Ronald Reagan passed away ten years ago on June 5, 2004. These images of the 40th President all have a Carolina connection.
Ronald Reagan visits Charlotte. Senator Jesse Helms and Charlotte Mayor Eddie Knox with him. 1984.
President Ronald Reagan walks with former Mayor Eddie Knox (left of Reagan), a Democrat, and Sen. Jesse Helms (right of Reagan) during a campaign visit in October 1984. Knox was National Co-Chairman of the Democrats for Reagan-Bush Committee.
President Ronald Reagan gives the Medal of Freedom to Billy Graham at the White House. 1983.
'Presidential Greeting: Dexter Yager (of Amway) meets former President Ronald Reagon on one weekend in 1991. Reagan appeared at Yager organization rallies in Charlotte, Rock Hill and Winston-Salem. His fee wasn't disclosed.'
'Jim Broyhill candidate for US senate, President Ronald Reagan, and Senator Jesse Helms at a fund raiser luncheon for Broyhill, held in Greensboro at the Coliseum Exhibition Hall.' 1999
Jesse Helms and Ronald Reagan. 1981
'William F. Buckley Jr. talks with former California Governor Ronald Reagan at the South Carolina Governor's Mansion in Columbia.' 1978. - AP photo
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'John W. Hinckley, Jr. is shown arriving in chains at the Quantico Marine Base, Tuesday, August 18, 1981, after arriving by helicopter from the Federal Correctional Institution in Butner, NC. Hinckley, accused of shooting President Reagan on March 30, has been undergoing psychiatric tests at the institution in North Carolina since his arrest. The label on Hinckley's chest identifies a bulletproof vest he is wearing.' 1981. - AP photo
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3 comments:
I was an editorial writer at The Fayetteville Observer when Ronald Reagan came through Fayetteville during the 1976 Republican presidential campaign. Traveling with Reagan was the great American actor Jimmy Stewart.
Using an acting term, we can say that many people viewed Ronald Reagan's 1976 bid for the GOP nomination as a nostalgic "curtain call" for the former California governor. Of course, that same year former George Gov. Jimmy Carter was on his way to 1976 Democratic nomination and eventual election to the presidency in November.
However, with the support of the rarely predictable Sen. Jesse Helms, Reagan captured the 1976 North Carolina GOP primary, enabling him to continue campaigning all the way to the Republican convention. Four years later he won the White House, but in 1976, you would have been hard-pressed to find many pundits who saw this coming.
Obviously the public services legacies of Presidents Reagan and Carter continue to appeal to Americans of the present time, the one with a keenly philosophical vision and the other with an inspiring humanitarian compassion.
And it was a thrill to see Jimmy Stewart come to the Cape Fear Country, regardless of one's partisan political leanings.
David - thank you for the colorful perspective! I'm sure it was a memorable time. - M
Wonder when he had all that time to sell arms to Iraq??
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