A Robinson Relic at the Reagan Library
John Yoo ·
Jan 28, 2011 at 2:09pm
Add me to the Peter Robinson fan club. I was visiting the Reagan presidential library (I'm a presidential library junkie -- are there any others on Ricochet? If so, what's your favorite?) for a Heritage Foundation event. One of the prize exhibits is the actual air force one that flew President Reagan (it was no 747, and very cramped). And look what speech is in the typewriter on Air Force One!
I want to hear the story from Peter one of these days about typing up these lines in flight to Berlin. Until then, you can see a small piece of Peter's work on display as the library celebrates the 100th anniversary of Reagan's birth.
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Jul '10
Re: A Robinson Relic at the Reagan Library
Awesome. And I don't see any Liquid Paper on there either.
Edited on Jan 28, 2011 at 2:15pmMay '10
Re: A Robinson Relic at the Reagan Library
Jimmy Carter: Awesome. And I don't see any Liquid Paper on there either. · Jan 28 at 2:13pm
Edited on Jan 28 at 02:15 pm
Oh, there was a lot of liquid paper. Gotta read Peter's book.
Re: A Robinson Relic at the Reagan Library
A couple of years ago, John, I took my kids through that exhibit, not realizing--I'd never been through it myself--that that excerpt from the Berlin speech would be on display. The kids saw the except, stopped, and stared. "That's the speech you wrote, right, Dad?" my oldest asked.
For a moment, I could tell from their faces, my kids were entertaining the notion that their father might not be quite as entirely silly as they'd thought.
Then they continued through the exhibit and the mood passed. As soon as they stepped out of the plane they wanted to know what we would be having for lunch.
Sep '10
Re: A Robinson Relic at the Reagan Library
Whenever I'm feeling down that speech is as close as Youtube. I still get chills listening to it.
Aug '10
Re: A Robinson Relic at the Reagan Library
That's very cool.
Aug '10
Re: A Robinson Relic at the Reagan Library
I'M REALLY HAPPY THAT PETER HAS STOPPED WRITING IN ALL CAPS!!!
;-)
Sep '10
Re: A Robinson Relic at the Reagan Library
Peter's podcast earlier this week on presidential speechwriting with the two fellows from the W speechwriting team is not to be missed. Thanks, Peter and the rest for posting that. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Nov '10
Re: A Robinson Relic at the Reagan Library
Peter's kids will burst with pride for the rest of their lives, once they are of age...if they're not already...and rightfully so.
May '10
Re: A Robinson Relic at the Reagan Library
Here's a big LIKE not only for this post but also for... well... all the amazing people who contributed to the fall of the USSR.
Oct '10
Re: A Robinson Relic at the Reagan Library
The moment I glimpsed the severed section of the Berlin Wall at the Reagan library, my eyes watered with pride and joy that we were blessed to have President Reagan and Peter Robinson serving our country at the most pivotal moment for freedom in all of world history.
May '10
Re: A Robinson Relic at the Reagan Library
Peter left out the part of the story where he knelt down to sniff Reagan's seat on the plane ("It still smells like him!"). The questions about lunch distracted from the awkwardness of that impulse.
Keep 'em coming, Felicia. You're my thread Like button.
Sep '10
Re: A Robinson Relic at the Reagan Library
John Yoo: One of the prize exhibits is the actual air force one that flew President Reagan (it was no 747, and very cramped). And look what speech is in the typewriter on Air Force One!
I want to hear the story from Peter one of these days about typing up these lines in flight to Berlin. Until then, you can see a small piece of Peter's work on display as the library celebrates the 100th anniversary of Reagan's birth. ·
Reagan's Air Force One was a 707. When I was stationed at Point Mugu Naval Air Station they parked it in my squadron's hangar when Ronnie was visiting the ranch in Santa Barbara. Never got on board, but I gazed at it from beyond the blue cordon many a time.
Dec '10
Re: A Robinson Relic at the Reagan Library
When that speech was first made, I was not aware of it. At the time, I was living on Soviet fishing vessels, working in American waters up in the Bering Sea.
There just came a time, after Andropov died, when the First Mate, (always the KGB rep in a factory or on a ship, the second in command was KGB), cracked down on everybody. To his credit, I could have been lost at sea, but instead he came into my cabin (for the first time, in my presence), and took books off my shelves and asked me, "Why would you bring such things!" (in Russian). I never circulated my books amongst crew members and he knew that; I lived in an isolated officer's quarters, well above the crew decks.
However, everyday, I would layer on long underwear, a special life vest, foul weather gear, rubber boots, and then run laps around the upper decks. One day, young Soviets just joined me, people that I had never said more than four words to. So we ran. At the end, as the privileged American, I could always go down to the lower decks and shower. Continued
Dec '10
Re: A Robinson Relic at the Reagan Library
Under the Soviet rules, we were only allowed to shower every ten days, on a fishing boat; covered in fish guts and running every day. It was a good thing that we had so many layers to take off.
All of a sudden, the Fishing Master of the boat, the real power and the only brains, starts showing up in my cabin in the evenings, to talk. We were whooped, having spent all day on the decks and in the factory, so we had our feet up. The First Mate marched by, observed us thusly, entered and raised Hell. He explained that it was inappropriate for officers to have their feet up. The "Reebprom" (fishing master) gave him a, "Yeah, yeah, whatever", which I recognized to be a tough stance. Beyond tough, this was a very dangerous way for him to have behaved, especially for an eastern, non-russian.
But I didn't know about Reagan's speech. Everybody seemed to know that my father was an American diplomat, but the young people knew that I was a biologist and listened to rock. I spent all of my time drawing pictures of deep sea critters we caught, and jamming.
Dec '10
Re: A Robinson Relic at the Reagan Library
The Deck Master would haul me up into his aerie in a gantry above the aft deck and make me bring my boombox (I listened to music through a modified tape player, plugged into earphones under my hardhat and spoke recorded notes into a microphone, going into a separate tape player).
He relieved me of all of my hard rock, before I left the vessel, especially all Def Leppard, and had no use for Stevie Wonder or David Bowie, Which is what happened. The youngsters relieved me of everything; I didn't mind.
Something had happened and I didn't know what. Once a month, I was allowed a radio transmission to Juneau, Alaska, to transmit all of my fisheries data. Once every 3 months I was allowed a brief voice transmission with my parents, back in North Carolina. Not enough for any real conversation, just enough for my Mom to ask how cold it was and for me to tell her I had know idea and promise to send her a picture to show why, as the thermometer had been encased in ice for months.
On bad days everybody went outside and busted ice off the ship.
Dec '10
Re: A Robinson Relic at the Reagan Library
It was so cold that Lileks might stay indoors, but warmer on the ship. Suddenly, we stopped fishing and hauled burros to the Pribiloffs, where a bunch of other Soviet ships were anchored off. That was one of the most amazing sights I ever had, in my life, Gigantic whales, everywhere, tossing and splashing. Sunshine, and calm seas, for the first time in forever.
I went up onto the very top of the vessel and sat in the Sun, while I tried to figure out what was happening. And, one by one, the younger crew people, not allowed in officer's territory, joined me.
And then, more things happened that I cannot tell you about, right now, because I really need to take care of the Boyz. I promise, this gets back to Reagan's speech, but I have family obligations for the moment.
Sep '10
Re: A Robinson Relic at the Reagan Library
CJ: don't keep us waiting for too long! Sounds fascinating. Why were you on a Soviet fishing boat, anyway?
May '10
Re: A Robinson Relic at the Reagan Library
Keep it coming, CJ. I greatly appreciate it.
Nov '10
Re: A Robinson Relic at the Reagan Library
I just visited my first Library here in Austin, the LBJ library at the University of Texas. I don't have any way to compare it to the others, and I am by no means a fan of his, but I did find it fascinating and now hooked. I look forward to visiting the Bush library in Houston and the new one in Dallas as soon as it opens.
May '10
Re: A Robinson Relic at the Reagan Library
Me too.