Video: Happy 101st Birthday President Reagan
After his brief stint in Hollywood, however, he switched to the right and and is known to have said, "I didn't leave the Democratic Party. The party left me."
Fans of Ronald Reagan, the 40th U.S. president, celebrate on Monday his 101st birthday at a ceremony at his Presidential Library in Simi Valley.
The ceremony includes a color guard, chaplain, a brass quintet, a 21- gun salute and the placing of an official White House wreath on Reagan's gravesite.
Video: "The Great Communicator"
Former Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, who was a political aide in the Reagan administration, delivers the keynote address.
The celebration coincides with the state’s second Ronald Reagan Day that was enacted under a 2010 law written by former state Sen. George Runner.
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SB 944 establishes Feb. 6 as a special day of significance in honor of Reagan, akin to other days celebrating naturalist John Muir, California teachers and the California poppy.
The bill did not create a state holiday and does not cost the taxpayers money.
“In these challenging economic times, we can learn much from our former governor and president,” said Runner, now a member of the Board of Equalization. “Ronald Reagan believed in the American people and he was confident that our nation's brightest days are ahead of us.”
Runner invited all Californians to visit www.facebook.com/ReaganDay to share a favorite memory, quote, photo or video of Reagan.
Twitter users are invited to tweet their memories using the hash tag #ReaganDay.
Los Angeles County Supervisor Mike Antonovich called Reagan “a gracious, humble patriot” who “brought respect, dignity and principle to the state house and White House.
“Through his leadership, along with Margaret Thatcher and Pope John Paul II, the Berlin Wall collapsed, we saw the end of Soviet communism and the hammer and sickle joined the swastika on the junk pile of history,” said Antonovich, who served in the Assembly when Reagan was governor, was his representative on the Platform Committee at the 1976 Republican National Convention and his appointee to several federal commissions.
You can watch the ceremony online.
America remembers our beloved 40th president today! In honor of President Reagan’s 101st birthday, Americans For Prosperity put together the great video above reminding us of the time-tested truths Reagan stood for. 
at the Reagan Ranch in Santa Barbara, CA
Last year at this time, I had the honor of speaking at the Young America’s Foundation’s Reagan Centennial dinner at the Reagan Ranch Center in Santa Barbara. You can watch or read the speech here; it was an homage to Reagan’s famous “Time for Choosing” and a discussion of the state of our nation today.
During the Illinois leg of the One Nation Tour, we got to visit Reagan’s hometown of Dixon, as well as his alma mater, Eureka College. It was a very moving experience, which I wrote about here, here and here.
As I wrote in an op-ed last year on Reagan’s centennial:
I had the privilege of coming of age during the era of Ronald Reagan. I like to think of him as America's lifeguard. As a teenager, Ronald Reagan saved 77 lives as a lifeguard on the Rock River, which ran through his hometown of Dixon, Ill. The day he was inaugurated in 1981, a local radio announcer famously declared, "The Rock River flows for you tonight, Mr. President."
The image of the lifeguard seems to represent what Reagan was to America and to the freedom-loving people of the world. He lifted our country up at a time when we were in the depths of economic, cultural and spiritual malaise. We were told that we must accept that the era of American greatness was over; but with his optimism and common sense, President Reagan held up a mirror to the American soul to remind us of our exceptionalism.
at the Rock River in Dixon, IL
Happy Birthday from the Palins!
When Ronald Reagan passed away after his long fight with Alzheimer's where few saw him because of his beloved Nancy’s diligent attempt to preserve the public’s memory of the President in a better light than the final years treated him. The outpouring of love and attendance of events as people of both parties lined the streets of Simi Valley for miles, portrayed what would be his place in history. Ronnie was a larger than life figure that brought people together. People of both parties loved Reagan as a person and as an American hero who fought for America (and California), whether you agreed with his politics or not. Just about everyone loved Ronnie because he love them and America! M~
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