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Bush Helps Dedicate New Exhibit at Reagan Library

Aired October 21, 2005 - 14:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Yucatan today, Yucatan tomorrow and maybe Yucatan Sunday, Florida eventually. Wilma is doing its worst and taking its time over Cancun and Cozumel pushing back to mid-day Monday. It is expected to trek across the southern part of Florida.
Now this is Cancun, it's tourists now being battered by ferocious winds and 20-foot waves. And officially Wilma's maximum winds are 145 miles per hour and hurricane winds at 74 miles an hour or better extend 85 miles in any direction from that eye. Cancun's mayor estimates that 20,000 people, residents and tourists alike, had not cleared out before that airport closed and many of them will spend the weekend in schools, hotels and other shelters like you see here far away from beach.

CNN's Susan Candiotti is not away from the beach. Here's her report via videophone.

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (via videophone): It's sobering and impressive as you try to make out the horizon, you can't. All you see is a wall of water coming at you as you look out at the sea. Storm surge supposed to be around 11 feet or so and it appears at times to be higher than that. The palm trees bent over sideways and winds 100 miles per hour.

We are about 20 feet above sea level here and walking over here we can tell you that we're at one of the luxury seaside hotels that line the Gulf of Mexico here in Cancun. Cozumel about 60 miles south of here, as you look over, you can see the waves, again, crashing over here. Many of them going up about 20 feet high. They're all about 40- tiki huts that were on the beach; those were wiped out last night. Now you see remnants, every now and again, washing to shore.

PHILLIPS: We'll catch up with Susan Candiotti, but first, Nancy Reagan there speaking as the president and others salute Ronald Reagan. As President Bush helps dedicate a new Air Force One exhibit, right there in his library.

NANCY REAGAN, FMR. FIRST LADY: So many wonderful memories. It reminds me of the eight years we spent as frequent flyers aboard this plane. Which carried us every corner of the globe. It seems like yesterday that Ronnie and I took our last flight aboard Air Force One as we headed west for what Ronnie playfully called retirement. I can still see him staring out the window in our cabin as he watched Washington disappear against the landscape and as we crossed America and approached Los Angeles, I knew Ronnie was thinking about another exciting chapter in our journey together. Which began 52 years ago in that very city. Retirement would never be. Our life's work would be this library and all it might become. Looking down on that last flight I'm reminded of how difficult it was saying good-bye to the people who had meant so much to us. As the champagne was poured and glasses were raised, someone shouted, mission accomplished, Mr. President, mission accomplished. Those words, so meaningful that day and I believe they're fitting today as we stand in the shadow of this airplane.

The completion of this project is the realization of Ronnie's dream. To attract individuals from all walks of life to his library so they might learn about the presidency and American leadership in the world. I'd like to thank every single person who shared his vision for that day.

So many of you contributed your time and talent and resources to this project and for those gifts I'm truly grateful. It's wonderful that many of the men and women who served aboard the plane are also here today. The pilots, stewards, talented crew, members of the United States Secret Service and those who served in government during Ronnie's presidency. This achievement is yours, as well.

And, as visitors climb the stairs to the door of this airplane, I hope they'll feel as Ronnie and I did every time we arrived on foreign soil in far away countries or return safely home to American shores, grateful for our many blessings. So, I will simply conclude by saying, on behalf of Ronnie and me, thank you and welcome aboard.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you, Mrs. Reagan. Today President Bush shares Ronald Reagan's belief...

PHILLIPS: She's still gracious as ever. Nancy Reagan, of course, wife of former President Ronald Reagan, speaking on behalf of the guests there in Simi Valley at the salute to Ronald Reagan, her husband. President Bush there also, with the first lady by his side, helping dedicate a new Air Force One exhibit at the former president's library. A new pavilion at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, that is going to feature a Boeing 707 which carried Reagan and six other presidents.

Nancy Reagan reflecting on some of the wonderful trips that she and her husband took aboard that Air Force One. Now in this pavilion, it will house a former Marine One helicopter, a presidential limousine and a replica of an Irish pub, no doubt telling the story of Regan's two term presidency.

Now, visitors were told who will tour what you're seeing here, this Air Force One pavilion, you'll actually see Reagan's jellybeans on the planes presidential conference table as well. Let's now listen to the president of the United States.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Thank you all. Thank you all. Afraid you forgot to say, Air Force One brought me out here to California and Laura and I are glad we came. Thanks for the warm welcome.

We -- we're great fans of Nancy Reagan. We admire her strength, we admire the love she has for her husband and we're grateful for your friendship. Thank you, Mrs. Reagan. And I appreciate the invitation to come back to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and I'm proud to stand in this magnificent pavilion that is now home to a celebrated symbol of democracy and freedom.

Across this nation, Americans can visit many great memorials to the cause of liberty. A statue in a busy harbor whose arm carries high the flame of freedom to a quiet field in Arlington field with rows of white tombstones to a mountainside in the heartland carved with the images of America's great leaders. Each evokes a sense of awe and wonder. But none can sore at more than 500 miles an hour, carrying's freedom's message across oceans and continent. It was President Reagan's dream to share Air Force One with the American people. By bringing this plane to his presidential library.

Now, as this pavilion opens, Americans will have the chance to experience first hand the majesty and the power of this incredible aircraft. I want to thank you all for making this possible. This is an important contribution to the history of America. I appreciate Fred Ryan the chairman of the board of trustees and I want to thank al the trustees who are here. I thank Duke Blackwood, the executive director. I appreciate Rob Zuka, he happens to be the Air Force One project specialist, the guy who got the work done.

Traveling with me is Colonel Mark Tillman. Fred mentioned the flight into Baghdad. He was the pilot flying me into Baghdad. I always found it is a good thing to praise your pilot. I appreciate Former Governor, Senator Pete Wilson being here, good to see you and Gale, thanks for coming. Former Attorney General Ed Mese and Ursula.

Members of the United States Congress, all of whom I'm about to mentioned jumped on Air Force One yesterday to fly from Washington to Los Angeles. They heard it's quite comfortable. Elton Galige (ph) and his wife Janice, Elton is the congressman from this district. David Brier and Dana Roarbacker thank you all for coming. I know Mayor Paul Miller is with us, Mr. Mayor thank you for being here. Appreciate you coming. The only advice I have, is fill the potholes.

We're proud that the (INAUDIBLE) of the United States Alan Weinstein is with us, as well as acting secretary of the Air Force Pete Gehrig. But, most of all, thanks for inviting Laura and me to be here. There is no single aircraft called Air Force One. That call sign belongs to any air force plane when the commander in chief is on board.

And this particular plane, tail number 27,000, bore the name of Air Force One 4,445 times. For 28 years in service to seven American presidents starting with Richard Nixon and ending with me. Of all the presidents that tail number 27,000 served none used for more than President Ronald Reagan. It was 25 years ago this November that the American people sent Ronald Reagan to the White House for his first of two terms.

Mrs. Reagan recalls their first time on board together. When this plane carried them from California to Washington, D.C., for the 1981 inaugural. As the president-elect attended the paperwork, Mrs. Reagan said she was busy writing letters to friends on Air Force One stationary. That said this. Look at me; I'm flying on Air Force One. And all the flights that followed. Nancy was always on the president's flight. Aides recall whenever he traveled alone; President Reagan would bow his head in silence before each takeoff. When asked why he did so the president replied that he was asking the lord to take care of Nancy, should something happen to him.

During his eight years in office this plane carried our 40th president on 211 missions, logging more than 630,000 miles in the air. The plane brought President Reagan to London where he declared to the world that freedom and democracy would leave communism on the ash heap of history. This plane brought President Reagan to Berlin where he challenged General Secretary Gorbachev to tear down this wall. And this plane brought President Reagan to Moscow where he stood beneath a giant bust of Lennon and told the students at Moscow State University that the future belongs to freedom.

No matter how many hours he spent in the air, President Reagan never lost his sense of humor. One of his favorite pastimes aboard Air Force One was prowling the staff cabin with the White House photographer in tow looking for somebody who was asleep. He would pose next to the unknown victim and then send them a signed picture when they got home.

One day Secretary of State George Shultz received a photo of himself asleep with his mouth wide open as the president waved his arms and mocked desperation. The inscription read, "George, wake up. The Soviets are coming." President and Mrs. Reagan flew this plane together for the last time on January 20, 1989, when it brought them back home to California.

Now, 16 years later, this plane has found a home beneath the pacific sky alongside the president, she so ably served. It's appropriate that this symbol of American strength and resilience and optimism has come to rest at the library that bears Ronald Reagan's name. After all, it was President Reagan who always reminded us that when we set our eyes on the horizon, every day is morning in America. As Nancy Reagan has said, the Reagan Library is a place the sun will never set on the principals that Ronnie believed in so deeply.

Ronald Reagan's principals started with an abiding belief in the power and in the appeal of liberty. He believed that freedom is the right of every man, woman and child on earth. He recognized that freedom was opposed by dangerous enemies and he understood that America has always prevailed by standing firmly on principals. And never backing down in the face of evil.

Beginning of his presidency, Ronald Reagan declared that the years ahead would be great ones for the cause of freedom in the spread of civilization. He dismissed communism as a bizarre chapter in human history whose last pages were being written. For eight years he acted on that conviction, shortly after he left office, the Berlin Wall came down, the evil empire collapsed and the cause of liberty prevailed in the Cold War. The pavilion that we open today includes a Cold War gallery for a new generation will learn about the great victory for freedom that President Reagan's leadership helped secure. They'll see how President Reagan rallied the world's democracies to defend liberty against the to Talitarian aspirations against Soviet communism. They'll see how his strategy and vision secured a free and peaceful Europe. They will learn that the key to victory lay in our resolve to stay in the fight until the fight was won. As President Reagan put it in his Westminster Address, while our military strength is a prerequisite to peace, the ultimate determinate will not be bombs and rockets, but a test of will and ideas. A trial of spiritual resolve, the values we hold, the beliefs we cherished to which we are dedicated. Because of Ronald Reagan's leadership America prevailed and the 20th century great struggle of wills.

And now in this new century our freedom is, once again, being tested by determined enemies. The terrorists who attacked us on September 11th, 2001, are followers of a radical and violent ideology. They exploit the religion of Islam to serve a violent political vision. The establishment of a totalitarian empire that denies all political and religious freedom. These extremists desert the idea of Jihad into a call for terrorist murder against Christians and Jews and Hindus and against Muslims from other traditions who they regard as heretics.

Like the ideology of communism, our new enemy is Elitist, led by self-appointed vanguard of Islamic militants that presume to speak for the Muslim masses. Like the ideology of communism, our new enemy teaches that the innocent can be murdered to serve a political vision. Like the ideology of communism, our new enemy pursues Totitarian ames. Like the ideology of communism our new enemy is dismissing the free peoples, claiming that men and women who live in liberty are weak and decadent.

Like the ideology of communism, Islamic radicalism is doomed to fail. It will fail because it undermines the freedom and creativity that make human progress possible and human society successful. The only thing modern about our enemy's vision is the weapons they want to use against us. The rest of their grim vision is defined by warped image of the past. The declaration of war and the idea of progress itself. Whatever lies ahead in the war against this ideology, the outcome is not in doubt. Those who despise freedom and the progress have condemned themselves to isolation, decline and collapse. Because free peoples believe in the future, free peoples will own the future.

We didn't ask for this global struggle but we're answering history's call with confidence and a comprehensive strategy. We're working to prevent the attacks of terrorist networks before they occur. We're determined to deny weapons of mass destruction to outlaw regimes and to their terrorist allies who would use them without hesitation.

We're depriving radical groups and sanctionary from outlaw regimes. We're stopping the militants from gaining control of any nation, which they would use as a home base and a launching pad for terror. And we're draining the militants of future recruits by replacing hatred and resentment with democracy and hope and freedom across the broader Middle East. We will prevail in the war on terror. Because this generation is determined to meet the threats of our time. We understand our duty; we understand our responsibility to the American people. There will be tough moments ahead on this path to victory; yet, we have confidence in our cause because we have seen America face down brutal enemies before.

We have confidence in our cause because we have seen the power of freedom to overcome the dark ideologies of tyranny and terror. And we have confidence in our cause because we believe, as President Ronald Reagan did, that freedom is one of the deepest and noblest aspirations of the human spirit.

Thank you all for having us. May god bless Ronald Reagan and may god continue to bless the United States of America.

PHILLIPS: President of the United States, his wife, of course, the first lady by his side, along with Nancy Reagan. As he and Nancy Reagan and everybody there at the presidential library help dedicate a new Air Force One exhibit at the former president's library.

We're going to see the ribbon cutting in just a moment. The Air Force One pavilion, pretty amazing place. If you've ever seen where the Gray Goose is out in Oregon, same type of massive hangar that is protecting that Air Force One aircraft also in there in the pavilion is a former marine one helicopter, a presidential limousine and a replica of an Irish pub. The president and the first lady and Nancy Reagan slowly making their way over to the pavilion as the, of course, the military band plays.

I'm also told that the Thunderbirds are supposed to make a flyby, the Air Force Thunderbirds just over the pavilion. So, we might get a shot of that, too, as they make their way over to this pavilion. With Air Force One that Nancy Reagan and her husband, the president, used to ride on, this Boeing 707. It carried Reagan and actually six other presidents and the president of the United States even talked about the fact that he had memories aboard that same aircraft.

Now, also in this pavilion, as the three make their way up to the aircraft is also, like I said, a former marine one helicopter and also a presidential limousine and also a replica of an Irish pub, no doubt telling a lot behind the story of Ronald Reagan's two-term presidency.

Now we are also told that visitors who come to this pavilion now and are able to tour the Air Force One Boeing 707 that the president used to fly in, you'll actually be able -- there will be, you know, President Reagan loved jellybeans and right there on the aircraft on the conference table in that aircraft will be a cup of those jellybeans representing, of course, one of the president's favorite snacks.

Once again, if you're just tuning in, we're watching the dedication of Air Force One at President Reagan's Presidential Library. The president of the United States there with the first lady and also Nancy Reagan. Nancy Reagan, as gray graceful as ever, is giving a beautiful speech. Just talking about her husband, his presidency and the time that they spent, many frequent fliers she said they wracked up. Here is the ribbon cutting for the new pavilion.

Let's see if we'll be able to get a shot. I don't know, I'll ask my director right now; do we have an outdoor camera that might capture the Thunderbirds? This is our ongoing live shot. It might be hard to see them dart through, because it's really hot considering the lighting inside that pavilion. It might knock out a shot of those Thunderbirds as they come across. We'll stand by and see if we can see them.

But within this celebration, a little bit of controversy also. His appearance, the president's appearance at a GOP fund-raiser has upset some California Republicans. Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's trying to court independents and Democrats to voter blocks that typically haven't supported Bush. We heard the Thunderbirds, but, unfortunately, we couldn't see them.

Schwarzenegger is not showing up to the meet with the president. He is pushing several initiatives on the November 8 ballot and the governor's campaign expressed disappointment that the president would travel to the state and raise money just two and half weeks before the special elections. Little bit of controversy there involving fund- raisings and money towards what Schwarzenegger is trying to do and what the president is trying to do.

But nevertheless, a special celebration for Nancy Reagan as they now step on to Air Force One for a final time there together as it's formally dedicated there at the former president's library.

Well from Key West to Washington, officials are keeping a close eye on hurricane Wilma. In just a few minutes, FEMA's acting director is expected to brief reporters on what the agency is doing to respond to the storm. We'll bring that to you as soon as it happens.

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