Ronald Reagan salutes members of the Reserve Officers Association in 1988.

President Reagan and Nancy Reagan receiving a baseball from Frank Sinatra during a meeting with the 1981 National Multiple Sclerosis Society Mother and Father of the Year in the oval office. 6/3/81.

President Reagan’s remarks during the 1984 National Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony.

Nancy Reagan with Dinah Shore and Burt Reynolds in the Blue Room during a state dinner for Premier Zhao Ziyang of the Peoples Republic of China. 1/10/84.

I remember going down to the Robinson Center in Little Rock back around 1995 to see “An evening with Burt Reynolds.” It was very enjoyable as Reynolds told stories about his life. One story I found very funny was the night that Frank Sinatra took Reynolds out to a restaurant.  Dinah Shore was a longtime friend of Sinatra and he always wanted to protect her. He had a talk with Reynolds and he wanted to know Reynolds intentions.

Before the evening started, Reynolds told Dinah that he was not going to stay out late with Sinatra and he was going to leave after he got his “Sinatra story.” Well, Sinatra was served in a private room in the back of his favorite restaurant and there was a server who was nervous and he spilled some soup at Sinatra’s table. The owner came out and fired the server on the spot. Sinatra responded, “Everytime I come back here in the future, I better see this particular server working here or I will never come back again.”

Reynolds got up from the table and started to leave. Sinatra said, “Where are you going?” Reynolds said he was leaving because he told Dinah he would be back as soon as he got a “Sinatra story” and now he had one.

I really got a lot out the article “The Real Reagan Economic Record: Responsible and Successful Fiscal Policy” by Peter Sperry. In the next few days I will be sharing portions of this article.

The Real Reagan Economic Record: Responsible and Successful Fiscal Policy

Published on March 1, 2001 by Peter Sperry

No matter how advocates of big government try to rewrite history, Ronald Reagan’s record of fiscal responsibility continues to stand as the most successful economic policy of the 20th century. His tax reforms triggered an economic expansion that continues to this day. His investments in national security ended the Cold War and made possible the subsequent defense spending reductions that are largely responsible for the current federal surpluses. His efforts to restrain the expansion of federal government helped to limit the growth of domestic spending.

If Reagan’s critics had been willing to work with him to limit domestic spending even further and to control the growth of entitlements, the budget would have been balanced five to ten years sooner and without the massive tax increase imposed in 1993. Today, Members of Congress from across the political spectrum should stand on the evidence and defend the Reagan record.

To the extent that President Bush’s proposals mirror those of Ronald Reagan, his plan should be a welcome strategy to lower the tax burden on Americans and to make the system more responsible. If the advocates of big government in Congress cooperate with President Bush rather than merely continuing to fund obsolete, wasteful, and redundant programs, there is no limit to the prosperity that Americans can generate.

Peter Sperry is the Grover M. Hermann Fellow in Federal Budgetary Affairs in the Thomas A. Roe Institute for Economic Policy Studies at The Heritage Foundation.

President Reagan meeting with Henry Kissinger in the residence. 6/10/81.

Little known facts about our presidents:

1. At 325 pounds, William Howard Taft (1857-1930), who was dubbed “Big Bill,” was the largest president in American history and often got stuck in the White House bathtub. His advisors had to sometimes pull him out.^b

Warren Harding once lost priceless White House China playing poker

2. Harding was obsessed with poker and once bet an entire set of priceless White House China and lost it.^k
3. During his second run for presidency, Teddy Roosevelt was shot by a would-be assassin while giving a speech in Milwaukee. He continued to deliver his speech with the bullet in his chest.ⁱ
4. Thomas Jefferson was convinced that if he soaked his feet in a bucket of cold water every day, he’d never get a cold.^k
5. Calvin Coolidge liked to have his head rubbed with petroleum jelly while eating his breakfast in bed.^b
6. Woodrow Wilson (born Thomas Woodrow Wilson, 1856-1924) would paint his golf balls black during the winter so he could continue playing in the snow.^a