{"id":2660,"date":"2023-07-31T11:12:33","date_gmt":"2023-07-31T18:12:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/?p=2660"},"modified":"2023-07-31T11:16:00","modified_gmt":"2023-07-31T18:16:00","slug":"climb-aboard-presidential-travel-vehicles-in-simi-valley","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/travel\/2660\/climb-aboard-presidential-travel-vehicles-in-simi-valley","title":{"rendered":"Climb Aboard Presidential Travel Vehicles in Simi Valley"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Marine<\/a>

You can board Marine One and Air Force One next to Reagan\u2019s Presidential limo. Photo by Harrison Shiels<\/p><\/div>\n

An upcoming presidential candidate debate will take place at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum in Simi Valley, outside Los Angeles. The academic and educational tourist destination makes a grand old setting for Republican debates because the backdrop for the stage is an actual, decommissioned \u201cAir Force One\u201d aircraft. It is displayed in a 90,000-square-foot pavilion overlooking a valley backed by a southern California mountain range.<\/p>\n

President Reagan\u2019s visage was that of a strong-jawed leading man, but the four-story Air Force One Pavilion at his museum is jaw-dropping. It also contains the Commander in Chief\u2019s Marine One helicopter. The hangar\u2019s huge windows make it seem as if either aircraft could take flight at any moment. Reagan\u2019s Presidential limousine, a black Cadillac with the license plate \u201cGipper,\u201d is beside the jumbo jet with the rest of his Secret Service motorcade.<\/p>\n

Visitors can climb aboard Marine One and Air Force One, which is full of the President\u2019s personal effects, including a briefcase and briefing book he took on a trip to England, the Vatican, and Germany. Guests can peer at the bank of classified communication computers and into the cockpit. Even the galley seems ready to serve an in-flight dinner.<\/p>\n

In another part of the sprawling museum, guests can walk through a replica of the Oval Office and see a jar of jelly beans on Reagan\u2019s desk. The museum\u2019s next section creates the sensation of walking through a White House state dinner with place settings, celebrity entertainment examples on video, and a gallery of the First Lady\u2019s dresses.<\/p>\n

Two haunting displays left an impression on me. A respectfully staffed door leads to a small dark, room where a brief video clip of the attempted assassination of the President is shown. It is startling to see the remnants of Reagan\u2019s bullet-riddled suit scissored off by medical attendants during emergency treatment next to a video showing television news reports of Reagan reassuring the world with his famous humor. He quipped that he hoped the surgeons were Republicans and told the First Lady: \u201cHoney, I forgot to duck.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was also eerie to wander through the Threat Theater. Here, a collection of photos of Soviet and Chinese communist leaders look down, bathed in red lighting and steering guests past a rogues gallery of despotic dictators such as Ayatollah Khomeini; Fidel Castro; Yasar Arafat; Muammar Gaddafi; Bashar al-Assad; and Daniel Ortega. After that kind of pressure, it is a welcome relief that a gallery celebrating summit meetings and the respite of a Camp David display follow!<\/p>\n

The indoor\/outdoor mountaintop, western-style building, with its panoramic balcony and scenic campus, includes the resting places of President Reagan and First Lady Nancy. Also, a piece of the Berlin Wall Reagan admonished \u201cMr. Gorbachev\u201d to tear down. The original stealth bomber, called \u201cUnexpected Guest,\u201d is awesome to view. In a more peaceful vein, I found the White House Rose Garden an irresistible spot, where a statue of \u201cThe Great Communicator\u201d stands tall in the front while a Nancy Reagan statue gazes at her \u201cRonnie\u201d while relaxing on a bench.<\/p>\n

Guests can relax at the Gipper Bar and Bistro with its large patios. An entire pub President Reagan visited in Ireland, O\u2019Farrell\u2019s – renamed the Ronald Reagan Pub after his visit – has been imported, piece by piece, from Ballyporeen to the museum. The facility has lots of space for events and occasional concerts.<\/p>\n

I have been to seven Presidential Library Museums across America, and, while it is respectfully not fair to compare them, none match the physical power and emotional majesty of Reagan\u2019s.<\/p>\n

It is my sincere hope each Presidential candidate who debates in Reagan\u2019s specter will, in their campaign or administration, heed the words he said to Americans after his two terms: \u201cWhatever you say about me, I appealed to your best hopes, not your worst fears. To your confidence rather than your doubts.\u201d<\/p>\n

Contact Michael Patrick Shiels at\u00a0<\/em>MShiels@aol.com<\/em><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0His radio program may be found at\u00a0MiBigShow.com or weekday mornings\u00a0from 9-noon\u00a0on WJIM\u00a0AM 1240<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Visitors to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum in Simi Valley can climb aboard Air Force One, walk through a replica of the Oval Office and have a drink at the Gipper Bar and Bistro, relocated from Ireland.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":43,"featured_media":2663,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[4998],"class_list":["post-2660","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-travel","tag-michael-patrick-shiels"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/34\/2023\/07\/You-can-board-Marine-One-and-Air-Force-One-next-to-Reagans-Presidential-limo_.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2660","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/43"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2660"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2660\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2664,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2660\/revisions\/2664"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2663"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2660"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2660"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2660"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}