Remembering President Reagan’s visit to Idaho and his ‘crusade’ to end Soviet Communism highlighted in new film
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IDAHO FALLS — Air Force One landed on the tarmac at what is now Magic Valley Regional Airport in Twin Falls.
It was Friday, Oct. 31, 1986. President Ronald Reagan was here to attend a campaign rally for U.S. Senator Steve Symms at the College of Southern Idaho.
He and Symms, who passed away earlier this month at age 86, arrived at the Eldon Evans Expo Center in a mule-drawn wagon to an enthusiastic crowd that was chanting “Reagan! Reagan! Reagan!”
The 48-year-old Republican senator from Nampa had unseated four-term Democrat Frank Church in a close race six years earlier, the Associated Press reports. He was now seeking re-election for a second term.
Following some brief remarks and an introduction from Symms, Reagan walked up to the pulpit to address the crowd.
“I’ve come here today in support of a champion on the team that put the American economy back on track, rebuilt her military strength and restored her confidence. He’s made a difference for Idaho and our country, and I hope that you’ll do everything in your power to see that Steve Symms is re-elected to the United States Senate,” Reagan told a cheering crowd.
Symms went on to win 51% of the vote against his Democratic opponent, John Evans, who was serving as Idaho’s governor at the time.
Aside from a trip to Boise the year before, this seems to be President Reagan’s only visit to the Gem State during his time in office. America’s 40th president had earned 72% of the vote in Idaho during the general election two years earlier. He’d won a landslide re-election bid nationwide, carrying 49 states and 58% of the popular vote, according to voting records.
For Reagan, the highlight of the 1986 trip to Idaho had nothing to do with the rally. A White House diary entry posted on the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum website shows that what Reagan enjoyed most was a visit with a group of farm owners.
“A well to do farm family … spoke up and challenged the continued farm subsidies and (felt) that farming should get back in the market place and off the federal hand out,” Reagan wrote.
New biopic about Reagan portrays his popularity
Thirty-five years after leaving office, Reagan is remembered as one of the most popular presidents. A new movie about his life is coming to theaters this week. “Reagan,” directed by Sean McNamara and starring Dennis Quaid in the title role, hits theaters August 30.
The film was 14 years in the making and is told from the perspective of a KGB agent who kept tabs on Reagan throughout his career in Hollywood and politics. It’s based on Paul Kengor’s 2007 book, “The Crusader: Ronald Reagan and the Fall of Communism.”
Kengor could not be reached for comment, but in a recent interview from Grove City College — a private liberal arts school in western Pennsylvania where he teaches political science — Kengor says he served as an adviser to the filmmakers.
Jonas McCord and Howard Klausner wrote the script, which Kengor says closely follows his book. He attended the Hollywood premiere last week and he’s thrilled with what he saw.
“The whole thing is so good. It’s an excellent film,” Kengor said.
Kengor’s book begins at Rock River in Dixon, Illinois, where Reagan worked as a lifeguard for seven summers and saved 77 people from drowning. These experiences “instilled in the young man a basic respect for the dignity and sanctity of human life,” Kengor wrote.
It also instilled strong confidence in Reagan, a quality Kengor says he carried with him the rest of his life that served him well as president years later.
Additionally, Kengor explains Reagan had a deep conviction that God had a plan for his life.
These qualities led him to “predict and believe that he could end the Cold War.” His decree to Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev to “tear down this wall” was the culmination of what Reagan said was a “crusade for freedom” that was God’s plan for America.
“Ronald Reagan believed America was chosen by God to confront the Soviet Communist empire and prevail. As the leader of the United States at a special moment in time, he sensed that God had ordained such a role upon, as he put it, his ‘team,'” Kengor writes.
Noting his accomplishments and the strength he exuded on the world stage, it’s no wonder, Kengor writes, that pundits referred to Reagan as the “‘Teflon president’ because, like a Teflon frying pan, nothing unseemly appeared to stick to him.”
“I’m amazed at this Teflon Presidency,” former CBS Evening News anchor Walter Cronkite once said, which Kengor notes in his book. “Reagan is even more popular than (Franklin) Roosevelt, and I never thought I’d see anyone that well-liked … Nobody hates Reagan. It’s amazing.”
“Reagan” was originally slated for release in 2021. After years of delays, Kengor is glad people are finally able to see it.
He says it’s a film with broad appeal, but is particularly important for young people “who have no first-hand memory of Reagan or the Cold War that defined half of the 20th century.”
“Ronald Reagan was so deeply impacted by his childhood, teen, and college years in ways that clearly affected what he did as president of the United States in the 1980s,” Kengor told Grove City College.
