With the 1980 Republican presidential nominations looming, Ronald and Nancy Reagan visited Marion on January 10, 1980. They arrived at Williamson County Airport at 5 p.m., held a brief conference and continued on to the Marion Ban Dor Inn for a fund raising dinner followed by a rally held at the Marion Civic Center, culminating at 8:45 p.m. after which the Reagan’s boarded their plane and returned to Los Angeles.
Reagan, of course, got the nomination and won the presidential bid, defeating incumbent Jimmy Carter, becoming our 40th president. The Marion Daily Republican article covering the event is as follows.
“My roots go pretty deep in this prairie soil and we do feel we are home,” said the gentleman at the podium, with charisma seeping from every pore.
Ronald Reagan, the leading republican candidate for president, was speaking to a $25 a plate fund raising dinner at Marion’s Ban Dor Inn Thursday night.
The former California governor said he was born and raised in Illinois and married a Chicago girl, his wife Nancy who accompanied him on the trip.
Reagan, a movie star, from a decade and more ago who is still idolized by many for his acting skills, arrived at the Williamson County Airport at 4:48 p.m. Thursday, January 10, 1980. He was more than 45 minutes late for his scheduled press conference in the airport’s lobby.
During his press conference, Reagan backed off his earlier call for the shipment of American weapons to Afghan rebels.
Earlier, Reagan said the United States should be “funneling weapons through Pakistan” to be used by Afghanistan people fighting for their freedom.
“Maybe funneled was a bad choice of words, if I gave the impression that I meant the United States is doing this directly to Afghanistan I’m sorry,” Reagan said.
He said the weapons should be sent to Pakistan, a U.S. ally, with no stipulation that they be given to anyone.
Following the fifteen minute conference, Reagan’s staff caravan and an entourage of 28 members of the national media followed the leading Southern Illinois presidential candidate to the dinner in Marion.
Reagan didn’t touch on many controversial issues during his post dinner speech to an estimated 350 loyal supporters.
He talked about the apparent nationwide resurgence in the Republican Party. “Never have I seen the Republican Party more unified. Never have I seen it so enthusiastic,” Reagan said.
The two term governor of the nation’s largest state cited a decline from 51 percent of the registered Democratic voters to 38 percent as a reason for the Republican optimism.
In 1978 the Republicans added to their number of members of the House of Representatives and to the Senate and governors. We added almost 400 new members to the state legislatures,” Reagan said. “Of course it’s true that we had one of the best recruiters our party has ever had—Jimmy Carter.”
C.L. McCormick, Vienna, introduced Reagan to the crowd at the fund raiser. McCormick was a state representative for 18 years before retiring; now he is attempting a political comeback.
McCormick, an obvious Reagan supporter, said, “I really expected Governor Thompson today would quit straddling the fence and get on the Reagan bandwagon.”
Finishing his speech at the dinner Reagan called for continued unity within the party, “With all 10 of us running (for the Republican presidential nomination), when all the dust is settled, let us make our minds up now that whoever is the winner, we’ll be behind him. We must have a Republican administration if we are going to save this country.”
A political rally, attended by about 750 rowdy Republicans, was held in the Marion Civic Center following the dinner.
Reagan lashed out at the present Democrat administration after being introduced to the crowd by Marion Attorney, Gordon Lambert, a national delegate of the Republican Party.
“I’m not going to engage in partisan attacks on the democrats in this campaign. I’m going to talk about the problems that confront us,” Reagan bellowed out. “Problems such as Democratic inflation, Democratic energy shortages, a lack of Democratic defense policies and generally bad government by a Democratic administration,” he added with a huge grin.
He attacked the Carter administration on its energy policy, pointing out its neglect of coal as an energy resource.
“We’ve got an energy supply source in this country that is great. We’re rich in energy, it’s a thing called coal.” Reagan told the crowd at the final stop of a four day campaign swing.
Reagan then stated his support of the elimination of the tax on a person’s banking interest rate and the inheritance tax. He also called for the reduction of the size of the bureaucracy and a one third reduction in income taxes over a three year period.
Reagan said hospitals are regulated by 164 governmental agencies that add $35 a day to the cost of a hospital bill “and a young senator from Massachusetts, however, insists that we must turn public health care entirely over to the government and that will make it right. I don’t think we can afford that type of Teddy-Care.”
Reagan couldn’t resist taking a shot at the three democratic candidate hopefuls during the rally.
“The Democrats have three candidates, Jerry Brown, who is on both sides of every issue; Ted Kennedy, who is on the wrong side of every issue; and Jimmy Carter, who doesn’t know what the issues are,” Reagan said.
“Jimmy says he is going to run on his record. Teddy says he’s going to run from his. Jerry Brown is going to play his records on the stereo.”
The rally ended with a thunderous standing ovation.
Reagan and the huge, national press following left the Civic Center at 8:45 p.m. and were scheduled to land in Los Angeles at 11:30 p.m. California time.
Sam’s Notes:
Born in Tampico, Illinois, and raised in Dixon, Reagan was educated at Eureka College, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics and sociology. After graduating, Reagan moved first to Iowa to work as a radio broadcaster and then, in 1937, to Los Angeles where he began a career as an actor, first in films and later television. Some of his most notable films include Knute Rockne, All American (1940), Kings Row (1942), and Bedtime for Bonzo (1951). Reagan served as President of the Screen Actors Guild and later as a spokesman for General Electric (GE); his start in politics occurred during his work for GE. Originally a member of the Democratic Party, his positions began shifting rightward in the 1950s, and he switched to the Republican Party in 1962.
After delivering a rousing speech in support of Barry Goldwater’s presidential candidacy in 1964, he was persuaded to seek the California governorship, winning two years later and again in 1970. He was defeated in his run for the Republican presidential nomination in 1968 and in 1976, but won both the nomination and general election in 1980, defeating incumbent Jimmy Carter.
(Extracted from a Marion Daily Republican by Vince Hoffard dated January 11, 1980; Wikipedia reference)