from the Reykjavik Summit in 1986 had stalled and Gorbachev noted after visiting the Berlin Wall….get this…. that “At the Brandenburg Gate, one can clearly see how much strength and true heroism the defense of the first socialist state on German soil requires against the attacks of the class enemy.” Aware of such language, President Reagan was ready to level stronger demands which would echo throughout the West, reverberate behind prison gates in the East and ignite a resolve to fight for freedom. By 1987, President Reagan was ready to take freedom on the offensive, into the heart of the disintegrating Soviet empire.

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.

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 4th of July 1986, she was ready for her debut. In the second half of this podcast, we’ll focus on the final result.

Secrets of WWII and the Armed Forces

Armed Forces Day is upon us – it’s the 3rd Saturday in May. And right now, there’s an historic exhibit at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley - running through October 9th – 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.