One of the things we like to do is to visit the Presidential Libraries. We hit the Eisenhower, the Nixon and the Johnson on our journeys last year. This year, we’re only 45 minutes away from the Reagan Library and today that is the plan.
We were amazed to see how many others also had the same idea. Usually on a weekday, there are not this many people. However, most of the libraries are in smaller towns, and this is near LA. But, then, it was a school day and those 5 buses in the parking lot were a clue. There was also a big luncheon for the new Washington exhibit that had just opened. There must have been quite a few in that group since, after the luncheon, they broke up in to smaller groups for the tour of the Museum and we saw quite a few smaller groups.
We knew what the cost was and were getting our money out when the young woman asked the magic question: Are you members of the Pesidential Libraries? Aha, well, yes, we are. We had bought a membership in Abilene, KS when we visited the Eisenhower Museum and Boyhood home. Oops - our card is out in the car. We walked back out discussing where the card was and we knew - it was in the RV and not the car. Yep, we looked where we keep the cards in the car and no Eisenhower card. Too bad - that was a $24 mistake.
We walked back and the young woman told us that she had cleared it for us to get in even without our card. What a deal and we thanked her profusely. The first half of the library told the story of his younger years while the second half talked about his presidency. Probably the highlight of the library is the tour of Air Force 1. The plane was in service for approx 30 years and carried Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, both Bushes and Clinton. This plane is huge and the question arises: how did they get it here? It must have been quite a process.
Well, yes, it was. Boeing mechanics disassembled it over 9 weeks into: fuselage, wings, tail, engines and landing gear.
Then it came to the library on a specially designed trailer.
It had to cross 4 freeways and travel 104 miles.
It was then put into the building which only had 2 1/2 sides built
The rest of the building was then built around the plane.
Wouldn’t that have been neat seeing that rolling down the highway?
There was also a special exhibit about George Washington at the Library. Not only was he a great general in the way, a marvelous first president to set the stage for the fledgling democracy but he was also quite an architech and innovator. He installed stills at Mount Vernon to capitalize upon the markets of the times. But remember his teeth? Most people, when they think of Washington, remember his ill-fitting dentures. And, here is a set of them - no wonder he never smiled. They have a lead base and contain human and cow teeth but also teeth made from elephant ivory.
Having 3 women on the Supreme Court as we do now is a great start but it wasn’t until Reagan appointed the first woman, Sandra Day O’Connor, to the court that we had even one.
We learned some intersting things about Nancy Reagan. Too often the only pictures we see of her is when she’s gazing up adoringly at her husband as he is making a speech. But she had quite a personality herself. Once, when she was being pilloried in the press about updating the china and other things in the White House (all paid for with private donations) she decided to go to a press function as Second Hand Rose with second hand clothes. Who would ever think of Nancy Reagan this way?
After we had toured the plane, we went back to the front desk to thank the young woman again. She then asked another magic question: Do you two like jelly beans? Huh? But, of course the answer was ‘yes.’ Then she gave us each a small token package of jelly beans. Wow. Free admission AND jelly beans to boot.
Here’s Gary wondering which teleprompter to use.
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