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A STORY ABOUT RONALD REAGAN

Written by Peter J. Leibert on June 8, 2004

Most of you are aware that Ronald Reagan died last week.  This is a story that relates some of my interactions between this former state governor and myself.  In May 1973, I had been elected to be the President of the “California Association for the Retarded” (CAR) which was an advocacy organization whose prime goal was to get the government agencies to provide and expand services that we considered to be critically needed to provide a better life for persons with mental retardation.   

Very soon after I had been elected, I had some very stimulating experiences with the relatively new state Governor - Ronald Reagan.  At that time, those experiences didn't seem to be that effective, when you consider that fact that I was the President of an advocacy organization whose prime goal was to get the government to provide expanded and improved programs for persons with mental retardation.  In hindsight, they may have been quite key to causing changes for the better.

The first major item that was placed on my “Presidential plate” was when Reagan proposed his plan to close all of the "state hospitals" in order to save money.  Well, that is the way we read it.  The population of the state owned and operated-housing-institutions of that time was approaching over 15,000 people, and Reagan, at this time, was proposing a plan to reduce this population by two thirds.   

I, and many others within the CAR organization, were quite concerned since it had not been long before that time when our state government had decided to agree to the demands of “ACLU” threats to sue in order to force closure of the state hospitals for the mentally ill.  The closure of additional hospitals that served mentally ill people appeared to us within the CAR organization as having resulted into a fiasco for persons who where mentally ill.  Very buntly, this is why CAR felt that there had been such a large growth in “homeless population” caused by the state legislatively established policy. 

Within a short time after taking on the Presidency of CAR, I found myself at the Camarillo State Hospital for the Mentally Retarded because Reagan would be coming to explain this new plan.  I drove into the facility through tree lines streets with beautiful green lawns and very nice appearing buildings on either side of the road.  It was a very nice appearing facility, but I learned later that day that the buildings had been painted just that week for the first time in ten years, and that the lawns had been sprayed green.  

I entered the assigned meeting room early and sat in the second row on the right center aisle.  As the starting time approached a group of people came in and one of them sat right in front of me.  I soon figured out that it was Ronald himself.  His speech was direct and to the point, and it sounded like he had given it a lot of thought.  He explained why he had come to his conclusion and even allowed questions from his audience.  During this Q&A process he was standing right in front, facing me.  As Reagan left, he even thanked me and apologized for blocking my view.  The session was about 30 minutes long.  I will tell you I was impressed even if he had not apologized.

That was my first meeting.  My second opportunity to see Reagan up close was under better circumstances.  The National unit of ARC had selected two children with Down’s Syndrome to represent our organization as poster children.  Our state executive had arranged for the governor to meet with these twin girls and present them with a Certificate of Appreciation.  As state President, I was invited to attend this session.  

Here you got to see Ronald Reagan in a more relaxed environment, jelly beans and all.

My third and final opportunity to meet with Ronald Reagan occurred during May 1975 during our state CAR convention.  This convention was being held in Los Angeles at the International Hotel next to the airport.  Reagan had agreed to speak at a special session during that convention. 

I was informed by the CAR Executive Director, William Green, that I would be the only one to be seated on the podium when the Governor enter the ballroom to speak to the convention and that I would introduce him.  Well that is fine, BUT, how does a lowly engineer introduce a Governor!  Let me tell you.  No one gave any meaningful advice – sorry, Bill. 

The appointed hour eventually came.  I had already briefed the audience about the upcoming Governors speech and what his “secret service” ground rules were.  Each member of the audience was to be in a seat at least 5 minutes before the Governor entered the room and they were to remain seated until the chairman, “me,” told them it was okay to rise.  There would be no questions to be asked by anyone, including myself.   

The convention group was seated and ready for the Governor well in advance.  Over 1,000 attendees were in that International Hotel ballroom next to the Los Angeles airport.  Later, I was actually informed by a couple of CAR attendees that they had counted at least 1,500 people as being in that room.  I don’t know, but it was the biggest crowd I had ever spoke to. 

Yes, I spoke to them.  I had spent some time writing a great introduction for our Governor.  I had requested our state board members and our executive director for input.  I got a lot of advice – maybe too much.  So I wrote my own personal form of an appropriate introduction.  Forty years later I do not remember, nor can I find those exact words, but it was must have been a great speech of introduction. 

It was very soon after the scheduled time when I started noticing strange faces peering through cracks in the doorways near the podium.  And then a door opened and the Governor was approaching the podium where I was seated.  I offered him a seat next to me, requested quiet in the hall, and began this major address of my lifetime – to that point in my lifetime. 

Everything went well for the first five sentences of my major address.  But when I got to the part where I started to talk about what the CAR organization was all about, my tongue failed me.   

Let us review the era of this speech.  This was during a time when a lot of changes were occurring within this state and within the nation regarding what was expected about how our government should serve the mentally retarded segment of our population.   

Two major issues were on the table.  What is the best living situation for persons with mental retardation – large facilities or smaller community-based family-sized facilities?  Equally important was the education programs for this population wherever they resided.  And the language about how we talked about all this was being changed as the various political populations began giving this subject attention.  New in California was the Lanterman Act that had established new rights for persons with mental retardation and a new language.  

Key to this CAR conference event was the newly established language for all this.  Professionals were now referring to persons with mental retardation as people with developmental disabilities.   

Well, my downfall was that I had chosen to use the new language – persons with developmental disabilities.  That might have been great, but when it came time for me to say “developmentally disabled” for the first time – my tongue would not work.  I finally blurted out – you know, people with mental retardation.   Well, it wasn’t really a standing ovation, but I am sure everyone felt my pain, including Governor Reagan. 

I always wanted to meet with Ronald Reagan again in order to find out whether he remembered that or not, but I never did.  I bet he would have remembered that great day.    

Peter Leibert