A Reagan Forum Podcast

In this week’s “A Reagan Forum” we’re going to break from our normal format to honor President and Mrs. Reagan on what would have been their 70th wedding anniversary on March 4, 2022. 70 years prior, on March 4, 1952, Ronald Reagan wed Nancy Davis at the Little Brown Church in the Valley near Los Angeles, California. Their only wedding guests were their best man and maid of honor, married couple William Holden and his wife, Brenda. It’s been said that Romeo had his Juliet, Antony had his Cleopatra. Prince Edward had his Wallis, and Ronald Reagan had his beloved Nancy. Charlton Heston once said theirs was “probably the greatest love affair in the history of the American Presidency.”

In this week’s “A Reagan Forum” we present Craig Shirley, the author of four bestsellers on President Ronald Reagan, including “Rendezvous with Destiny” and “Reagan’s Revolution.” On this visit to the Reagan Library, Craig launched his latest book, “April 1945: The Hinge of History,” which is the long-awaited follow-up to the widely praised December 1941. In April 1945, Craig combines engaging anecdotes with deft research to look at the several events which changed the face of the world forever: the sudden death of President Roosevelt followed by Harry S. Truman’s rise to office; Adolph Hitler’s suicide; and the horrific discoveries of Dachau and Auschwitz. During his visit, Craig sat down with Reagan Foundation Chief Marketing Officer Melissa Giller to discuss his book.

In this week’s Reagan Forum podcast we go back two weeks to February 7, 2022 for our in-person event with Peggy Noonan, who was the Foundation’s seventh speaker in its Time for Choosing Speaker Series, a new forum for leading voices in the conservative movement. As speech writer and special assistant, Peggy Noonan crafted for Ronald Reagan some of the most memorable addresses of his Presidency. From his unforgettable speech before the “boys of Pointe du Hoc” at Normandy in 1984 to mark the 40th anniversary of D-Day, to his soothing and soaring words that moved a nation forward following the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster in 1986, Peggy displayed a mastery of her craft. As such, it is of no surprise to anyone that in her years since, as a columnist for the Wall Street Journal, she won the Pulitzer Prize for Commentary. She’s also currently a Trustee for the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute. During her Time for Choosing Speech at the Reagan Library, Peggy addressed additional critical issues facing the future of the Republican Party.

February 6, 2022 marked the 111th anniversary of the birth of Ronald Wilson Reagan. He used to love to joke that each birthday was the anniversary of his 39th birthday, so 2022 would have marked the 72nd anniversary of his 39th birthday! Since President Reagan’s passing on June 5, 2004, the Reagan Foundation has worked with United States Marine Corps Camp Pendleton to hold a birthday celebration on February 6th of each year to honor the life and legacy of our nation’s 40th president. Each year the program includes live musical entertainment from the 1st Marine Division Band, an honor guard, a rifle guard, and the official laying of the White House Presidential Wreath on President Reagan’s gravesite. Keynote speakers in prior years have included Rudy Giuliani, Elizabeth Dole, James Baker, and Sam Donaldson. In this week’s A Reagan Forum podcast, we listen in to the ceremony held on February 6, 2022 with keynote speaker Peggy Noonan.

In this week’s Reagan Forum podcast we go back just a few days to January 31, 2022 for our in-person event with FBI Director Christopher Wray. Director Wray spoke at the Reagan Library as part of the Library’s special exhibition, FBI: From Al Capone to Al Qaeda, which covers the history of the storied agency from inception to its modern-day efforts to fight domestic terrorism in the United States.

This week’s Reagan Forum Podcast goes back to last month’s Reagan National Defense Forum, for our 4th panel of the day, entitled Defense in the Digital Age: US Cyber Capabilities and the Future of Warfare. The panel included Representative Mike Gallagher, Admiral Michael Gilday, Chief of Naval Operations for the US Navy, Dr. Alex Karp, Cofounder and CEO of Palantir Technologies, and General Paul Nakasone, Commander of the United States Cyber Command. The panel was moderated by New York Times reporter Julian Barnes.

This week’s Reagan Forum Podcast will be a little different, as we will spend it by honoring the expansion of the Reagan Library Peace Through Strength Pavilion.

In this week’s Reagan Forum Podcast we go back one month to our 2021 Reagan National Defense Forum. But rather than share one of the panel discussions, as we’ve been previously doing, this podcast is going to focus on our annual Peace Through Strength Award ceremony. Presented at each Reagan National Defense Forum since 2013, the Ronald Reagan Peace Through Strength Award recognizes those who have applied, with constant purpose, a strategy to strengthen our armed forces, support our military men and women striving around the world, reinforce our nation’s defense systems and safeguard the lives and interests of the American people. 

As we sit between Christmas and New Year’s, we take time to reflect on the year past and the year ahead. From all of us at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute, we wish you and your family the happiest and healthiest of holiday seasons. In this week’s A Reagan Forum Podcast, we’re going to go listen to some of our “Best Of Ronald Reagan” podcasts to help keep you in the holiday spirit.

As we continue to bring you some of the panels and discussions at last month’s Reagan National Defense Forum, in this week’s Reagan Forum podcast we’ll look at our closing session, entitled “Enduring challenges and strategic choices; a conversation with former secretaries of defense.” The panelists included two former secretaries of defense – The honorable Mark Esper and the Honorable Leon Panetta. The conversation was moderated by Fox News anchor Bill Hemmer.

On December 3 and 4, 2021, the Reagan Foundation and Institute held its annual Reagan National Defense Forum. In its eighth year, the Defense Forum has quickly become one of our nation’s premier gatherings for defense and national security experts. In an era where the threats to our national security are increasing in number and complexity, the Reagan National Defense Forum allows senior leaders from the defense community to come together with viewpoints on how best to deal with these challenges. As such, this year’s theme was Peace Through Strength: Enduring Challenges and Strategic Choices. This year’s Defense Forum’s keynote address was delivered by the U.S. Secretary of Defense, the Honorable Lloyd Austin, followed by a Q&A led by Fox News Anchor Bret Baier.

On December 3 and 4, 2021, the Reagan Foundation and Institute held its annual Reagan National Defense Forum. In its eighth year, the Defense Forum has quickly become one of our nation’s premier gatherings for defense and national security experts. In an era where the threats to our national security are increasing in number and complexity, the Reagan National Defense Forum allows senior leaders from the defense community to come together with viewpoints on how best to deal with these challenges. As such, this year’s theme was Peace Through Strength: Enduring Challenges and Strategic Choices. During this year’s Defense Forum our panels addressed enduring and emerging threats to our national security and what strategic choices we can make to preserve our advantage. From traditional regional theaters to new domains of competition, we must ensure we have the strategy and resources necessary to meet the challenges and opportunities of the 21st century. This year’s Defense Forum’s keynote address was delivered by the U.S. Secretary of Defense, the Honorable Lloyd Austin, followed by a Q&A led by Fox News Anchor Bret Baier.

In this week’s Reagan Forum podcast we go back just a few days to November 30, 2021 for our in-person conversation with New York Times best selling author Joel Rosenberg on his newest book, Enemies and Allies: An Unforgettable Journey Inside the Fast Moving and Immensely Turbulent Modern Middle East. Joel Rosenberg is most known for his 16 political thriller novels like The Last Jihad and The Auschwitz Escape. But he is also an American-Israeli communicators strategist, non-profit executive and author of multiple non-fiction books, including the one he joined us for. Among the readers of his books are Vice President Mike Pence, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, former President George W. Bush, former CIA Director Porter Goss, Jordan’s King Abdullah II, former Israeli Interior Minister Natan Sharansky, and many other foreign leaders.

In this week’s Reagan Forum podcast we go to our in-person program with conservative talk radio host and bestselling author Michael Medved. Mr. Medved was kind enough to be our first in-person event back in July 2021 after we had been shutdown for 14 months due to COVID. The event was so successful, that he agreed to come back. Michael Medved returned to the Reagan Library just before the Thanksgiving Holiday to discuss “Guilt versus Gratitude” which confronts America’s self-esteem crisis. For all their raging disagreements, the detractors and defenders of the United States share one point of common conviction: that America represents an unprecedented, deeply consequential development in the history of civilization. The core dispute behind our current culture war involves the nature of that uniqueness, and whether America qualifies as exceptionally guilty or exceptionally great. Michael Medved addresses this ferocious debate in the context of his two New York Times bestselling books, THE AMERICAN MIRACLE and THE 10 BIG LIES ABOUT AMERICA.

In this week’s Reagan Forum Podcast we go back one week to the Reagan Library’s Veterans Day Program, which included an honor guard, live music, and keynote remarks by United States Marine Corps Vietnam veteran Bob Parsons. Mr. Parsons is the recipient of the Purple Heart Medal, Combat Action Ribbon and Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry. An American entrepreneur, he is best-known as the founder of GoDaddy.com and PXG. He and his wife are also the founders of The Bob & Renee Parsons Foundation, which provides transformational grants to nonprofit organizations including those who focus on the needs of wounded veterans and military families.