Soldiers of Reagan Wars Reunited to Mark Birthday

A gathering of former Reagan administration staff members Thursday had all the markings of a class reunion.

The big men on campus are now a little softer and grayer, and more than a few alumni nostalgically sported the school colors--mostly elephant-patterned neckties in red, white and blue.

The old jokes still have the same punch lines (though there were some real doozies about Clinton).

Kicking off a two-day conference to celebrate Ronald Reagan’s 88th birthday, more than 350 foot soldiers of the Reagan Revolution reminisced about the man and discussed his legacy.

“It was a great time, and we like to come back and visit with each other,” said Howard Baker, the former Tennessee senator who was one of Reagan’s chiefs of staff.

The Ronald Reagan Alumni Assn. boasts 4,300 members--pollsters and paralegals, speech writers and secretaries--who convene several times a year to honor their former boss.

But with 1999 marking the 10th anniversary of Reagan’s departure from the White House, the group moved its annual birthday party from Washington to the presidential library in Simi Valley and added a conference, “Eight Years that Changed the World: The Reagan Legacy in the New Century.”

Reagan, who has Alzheimer’s disease, did not attend the conference or the birthday gala Thursday night, but former First Lady Nancy Reagan and daughter Maureen were on hand, posing for pictures and signing autographs.

“He’d be amazed,” Maureen Reagan said, describing how her father would react to the auditorium full of his former appointees and staffers. “He would enjoy seeing everybody and enjoy hearing them tell the stories.”

In analyzing Reagan’s eight years in the White House, panelists who worked for him focused on his efforts to fight inflation, cut taxes and crush Communism. The Iran-Contra scandal, the ever-growing national debt and income disparity did not get much attention during this love fest.

From Cabinet secretaries to run-of-the-mill aides, everyone seemed to have Gipper anecdotes, including some he often told himself. They said it was Reagan’s down-home stories--one panelist called them parables--that made him known as the Great Communicator.

Former Atty. Gen. Ed Meese said the former actor and California governor was a straight shooter whom even political opponents found hard to dislike.

“The Ronald Reagan that you saw before 10,000 people was the same Ronald Reagan sitting in the Oval Office with one or two of us,” Meese said. “What you saw is what you got.”

The conference, which concludes today, was also a chance to honor Nancy Reagan, who received several standing ovations.

“In my judgment,” former Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney told the crowd, “Ronald Reagan became president of the United States of America because Nancy Reagan was his wife, partner, friend and advisor.”

For those Reaganites who continue to work in government, at think tanks and in the private sector, the conference was more than a reunion; it was a way to rejuvenate the Reagan message and work toward winning another one for the Gipper.

“As Reagan fades into the sunset, by tragic necessity his vision now becomes ours,” said conservative wunderkind and Reagan biographer Dinesh D’Souza.