Reagan Library Gala May Make Record Books Yet

Organizers trying to line up a historic meeting of all five living presidents for the Nov. 4 dedication ceremonies of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library are finding it’s a bit like herding cats.

First, former President Jimmy Carter sent his regrets, saying he would be detained in Zambia monitoring the African nation’s first democratic elections on Oct. 31.

It presented a logistic problem for Carter to meet his obligation to oversee the ballot count in Zambia and then scramble for a commercial flight to begin the two-day trip to the library near Simi Valley.

On Friday, Carter’s office announced that the former President has “graciously accepted” an offer from Ronald Reagan Foundation Chairman Lodwrick M. Cook to provide a jet to fly Carter to Zambia and whisk him away at the first opportunity.

Cook, also chairman and chief executive officer of ARCO, will provide Carter one of the oil company’s jets to give the former President more flexibility, so he can help make the library opening a historic event.

But Carter’s attendance is still uncertain, said his spokeswoman Carrie Harmon. Before he steps onto the ARCO jet, he must fulfill his commitment to the Zambian people to assure fair and free elections, she said.

Carter has promised to stay in Zambia as long as necessary, she said, and election results may not be final until Nov. 3.

To complicate matters, President Bush’s schedule of major international events is encroaching on the library opening date.

On Oct. 30, Bush will meet with Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev in Madrid to talk about nuclear arms reductions and to kick off a Middle East peace conference aimed at ending the Arab-Israeli conflict.

From Nov. 6 to 9, Bush is scheduled to attend the summit of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in Rome to discuss such matters as the proposed 80% reduction in NATO nuclear arms and the French-German accord to create a joint military force independent of NATO.

For now, Bush is scheduled to return to the United States for a political fund-raising dinner and the Nov. 4 library celebration in Simi Valley.

“The President is firmly committed to attending the library opening,” said Sean Walsh, an assistant White House press secretary. “We are definitely in.”

The event will mark the official dedication of the $57-million library complex that was built with private donations collected by the Reagan Foundation. The complex includes a museum and storehouse for about 55 million pages of White House documents.

Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford are also scheduled to attend the opening.

If all make it to Simi Valley, it will be the first meeting in history of five U.S. presidents.

The five men met once before in 1981, but Bush was a vice president at the time.

Carter, Ford and Nixon stopped at the White House for cocktails with then-President Reagan and then-Vice President Bush before flying to Egypt to attend the funeral of slain Egyptian President Anwar Sadat.

Four of them--Bush, Reagan, Ford and Nixon--attended the opening of the Richard Nixon Library and Birthplace in Yorba Linda in July, 1990. Carter did not attend, citing a previous commitment.

In addition to former presidents, Reagan aides are arranging for family members, including John Kennedy Jr. and Lady Bird Johnson, to represent every president since Franklin D. Roosevelt, said Jim Hooley, a key organizer.

All told, the dais is expected to hold about 60 distinguished visitors, including foreign leaders and ambassadors.

“As you might imagine, there are no lack of challenges when you are dealing with a couple dozen luminaries, their entourages and staff,” said Shelby Scarbrough, a protocol expert assigned to coordinate the dignitaries.