Jacob Heilbrunn: Ronald Reagan, the Anti-Reaganite
[Jacob Heilbrunn, a senior editor at the National Interest, is the author of "They Knew They Were Right: The Rise of the Neocons."]
A Ronald Reagan boomlet is sweeping the nation, thanks in no small part to an army of conservative admirers who have never missed a chance to buff his image — and then use it for their own ends. Nothing looms larger for Reagan worshippers than the centennial of his birthday on Feb. 6.
Fittingly, Californians were first off the mark to celebrate their local hero: On Jan. 1, the Reagan Presidential Foundation and Jelly Belly, the jelly bean company that filled candy dishes at the Reagan White House, sponsored the first-ever Rose Parade float memorializing a president. It was 26 feet high and 55 feet long and featured 11 poppy-seed pictures highlighting the Great Communicator's life, not to mention 65,000 red roses.
A week later, the National Archives unveiled a yearlong Reagan exhibit, including a bronze replica of the Kremlin given to him by Mikhail Gorbachev. Indiana is sponsoring an essay contest for schoolchildren on Reagan's most important contribution to American history. His admirers in Nevada are trying to name a state peak Mt. Reagan this year, adding to the long list of naming opportunities pursued by the Ronald Reagan Legacy Project, which was established in 1997, seven years before his death....
Read entire article at LA Times
A Ronald Reagan boomlet is sweeping the nation, thanks in no small part to an army of conservative admirers who have never missed a chance to buff his image — and then use it for their own ends. Nothing looms larger for Reagan worshippers than the centennial of his birthday on Feb. 6.
Fittingly, Californians were first off the mark to celebrate their local hero: On Jan. 1, the Reagan Presidential Foundation and Jelly Belly, the jelly bean company that filled candy dishes at the Reagan White House, sponsored the first-ever Rose Parade float memorializing a president. It was 26 feet high and 55 feet long and featured 11 poppy-seed pictures highlighting the Great Communicator's life, not to mention 65,000 red roses.
A week later, the National Archives unveiled a yearlong Reagan exhibit, including a bronze replica of the Kremlin given to him by Mikhail Gorbachev. Indiana is sponsoring an essay contest for schoolchildren on Reagan's most important contribution to American history. His admirers in Nevada are trying to name a state peak Mt. Reagan this year, adding to the long list of naming opportunities pursued by the Ronald Reagan Legacy Project, which was established in 1997, seven years before his death....