• The President Will See You Now: My Stories and Lessons from Ronald Reagan’s Final Years

00:00 – 00:24

Dr.Mary Imparato

Welcome to conversation on the Belmont Abbey College Podcast. I’m Doctor Mary Imparato, chair of the politics department here at the college. I’m your host for today’s episode, and today I’m joined by Peggy Grande, who served as executive assistant to President Ronald Reagan following his time in the white House and as an appointee in the Trump administration. She’s the author of The President Will See You Now.

 

00:24 – 00:44

Dr.Mary Imparato

My stories and Lessons from Ronald Reagan’s Final Years. We also have Youthan Love joining us today. He’s a senior at Belmont Abbey College and president of the Abbey Political Thought Society, which is hosting Miss Grande’s talk tonight at the Abbey. We’re excited to talk to her about her book and her work for two American presidents, but I’ll let Peggy and Youthan introduce themselves before we start checking.

 

00:44 – 01:05

Peggy Grande

Terrific. Well, thank you so much for having me. What a beautiful campus, and it’s always a great opportunity to talk with young people about history, about the president and about the future. And so it’s exciting to be able to do that today. And I was thrilled to learn you have an amazing collection, apparently, of presidential signatures and first lady signatures.

 

01:05 – 01:25

Peggy Grande

I think one of you, one of maybe only a few in the nation, if not the world. So that’s exciting. As a bit of a history nerd myself, I love hearing that. So thank you for having me today. 

 

Youthan Love

Hi, I’m Youthan, and it’s a pleasure to be here with Miss Grande and Doctor Imparato. Very thankful to be able to serve as a president of Abbey political Thought Society here at Belmont Abbey.

 

01:25 – 01:48

Youthan Love

And blessed to be able to have Peggy Grande come speak with us this evening. Hope that our students and guests will be able to benefit from this conversation. 

 

Dr. Mary Imparato

So we’re going to kick off our conversation a little bit here. Thinking about your time serving two different American presidents who I think most Americans could agree have quite different styles and approaches to communicating.

 

01:49 – 02:08

Dr. Mary Imparato

I just was wondering if you could kind of reflect on some of the similarities and if there are similarities or notable differences, and how they, you know, navigated the job. Well for Reagan, it was after he was in office. But, you know, to a certain extent, I think their differences are reflective of the political climate, how that’s changed.

 

02:08 – 02:26

Dr. Mary Imparato

So you can kind of sum up what your reflections are and your experiences in those two different contexts. 

 

Peggy Grande

I think, you know, it’s very evident there’s a very different stylistic difference between President Reagan and President Trump. But I think there are a couple of things that are really at the heart of these two people.

 

02:26 – 02:43

Peggy Grande

You look at Ronald Reagan, and if you know his life story, he came from very humble beginnings. He came from poverty. The middle of the Midwest. And so even though he eventually left that, and we think of him on the world stage that never left him. And so everything he did, I think he had the American people in mind.

 

02:43 – 03:10

Peggy Grande

He knew people who had struggled and had been in poverty and communities coming together. And so he loved America, and he loved Americans of all kinds. And likewise, Donald Trump, even though he was born into what many would call great wealth. How did he make his money? It was working with concrete layers and plumbers and housekeepers and people who worked with their hands and had trades and skills.

 

03:10 – 03:31

Peggy Grande

And so likewise, I think he came to know and appreciate and value the hard work of Americans who were maybe in a very different station of life than he was. But I think they both loved America and loved Americans of all kinds. And the other thing I think that was very much alike with them is their desire to talk directly to the American people.

 

03:31 – 03:56

Peggy Grande

So Ronald Reagan did it through radio addresses. He would come through into your living room and your students aren’t old enough to remember, but the professors maybe are. You would come into your living room from the Oval Office on one of those old three dial TVs with your three stations, because he wanted to talk directly to the American people, and Donald Trump did it through Twitter and through other social media platforms that Reagan did not have.

 

03:56 – 04:23

Peggy Grande

But they both wanted to go around the media and say exactly what they wanted to say, how they wanted to say it directly to the American people. And so I think that was showing respect for the people and realizing that it truly is the people that tell the government what to do, not the other way around. So I would say those are two similarities, even though we definitely see a definite style difference between Reagan and Trump. 

 

Youthan Love

With you talking about how they really love Americans and care about them.

 

04:23 – 04:42

Youthan Love

I think you see that being portrayed with both of these presidents, both Reagan and Trump. And do you think that’s something, you know, we’re fixing to go into the 2024 election? Do you think that that’s something that voters are looking for again, because you’re not really seeing that with the administration now? Do you think that they’re going to, you know, value that when they’re voting in November?

 

04:42 – 05:01

Peggy Grande

Yeah. Well, the people always have the choice and we will wait to see what they do. But there are a lot of similarities between when Reagan was coming into office and now, in a lot of ways, Reagan was not the choice of the party in 76. He wasn’t the choice in 1980, actually, the party wanted George Bush, which was very interesting that Reagan then chose Bush to be his vice president.

 

05:01 – 05:20

Peggy Grande

And so he wasn’t really the choice. And I think that the Republican Party now looks back. They pat ourselves, we pat ourselves on the back and say, weren’t we brilliant to choose Reagan? But in a lot of ways, he wasn’t the choice we see in a similar way, Donald Trump, whether it was in 2016 or even this time. Maybe he wasn’t exactly the party’s choice, but he was the people’s choice.

 

05:21 – 05:46

Peggy Grande

And so it’ll be interesting to see what the people decide to do. But, you know, both of these men represented the forgotten men and women. I mean, that’s a Trump term. He talks about the forgotten men and women. But if we look at the late 1970s, Jimmy Carter was president, inflation was high, taxes were high, unemployment was high, and American morale was incredibly low.

 

05:46 – 06:07

Peggy Grande

A lot of that sounds really familiar to where we’re at now. And Reagan comes on the scene and he starts talking about America in an entirely different way. It’s morning in America. America’s best days are yet ahead. And so on day one of his presidency, we not only got the hostages back, but things started changing in America. Even though the policies hadn’t changed yet.

 

06:07 – 06:30

Peggy Grande

The tone, the optimism, the vision had changed automatically. And so I think in a lot of ways, Donald Trump is trying to tap into that same thing, obviously through policies and regulations, bring down taxes, bring down inflation, bring down regulations, but re-inspired, reinvigorate the American people, get government out of the way off the backs of the American people and let them do what they do best, which is innovate.

 

06:30 – 06:55

Peggy Grande

Be entrepreneurs, build businesses, and be part of making America not only great, but successful and prosperous and safe again. 

 

Dr. Mary Imparato

I wonder if you could speak to just, I really find it interesting to think along these lines of comparison and you’ve been highlighting a few similarities that, you know, so many people, maybe even in the establishment of the Republican Party, think that Trump is, you know, absolute day and night opposite from Reagan.

 

06:55 – 07:19

Dr. Mary Imparato

And for some extent there’s something there. But, the political discourse around Trump, he seems very polarizing. He’s a lightning rod. You know, they talk about Trump Derangement Syndrome. You love him or hate him. Was there in Reagan’,  was Reagan as much of a lightning rod or you know, now you think back with the hindsight of history and, you know, he was the great communicator, beloved.

 

07:19 – 07:44

Peggy Grande

But I seem to remember a little bit at the time. Yeah, he was a bit of a lightning rod as well. Oh, yeah. I mean, they thought he was going to start World War Three. They called him the Crazy Cowboy. They mocked him because he was this actor playing the role of president. And he wasn’t serious, which always surprises me that they talk about that because by the way, he was governor of the state of California, the fifth or sixth largest economy in the world for eight years.

 

07:44 – 08:08

Peggy Grande

And so somehow they skip that and say, oh, he was just a cowboy actor playing the role as president. But yeah, there were really some venomous things said about him. I think that it’s heightened now because of the pace and the capacity for things to go viral for social media. I mean, back in the day of Reagan, you had your nightly news, you had your morning newspaper, and you had your weekly magazines that would come out.

 

08:08 – 08:30

Peggy Grande

But there wasn’t this need to fuel the flame instant by instant. And the hyperbole that is so exaggerated about everything, there were probably things that Reagan said or did that may have incited people to, you know, have a viral moment. But by the time that it went into print, it just didn’t seem like that big of a deal.

 

08:30 – 08:46

Dr.Mary Imparato

Yeah. I think that’s  a good point. And I think his most viral type moment was with these one liners that we actually see Trump having. He’s a master of the one liner. Reagan, one of his more famous lines when they were talking about his age, he said, I will not let my opponent’s youth and inexperience become an issue in this campaign.

 

08:46 – 09:04

Dr.Mary Imparato

Right? Right. But there’s so many of those instances, I think, where he could needle his opponents. Yeah, maybe he didn’t come up with nicknames. Right. 

 

Peggy Grande

But he did have, though, that self-deprecating humor and it was back in a time when humor was still allowed. And maybe that’s part of the problem that we’re seeing today. We can’t laugh at ourselves.

 

09:04 – 09:27

Peggy Grande

We’re not allowed to politely and respectfully laugh at each other or with each other. Humor just seems like it has completely lost its place. And Reagan had such a way of using that self-deprecating humor, making fun of, you know, even the Soviets like telling jokes that were funny but weren’t necessarily critical personally, but critical of a system.

 

09:27 – 09:48

Peggy Grande

And he just had a way to make us laugh at ourselves. And there’s a unity in that. When we all laugh. To your point into the debate, when Mondale is busting out laughing as much as the audience and Reagan ever the actor, he leans forward. He takes this glass of water, he sips it, you know, with a straight face.

 

09:49 – 10:07

Peggy Grande

Yeah. You saw Mondale just cracking up and thought, okay, he too knows he lost. 

 

Youthan Love

Yeah. I mean and to touch on that too I think that, you know, when you have these one liners not as nowadays I think you would see it as you know for instance President Trump, you would see him say a one liner for the next 48 hours.

 

10:07 – 10:21

Youthan Love

It’s a meme right in the news cycle. And I think aside from him being on Twitter and that sort of thing as well, this was also seen as a way for him to connect with the American people. Yeah. Personally speaking, as a college student, I know, you know, we found these humorous. These were good ways to reference the president.

 

10:21 – 10:38

Youthan Love

And still looking back from his time in the white House, a lot of these quotes we can still reference to this day. Growing up in high school and seeing them all the time. Yeah, and it’s okay to laugh at these things. And I think right now, even like with Reagan, yes, he made us laugh, but there was always a point behind it.

 

10;38 – 11;03

Peggy Grande

There was a serious point. And, you know, now the memes maybe lose the point and, you know, another similarity between Reagan and Trump is first, they were entertainers. And I think a lot of the disconnect between Trump and a lot of people in America is they forget he’s actually really funny and he is an entertainer at heart, and he says things to get people to respond.

 

11:03 – 11:22

Peggy Grande

That’s part of how he communicates. And I’m not believe me, I’m not defending everything that he’s ever said or the way he has said things, I’m not at all. But I thought there was something really interesting written about him, and this was back when he was running in 2016. And these are the people who love and support Donald Trump.

 

11:22 – 11:40

Peggy Grande

Take him seriously, but not literally. The people who hate him take him literally, but not seriously. People who hate him, they think he’s a joke and they hang on every word and say, oh, well, he said that. And he must mean that to the letter of the law. Whereas the people who support him say, we know the idea of what he meant.

 

11:40 – 12:01

Peggy Grande

And by the way, he is a political force that we should take seriously. And so I like that comparison because I think it explains the disconnect maybe in how people see him. But this is a lot of times he says things. And I thought that was really funny. I mean, if we can just kind of laugh at ourselves and laugh at the situation we find ourselves in, he’s an entertainer.

 

12:01 – 12:21

Peggy Grande

And I wish people could just enjoy him a little bit more. 

 

Youthan Love

Yeah, I think, I think that that helps him. He’s very smart obviously, business wise, he set the economy straight when he was first president back in 2017. I think as you spoke earlier, we could tie that back with Ronald Reagan. You know, he would say something and people would come at him for it versus taking him seriously.

 

12;21 – 12;36

Youthan Love

Looking back at his track record from his eight years as governor of California and what he did in that state and what he could do for America. 

 

Peggy Grande

Yeah, and it was interesting because at the end of Reagan’s eight years, of course, there’s so many things we could have pointed to and said, well, Reagan did this, Reagan did this, he said this.

 

12:36 – 12:57

Peggy Grande

He made all these great changes. And yes, I agree with that. But it’s interesting because if you ask Reagan at the end of his eight years, what he was most proud of, it wasn’t any of his policies. It wasn’t any of the things he said or did. He said, I made the American people believe in themselves again. And really, at the end of the day, that’s what great leadership is.

 

12:57 – 13:26

Peggy Grande

That’s what it looks like when you can make the people around you believe to be inspired, to want to create and expand and build something new, and to love their life and love their family and give back to the community. That’s really what great leadership is about. And that was very reaganesque. And I think there’s a lot of people actually at the end of Trump’s, you know, four years in office that said, yeah, we started believing in ourselves and in America again, definitely.

 

13:26 – 13:44

Dr. Mary Imparato

One of the things that always stood out to me about Reagan was such a, you know, commander of rhetoric, but also had this ability even to unify beyond the partizan divide in those moments when America was challenged. I’m thinking of the challenger disaster, the way he gave that speech that night and really just connected with the American people.

 

13:44 – 14:00

Dr. Mary Imparato

And what was wrong, whatever he was feeling at that time. And then even after the assassination attempt, that he survived the way he was such a symbol of unity after that, I mean, he came very close to that. So as I understand it, you might know more about that. And they said he was joking with the doctor or some of the Republicans or something along those lines.

 

14:00 – 14:20

Dr. Mary Imparato

Right. Yeah. So the way that he kind of, took a hit in a sense, and it didn’t really show acrimony, but really sort of shook strength in that moment. And I’m, I’m wondering if, you know, I don’t know if we’ve seen that necessarily from Trump yet. But I think maybe that’s something that going forward if Trump is elected again.

 

14:20 – 14:37

Dr.Mary Imparato

Sort of that, that kind of greatness that Reagan was able to achieve. And like in these unifying moments, I don’t know, having words for both. Yeah, you’ve seen some of that in Trump and you can kind of comment on that. 

 

Peggy Grande

Yeah. I mean, both of them definitely came very close to losing their lives. I mean, Reagan got shot.

 

14:37 – 14:58

Peggy Gramde

The bullet sort of entered under his arm and tumbled within an eighth of an inch of his heart. I mean, we saw, obviously, President Trump one little turn of the head, and history could be very different. And instinctively we saw them both not think about themselves, but think about others. You know, Trump stands up and puts his fist in the air and says, fight, fight, fight.

 

14:58 – 15:16

Peggy Grande

Some people maybe took that in a different way, but he clearly was not thinking of himself. He was thinking of all these people here who are afraid. And what was the call to action? What do I want them to think? Not that he was cowering and disappearing, but fight on in essence. And, you know, Reagan did the same thing, but in a very humorous way.

 

15:16 – 15:33

Peggy Grande

This is Reagan walks into the hospital after he’s been shot and he says, honey, I’m sorry, I forgot to duck. And then before he goes under anesthesia, he does look up at the doctors and says, I hope you’re all Republicans. And he said, Mr. President, today we are all Republicans. But there’s this mindfulness that it’s not just about them.

 

15:33 – 15:56

Peggy Grande

And so both of them, when the challenger hit, their first instinct was not about themselves, but for others. What did the people around me need to hear and feel? And how can we, how can I, from my position, make them feel hopeful again? You mentioned in the challenger speech that it was such a beautiful way. There was nothing you could have said or done to fix or change what had happened.

 

15:56 – 16:17

Peggy Grande

There was nothing he could have said or done to really make our grief disappear. And so if you look at that speech that day, he beautifully joined us right where we were. We were in a place of despair, we were distraught, we were worried, we were angry, we were scared. We were sad. All these things and wondering with this jumble of emotions, what happens next.

 

16:17 – 16:43

Peggy Grande

And if you look at his speech, he does such a beautiful job of meeting us where we are expressing his and Mrs. Reagan’s deep sorrow. He feels how we feel, he’s joining us there. But in his words, then he takes us to a different place. Space exploration will continue. There’s you know, these people have left behind a legacy that will inspire future generations to do more, to do better, to do greater things.

 

16:43 – 17:03

Peggy Grande

And so he takes us on this journey with his words. So at the end, we’re still sad, but we’re hopeful. And he had such a gift to be able to do that without ignoring where we started. But to meet us there and to take us through this process with him, that was beautiful. And I think that’s why so many people loved him.

 

17:03 – 17:21

Peggy Grande

We trusted him with that journey to bring us to a better place. 

 

Dr. Mary Imparato

So many iconic moments, his presidency is definitely, yeah. 

 

Youthan Love

And the challenger explosion, that was something that stood out to me as I was reading your book. So much so that I went and looked up Reagan’s speech from that night of him canceling the state of the Union.

 

17:21 – 17:42

Youthan Love

And I agree with you wholeheartedly that he’s not ignoring that we just suffered tragedy as Americans. But, you know, years later, I’m sitting here watching this as a senior in college, and I’m still inspired by the words that President Reagan is using and encouraging Americans not to ignore the tragedy, but know those were you know, age of space exploration and other things.

 

17:42 – 18:03

Youthan Love

We are going to have people that have to dare and experience these things, unfortunately. But it’s pushing America forward as a whole. 

 

Peggy Grande

Well, one of my favorite things that he left us with, and it was at the time we didn’t know would probably be one of his last public speeches. But in 1992, at the Houston Republican National Convention, he basically tells us how he wants us to remember him.

 

18:03 – 18:22

Peggy Grande

And he modeled this throughout his life. And he says, whatever else history may say about me when I’m gone, may it say that I appeal to your best hopes, not to your worst fears, to your confidence rather than your doubt. And so in that speech he showed us he was appealing to our best hopes, to our confidence, not to our fear and our doubt.

 

18:22 – 18:51

Peggy Grande

Even though he started with where we were fearful and doubting. But he took us to a better place, and what a great model of leadership. The power that we have as leaders. Yeah, we can create a space where people are divided and fearful and angry and doubtful, or we can create an environment with our words, with our actions that appeal to the confidence in the best hopes and aspirations and a better, stronger, more positive vision and he modeled that in so many beautiful ways.

 

18:51 – 19:09

Dr. Mary Imparato

I’m wondering about that speech and your involvement as he prepared for that. And, you know, knowing that was almost his last public speech and knowing the diagnosis he had ahead of him and the journey he had ahead of him, how did he and the family approach that? And was it in his mind as sort of a farewell? 

 

Peggy Grande

Maybe for him?

 

19:09 – 19:26

Peggy Grande

I mean, I think for those of us who were working for him thought that there would be many more years to come. You know, one of the reasons I wrote the book that I did is because he leaves office in January of 1989. He passes away in June of 2004. A lot of people think he left office. He got Alzheimer’s.

 

19:26 – 19:49

Peggy Grande

He died, and they don’t realize there was 15 years in there. And so after he leaves the white House, obviously the media is not on him every day. What were those years like? And the first five years were very active, out traveling, giving speeches, doing a lot of, you know, things for the Republican Party, for candidates, for causes that he believed in traveling internationally.

 

19:49 – 20:07

Peggy Grande

And then the next five years, he announces to the world that he has Alzheimer’s. But the world is kind of saying goodbye to him. And I’m still saying good morning to him every day. So what was that interesting time like where the world’s letting him go, but we’re still trying to make life as normal as possible as long as possible.

 

20:08 – 20:30

Peggy Grande

And then the last five years of his life, we don’t see much of him. And, you know, I even write about a few windows into that time period, trying to be respectful but also revealing and show that he was loved and cared for. So I think we have this feeling of he was invincible, he was immortal, he had to continue on as he always had.

 

20:30 – 21:03

Peggy Grande

And yet there was this vulnerability and there was this realization that we ultimately would have to let him go. But it happened, thankfully, slowly enough, that I think we all had in our way a chance to say goodbye to him, even though when it was final, it was a gutting feeling of finality, he was gone. The world would no longer have this great man, this great leader, this great communicator, this man who had inspired greatness, in not only the nation, but that brought in a lot of ways peace to the world.

 

21:03 – 21:22

Youthan Love

Yeah. You know, it seems like amongst his staff and his fans, people who love Ronald Reagan, he spoke to them as if they were fellow friend or family member. And it seems that even after his time in the white House, he ran his office like a family. As you were talking in your book, you all had close relationships and worked well with each other.

 

21:22 – 21:39

Youthan Love

And I think that even when he left the white House, when he was visiting guests and all, he was very personal with them. He wanted to connect with the American people still. 

 

Peggy Grande

Yeah, he did. And you know, he left the White House where he had hundreds of people doing everything for him. He goes to LA, and there’s a handful of us.

 

21:39 – 22:00

Peggy Grande

When I started working for him, there were maybe 12 or 15 of us in the office. By the time I stopped working for him ten years later, there were maybe 5 or 6 of us. So we’re trying to, though, maintain his legacy, make sure he is served in the way that he is used to. Make sure that his day and his schedule and his safety and his speeches and everything is of the level that he’s used to.

 

22:00 – 22:18

Peggy Grande

But it’s a really small staff trying to make all this happen. And I was very young. I started working for him in college and once I graduated college was offered a full time role, stayed for ten years. Got to be the luckiest woman in the world, I think. Sitting outside his office door every day for ten years as his executive assistant.

 

22:18 – 22:41

Peggy Grande

But we wanted him to continue to be able to live life to the fullest, the way he wanted to, and be served in a way that was worthy of his service. But how do you do that when, I mean, I was a college student when I started, and I learned quickly, but I was very young and trying to figure it out, and he did treat us like a family.

 

22:41 – 22:59

Peggy Grande

And I appreciated the fact I felt like he gave us his loyalty and his trust, even maybe before we earned it. I’m still trying to find my way, but he trusted me and that made me want to do my best for him. I was never afraid that he would get angry at me. I was afraid I might let him down.

 

23:00 – 23:18

Peggy Grande

And that was what drove me every day. Not wanting to let him down, not wanting to let the team down that he had surrounded himself with. Rather than worrying that he would be angry with me. 

 

Dr.Mary Imparato

And that’s the thing, his leadership style, right. Like good leaders inspire everyone around them to be the best version of themselves

 

23:19 – 23:40

Dr.Mary Imparato

you know. 

 

Peggy Grande

He definitely brought that out of me and everybody who worked for him. And it was not with the pounding on the fist or fist on the table or being angry at people. 

 

Dr.Mary Imparato

Can you give an example, maybe of a time when his kind of unique leadership style had a significant impact on a major decision or an event, either during his presidency or afterwards, like his approach to it?

 

23:40 – 24:07

Peggy Grande

Yeah, well, I can just give you a personal example, which is kind of silly and funny, but it just shows how, you know, I’m young, I’m trying to make sure everything is perfect, and sometimes things just aren’t perfect. So we go to this event and I write a lot about in my book, President Reagan. Because of his acting background, he was always impeccably dressed and everything was his suits were perfectly tailored, his puffs perfectly out of his suit coat, his shoes perfectly shine.

 

24:07 – 24:28

Peggy Grande

I mean, he was just perfectly put together every single day. And we went to this event and it was in a large outdoor tent and it had been dumping rain. And so this large outdoor tent we were supposed to meet in a little, you know, like a greenroom holding tent. And then he was supposed to walk in, well, it’s dumping rain, it’s swirling wind.

 

24:28 – 24:48

Peggy Grande

And we decide, okay, I don’t think this is going to work. And in fact, as we’re pulling up, the whole tent actually un-stakes itself and blows away. So I’m in the back of the car with the president thinking, oh my goodness, like what are we going to do? Because this plan is out the window. So we decide we’re going to pull back the side of the tent and actually drive him into the tent where he’s going to be speaking.

 

24:48 – 25:05

Peggy Grande

Well, you can’t pre advance that because we’re making decisions on the fly. So they pull back the side of the tent we drive into, kind of like an offstage announce area. He steps out and it’s been raining so hard. There is mud and puddles and everything. And I cringe as he steps off right in this huge mud puddle.

 

25:05 – 25:25

Peggy Grande

Now his shoes are covered with mud and grass and things and I am just cringing and thinking about, oh no, he’s going to hate this. He goes up and he gives a speech, he does a great job, and he gets back in the car and I thought, okay, here it comes. And instead he looks over at me. I think I might need a shoe shine this week.

 

25:25 – 25:46

Peggy Grande

And that was just his way of saying, I know this is not what you planned. I know this is not the intention we need to fix this, but I know that you did your best. And that was kind of the it was always if you did your best, that was enough with him. And I appreciated that graciousness, that forgiveness, knowing that things aren’t always perfect.

 

25:46 – 26:07

Youthan Love

So even after leaving the White House, I would imagine, you know, him being a strong world leader and someone people looked up to. Did you ever have foreign diplomats or current sitting U.S. presidents that would reach out to his office and seek advice, and if so, when he was opposed by someone of the Democrat Party or someone that didn’t totally disagree with him, how did Ronald Reagan handle that?

 

26:07 – 26:30

Peggy Grande

Yeah. You know, he was such a great example of if you disagreed with him on a lot of things, he would always find the thing we agreed upon, and he would use that as the starting point to build a friendship. And so rather than highlighting the differences, he would always start with what we agreed upon. And that was whether it was Republicans who disagreed with him on some things or Democrats, but he always wanted to find common ground.

 

26:30 – 26:54

Peggy Grande

And there always it’s regardless of how opposing somebody is. Politically, there’s always something we agree upon. So let’s find that and start that, as the basis for a friendship and a relationship moving forward, post-presidency, all kinds of world leaders reached out to him. And I thought it was interesting because post-presidency, Ronald Reagan couldn’t do anything for them diplomatically.

 

26:54 – 27:18

Peggy Grande

They didn’t have to come and talk with him. There was nothing he could do for them. They came because they had a relationship and a friendship with him. They liked him, they had interacted with him during the presidency, and they wanted that friendship to continue. And so as much as we think of diplomacy being this big, complex thing for the foreign service, for our ambassadors, diplomacy, Reagan’s way was really a lot like friendship.

 

27:18 – 27:42

Peggy Grande

And the way which he treated people like Gorbachev, like Margaret Thatcher, Mother Teresa, every president and first lady, like Valensla, Prime Minister Nakasone, Chancellor Helmut Kohl, you name it. They came through the office and they came because they liked him. It was about friendship, not about checking the diplomatic box. 

 

Peggy Grande

Do you think that was more beneficial in getting things done? 

 

27:42 – 28:09

Peggy Grande

Oh, definitely. Definitely. Because when you care about somebody personally, they’re going to take your call and they’re going to respond in a way that they trust you because they know that you care about them. You have to show them that you care about them first before they’ll care about the things you care about. And especially, you know, Margaret Thatcher was great because she was hysterically funny and actually had a really dry sense of humor.

 

28:09 – 28:30

Peggy Grande

And so she and President Reagan would get together. And it was very, very funny. And then historic moments like meeting Gorbachev for the first time when I see him walking toward President Reagan, I’m thinking, oh, my goodness, he really does have that big birthmark on his head. And all the things that we read about all the years, the evil Empire, and here he is.

 

28:30 – 28:53

Peggy Grande

Somehow the ice has been thawed and Reagan caused that to happen. It was really an incredible moment.

 

Dr.Mary Imparato

It’s amazing thinking about the respect that world leaders had for him. But another thing that stood out to me is the respect that the political opposition had for him. And I think, you know, we talked about earlier comparisons with Trump, and it doesn’t seem like we have so much of that kind of across the aisle respect.

 

28:53 – 29:14

Dr.Mary Imparato

I don’t know, we could attribute it to Reagan’s unique character and personality. Though I will say I teach students about, you know, the unique, polarized nature of our politics today where you don’t have much ideological overlap between the parties, as if 40 years ago, where you would have liberal Republicans and conservative Democrats, and now both parties have kind of gone to the polls, and you have really the extremes represented.

 

29:14 – 29:35

Dr.Mary Imparato

So you do have this in this polarized atmosphere, demonization of the opponent. Yeah. Whereas Reagan was president wasn’t quite as much, of that polarization. But at the same time, I think you can attribute this somewhat to Reagan’s personality, that even if you disagreed with him, you still kind of wished him well and respected him. Yeah. You know, could you speak to that sort of view of opponents?

 

29:35 – 30:02

Peggy Grande

Yeah, I think it was both the time and the person. I agree, I mean, our left and right used to be maybe here and our left and right now is here. It used to be that you could disagree with the policies without hating the person. And now, especially with social media, it’s almost required that if you disagree with somebody, you have to not only hate them, you have to try to ruin them personally.

 

30:02 – 30:24

Peggy Grande

And I mean to the point now that we see potentially physical harm coming to people. And so it’s this polarization of ideas not being willing to talk to each other. We talk about each other and not to each other. And you know, I always look at things, yes, we can blame the parties, but I think the American people in general say we want civility.

 

30:24 – 30:50

Peggy Grande

You hear that over and over. We want civility, we want more civility in our politics. Well, we own the responsibility for that, too, we the people. And so what are we doing to be more civil? Are we engaging in this, you know, throwing at each other of unkind, uncivil things? I think our politicians reflect us. And even though we say we want civility, do we treat people in politics with civility?

 

30:51 – 31:12

Peggy Grande

And if we don’t, then we’re going to continue to get the same thing. We get people running for office who maybe are more flawed, more extreme than we’ve seen in the past. Because in the past, you had a local person in the town who was well-liked and respected, that ran a nice business that people supported and would send to Congress.

 

31:12 – 31:34

Peggy Grande

Now that person says, well, I would never run for Congress because you’re going to threaten my wife, you’re going to ruin my kids, you’re going to destroy my business. And it’s no longer about my politics or my policies, but it’s personal. And so, yes, I would love to see us get back to civility in politics, but I don’t think it’s fair to expect it from our politicians.

 

31:34 – 31:54

Peggy Grande

If we, as an electorate, aren’t willing to first become more civil. 

 

Youthan Love

So as you had mentioned, you know, now we’re more separated both left and right. What do you see as a solution to getting back, you know, a little bit closer together where you can have Democrats and Republicans come to the table, find a solution and get a bill passed.

 

31:54 – 32:12

Youthan Love

What are some thought processes from your experience that you may see as a way to bring people in America back together? 

 

Peggy Grande

Yeah, I think it comes down to common sense and to courage. We need people who are common sense. I come from California, where there’s not a lot of common sense happening there, and I think that we need common sense and we need courage.

 

32:12 – 32:37

Peggy Grande

So we need to get back to where we don’t argue and advocate for policies because our party does, but because they’re common sense in a lot of ways, policies should be politically agnostic. I worked in the Trump administration, and every time we open one of our meetings, at openbox of personnel management, where I worked, I loved the director of our agency because he said, yes, we’re here to serve this president.

 

32:37 – 33:01

Peggy Grande

But first, we serve the American people. We serve the American taxpayer. We should be good stewards of their trust, their resources, first and foremost. Yes, we serve the president, but let’s be mindful of something bigger. And so we tried to, at that agency, implement common sense solutions. And in some ways people criticize and say, well, you know, the next party is going to come in and they’re going to, you know, turn this around and undo it.

 

33:01 – 33:27

Peggy Grande

And some of it they did. But really good policy should be politically agnostic. If it’s best for the American people, we should, you know, pursue common sense. We should also have courage and courage comes down to you saying, yeah, I spoke with a Democrat and we agreed upon this, or being willing to go places that are unlikely for you to be seen and be courageous about that and stand up for what you believe in.

 

33:27 – 33:49

Peggy Grande

Because when you do that again with civility, I think then it’s hard for people to hate you or to push back on you as much. I do a lot of media and I find, you know, when people are attacking you, if you respond in a way that’s civil, that’s common sense, that’s courageous and civil, then it kind of takes their ammunition and their fire away from them.

 

33:49 – 34:12

Peggy Grande

They don’t they don’t know how to respond to that. So yeah, I’d say common sense, courage and civility. 

 

Dr.Mary Imparato

I just want to kind of ask one final question. And that is, you know, you’ve done quite a bit of work in the media. You’re an author. I wonder if a new presidential ministration came calling, would you welcome a return to serving another chief executive?

 

34:12 – 34:29

Peggy Grande

I think whenever the president of the United States calls, you answer that call and you say, yes, sir, I am happy to serve wherever you would like me. So I hope that I will have that opportunity, and I hope that my service in the past will warrant that call in the future. And if that call came, I would say yes.

 

34:29 – 34:46

Dr.Mary Imparato

Awesome. And if we call at Belmont Abbey, ask you to come back after that service?

 

Peggy Grande

I love that, of course. And it’s such a pleasure to be here. And thank you for all you’re doing and what an incredible student body and facility you have here. And this is really a beacon of light in a world that needs a place like this.

 

34:46 – 35:07

Peggy Grande

So congratulations on this beautiful place. Not only facilities, but the student body that you’ve built here. 

 

Dr. Mary Imparato

Well, as we conclude, we’d like to thank our audience for joining us. And thank you to Peggy and Youthan for taking the time to join us for this episode, for this wonderful conversation. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and tell your friends that Conversatio is available on Spotify, Apple, and Google Podcasts.

 

35:07 – 35:18

Dr. Mary Imparato

Until next time, God bless.