Ronald Reagan Library

Steven Chessler as president?

Though some of you might have preferred my husband as the next president of the United States, our 45th president will be in fact, Donald Trump.  Since we're in the Los Angeles area for Thanksgiving, Steven and I decided to take a look again at the Reagan Presidential Library.  While Trump was a definite surprise winner of the electoral college a few weeks ago, Reagan trounced Carter even more soundly in 1980 and Mondale even worse in 1984.

The Reagan library sits atop a hill in the Simi Valley, and just the view is worth the visit.  We visited the second busiest day of the year -- two days after Thanksgiving.  (We would have visited the day after Thanksgiving, except for the broken engine mount in our car, which required an overnight visit at the dealership and a rather large bill, but that's another story.)  We parked on the hill that winds its way up to the library, and shared a shuttle ride with a teacher that visits the center frequently with her students.  

I visited the Reagan Presidential Library many years ago.  I remember the view and the piece of Berlin wall adorned with flowers and butterflies.  That is all still there.  The museum now has more interactive features than I remember, including the teleprompter display above where Steven pretends to address the nation.  We also viewed Reagan's notebook of quotes, which he collected for years and used for speeches.  We also viewed the suit, with bullet hole, that he wore for the first and last time on the day of his attempted assassination.

What was missing was any mention of his first wife Jane Wyman, and his starring role in Bedtime for Bonzo.

[Update: Another visit to the library on November 29, 2025] This time we had neice Ann and nephew Hayden with. It was again two days after Thanksgiving, and plenty of parking in the regular lot. (Are people forgetting Reagan? Or was coming in the afternoon the key to better parking?) Benjamin tells me Jane Wyman is indeed mentioned briefly in Reagan's early Hollywood career. But bedtime for Bonzo was still absent. Otherwise, it was as I remember it. And Trump is again the president, himself now having survived two assasination attempts. And our enemies (China, Russia, bad actors in the Middle East) are still are enemies.