Honoring President Reagan

Admirers of President Reagan are planning what kind of party to throw next year for the 100th anniversary of his birth.

The Times' Richard Simon reports that events are planned across the country: A Reagan-themed float will grace Colorado Boulevard in Pasadena during the Rose Parade on Jan. 1. His boyhood home of Dixon, Ill., has commissioned an original piece of music -- the "Reagan Suite" -- to honor him. A program at Eureka College, from which Reagan graduated, will reflect on his Midwestern roots. Warner Bros. has been contacted about a possible event looking at the former president's Hollywood years. An effort is even underway to name a mountain in Nevada after him.

Reagan died in 2004 at 93.

Reagan's 100th birthday -- Feb. 6, 2011 -- will fall on Super Bowl Sunday. "We will be discussing possible synergies with that important day for the nation's attention," said Stewart McLaurin, executive director of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation's Centennial Celebration.

You can find Simon's story here and Reagan's obituary here.

-- Keith Thursby

Photo: President Reagan with first lady Nancy Reagan during the inaugural parade in 1981. Credit: Associated Press

Comments

[Mike Dudnikov]

When February 6 rolled around this year I remembered it as being Ronald Reagan's birthday and I thought that the year of his birth was 1911, which meant that next year would his centennial. I see that my memory has not failed me. It is nice to know that people of intelligence and compassion have been working hard to see that this special anniversary will be properly celebrated, and perhaps serve as a teaching tool to the young.

At a time when a man of little imagination, empathy or vision resides in the people's house, it is nice to look back and remember that a very special individual resided there not so long ago. Far from being impressed with himself or feeling entitled to privileges, Ronald Reagan was humbled by the job and the residence, and aware that he had become the servant of the people, not their pedagogue.

I remember an interview with Michael Korda, then head of a publishing house soon to release a book about Reagan, who told the following story. Korda said one day at home his wife answered the phone and told him there was an important call for him. Korda said he was delayed in taking the call by almost 15 minutes, and when he did pick it up it was Ronald Reagan. He apologized profusely and was told not to fret because the President said he much enjoyed talking to Korda's wife. Korda said he was stunned at Reagan's utter lack of ego, no demands to get him at once, no secretary calling and making him then wait until the President had a moment to actually pick up the receiver, just a very powerful, yet polite man, willing to spend 15 minutes talking to someone he didn't even know.

Reagan accomplished much, especially towards dismantling the Soviet Union and enunciating a doctrine of equality for all and no special privilege for others, no entitlements based on group. And unlike so many who seek the Presidency in a stealthy manner, he gave a clear statement of his principles, and in the process gave sustenance to conservatives that their voice was not the small one so many media outlets pictured it as.

On February 8, 1950, only two days after his birthday that year, Reagan was honored at the Beverly Hills Hotel as a Hollywood star, labor leader and political activist at an event sponsored by the Friars Club. Much in contrast to what one would expect, the evening was not one filled with levity. Variety at the time recorded the night as being characterized by a "note of seriousness rarely demonstrated at a Friars get-together. This was not a roast." It was instead, "a heartfelt tribute to a real guy." Among the many in attendance that night was the the legendary entertainer Al Jolson who when he spoke said his wish was that his son would grow up "to be the kind of man Ronnie is."

A sentiment that certainly many fathers, and mothers today would echo. And this from a time when Reagan had yet so many years still left to live, and a political career yet to even have begun.