Throwback Thursdays

On November 10, 1982 – 40 years ago – the leader of the Soviet Union, Leonid Brezhnev, died. Immediately after his passing, Yuri Andropov succeeded him as General Secretary. But our subject today is Brezhnev and the hauntingly similar ways both Brezhnev and Putin have ruled.

In today’s podcast, we’ll focus on a wonderful interview conducted by Tom Brokaw just 3 days before the President left office. This is not a gotcha interview or a hard-hitting challenge to the president – rather, Brokaw decided to focus on personal issues. You’ll hear the President reflect on his mother’s religious beliefs, his father’s alcoholism, careers in radio, acting, and politics, and reflections on his eight years as president. As for Brokaw, he was a longtime news anchor and senior correspondent who spent his entire career with NBC news. Beginning the Los Angeles Bureau where he covered Ronald Reagan’s first run for public office, he moved to the nation’s capital in 1973. Ultimately after 55 years with NBC news he retired at the age of 80.

It’s election season which begs the question – why did Ronald Reagan enter politics? What in his life experiences formed the foundation of a fine communicator and a man of great ideas? In this podcast, we’ll go back to his childhood, his collegiate years, and those following which led to his development as a political animal. Yes, he always said, he was an actor, not a politician, but once elected Governor of California, he became a card-carrying member of that elite club known as…politicians.

At the Republican presidential debates in 2011 held at the Reagan Library, Newt Gingrich commented, “Well, I’m frankly not interested in your effort to get Republicans fighting each other. You’d like to puff this up into some giant thing…” Yes, It seems that name calling and vicious attacks are standard operating procedure in today’s political arena. It’s almost as if candidates need hunting licenses as they seek their party’s nomination. It’s open season with barbs flying faster at fellow Republicans than macaroni in the school cafeteria. Back in 1985, the President reiterated his position in a news conference.

During this season of primary politics and curious political antics, we are thankfully distracted by our great American pastime, baseball, where hot dogs, peanuts and Cracker Jack still prevail in stadiums across the country. While our 40th president spent more time on the track, in the pool, and on the gridiron, baseball was still a great love of his and an important part of his life. Even his father, Jack Reagan, played a little baseball around the late 1800’s in Bennett, Iowa. Starting in the early 30’s, Ronald Reagan became the play-by-play reenactment voice for the Chicago Cubs. As “Dutch Reagan” on Iowa’s WHO, he would receive game updates via telegraph and then, accompanied by sound effects, bring the action to life with a vivid description of the details. In one famous instance, the telegraph feed went down in the ninth inning of a tight ballgame, forcing the young announcer to improvise on the spot. So, with that story in mind, let’s listen to our 40th president warmly welcome some of baseball’s finest to the White House.

It’s the season when we anticipate quite a bit of turnover brought about by the curse of the midterm election. 40 years ago, in 1982, Pew Research reported that just 36% of the public said they wanted to see Reagan run for re-election. Recall that Ronald Reagan came to the presidency in 1981 with a straightforward and well-articulated domestic agenda. He promised to cut taxes, curb government spending, and balance the federal budget or at least reduce the deficit. His well-crafted Inaugural Address identified the major themes the new President hoped would define his administration. But, by fall of 1982, the fruits of his labors had not fully bloomed. So, this Pew data preceded, by just a few months, the beginning of a great economic boom. As a result, the late summer and fall of 1982 were tough times for Ronald Reagan and many of those whom he supported. He took to the campaign trail and we thought you’d enjoy a few great excerpts from some of those 1982 stump speeches. Each one is tailored to the specific region and audience – it’s a challenge being president of 50 states with varied interests and objectives.

In today’s podcast we’ll focus on President Reagan’s special relationship with her royal highness Queen Elizabeth the second. In 1982, the Reagans visited Her Majesty and the Duke of Edinburgh at Windsor, where the Queen and Ronald Reagan carried out a specially orchestrated ride through Windsor Great Park, trailed by more than 150 photographers and a Range Rover full of Secret Service agents. (Nancy Reagan, meanwhile, joined Prince Philip in a four-in-hand carriage for a tour of the estate.) In the second half of this podcast, we’ll cover their remarks when the Reagans later hosted Elizabeth and Philip at their home of Rancho del Cielo near Santa Barbara in 1983, where Her Majesty had her first experience of Tex-Mex cuisine, feasting on tacos, enchiladas, and what she referred to as “used” (i.e., refried) beans.

It’s on the news every day – crime rates are escalating exponentially throughout the country. Well, when Ronald Reagan became our 40th president, our country was experiencing the same surge in crime and in 1980 he said, “We need a renewed emphasis on, and an enhanced sensitivity to, the rights of victims. These rights should be a central concern of those who participate in the criminal justice system, and it is time all of us paid greater heed to the plight of victims.” So in this podcast, we’ll listen to the president’s thoughts on Crime and criminal justice reform, beginning with a radio address delivered 40 years ago on September 11, 1982.  In the second half of the podcast, we’ll move forward five years.

President Reagan believed strongly that greater productivity growth was of supreme importance to America's future.

China’s activities of late – showing off their military muscle after Speaker Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan – are top of mind and call us to review the President’s objective when he visited China in 1984, and that’s by spreading the good news about democracy, particularly to students. We thought our listeners might be interested in his truly beautiful speech delivered to college students in China at Fudan University in 1984. In the first half of the podcast, we’ll cover a few excerpts from the speech in China and in the second half, we’ll be inspired by hearing his heartfelt description about everything that’s great about America at Fudan University.