Fund Drive to Provide New Exhibits for Reagan Site : Foundation: The campaign to raise $20 million for library projects will be co-chaired by the former President’s wife and Malcolm S. Forbes Jr. of Forbes Inc.

The Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation on Monday announced a $20-million fund-raising drive to help pay for new exhibits at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and planned conferences at the library’s Center for Public Affairs.

The Legacy Campaign will reach out to the 40,000 people nationwide who have already donated to the 8-year-old foundation and will also seek funds from corporations and other potential donors, Reagan associates said.

The campaign also calls for creation of a local “friends of the library” group to lead a grass-roots fund-raising effort.

“This is an endowment that is specially designed to create certain kinds of programs that will be public-oriented as much as possible,” said Richard Norton Smith, director of the foundation and Center for Public Affairs. “We do not want to create an ivory tower here, and I have always believed that it is possible to create programs that combine intellectual substance and popular appeal.”

At Reagan’s request, the campaign will be co-chaired by his wife Nancy and Malcolm S. (Steve) Forbes Jr., chief executive officer of Forbes Inc.

“I am delighted that Steve and Nancy have accepted this important challenge for the foundation,” Reagan said in a prepared statement. “It is my hope that the library and museum will examine the past, weigh the present and play an important role in shaping the future.”

The Reagan foundation raised $60 million to build the 153,000-square-foot library and museum on a hilltop overlooking Simi Valley.

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In November, 1991, the Reagan foundation turned over most of the library to the National Archives and Records Administration, which is responsible for the storehouse of presidential documents accumulated during Reagan’s eight years in the White House. The federal agency also operates the museum and exhibits at the library.

“Our hands are tied by our limited funds,” library spokeswoman Stefanie Salata said. “So we’re thrilled to have them step in and help us do what we want to do badly, which is put on more programs and exhibits.”

Since its inception, Reagan’s private, nonprofit foundation has focused on establishing the library, Smith said. It has been only in the past year or so that the group has looked to the future, he said.

“They wanted to get one chapter behind them in terms of building the building and paying for the building before they could begin the next chapter,” Smith said. “Basically, the last year has been spent in a kind of internal debate over what we want to be, what next?”

So far, the foundation has planned a number of special events and conferences in the coming year that Smith said will help establish the library and Center for Public Affairs as a tourist and cultural destination with broad appeal.

On Feb. 28, noted author and syndicated columnist George Will is scheduled to appear at the library to inaugurate a new speakers’ series known as The Reagan Forum.

In April, former Secretary of State George Shultz will be the keynote speaker at a seminar titled “The Perils of Democracy.” The program will focus on the transition to democracy in the nations of the former Soviet Union and Eastern Bloc.

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The library in November will open another major exhibit: “World War II: Personal Accounts,” featuring an extensive collection of historic memorabilia, much of it never before displayed.

Smith said other changes planned at the library include a remodeling of the popular Oval Office display so visitors can enter the room and hear Reagan’s tape-recorded recollections on working in the White House.

Library officials are also considering a project that would add a replica of the Geneva boathouse, where Reagan and former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev had their historic arms-reduction summit in November, 1985. Smith said he hoped the exhibit would open in time for the 10-year anniversary of the summit.

“Basically, we want the Reagan library and museum and Center for Public Affairs working together to become the finest institution of its kind in existence,” Smith said. “That means becoming a major cultural, educational and historical resource to the people of Southern California.”