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Email Event
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In 1964, Ronald Reagan famously said, "You and I have a rendezvous with destiny. We will preserve for our children this, the last best hope of man on Earth, or we will sentence them to take the last step into a thousand years of darkness." This speech instantly turned Reagan
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into a national political figure and defined his belief in American exceptionalism.
Reagan's charisma and leadership inspired hope in millions of Americans. As President Barack Obama contemplates his strategy for the future, he could learn much from Reagan's legacy. Taking office in the wake of skyrocketing inflation and economic recession, Reagan implemented policies of low taxes and limited government and restored prosperity to America. His commitment to a strong national defense and the defeat of the totalitarian "evil empire" led directly to the crumbling of the Berlin Wall. More than anything, he was guided by a vision that America's greatest days were ahead.
To mark the ninety-eighth anniversary of Reagan's birth and on the occasion of a new documentary on his life, Rendezvous with Destiny, leaders in today's political arena will reflect on Reagan's legacy--professionally, politically, and personally. Hosting the event will be AEI senior fellow and former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, who produced and hosts the documentary with his wife, Callista Gingrich. He will be joined by political observer and commentator Michael Barone, also a resident fellow at AEI; Sam Donaldson, who covered Reagan as ABC News's chief White House correspondent; AEI F. K. Weyerhaeuser fellow Steven F. Hayward, author of a forthcoming book on the Reagan revolution; and Craig Shirley, author of Reagan's Revolution: The Untold Story of the Campaign That Started It All.
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1:45 p.m.
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Registration
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2:00
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Panelists:
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Sam Donaldson, ABC News
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Craig Shirley, Shirley & Banister Public Affairs
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4:30
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Adjournment
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Speaker biographies
Michael Barone is a resident fellow at AEI, where he studies politics, American government, and campaigns and elections, as well as a political analyst and journalist. The principal coauthor of the biennial Almanac of American Politics (National Journal Group), he has written many books on American politics and history, including, most recently, Our First Revolution: The Remarkable British Upheaval That Inspired America's Founding Fathers (Random House/Crown Forum, 2007). Mr. Barone is also a senior writer for U.S. News & World Report and a Fox News Channel contributor.
Sam Donaldson is a correspondent with ABC News. In his forty-one years of reporting, he has interviewed every sitting president since Lyndon B. Johnson, including, most recently, President George W. Bush. He served as White House correspondent for ABC News during the terms of Presidents Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan and the second term of President Bill Clinton.
Newt Gingrich, former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, is a senior fellow at AEI and was a distinguished visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. Mr. Gingrich is a member of the Terrorism Task Force for the Council on Foreign Relations and the U.S. Commission on National Security, an advisory board member of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, and a member of the Defense Policy Board. Mr. Gingrich also served as cochair, along with former Senate majority leader George Mitchell, of the Task Force on United Nations Reform created by Congress in December 2004. He is also an editorial board member of the journal Biosecurity and Bioterrorism and a contributor to Fox News Channel. He writes a weekly newsletter for Human Events and is a regular contributor to the Church Report. Mr. Gingrich is the author of seventeen books, including Drill Here, Drill Now Pay Less: A Handbook for Slashing Gas Prices and Solving Our Energy Crisis (Regnery, 2008) and the New York Times bestsellers Real Change: From the World That Fails to the World That Works (Regnery, 2008), Winning the Future: A 21st Century Contract with America (Regnery, 2005), and Rediscovering God in America (Thomas Nelson, 2006). Mr. Gingrich is the chairman of the Gingrich Group, founder of the Center for Health Transformation, and general chairman of American Solutions for Winning the Future.
Steven F. Hayward is the F. K. Weyerhaeuser Fellow in Environmental Studies at AEI and a senior fellow at the Pacific Research Institute. He is also an adjunct fellow at the John Ashbrook Center and a former Bradley Fellow at the Heritage Foundation. Mr. Hayward studies the environment, law, political economy, and the presidency. He is the author of the annual Index of Leading Environmental Indicators, published jointly by the AEI Press and the Pacific Research Institute. Mr. Hayward contributes to AEI's Energy and Environment Outlook series and has authored numerous books, including Greatness (Crown, 2005), The Age of Reagan: The Fall of the Old Liberal Order, 1964–1980 (Crown, 2001), and Churchill on Leadership: Executive Success in the Face of Adversity (Crown, 1998). He is the coauthor of Air Quality in America: A Dose of Reality on Air Pollution Levels, Trends, and Health Risks (AEI Press, 2008). Mr. Hayward has also had articles published in National Review, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Reason, The Weekly Standard, Policy Review, and the Chicago Tribune.
Craig Shirley is the president and CEO of Shirley & Banister Public Affairs, which he founded in 1984. He has been a political communications and marketing strategist for thirty years, and oversaw large independent campaigns for Ronald Reagan in 1980 and 1984. Mr. Shirley also served as an informal adviser for White House staff during the 1980s. He is the bestselling author of Reagan's Revolution: The Untold Story of the Campaign That Started It All (Nelson Current Publishing, 2005), which detailed Ronald Reagan's pivotal 1976 presidential campaign. Mr. Shirley is also the author of the forthcoming book Rendezvous with Destiny: Ronald Reagan and the Campaign That Changed America (ISI Books, 2009).
