A Reagan Forum Podcast

For over 20 years, the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum has hosted a day-long 4th of July commemoration fun for the entire family.  Over 3,500 people come up to our hilltop each year to enjoy games, activities, arts and crafts, presidential lookalikes and patriotic music.  When COVID19 closed our Museum to the public our thoughts quickly turned to our joyous event and how we might be able to still celebrate it while still conforming to new policies and guidelines about social distancing and limited group sizes. So this year we went 100% virtual!  From an online 4th of July costume contest, to at-home crafts and activities, to a great virtual event, we were proud to still bring our community a great engaging, educational and family fun day. It might be a week after the 4th of July, but it’s never too late for engaging patriotic content. Let’s listen.

This week we bring you our third virtual program since the Reagan Museum closed due to COVID19, which was held on June 12, 2020, when we had the honor of hosting U.S. Representative Mike Garcia, who was sworn in as a Member of the United States House of Representatives on May 19, 2020.  Congressman Garcia represents California’s 25th Congressional District, which includes the Reagan Library. During our virtual discussion with the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute’s executive director, Congressman Garcia discussed the special election, his plans as our new Congressman, and his thoughts on reopening California post COVID. Let’s listen:

This month we have brought you two of our virtual programs since the Reagan Museum closed due to COVID19.  This week we’ll bring you our third program, which was held on June 18, 2020, with Chris Wallace, host of Fox News Sunday. During our virtual discussion with the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute’s executive director, Mr. Wallace discussed his brand new book, Countdown 1945: The Extraordinary Story of the Atomic Bomb and the 116 Days that Changed the World. Let's Listen. 

Gretchen Carlson is an award-winning journalist and author who helped pave the way for #MeToo with her historic 2016 sexual harassment complaint against the chairman of Fox News Roger Ailes. She had previously hosted “The Real Story” on Fox News, and co-hosted the number-one rated cable morning news show, “Fox and Friends," for more than seven years. On June 26, 2015, Ms. Carlson came to the Reagan Library to discuss her latest book, Getting Real, a candid memoir which shares her inspiring story and offers important takeaways about what it means to strive for and find success in the real world.  

Last week we brought you our first virtual program since the Reagan Museum closed due to COVID19.  This week we’ll bring you our second program, which was held on May 26, 2020, with ABC News Chief Washington Correspondent Jonathan Karl. During our virtual discussion with the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute’s executive director, Mr. Karl discussed the responsibility of the news media during the Coronavirus, as well as his brand new bestselling book, Front Row at the Trump Show.

Like most of the businesses across our country, the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum closed to the public at 5:00 p.m. on Friday March 13, 2020 as a result of the COVID 19 pandemic. This included all employees of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute to begin to work from home.  To ensure we continued our mission of bringing thought-provoking content, even while our doors are closed, we began to offer virtual programming. Our first online virtual event was on May 4, 2020 with Forbes Inc CEO Steve Forbes. Let’s listen:  

We are spending the month of May bringing 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.  We hope you enjoy. Today we are going back to 2019 for our fourth and current season of Reagan Retrospective podcasts. Let's listen. 

We are spending the month of May bringing 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.  We hope you enjoy. So far we’ve brought you 6 episodes from season one and 6 more from season two.  Today we are going back to 2018 for the third season of Reagan Retrospective podcasts. Let's listen.

We are spending the month of May bringing 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.  We hope you enjoy. This Thursday we are going back to 2017 for the second season of Reagan Retrospective podcasts. Let’s Listen.

We are going to spend the month of May by bringing 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.  We hope you enjoy.

President Reagan felt very strongly about reaching across the aisle and working in a bipartisan manner.  He used to joke that he and Speaker of the House Tip O’Neill could argue all day long, but at 5 pm they could enjoy each other’s company over a friendly glass of beer. Another friend from across the aisle was Senator Ted Kennedy. The two men knew how to be political adversaries, not political enemies. In 2002 when Senator Kennedy presented President Reagan with the Congressional Gold Medal, he described the president as “a good friend and a generous foe.” And that the President “sought to defeat his opponents, not destroy them.” On April 28, 2007, Senator Ted Kennedy spoke at the Reagan Library to a sold-out audience which included Mrs. Nancy Reagan and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. Let's listen.

On April 29, 2016, America Online co-founder Steve Case came to the Reagan Library to speak about his new book, “The Third Wave: An Entrepreneur’s Vision of the Future.” In the 1990s, Steve Case built and grew AOL into the top-performing company in the United States.  At its peak, more than half of all consumer internet traffic in the US ran through the AOL service that Steve created.  Then, later on when Steve engineered AOL’s merger with Time Warner, he became for a while the Chairman of the biggest media and communications empire in the world. Let’s listen:

Tom Brokaw came to the Reagan Library on April 14, 2012 to discuss his sixth best-selling book, “The Times of our Lives.” The book, much like countless Ronald Reagan speeches, quite admirably takes on the challenge of inspiring Americans to make a positive difference in their families, their communities, and their country as we work together to revitalize the American dream. During his time at the Reagan Library, Tom Brokaw sat down in conversation with Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute executive director John Heubusch to discuss the book, his memories of Ronald Reagan, and the importance of civility. Let’s listen:

On April 7, 2016, Steve Forbes came to the Reagan Library to discuss his latest book, “Reviving America: How Repealing Obamacare, Replacing the Tax Code and Reforming the Fed will Restore Hope and Prosperity,” a book which could act as a common-sense blueprint to restoring hope, growth, and opportunity to our society today. Let’s listen.

In this week’s “A Reagan Forum” we go back to April 5, 2017, when we hosted David Horowitz for a lecture and book signing for his book, “Big Agenda: President Trump’s Plan to Save America” in which he shared his thoughts on how President Trump and the GOP need to lay out their agenda and how to claim ultimate victory for the conservative cause. Let's listen.