President Ronald Reagan (1981-1989) | |||
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Type Of Activity | Presidential Support | ||
Location | |||
Location | Washington DC | ||
Date of Activity | 1981-1989 | ||
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Ronald Reagan 40th President of the United States
Conservative icon Ronald Reagan, the former Hollywood leading man and California governor who outwitted the American political elite to reach the Oval Office, was elected president of the United States on this day in history, Nov. 4, 1980. The first inauguration of Ronald Reagan as the 40th president of the United States was held on Tuesday, January 20, 1981, at the West Front of the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C. This was the first inauguration to be held on the building's west side
His "triumph capped the rise of the new right/conservative wing of the Republican Party. And demonstrated that World leaders do not need to come from insider circles in order to be successful.
Reagan served as arguably the first true conservative U.S. president in over 50 years. [He] advanced domestic policies that featured a lessening of federal government responsibility in solving social problems, reducing restrictions on business, and implementing tax cuts.
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| 1981 Inaugural Parade |
Ronald Reagan’s presidency began on a dramatic note when, after the inaugural ceremony, he announced at a luncheon that Iran had agreed to release the remaining American hostages that they had held for 444 days.
The 1981 Assassination Attempt
Only two months after taking office as president of the United States, President Ronald Reagan was steps away from the presidential limousine when John W. Hinckley, Jr., a deranged drifter fired six shots from a .22-calibre revolver toward him while he was leaving the Hilton Hotel in Washington, D.C.
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| President Reagan exits the Hilton Hotel just before shots rang out |
Three bullets severely wounded three members of Reagan's entourage and security detail – press secretary Jim Brady, Secret Service agent Tim McCarthy and Thomas Delahanty, a D.C. police officer. One of the bullets, unbeknownst to Reagan or the Secret Service at the time, had bounced off the door of the limousine and punctured the president's lung before it lodged itself close to his heart.
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Critically injured Jim Brady Larry Bethea remembers that on March 30, 1981 it became my Longest Day in the U.S. Air Force. I was walking into the White House compound when a Soldier from my section was walking out. She said Hi, and then alerted me that there was a assassination attempt against President Ronald Reagan. My first thoughts were mixed, and I asked her if she should be leaving under these circumstances. She said that she didn't know if the President was struck by a bullet but told me about others being hurt. She continued to leave as I rushed into the Duty Station to hear the Radios a buzz while the switchboard was quiet. Returning to the Radio room I heard Jerry Parr, the President's lead Agent announce that the President was coughing up blood and would reroute the President’s motorcade to the hospital. Agent Parr was asked if the President had been struck? He looked over the President and couldn't find where. He suggested tackling the President into the Limo may have broken a rib on the transmission hump because they both landed on it. I then heard others say that ABC NEWS is already airing the Attempt and watched 2 or 3 minutes of their video before being ordered to the switchboard. I returned to the switchboard room to find dozens of calls needing to be answered. I plugged into the board and started to patch calls; little did I know I would sit there for another 16 hours. While normally five operators could manage the switchboard, it required maybe eight on that day and sometimes calls were ringing for some time for we focused on our Emergency Procedures. There are many untold stories around that day, Bell Atlantic technicians for instance rushed over to the Hospital and rerouted phone lines some were public phones being used by the press. They were disconnected in mid-sentence and the telco lines were routed between the White House and the Emergency Room at the Hospital. The eight Military Personnel, including myself, were mostly in our 20's and yet only one person staggered, allowing grief to overtake her. She was pulled off the board and a few minutes later was back on the job doing her duty. She heard firsthand the Doctors report, how serious the wound was and how close it came to the President's heart. I heard a number of prayers that day, during a pause I glanced over to see one young man kneeling by the switchboard, I then realized he was praying. The Vice President, George HW Bush was flying back to Washington DC on board Air Force II we had ground to air communications with him his entire flight. At one point he called and wanted to get a health status of the President. I patched him to the President's Doctor/spokesman and listened for quality assurance (SOP). After the call the Vice President called back asking to speak with the operator who he was just speaking with. I picked up the call, he was very concerned with me. He basically said, “I didn’t want you to pull the President's doctor away from his duties. I assured the Vice President the Doctor that he spoke to was overseeing the Doctors caring for the President. Once he realized this, he thanked me. Another call I received was from Sarah Brady, she heard on the News her husband James Brady, the White House Press Secretary was dead. She wanted confirmation. I patched her to the Hospital, and she was told that her husband was still alive. She called back and informed me that her ailing Father-in-Law was visiting and to not upset him with any bad news that she would take all the calls. I respected her reasoned thought in such a crisis and informed everyone on the switchboard. Agent Tim McCarthy is a large man, when he heard the first shot he turned towards the threat without moving from his spot. He took a bullet for the President and maybe the entire reason Reagan survived. A Hero! When he was loaded into an ambulance a fellow agent jumped into the front passenger seat. He informed the driver to drive to George Washington Hospital. The Driver worked for another Hospital and protested, for he feared he wouldn't get paid. The Agent assured the driver he would get paid, but the Driver continued to protest, that is until he was looking at the wrong end of a barrel. The Agent had no time for discussing payment and pulled his weapon to protect his fellow Agent. The driver then rushed over to GW Hospital. In the Military there is a Chain of Command, from your immediate supervisor all the way to the Commander in Chief. At one point I glanced behind me to see most of my Chain of Command standing, watching us on the switchboard an Army Captain, a Marine Colonel, a Army 1 Star General, USAF General David C Jones Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger. A few weeks after my Longest Day a very nice letter came to our section from the Sec Def, Caspar Weinberger. He couldn't believe what he witnessed, what my section accomplished and shared mostly his feelings of how impressed he was with our professionalism, how we handle such a crisis with disciple and calm. President Reagan came down to our section to personally thank us for our service, he left a crystal jar of his favorite jellybeans, but our NCOIC taped the jar closed so that the gift can be preserved for the section. I wonder what color those jellybeans are today? Most Americans have no idea how close life and death was for Ronald Reagan that day. Nancy Reagan knew and did everything she could to protect her husband hence forth. There was a huge team of people that came together that day to save our President, some parts were small, others were huge. Each part contributed to saving our President this day in 1981. President Reagan was rushed to George Washington University Hospital for emergency surgery, Reagan joked with doctors as he was being wheeled into the operating room: “I hope you’re all Republicans.” The President was Released 12 days later, An early Ronald Reagan accomplishment that has gone on to shape policy was his approach to labor unions that were operating outside of the law. In Aug of 1981 he took a hard line against air-traffic controllers who were unjustly striking, setting a precedent that has been pointed to for decades. Reagan's economic and domestic policies had a major impact on the American people and have had for many years. One of the most well-known Ronald Reagan accomplishments was his tax cuts, which were designed to benefit the middle class. These Tax cuts were just one part of Ronald Reagan's overall economic approach known as Reaganomics, which decreased unemployment and inflation and, over time, revolutionized the country's economic structure. Ronald Reagan energized new generations of Republicans, who continued to lead and develop the party in coming decades. One of the accomplishments of Ronald Reagan that clearly influenced later leaders was his charismatic, yet casual, speaking style, which ushered in a new era for political communication. Ronald Reagan also spearheaded a campaign to re-focus the country's attention back on its own people, an idea that has again taken hold in recent years. Signal Switchboard, Crown Radio, and Echo Fox Radio Console In January of 1981 the Signal Switchboard moved from the East Wing basement to the new a new area in the basement of the Old Executive Office Building, room 015. The old Western Electric WE 555 was removed and the Western Electric 608-D was installed in the OEOB, it was the only L shaped WE 608 in the world.
The switchboard was "L" shaped. The two positions on the left in the photo above were "SAO"s Special Assistance Operators who handled Presidential calls. Pres. Reagan is saying in the photo above "... and you do this job with equipment this old? 
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Speaker of the House Tip O'Neil with President Reagan
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| LTC Oliver North is sworn in by the Warren Commission |
Investigations revealed the money gained from the arms sale was illegally diverted to aid the Contras, opponents of the Nicaraguan Sandinista government. National Security Advisors Robert McFarlane and John Poindexter, as well as National Security Council aide LTC Oliver North were indicted by a federal grand jury and convicted of various charges regarding the Iran-Contra operations. McFarlane was later pardoned by President George H.W. Bush and both Poindexter and North's convictions were set aside on appeal for technical reasons.
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| President Reagan addresses the nation about Iran Contra |
Here is the whole story of how TSgt Mark Warren working in the WHCA Comm. Center probably saved LTC Ollie North from going to jail over the Iran Contra (IC) issue.
News of IC first hit the news Monday November 24, 1986, and President Reagan fired LTC North and others the next day. This happened to be Thanksgiving week and on Thanksgiving Day, a Master Sargent and I were covering the computer room so the operators could have the day off. We were discussing what had happened during the week including the deleting and shredding of documents and emails by LTC North and Fawn Hall.
I was responsible for our tape back-ups of the NSC’s system and realized we still had all of that deleted information on our 2-week back-up cycle of tapes, but as each day went by, we’d lose another day as the nightly back-up was done and would overwrite the oldest tape. As it was now Thursday, we had already overwritten 3 of the 14 tapes. I told the Master Sargent we should put all these tapes aside and replace them with brand new ones since they probably contained evidence.
He said we should call the boss, so we got the LTC in charge of ISD on the phone and I explained to him what was going on and my recommendation. His response was “well, nobody told us to do that, so I’ll check with the WHCA Commander on Monday”. Really??? We’d have overwritten 4 more tapes by then. We hung up the phone and I told the Master Sargent since he never really “ordered” me not to pull the tapes, I was pulling them, replacing them with new ones and if the boss wanted to fire me, then so be it and my WHCA career would end Monday.
He didn’t let the boss know what I was doing, and I pulled them, sealed them in 3 or 4 large Halliburton cases, marked the outside as CLASSIFIED and sealed them with the wire and lead seals, then took them to the Comm Center in the WH basement. I put all new tapes in the rack to be used for backups starting that night.
First thing on Monday morning the Master Sargent and I walked into our boss’s office, and I told him what I did. He must have thought about it over the weekend and seemed a little relieved but acted a little pissed that I did it against what he initially wanted us to do. He called the WHCA Commander and told him what I had done with the backup tapes. The Commander told my boss that I had done the right thing, and he would notify the WH Military Office, who then notified the FBI. I believe the FBI sent someone to the WH that very day to take possession of the tapes. So, my WHCA career didn’t end that day after all!
We didn’t hear anything for weeks until the Tower Commission requested a short delay in submitting their report as they had “just discovered” a batch of WH backup tapes they needed to review. We had to print some of the emails for the commission and they released their report in late February 1987.
However, the real fun began leading up to the trial of LTC North. His defense team as well as the prosecution team wanted a printed copy of EVERY email from/to North, McFarlane, Poindexter and several other NSC staffers. We had to restore each tape to an alternate email system we installed, then we had to have a member of the defense or prosecution team present when we reviewed and printed them. We couldn’t print on dual paper to make both copies at the same time but had to do all this separately for each team and for each tape! I don’t know how many hours I (and a couple of my co-workers) spent doing this, but I read every single email related to IC.
These emails proved that LTC North wasn’t a rogue marine doing whatever he wanted, but had approval from his bosses. The emails didn’t prevent him from being convicted of lying to Congress, but it did on some of the more serious charges and his conviction was overturned a year later in an appellate court.
I also came very close to having to testify before Congress during their hearings in 1987. The day I was scheduled to testify, I was in my service dress complete with PSB in my office at the OEOB when we got the call (thank God!) that I didn’t have to go! What a relief I was the technician North was referring to in his book.
Reagan himself acknowledged that selling arms to Iran was a “mistake” during his testimony before Congress. However, his legacy, at least among his supporters, remains intact—and the Iran-Contra Affair has been relegated to an often-overlooked chapter in U.S. history.
Funding and development of the armed forces are a cornerstone of the list of Ronald Reagan major accomplishments, specifically the creation of the Strategic Defense Initiative to combat nuclear pressure. Ronald Reagan also took a hard stance against communism and is credited with bringing about major turning points in the Cold War.
1986 The ReykjavÃk Summit Meeting
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| ReykjavÃk negotiations between President Reagan and General Secretary Gorbachev |
The ReykjavÃk Summit, held on October 11 and 12, 1986, was the second meeting of US President Ronald Reagan and Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev. Following up on the previous year’s Geneva Summit, Reagan and Gorbachev continued to work toward and debate the possible terms of nuclear arms reduction at ReykjavÃk. The two leaders did not reach an agreement at ReykjavÃk, though many diplomats and experts consider the summit a turning point in the Cold War and ultimately the breakup of the Soviet Union.
President Reagans visit to West Berlin
During President Reagans visit to Berlin in 1987 there was a speech site out on the tarmac of Tempelhof Airbase. Every time the ground radar swept past; we would pick up the signal. We tried everything including asking if the radar could be shut off during the visit. After they stopped laughing, they said no. We noticed that there were manhole covers that were close to where we wanted to run our cables. There were drain lines with water flowing under them, so we got a float and ran a line under ground and then used the line to pull the audio cables through.
We managed to attenuate the radar signal enough that at least you never heard a loud prrrt every sweep of the radar. I would like to say that the audio cables were the nastiest thing we had to clean once we got back to the shop.
1987 at the Brandenburg Gate and the fall of the Berlin Wall
On June 12, 1987 President Ronald Reagan made his most memorable Quote “Mr. Gorbachev tear down this Wall” in Berlin at the Brandenburg Gate of the Berlin Wall, West Berlin.
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| Berlin Wall 1987 |
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| Ronald Reagan gets a small piece of the Berlin Wall (1990) |
Ronald Reagan discloses existing health issues
Ronald Reagan retired from the White House in 1989 to a home in the wealthy Los Angeles enclave of Bel Air. For the next six years, he spent his time organizing his memoirs and supervising the creation of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California.
During November 1994, Reagan revealed in a handwritten letter to the American people that he had been recently diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease.
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| Ronald Reagans announcement to the American People |
To some observers Reagan’s declining health had been evident for many years. Mindful of her husband’s diminished capacity, Nancy Reagan occasionally would screen him from the press by intercepting reporters’ questions and then whispering an appropriate response in his ear. Reagan’s health problems made public appearances difficult for the former president, but his popularity hardly waned.
National Airport in Washington, D.C., was renamed Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport by Congress and President Bill Clinton in February 1998.
Nearly a decade later, on June 5, 2004, he died at his Los Angeles home at age 93, Reagan was given a state funeral in Washington, D.C., and later buried on the grounds of his presidential library. Nancy Reagan died of heart failure in 2016 at age 94 and was buried alongside her husband.
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| The Ronald Reagan Memorial at the Reagan Library |
