Description:

Reagan Ronald

Reagan’s Fear of Flying



“I dont fly so a trip to your area would entail several days round trip by train.”



RONALD REAGAN, Autograph Letter Signed, to Mr. Bertha, March 6, [ca. 1960-1966].  1 p., 7.25" x 10.5", on “Ronald Reagan / Pacific Palisades” stationery.  Very good.



Complete Transcript
March 6
Dear Mr. Bertha
I feel greatly honored at your invitation to join in the “Seminar” & regret very much that I cant accept. Unfortunately a number of speaking engagements here on the West Coast in late April & throughout May make it impossible for me to come East.
Perhaps I should explain, I dont fly so a trip to your area would entail several days round trip by train.
My thanks for the invitation & certainly best wishes for success.
Sincerely
Ronald Reagan



Historical Background
Ronald Reagan had a strong aversion to flying even before he became Governor of California. In 1937, he endured a rough flight to California, the same trip on which he took his screen test. He returned to Des Moines by train and for the next thirty years, he traveled within the United States by train only. When Reagan was a spokesman for General Electric, Guy Lebow invited him to be toastmaster for an annual sports broadcasters dinner and offered him an honorarium of $2,500. Reagan declined, citing a shooting schedule he had to meet, and concluded, “You see part of the difficulty is that I don't fly, so time must be allowed for train travel.”



Finding it necessary to fly when he was a candidate for governor, Reagan made use of a DC-3 that had been used by a California turkey farmer to ferry live baby turkeys. When it first took off with candidate Reagan, the press corps who accompanied him all gobbled like turkeys, and the Turkey Bird went on to fly Reagan to small towns throughout California. President Reagan later invited the turkey farmer and his wife to the White House for the annual Thanksgiving Turkey Pardon ceremony.



When he was a presidential candidate, a fellow passenger congratulated him on overcoming his fear of flying, to which Reagan replied, “Overcome it? Hell! I’m holding this plane up in the air by sheer willpower!”




Ronald Reagan (1911-2004) was born in Illinois and graduated from Eureka College in 1932. After working as a radio announcer for several years, he took a screen test in 1937 that led to a contract with Warner Brothers Studios. Reagan served as governor of California from 1967 to 1975. He won election over two-term incumbent Pat Brown. As governor, he opposed the idea of the welfare state and favored less government regulation of the economy. After an unsuccessful attempt to recall him in 1968, Reagan won reelection in 1970 for a second term.  He did not seek reelection in 1974, but went on in 1976 to seek the Presidency. He narrowly lost the Republican nomination to incumbent Gerald Ford, but went on to win in 1980 over Democratic incumbent Jimmy Carter to become the 40th President of the United States (1981-1989).




This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.



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