A Reagan Forum Podcast

In this week’s Reagan Forum podcast we go back 10 days to September 19, 2022 when former Secretary of Defense Mark Esper joined us in conversation for his latest book, A Sacred Oath: Memoirs of a Secretary of Defense During Extraordinary Times. During the program, Dr. Esper sat in conversation with Reagan Foundation Institute Director Roger Zakheim to discuss the details of his tumultuous tenure while serving in the Trump administration – a period marked by growing threats and conflict abroad, a global pandemic unseen in a century, the greatest domestic unrest in two generations, and a White House which broke accepted norms and conventions.

In this week’s Reagan Forum podcast we go back a week to September 15, 2022 for our in-person event with Kellyanne Conway, who was here to discuss her latest book, Here’s the Deal: A Memoir. Kellyanne Conway is an American political consultant and pollster, who served as Senior Counselor to the President in the administration of Donald Trump from 2017 to 2020. During our event, she sat down in conversation with Reagan Foundation and Institute Executive Director John Heubusch to discuss Here’s the Deal, a book that takes you to the White House and beyond.

In this week’s Reagan Forum podcast we pay tribute to legendary Dodgers Baseball announcer Vin Scully, who passed away on August 2, 2022. As part of our baseball exhibit that was on display in 2014 in the Reagan Library, Vin Scully came out to share stories with our sold-out audience. This program is not on our YouTube channel, so this is the first time you might be hearing this amazing program.

In May of 2020 we came to you each week to bring you some of our favorite Reagan Retrospective podcasts. These podcasts are stories shared by people who knew President and Mrs. Reagan best – people who worked with them, were friends with them, and knew them throughout their life. Each podcast brings you new behind the scenes stories from the Reagan years. They’re funny, poignant, and rich in history. Throughout May of 2020 we shared 6 Reagan Retrospectives from season 1, 6 more from season two, 6 from season 3, and 3 from season 4. Today, yes two years later, we are going to share four episodes from our current season – season 5 - of Reagan Retrospective podcasts.

In this week’s Reagan Forum podcast we go back a week to August 25, 2022 for our in-person event with United States Senator Joni Ernst, who was a speaker in the Reagan Foundation’s Time for Choosing Speaker Series, a forum for leading voices in the conservative movement. Senator Ernst is a native of Red Oak, Iowa, and has dedicated her life to her state and country, having served in the military for over 23 years and now in the United States Senate. In November 2014, she was elected as the first woman to serve in federal elected office from the State of Iowa and also became the first female combat veteran elected to serve in the United States Senate. During her Time for Choosing Speech at the Reagan Library, Senator Ernst addressed additional critical issues facing the future of the Republican Party.

In this week’s “A Reagan Forum” we go back one week for our in-person event with Don Brown and Amy Peacock for their new book, Old Breed General: How Marine Corps General William H. Rupertus Broke the Back of the Japanese in WWII from Guadalcanal to Peleliu. We invited them to share their book with our audience as part of our programming surrounding our new special exhibition at the Reagan Library – the Secrets of WWII. Amy Peacock is actually one of the three granddaughters of General Rupertus and current keeper of the family archives. Don Brown is a former US Navy JAG officer and Special Assistant US Attorney. He’s written 14 other books, including The Last Fighter Pilot, which he came out to the Reagan Library for back in 2017. During today’s program, Amy and Don sat down in conversation with Reagan Foundation and Institute Chief Marketing Officer Melissa Giller to discuss Old Breed General, which is the biography of General Rupertus and the story of the Marines at war in the Pacific. As a side note, Marine general Rupertus is actually best known today for writing the Corps’ Rifleman’s Creed, which begins, “This is my rifle. There are many like it, but this one is mine”—which has been made famous by films such as Full Metal Jacket and Jarhead.

In this week’s Reagan Forum podcast we go back to August 9, 2022 for our in-person event with Mike Garcia, the California Congressman who has overseen the district which includes the Reagan Library since 2020.  Congressman Garcia was a speaker in the Reagan Foundation’s Time for Choosing Speaker Series, a forum for leading voices in the conservative movement. A first-generation American citizen, Congressman Mike Garcia was a highly decorated United States Naval Officer and businessman before serving in the United States House of Representatives. He was one of the first F/A-18 Super Hornet strike fighter pilots in the Navy. He participated in combat operations during the first six months of Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003 and accrued over 1,400 hours of operational flight time over nearly 20 years of active and reserve military service.

In 2018, the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute hosted its first annual RISE conference. Standing for the Reagan Institute Summit on Education, RISE 2018 was a day-long bipartisan conference assessing the American education landscape in commemoration of the 35th anniversary of the seminal report: A Nation at Risk. RISE 2018 took place on April 12, 2018 in Washington, D.C. There were over a dozen panels in the day-long session focusing on the state of education, reducing recidivism through postsecondary education opportunities, the need for broadband access throughout schools and more. The closing panel was entitled An Educated Citizenry and it was a discussion between US Supreme Court Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Amy Coney Barrett, as moderated by Dr. Akhil Reed Amar, a professor of law and political science at Yale University. During the hour long panel, the justices discussed everything from the importance of engaged citizenry and getting involved, to dealing with dissenting opinions, to the importance of just breaking bread with your fellow colleagues or classmates to connect on a more one-on-one level.

In this week’s “A Reagan Forum” we go back one week for our in-person event with former White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer. Ari joined us to discuss his new book, Suppression, Deception, Snobbery and Bias: Why the Press Gets so Much Wrong – and Just Doesn’t Care.

For years, the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation has been hosting a national Great Communicator Debate Series in which high schoolers grades 9 through 12 across the nation compete for their share of $50,000 in college scholarships. The final debates were held in the Reagan Library’s Air Force One Pavilion on July 23, 2022, with the scholarships for the winners being supported by an endowment fund created through the generosity of the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation. In this week’s Reagan Forum Podcast we bring you that national championship debate.

Last week we brought you the program for the Nancy Reagan Forever Stamp artwork unveiling held with Dr. Jill Biden at the White House. In this week’s Reagan Forum podcast we are going full circle by sharing Mrs. Reagan’s 101st birthday program on July 6, 2022. During that event, the United States Postal Service joined us again, this time for the first day issue of the stamp. During this program, remarks were made by Postmaster General and Chief Executive Officer of the United States Postal Service Louis DeJoy and Dennis Revell, Mrs. Reagan’s former son-in-law.

In this week’s Reagan Forum podcast we are sharing a special program with you. From July 6, 2021 through July 6, 2022, we are honoring the 100th year since Mrs. Reagan’s birth with a national centennial celebration. As part of the centennial celebration, the United States Postal Service has honored Mrs. Reagan with a forever stamp, which will go on sale on July 6, 2022, her 101st birthday. On June 6, 2022, First Lady Dr. Jill Biden hosted the Nancy Reagan Centennial by unveiling the artwork. Joining Dr. Biden for the program was Postmaster General and Chief Executive Officer of the United States Postal Service Louis DeJoy, Reagan Foundation and Institute Chairman Fred Ryan, and Ann Petersen, Mrs. Reagan’s niece.

In this week’s Reagan Forum podcast we go back to June 29, 2022 for our in-person event with Representative Liz Cheney, who was a speaker in the Reagan Foundation’s Time for Choosing Speaker Series, a forum for leading voices in the conservative movement. Liz Cheney serves as Wyoming’s lone member of Congress in the U.S. House of Representatives since 2016. She sits on the House Armed Services Committee and also serves as the Vice Chair for the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol. From 2019 to 2021, Cheney served as the Chair of the House Republican Conference, the third-ranking Republican in the House of Representatives.

In this week’s “A Reagan Forum” we go back just two days for our in-person event with Fox News host Pete Hegseth. Pete joined us to discuss his new book, Battle for the American Mind: Uprooting a Century of Miseducation. Pete Hegseth joined Fox News Channel in 2014, first as a contributor, but now as a co-host of Fox and Friends Weekend. In addition, over the past few years, Pete has hosted Fox News Channel’s New Year’s Coverage, most recently ringing in 2022 from the Wildhorse Saloon in Nashville, Tennessee. After graduating college, Pete was commissioned as an infantry officer into the US Army National Guard in 2003. In 2004, his unit was called to Guantanamo Bay where he served as an infantry platoon leader. He was awarded the Army Commendation Medal. Shortly after returning from Cuba, Pete volunteered to serve in Baghdad and Samarra, where he held the position of Infantry Platoon Leader and, later in Samarra, as a Civil-Military Operations Officer.

In this week’s “A Reagan Forum” we go back a few weeks to our virtual program program with New York Times bestselling author Marcus Brotherton. Marcus previously joined us a year ago – on Memorial Day 2021 – and is back for his latest book, A Bright and Blinding Sun: A World War II Story of Survival, Love and Redemption. We invited Marcus to share his book with our audience as part of our programming surrounding our new special exhibition at the Reagan Library – the Secrets of WWII. Marcus is best known for his books with high-profile figures, humanitarians, inspiration leaders, and military personnel. His works include books with the elite WWII paratroopers featured in FBI’s Band of Brothers and the elite WWII Marines featured in HBO’s The Pacific. He also co-wrote Gary Sinise’s autobiography, Grateful American.