Dining with Ronald Reagan. by Stacie

Dining with Ronald Reagan. by Stacie - October 2017 Scholarship Essay

Who wouldn’t want to dine with former U.S. President Ronald Reagan? If I were to have dinner with one U.S. President, it would be Ronald Reagan because he’s my favorite president. I love to share a meal with the former president, he understands the value of hard working Americans, just listening to his Republican ideals, and sharing his passion for ranching. After dinner I would ask him what it felt like telling the Soviet Union to tear down the Berlin Wall, ask about his ranch in California, and what it was like being the only Conservative actor in Hollywood.

In fact I would ask him, why he spoke the famous Berlin Wall speech. In a O’Reilly Factor interview with Ronald Reagan’s speech author, Peter Robinson quoted, “The Berlin Wall speech was highly controversial at the time. After the speech Ronald Reagan once said, “The boys at the state department are going to kill me giving this speech.” In my opinion Ronald Reagan’s Berlin Wall speech is the most significant speech in history because he ended the division between two countries, people with family members on each side of the wall was reunited, and ended the Cold War’s past.
Secondly, I want to ask what inspired him to be a rancher and to live the ranching way of life. Plus Rancho del Cielo would be the place to have dinner at with the former president and first lady in beautiful Santa Barbara. In a YouTube video from Young America’s Foundation, Ronald Reagan is shown working on the ranch and he says, “As a part-time rancher I share an appreciation to work and own your own land. Working it with a sweat on your brow and take risks.” I like that message from Ronald Reagan because I feel he understands the people of agriculture, that farmers and ranchers give their best to improve the land, expand in production, and conserve agriculture. In the book, Killing Reagan, it talks about the time he is buying the ranch for the purpose of giving a place for Tar Baby [his horse] to stay. “Reagan likes “Baby” so much that he buys her before filming is completed. To give her a place to gallop, he fulfills a lifelong dream and buys a small ranch in San Fernando Valley, which he will keep for a couple years before buying a larger property in Malibu” (Ch. 2 p. 28). I think he did the right thing of buying a ranch to not only ride his horse, Tar Baby, but to spend his time away from harsh life and enjoy the land while you can. His ranch was an escape from acting, politics, and life.

Additionally, as an actor in Hollywood in the 1950’s and 1960’s, his political views shifted from liberal to conservative. I would question Mr. Reagan why people in Hollywood wanted to disassociate him as a Conservative man. In the book Killing Reagan, it explains how confused Reagan was on choosing a political party and that Nancy Reagan pushed him into the Republican world. “He is unsure of what 1952 has in store for him hardly aware that it is the year in which he will remarry, father a new child, and vote Republican for the first time in his life” (Ch.3 p. 44). I think he made the right decision of choosing Republican because they’re not concerned about anything in particular, the party knows what is right for the American people, and they are not afraid to speak their opinions, but also to tell the truth. In Chapter 7 page 67 of Killing Reagan, the book explains what happened when he switch political parties and the end of his Hollywood career. “The truth is Ronald Reagan no longer has any reason to remain Democrat. His conservative affiliations have become so notorious that General Electric recently fired him as a spokesman, under pressure from unemployment, and from some powerful liberal concerns.” Regardless of changing his political party, I think Ronald Reagan went out as a better man entering in government and distancing himself away from the Hollywood glamour. He’s done better being remembered as a Republican in the political world than if he just stayed in the acting world of liberalism.

Above all Ronald Reagan is the president, I would like to have dinner with because he is a good man with conservative values, a hard working president in and out of office, and not afraid to tell a country to end the division between another country. Not only would I have dinner with Mr. Reagan, but I would give him a handshake and say thank you for doing a good job of running the country.