Author and Public Affairs Expert to Discuss Reagan’s Road
to White House
March 16 - Cerf Center - 7:30 pm
Ronald Reagan’s 1980 run to the White House and his victory over incumbent Jimmy Carter will be the topic of a presentation by author Craig Shirley at 7:30 p.m. March 16 in the Cerf Center at Eureka College. Shirley will discuss his 2009 book “Rendezvous with Destiny: Ronald Reagan and the Campaign That Changed America.” A reception and book-signing will follow. Books will be offered for sale for $30 in the college bookstore.
Cost to attend is $10 or $5 for members of the Ronald W. Reagan Museum and Peace Garden at Eureka College.
To write the book, Shirley studied 1980 campaign files and interviewed more than 150 insiders, including Reagan’s advisers, family members and Jimmy Carter. The result is what Shirley calls the first comprehensive history of the campaign, which follows Reagan’s path from his defeat on the floor of the 1976 Republican convention to his victory on election night. Topics include Reagan’s underreported "wilderness years,” the primary fights in which he knocked out several Republican heavyweights and the often-nasty general election campaign complicated by the presence of a third-party candidate and the looming shadow of Ted Kennedy. His research enabled him to relate formerly untold stories, including the solution to one of the most enduring mysteries in politics: how Reagan’s campaign got hold of Carter’s debate briefing books,
Shirley said.
Shirley also wrote the 2005 “Reagan's Revolution: The Untold Story of the Campaign That Started It All,” which details Reagan's 1976 challenge to President Gerald Ford in the Republican primaries.
Shirley is president of Shirley & Banister Public Affairs, a government relations and marketing firm in Alexandria, Va. His articles have appeared in national publications, including The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times and the Weekly Standard.
- interested in attending -
Contact:
Michele Lehman
Media Relations Coordinator
mlehman@eureka.edu
(309) 467-6318
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