The Reagan centennial: A legacy of progress

Long before he ran for office, Ronald Reagan served as the host of the weekly TV series, General Electric Theater — and as a GE goodwill ambassador from 1954 to 1962. He also traveled to 139 GE plants — inspiring employees with his optimism, entrepreneurial spirit and a belief in innovation. Building on that shared history, GE today announced that it will partner with The Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation to become the Presenting Sponsor of the historic Ronald Reagan Centennial Celebration — which is a two-year-long commemoration of President Reagan’s 100th birthday on February 6, 2011. This morning, GE announced details of its $15 million sponsorship — including a fund that will provide 200 four-year college scholarships over the next decade. Later today at the Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California, GE’s Chairman and CEO Jeff Immelt will give a talk – which can be viewed live at 6 p.m. Pacific time on the Library’s website — with former First Lady Nancy Reagan among those in attendance.

Way back when…. Click on the images to start a slide show of photographs from Ronald Reagan’s GE days. Select “Show Info” in the upper right menu when it launches in order to read the captions.

During each General Electric Theater episode, Reagan highlighted the work of GE’s employees by promoting the company’s technologies — punctuating each spot with GE’s tag line at the time: “Progress is Our Most Important Product.” As President Reagan wrote in his memoirs: “Looking back now, I realize it wasn’t a bad apprenticeship for someone who’d someday enter public life…. The GE tours became almost a graduate course in political science.”

Innovation matters: The TV spot below, which will be running during the Centennial, features clips from Reagan’s GE days. More photos, videos, archival footage, and remembrances can be found on the website, www.ge.com/reagan

GE’s sponsorship includes funds to support the completely transformed Museum at the Reagan Library, which will include a new General Electric Theater. GE is also donating 208 restored episodes of General Electric Theater in which Reagan hosted or appeared from 1954-1962. Many of the episodes which were thought to be lost — and some that were damaged — were recently uncovered in GE/NBC Universal’s archives and restored to broadcast quality for purposes of the renovated Reagan Museum.

Home sweet home: Take a tour of the Reagan’s home and all of its products that help them “live better electrically,” as the old slogan goes, in the General Electric Theater clip below.

Back to the future: A letter from a young General Electric Theater viewer is the launching point for the “Progress Report” below from Reagan’s years at GE.

As Jeff wrote in his prepared remarks for tonight’s speech: “1954 to 1962 were special years at GE. According to his memoirs, President Reagan considered his time at GE the second most-important eight-year job he ever had. GE is honored by the association. But I suspect we learned from him more than he learned from us. And the most important thing President Reagan taught all Americans is in this remarkable country, you can succeed as many times as you have the courage and initiative and vision to try.”

* Read today’s announcement
* Learn more about the centennial at www.reagancentennial.com
* See more videos and photos on wwww.ge.com/Reagan
* Read coverage by Matt Lewis “GE and Ronald Reagan: The Mutual Gift That Keeps on Giving”
* See more of Reagan’s General Electric Theater spots by clicking the videos in this slideshow

Read Reagan essays on our website by:
* Thomas W. Evans, author of The Education of Ronald Reagan: The General Electric Years and the Untold Story of his Conversion to Conservatism
* Peggy Noonan, who was a special assistant to President Reagan and is a columnist for the Wall Street Journal
* Andrea Mitchell, NBC News Correspondent

Check back tomorrow for more videos and remembrances from Reagan’s GE years.