In New Exhibit, Disney Lends Its Star Power to Reagan, and Vice Versa

SIMI VALLEY, Calif. — The Ronald Reagan Presidential Library sits on top of the world here, a majestic tribute to a former president filled with testimonials to his life: the Air Force One that flew him around the globe, the gowns that Nancy Reagan wore to inaugural balls, a video re-enactment of his near assassination, movie clips from his Hollywood days and memorabilia from his campaigns for California governor.

But the other afternoon, hundreds of people lined up outside the door waiting to view a most unlikely addition to this presidential library: Mickey Mouse.

In an unusual collaboration of presidential scholarship and mass-market entertainment — featuring two men who, truth be told, were never particularly close — the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and the Walt Disney Company have joined together to open a sprawling, nine-month exhibition drawn from the Disney archives....