Reagan Joins Mulroney in Backing Aid to Russians : Simi Valley: The 2 Cold War conservatives give speeches in praise of each other. They tour the presidential library’s display of artifacts.

Ronald Reagan and Brian Mulroney, two conservatives who led the United States and Canada during the waning years of the Cold War, traded public accolades and endorsed more foreign aid to Russia during a warmhearted reunion Monday on a hilltop overlooking Simi Valley.

While leading the outgoing Canadian prime minister on a tour of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, the former President briefly played a harmonica he plucked from an exhibit case. The instrument, which Reagan acquired while a young screen actor, was on display in the museum among artifacts from all other American Presidents.

After the tour of the museum, the two men and their wives strode past a military band and onto a stage in the library courtyard, where about 400 library donors, local leaders and other admirers applauded.

In separate speeches under cloudy skies, Reagan and Mulroney, ardent foes of communism during the 1980s, each embraced President Clinton’s plan to boost economic aid to Russia and the other former Soviet republics.

Both men said they fear that the fledgling democracy in the former Soviet Union may collapse without help from its former enemies.

“If we fail to act now, we risk a future we just cannot afford,” Reagan said.

Mulroney, who hosted a summit last weekend between Clinton and Russian President Boris N. Yeltsin, added:

“The NATO countries collectively spent billions of dollars a year to respond to the Soviet threat. Should we not now dedicate some of the same energy and purpose in promoting democracy and prosperity in a former adversary that has now become a friend?”

The Canadian prime minister, who announced recently that he will step down in June after 8 1/2 years in the post, was the third Reagan-era leader to visit the library during the past 12 months.

The former President’s earlier guests were former Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev and former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.

Monday’s visit by Mulroney, which was covered by local, national and international news reporters, gave the library a chance to showcase its ambitious new exhibit of loaned artifacts, including Reagan’s harmonica, from every U.S. President. The exhibit runs through Nov. 30.

With its focus on foreign affairs, Mulroney’s visit was also an effort to attract national attention and credibility to the Ronald Reagan Center for Public Affairs, a conservative think-tank established recently on the library’s grounds.

The presidential library, which has attracted nearly 500,000 visitors since it opened in November, 1991, was closed to the public during Mulroney’s visit for security reasons and because of limited seating. The dignitaries and donors invited to the program received miniature American and Canadian flags as souvenirs.

A U.S. Air Force color guard and band carried full-size flags and played patriotic songs. The Pepperdine University Concert Choir also performed, including a rendition of “God Bless America.”

Beyond their endorsements of aid to Russia, Reagan and Mulroney spoke nostalgically of the dramatic period when the two men stood firm against the communist nations of Eastern Europe, leading to the destruction of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Reagan, showing considerably more gray hair than during his years as President, referred to that era as “a remarkable time . . . when conservative leaders dominated the free world.”

“Brian Mulroney would never say that he played a significant role in this remarkable string of events, but I sure will,” Reagan said.

Mulroney, in turn, said Reagan “presided over a period of unprecedented prosperity and began the dialogue that led to the end of the Cold War.”

On a lighter note, the Canadian leader told the audience about the time he called to console Reagan after a 1987 news report stated that the President’s public approval rating had “plummeted” to 59%.

Mulroney said he told the dismayed Reagan: “I don’t know how to break this to you, but on a good day, (French President) Francois Mitterrand, Margaret Thatcher and I combined don’t have a 59% approval rating.”

Reagan himself provoked laughter when he told the audience that during the 17 months since it opened, he has spent more time at his Simi Valley library “than I did at the Eureka College library in four years.”

After the 90-minute program, the Canadian prime minister and his wife, Mila, joined the Reagans for a private lunch at the library. Afterward, the two couples traveled up the coast to spend the afternoon at the Reagans’ Santa Barbara ranch.