Grand Valley to host premier of Reagan documentary

Grand Valley State University’s Hauenstein Center for Presidential Studies and WGVU Public Media will host an early premiere of a new PBS television special, “The Reagan Presidency”, on January 17.

The three-part documentary includes many new and diverse perspectives and insights into the 40th president, including long-term implications of Reagan administration policies. The series will also include material not seen or heard in previous documentaries, including Secret Service audio recordings from the minutes following the 1981 assassination attempt and videotape recordings of the president’s weekly radio addresses.

The premiere event will feature clips from the three-part series, followed by commentary and a question and answer period with writer-director Chip Duncan and executive producer David Crouse. The premiere is free and open to the public. An RSVP is requested online (http://gvsu.edu/s/jS).

"The Reagan Presidency"

January 17

7 p.m.

Loosemore Auditorium, GVSU Pew Grand Rapids Campus

Hauenstein Center director and presidential historian Gleaves Whitney will also take part in the premiere, and will offer historical perspective on the former president and his administration.

The first hour of the special will be broadcast on WGVU Public Media on Sunday, Jan. 27 from 3-4 p.m. The documentary features interviews with notable Reagan staff members, congressional leaders, scholars, journalists and presidential biographers. They include Sandra Day O’Connor, Condoleezza Rice, Robert Reich, George Shultz, Douglas Brinkley, Richard Reeves, Andrew Young, Henry Cisneros, Jim Angle, Steven Weisman, Paul Volcker, Bill Bradley, Kiron Skinner, Gary Hart, Andrei Grachev, Trita Parsi, Reza Aslan and Oscar Arias, among others.

For more information, contact the Hauenstein Center at hauensteincenter.org or (616) 331-2770.