Please note, Friends of President Reagan's Chicago Home dissolved the corporation in 2016.
Thank you for your support.
Mary Claire Kendall
Friday, January 27, 2017
Tuesday, May 12, 2015
South Side of Chicago: Great President Gets Short Shrift
Today
came the news
that the Obama Library will, in fact, be located within a few blocks
of President Reagan’s Chicago Home, demolished on April 2-4, 2013, to make room
for the legacy of a president rated mediocre at best. But
then history will be the ultimate judge. What we do know, however, is this: Ronald Reagan was a great president.
Below is
the article my colleague Nick Hahn III and I wrote for the Chicago Sun-Times as the Reagan
home lay in the balance in March 2013; as well as an earlier draft that
tells the story of just how much this home meant to President Reagan, the only
president born and bred in Illinois.
When I
reflect on how the memory of President Reagan was destroyed with such
callousness and, by extension, on how so much has been destroyed the last 6
years, I recall the words of another great president, associated with Illinois,
Abe Lincoln, during similarly high times of peril for the nation: “This too
shall pass.”
*******
Save the Chicago home of Ronald
Reagan
Chicago Sun-Times
By Mary
Claire Kendall and Nicholas Hahn III
The only Chicago home of the only president born and bred in Illinois is poised
for demolition when the city’s 90-day administrative hold expires on March
29.
The home
will not be granted landmark status, we’ve already been told.
That we
even know where Reagan lived in Chicago, for about a year when he was 4, is due
to the dogged determination of the late Sun-Times columnist Thomas F. Roeser.
The
minute Ronald Reagan was sworn in as 40th president of the United States,
Roesser went to work. Candidate Reagan had mentioned to him in passing as the
two scurried through Chicago’s O’Hare airport in 1979 that he had lived in the
city of “I Will” as a young child.
After the
Inauguration, Roeser discovered through police records, on a tip from the
president that his father’s drinking often landed him in the pokey, that the
Reagans had lived at 832 East 57th Street on the edge of the University of
Chicago campus.
When
Reagan made it back to Chicago for the centennial observance of the United
Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners in September 1981, Roeser arranged to
have a photo of the home taken and framed for Mayor Jane Byrne to give him.
“Mr.
President,” Mayor Byrne ceremoniously said, “on your return to Chicago, I
hereby present you a photo of your Chicago home.”
Looking at the photo, the President became misty-eyed as all the memories
welled up inside of him. This son of an itinerant and frequently unemployed
shoe salesman living in a poor, rough-and-tumble Irish working-class city had
come a long way.
Today,
that once-photographed building Reagan called home stands alone. It’s all
that’s left of an entire block between Maryland and Drexel streets on East 57th
Street, all else demolished by the University of Chicago to make way for a
hospital and research facility.
The
90-day review of Reagan’s Chicago home — an essential slice of his Midwestern
character — is winding down. An informed source at the city’s Department of
Housing and Economic Development told us it does not meet the criteria of being
associated with Reagan’s productive years, which is just as spurious a claim
now as it was in 2012 when landmark status first was denied. Reagan’s
productive years were made possible only because he survived near-fatal
pneumonia in that home. Furthermore, the Dixon Boyhood Home, where President
Reagan lived from 1920-1924 (ages 9-13), was landmarked by the federal Park
Service, which sets the criteria.
That
inconsistency notwithstanding, Reagan’s Chicago home will not be preserved
unless the University of Chicago has a change of heart. Only the university can
save it.
The
Friends of President Reagan’s Chicago home proposes transforming 832 E. 57th
Street into a museum and center. All the university needs to do is amend their
Planned Development #43. The museum would replicate the flat as it looked in
1915 when young “Dutch” Reagan, age 4, would gaze out the window to the
excitement outside. The center would celebrate Reagan’s historic presidency and
his diverse and inclusive background.
Mary Claire Kendall, a Washington-based
writer who contributes a regular column to Forbes.com, is president of the
Friends of President Reagan’s Chicago Home. Nicholas G. Hahn III is deputy
editor of RealClearReligion.org and a member of the Friends board of directors.
*******
Chicago’s Mayor Brought Ronald Reagan to Brink
of Tears – Then and Now
By Mary Claire Kendall and Nicholas Hahn III
The
minute Ronald Reagan was sworn-in as 40th President of the United States, the
late Sun-Times columnist Thomas F. Roeser was a man on a mission.
Candidate
Reagan had mentioned to him in passing, as the two scurried through Chicago's
O'Hare airport in 1979 that he had once lived in the city of “I Will” as a boy.
Roeser thought it might be worthwhile to know exactly where Reagan had laid his
head. After the inauguration, Roeser phoned the White House and through some
channels, he got his answer: Jack Reagan was a common drunk. Look it up.
Sure
enough, Roeser discovered through police records that the Reagans had lived at
832 East 57th Street on the edge of the University of Chicago campus. “What
struck me about that experience was the comfort that Reagan had living in his
own skin, the son of an alcoholic, who suggested that his father's detention
records be looked up,” Roeser later wrote. “Not many successful men – much less the president
of the United States –
When
Reagan made it back to Chicago for the Centennial Observance of the United
Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners in September 1981, Roeser arranged to
have a photo of the home taken and framed for Mayor Jane Byrne to give him.
“Mr.
President,” Mayor Byrne ceremoniously said, “on your return to Chicago, I
hereby present you a photo of your Chicago home.” Looking at the photo, the
President became misty-eyed as all the memories welled up inside of him. This
son of an itinerant and frequently unemployed shoe salesman living in a poor,
rough-and-tumble Irish working-class city had come a long way.
Today,
that once-photographed building Reagan once called home stands alone. It’s all
that’s left of an entire block between Maryland and Drexel on East 57th Street,
demolished by the University of Chicago to make way for a hospital and research
facility. Ironically enough, it sits across from the newly inaugurated Center
for Care and Discovery which features state-of-the-art Alzheimer's research.
Reagan’s
Chicago home – the essential slice of his Midwestern character – is currently
undergoing a 90-day review set to expire on March 29. But according to Eleanor
Gorski, Assistant Commissioner for Historic Preservation at the Department of
Housing and Economic Development, it does not meet the standard of having been
the home of a famous person when that person was famous. And so, Reagan's
Chicago home will not be landmarked.
Friends
of President Reagan’s Chicago Home, of which we are both board members, is
working to begin negotiations with the University to stop the demolition and
transform the building into a museum and center. It would replicate the flat as
it looked in 1915 when young “Dutch” Reagan, age 4, would look out the window
to the excitement outside. The center would celebrate Reagan's historic
presidency and his diverse and inclusive background.
The
ordinariness of it all – where one of our most extraordinary presidents once
lived -- is worth preserving.
Mary
Claire Kendall, a Washington based writer, is the President of the
Friends of President Reagan’s Chicago Home. Nicholas G. Hahn III is Deputy
Editor of RealClearReligion.org and
a member of the Friends Board of Directors. Follow him on Twitter @NGHahn3.
Today
came the news
that the Obama Library will, in fact, be located within a few blocks
of President Reagan’s Chicago Home, demolished on April 2-4, 2013, to make room
for the legacy of a president rated mediocre at best. But
then history will be the ultimate judge. What we do know, however, is this: Ronald Reagan was a great president.
Below is
the article my colleague Nick Hahn III and I wrote for the Chicago Sun-Times as the Reagan
home lay in the balance in March 2013; as well as an earlier draft that
tells the story of just how much this home meant to President Reagan, the only
president born and bred in Illinois.
When I
reflect on how the memory of President Reagan was destroyed with such
callousness and, by extension, on how so much has been destroyed the last 6
years, I recall the words of another great president, associated with Illinois,
Abe Lincoln, during similarly high times of peril for the nation: “This too
shall pass.”
*******
Save the Chicago home of Ronald
Reagan
Chicago Sun-Times
March 22, 2013
By Mary
Claire Kendall and Nicholas Hahn III
The only Chicago home of the only president born and bred in Illinois is poised for demolition when the city’s 90-day administrative hold expires on March 29.
The home
will not be granted landmark status, we’ve already been told.
That we
even know where Reagan lived in Chicago, for about a year when he was 4, is due
to the dogged determination of the late Sun-Times columnist Thomas F. Roeser.
The
minute Ronald Reagan was sworn in as 40th president of the United States,
Roesser went to work. Candidate Reagan had mentioned to him in passing as the
two scurried through Chicago’s O’Hare airport in 1979 that he had lived in the
city of “I Will” as a young child.
After the
Inauguration, Roeser discovered through police records, on a tip from the
president that his father’s drinking often landed him in the pokey, that the
Reagans had lived at 832 East 57th Street on the edge of the University of
Chicago campus.
When
Reagan made it back to Chicago for the centennial observance of the United
Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners in September 1981, Roeser arranged to
have a photo of the home taken and framed for Mayor Jane Byrne to give him.
“Mr.
President,” Mayor Byrne ceremoniously said, “on your return to Chicago, I
hereby present you a photo of your Chicago home.”
Looking at the photo, the President became misty-eyed as all the memories welled up inside of him. This son of an itinerant and frequently unemployed shoe salesman living in a poor, rough-and-tumble Irish working-class city had come a long way.
Today,
that once-photographed building Reagan called home stands alone. It’s all
that’s left of an entire block between Maryland and Drexel streets on East 57th
Street, all else demolished by the University of Chicago to make way for a
hospital and research facility.
Ironically
enough, it sits across from the university’s newly inaugurated Center for Care
and Discovery, which conducts state-of-the-art Alzheimer’s research.
The
90-day review of Reagan’s Chicago home — an essential slice of his Midwestern
character — is winding down. An informed source at the city’s Department of
Housing and Economic Development told us it does not meet the criteria of being
associated with Reagan’s productive years, which is just as spurious a claim
now as it was in 2012 when landmark status first was denied. Reagan’s
productive years were made possible only because he survived near-fatal
pneumonia in that home. Furthermore, the Dixon Boyhood Home, where President
Reagan lived from 1920-1924 (ages 9-13), was landmarked by the federal Park
Service, which sets the criteria.
That
inconsistency notwithstanding, Reagan’s Chicago home will not be preserved
unless the University of Chicago has a change of heart. Only the university can
save it.
The
Friends of President Reagan’s Chicago home proposes transforming 832 E. 57th
Street into a museum and center. All the university needs to do is amend their
Planned Development #43. The museum would replicate the flat as it looked in
1915 when young “Dutch” Reagan, age 4, would gaze out the window to the
excitement outside. The center would celebrate Reagan’s historic presidency and
his diverse and inclusive background.
The
ordinariness of it all — where one of our most extraordinary presidents once lived
— is worth preserving.
Mary Claire Kendall, a Washington-based
writer who contributes a regular column to Forbes.com, is president of the
Friends of President Reagan’s Chicago Home. Nicholas G. Hahn III is deputy
editor of RealClearReligion.org and a member of the Friends board of directors.
*******
By Mary Claire Kendall and Nicholas Hahn III
Thursday, April 4, 2013
Reagan Chicago Home Epitaph: "The Hearts Got Small"
 |
| Photograph of Ronald "Dutch" Reagan (with "Dutch boy" haircut), Neil Reagan (brother) and parents Jack and Nelle Reagan, ca. 1914, shortly before the family moved to the Chicago home at 832 E. 57th Street, which was callously demolished by the University of Chicago, April 2-4, 2013. |
The Reagan Chicago flat will be demolished today. Thus will the last remnants of the building, in which God was cultivating the soul of a president and that uniquely winning personality, be decimated. Young Ronald “Dutch” Reagan developed memories there, which, as DNAinfo.com reported yesterday, and Drudge re-posted, he wrote about in his 1990 autobiography, An American Life:
When I was (three), we moved to Chicago where my father had gotten a promising job selling shoes at the Marshall Field’s department store. We moved into a small flat near the University of Chicago that was lighted by a single gas jet brought to life with the deposit of a quarter in a slot down the hall.
Jack’s job didn’t pay as well as he had hoped, and that meant Nelle had to make a soup bone last several days and be creative in other ways with her cooking. On Saturdays, she usually sent my brother to the butcher with a request for some liver (liver wasn’t very popular in those days) to feed our family at—which didn’t exist. The liver became our Sunday dinner.
In Chicago I got a serious case of bronchial pneumonia and while I was recuperating one of our neighbors brought me several of his son’s lead soldiers. I spent hours standing them up on the bed covers and pushing them back and forth in mock combat. To this day I get a little thrill out of seeing a cabinet full of toy soldiers.
Our stay in Chicago introduced me to a congested urban world of gas-lit sidewalks and streets alive with people, carriages, trolley cars, and occasional automobiles. Once, while watching a clanging horse-drawn fire engine race past me with a cloud of steam rising behind it, I decided that it was my intention in life to become a fireman.
After we’d been in Chicago for less than two years, Jack was offered a job at O.T. Johnson’s, a big department store in Galesburg 140 miles to the west of Chicago, and we moved again, this time to a completely different world. Instead of noisy streets and crowds of people, it consisted of meadows and caves, trees and streams, and the joys of small-town life. From that time onward, I guess I’ve always been partial to small towns and the outdoors.
On this morning, I guess I’m partial to small towns and the outdoors, too, Dutch. And, while I encountered wonderful-hearted folks on my visits to Chicago—I’ve never gotten more compliments on my hat!—as I told Lee Bey, “To paraphrase Billy Wilder’s classic line in Sunset Boulevard, in the end, Reagan is still big. It’s the hearts that got small.” —“Bulldozers roll on Ronald Reagan's boyhood home in Hyde Park,” Beyond the Boat Tour.
As President of the Friends of President Reagan’s Chicago Home, I want to thank my wonderfully supportive board, including founding members Peter Hannaford and Matthew A. Rarey, and permanent members Don Totten, Dan Proft, Nicholas Hahn III and Matt. I also want to thank other members of my marvelous “core team” including true friends like Fr. C. John McCloskey, Dick Vie, Jeff Phillips, Paul Fisher, Joe Morris, John Ruberry, Sam Guard, Ann Lewis, Robert Russell, A.C. Lyles, Craig Shirley, Diana Banister—and, of course, the irrepressible late Redd Griffin, on whose behalf I took up this cause—and so many others, some of whom had to work under the radar, given the “Chicago Way.” Some of my team provided only moral support, which was worth its weight in gold. We worked hard to advance a “just cause,” as Fr. C. John described it. But, it was not to be.
As President of the Friends of President Reagan’s Chicago Home, I want to thank my wonderfully supportive board, including founding members Peter Hannaford and Matthew A. Rarey, and permanent members Don Totten, Dan Proft, Nicholas Hahn III and Matt. I also want to thank other members of my marvelous “core team” including true friends like Fr. C. John McCloskey, Dick Vie, Jeff Phillips, Paul Fisher, Joe Morris, John Ruberry, Sam Guard, Ann Lewis, Robert Russell, A.C. Lyles, Craig Shirley, Diana Banister—and, of course, the irrepressible late Redd Griffin, on whose behalf I took up this cause—and so many others, some of whom had to work under the radar, given the “Chicago Way.” Some of my team provided only moral support, which was worth its weight in gold. We worked hard to advance a “just cause,” as Fr. C. John described it. But, it was not to be.
 |
| In front of President Reagan's Chicago home, 832 E. 57th Street, Friday, November 30, wearing that hat that won so many compliments! Credit: Matthew A. Rarey |
And, so I
return full-time to my first love—writing. As my friend Charles
Scribner III wrote me last night in this stress-melting classic line,
“Monuments in words such as yours will always outlast bricks and mortar!”
So, too, the monument Reagan constructed in An American Life has outlasted the home in which those memories about which he wrote were formed.
Mary Claire Kendall is a Washington-based writer, who was elected on March 4, 2013 to serve as president of the Friends of President Reagan’s Chicago Home by the Board of Directors. She had been informally serving in that capacity since Friends incorporated in the State of Illinois on January 16, 2013. She began spearheading the initiative on November 30, 2012.
So, too, the monument Reagan constructed in An American Life has outlasted the home in which those memories about which he wrote were formed.
Mary Claire Kendall is a Washington-based writer, who was elected on March 4, 2013 to serve as president of the Friends of President Reagan’s Chicago Home by the Board of Directors. She had been informally serving in that capacity since Friends incorporated in the State of Illinois on January 16, 2013. She began spearheading the initiative on November 30, 2012.
.JPG)
LINKS TO ARTICLES
Articles in bold italics were either written (one co-written) by, or quote,
Mary Claire Kendall, President, Friends of President Reagan's Chicago Home:
http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/reagan-big-hearts-small_720609.html
http://www.chicagomag.com/Radar/Deal-Estate/April-2013/Tearing-Down-Ronald-Reagans-Boyhood-Apartment-Was-Just-Wrong/Articles in bold italics were either written (one co-written) by, or quote,
Mary Claire Kendall, President, Friends of President Reagan's Chicago Home:
http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/reagan-big-hearts-small_720609.html
http://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20130403/hyde-park/ronald-reagans-boyhood-home-being-demolished-by-university-of-chicago
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2303589/President-Reagans-childhood-Chicago-home-demolished-University-Chicago-turns-parking-lot.html?ito=feeds-newsxml
http://www.weeklystandard.com/keyword/Reagan's-Home-in-Chicago
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/ct-oped-0401-reagan-20130401,0,3481356.story
http://www.suntimes.com/news/otherviews/19033975-452/mary-claire-kendall-and-nicholas-hahn-iii-save-the-chicago-home-of-ronald-reagan.html
http://www.realclearreligion.org/articles/2013/02/06/win_one_more_for_the_gipper.html
http://www.forbes.com/sites/maryclairekendall/2013/02/06/ronald-reagans-heart-two-emotional-landmarks/
http://washingtonexaminer.com/op-ed-the-real-story-on-ronald-reagans-childhood-home/article/2520514
http://spectator.org/archives/2012/12/11/historic-home-or-grassy-strip
http://washingtonexaminer.com/hyde-park-showdown-over-reagans-childhood-home/article/2515272
April 6, 2013—Correspondence with financial supporter:
And, finally, here’s the link to our first blog, December 14-January 19.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/ct-oped-0401-reagan-20130401,0,3481356.story
http://www.suntimes.com/news/otherviews/19033975-452/mary-claire-kendall-and-nicholas-hahn-iii-save-the-chicago-home-of-ronald-reagan.html
http://www.realclearreligion.org/articles/2013/02/06/win_one_more_for_the_gipper.html
http://www.forbes.com/sites/maryclairekendall/2013/02/06/ronald-reagans-heart-two-emotional-landmarks/
http://washingtonexaminer.com/op-ed-the-real-story-on-ronald-reagans-childhood-home/article/2520514
http://spectator.org/archives/2012/12/11/historic-home-or-grassy-strip
http://washingtonexaminer.com/hyde-park-showdown-over-reagans-childhood-home/article/2515272
April 6, 2013—Correspondence with financial supporter:
“You fought hard Mary Claire. You did your best and will be
remembered for that.”
“Thank you, Ed. And, thank you for your support. This week’s events cast a big neon light on the fissure in America today. Of course, Reagan’s Chicago home should have be saved—that was a no-brainer. That it wasn’t says nothing about Reagan but about how small the hearts have become, as I commented in my summary statement to Lee Bey in this piece. On the other hand, as one distinguished friend commented, it showed how much we cared. And if our effort accomplished anything, it accomplished that. Now we just need to translate that passion into winning the battles Ronald Reagan cared so deeply about.”
“Thank you, Ed. And, thank you for your support. This week’s events cast a big neon light on the fissure in America today. Of course, Reagan’s Chicago home should have be saved—that was a no-brainer. That it wasn’t says nothing about Reagan but about how small the hearts have become, as I commented in my summary statement to Lee Bey in this piece. On the other hand, as one distinguished friend commented, it showed how much we cared. And if our effort accomplished anything, it accomplished that. Now we just need to translate that passion into winning the battles Ronald Reagan cared so deeply about.”
And, finally, here’s the link to our first blog, December 14-January 19.
Monday, April 1, 2013
Chicago Tribune op-ed: "Save Reagan's Chicago Home"
Time is short... only a miracle will save President Reagan's Chicago home... the same kind of miracle that saved Reagan when an assassin's bullet felled and nearly killed him 32 years ago Saturday, when wrecking and demolition equipment showed up on the site of Reagan's Chicago home... and the same kind of miracle that saved him when he survived near-fatal pneumonia at the very home that is now poised to be demolished...
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/ct-oped-0401-reagan-20130401,0,3481356.story
http://eedition.chicagotribune.com/Olive/ODE/ChicagoTribune/LandingPage/LandingPage.aspx?href=Q1RDLzIwMTMvMDQvMDE.&pageno=MTU.&entity=QXIwMTUwMQ..&view=ZW50aXR5
chicagotribune.com
The city of Chicago has given the go-ahead to Heneghan Wrecking and Excavating Co. to demolish, on behalf of the University of Chicago and its medical center, President Ronald Reagan's boyhood home on the South Side at 832 E. 57th St.
Copyright © 2013 Chicago Tribune Company, LLC
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/ct-oped-0401-reagan-20130401,0,3481356.story
http://eedition.chicagotribune.com/Olive/ODE/ChicagoTribune/LandingPage/LandingPage.aspx?href=Q1RDLzIwMTMvMDQvMDE.&pageno=MTU.&entity=QXIwMTUwMQ..&view=ZW50aXR5
chicagotribune.com
By Mary Claire Kendall
April 1, 2013
 |
| President Reagan is publicly sworn in for his second presidential term by Supreme Court Justice Warren Burger on January 21, 1985. Since January 20 was a Sunday that year, the official swearing in of Ronald Reagan took place privately in the White House. (Mike Sargent/AFP/Getty Images/January 21, 2013) Here's a portion of President Reagan's speech that historic day. |
The city of Chicago has given the go-ahead to Heneghan Wrecking and Excavating Co. to demolish, on behalf of the University of Chicago and its medical center, President Ronald Reagan's boyhood home on the South Side at 832 E. 57th St.
He lived there the year
of the Eastland disaster. Occurring July 24, 1915, it was Chicago's most lethal
calamity — deadlier than the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 — killing some 844
people.
Word has it that Reagan
reminisced about this steamship catastrophe on the Chicago River as a vivid
early memory, recounting how he was left home when his father took his older
brother "Moon" across town to see it.
While a source recently
declined to "confirm or deny" this reminiscence, one thing's certain:
Ronald Reagan, at age 4, lived in Chicago the day of the Eastland disaster. And
it's good bet he didn't witness it since, if he had, that memory would surely
have figured into his writings and speeches. Little Ronald "Dutch"
Reagan must have resolved then to never again to be far from the scene of the
action.
Right now, the action is
at the home where Reagan once lived. It's all that's left of the entire block
between Maryland and Drexel avenues on East 57th Street. The rest of the block
was demolished in early January to make way for a hospital and research
facility, across the street from the recently inaugurated University of Chicago
Medicine's new Center for Care and Discovery. In the ultimate irony of history,
these facilities will feature state-of-the-art Alzheimer's research.
That the Reagan home is
still standing is a bit of a miracle. We all know the "Chicago Way."
The Friends of President
Reagan's Chicago Home has worked doggedly to save it, agreeing with the
Commission of Chicago Landmarks in 1986 that it is "noteworthy due to
historical associations," which gives it "landmark potential."
While the current crop
of Chicago bureaucrats couldn't find it in their hearts to landmark the home,
make no mistake, this home where Reagan lived is a landmark, which completes
the Ronald Reagan Trail in Illinois, including the landmarked Ronald Reagan
Boyhood Home in Dixon (1920-23).
Later, Reagan had
long-distance ties to Chicago. He broadcast Cubs games for WHO-AM in Des Moines
and courted and married Nancy Davis, who hailed from the Near North Side.
One of Reagan's biggest
successes as president was the 1986 tax bill, a product of an after-hours
friendship with Chicago's principal ambassador to Washington, House Ways and
Means Chairman Dan Rostenkowski. They knew each other as fellow Chicagoans.
All of that was
inconceivable when little "Dutch" looked out his window on East 57th,
after surviving near-fatal pneumonia, longing to be at the center of the
action.
If we demolish the
physical context of his formative years, we extinguish an essential part of
Reagan's story — a youngster who despite being the child of an itinerant,
alcoholic, frequently unemployed shoe salesman, grew up to become the global
symbol of freedom from tyranny and triumph over communism.
President Barack Obama,
the second U.S. commander in chief with a home on Chicago's South Side, is
likely justly proud of the improbability of his own story.
The two homes, blocks
apart on different sides of the University of Chicago — one a spacious Kenwood
home, the other a humble Irish working-class flat near Washington Park — work
together to tell all Americans who we are now — and who any one of us might
become.
It's the story of
America. Reagan's boyhood home is worth preserving.
Mary Claire Kendall is
president of the Friends of President Reagan's Chicago Home.
Copyright © 2013 Chicago Tribune Company, LLC
Monday, March 25, 2013
"Razing Reagan" v. 'Saving Reagan'
Dear Friends of President Reagan's Chicago Home:
We're in the endgame on the Reagan Chicago home, as these two articles in the Weekly Standard and Chicago Sun-Times make clear.
Please know, even though the City of Chicago refuses to landmark this home where Reagan lived when he was four, it is not over yet. Frankly, the land-marking charade was always just a sideshow and only serves to reveal the 'small-mindedness' of the bureaucrats, as underscored in the The Weekly Standard's "Razing Reagan."
We are working diligently to affect a change of heart at the University of Chicago, which owns the property and wants to demolish the Reagan home. It's the only entity with the power to save this South Side Chicago home that had such emotional resonance for Reagan, about which Nick Hahn and I wrote in "Save the Chicago Home of Ronald Reagan."
Best,
Mary Claire Kendall, President
Friends of President Reagan's Chicago Home
We're in the endgame on the Reagan Chicago home, as these two articles in the Weekly Standard and Chicago Sun-Times make clear.
Please know, even though the City of Chicago refuses to landmark this home where Reagan lived when he was four, it is not over yet. Frankly, the land-marking charade was always just a sideshow and only serves to reveal the 'small-mindedness' of the bureaucrats, as underscored in the The Weekly Standard's "Razing Reagan."
We are working diligently to affect a change of heart at the University of Chicago, which owns the property and wants to demolish the Reagan home. It's the only entity with the power to save this South Side Chicago home that had such emotional resonance for Reagan, about which Nick Hahn and I wrote in "Save the Chicago Home of Ronald Reagan."
 |
| University of Chicago President Robert J. Zimmer - the only one with the power to save the Reagan Chicago home |
As Reagan always said, "It Can Be Done." But, time is short, and, frankly, it will take a miracle to affect a change of heart in University of Chicago President Robert Zimmer - the kind of miracle that saved four-year-old "Dutch" Reagan's life when he survived near-fatal pneumonia while living in the Chicago home we are now trying to save.
Thanks for your support... and your prayers.
Thanks for your support... and your prayers.
Best,
Mary Claire Kendall, President
Friends of President Reagan's Chicago Home
Tuesday, March 12, 2013
Who Will Be Our Ace in the Hole?
Dear Friends of President Reagan's Chicago Home:
On Wednesday, November 21, I called this "point person" and we developed a marvelous rapport when I traveled to Chicago on Friday, November 30 to Sunday, December 2 for a previously scheduled Hemingway-focused weekend Redd had invited me to. But, alas, given the reality of "The Chicago Way," this "point person" has had to stay basically neutral. I know if he could do more, he would; so I recently sent him the following letter, which I post as a way of presenting our approach to selling the powers-that-be on saving the Reagan Chicago home.
Let's hope someone will step up to the plate soon who will, indeed, be our "ace in the hole" - someone with the clout to convince the powers-that-be that preserving the Reagan home would be a 'win, win' for the University of Chicago and the City. We are certainly doing all we can to make this happen and have a follow-up call tomorrow morning.
God bless! Let's win one more for the Gipper.
And again, for those who are just tuning in, here's background on this national initiative, as well as our corporate purpose statement.
Finally, remember, we can't do this without your support. No donation is too small!
Best,
On Saturday, November 17, 2012, less than three days before Redd Griffin died, he called to update me on developments in the efforts to save the Reagan Chicago home. I was too busy to talk - it was 5:45 p.m. (EST) and I was getting ready to go out. I told him I would need to call him back. But before we concluded our unusually brief, and what I would soon learn was our last, I asked him, "Redd, what's the bottom line? Who's the point person?" He gave me a name.
I had planned to call Redd Monday, November 19, but then when he sent me an email with all the Reagan residences that day, I used the opportunity to communicate via email, telling him how important it was to save the Chicago home because President Reagan had lived there at such a formative time. I fully intended to call Redd the next day. The next day was too late. Redd died of a massive heart attack early the morning of Tuesday, November 20.
I had planned to call Redd Monday, November 19, but then when he sent me an email with all the Reagan residences that day, I used the opportunity to communicate via email, telling him how important it was to save the Chicago home because President Reagan had lived there at such a formative time. I fully intended to call Redd the next day. The next day was too late. Redd died of a massive heart attack early the morning of Tuesday, November 20.
On Wednesday, November 21, I called this "point person" and we developed a marvelous rapport when I traveled to Chicago on Friday, November 30 to Sunday, December 2 for a previously scheduled Hemingway-focused weekend Redd had invited me to. But, alas, given the reality of "The Chicago Way," this "point person" has had to stay basically neutral. I know if he could do more, he would; so I recently sent him the following letter, which I post as a way of presenting our approach to selling the powers-that-be on saving the Reagan Chicago home.Let's hope someone will step up to the plate soon who will, indeed, be our "ace in the hole" - someone with the clout to convince the powers-that-be that preserving the Reagan home would be a 'win, win' for the University of Chicago and the City. We are certainly doing all we can to make this happen and have a follow-up call tomorrow morning.
God bless! Let's win one more for the Gipper.
And again, for those who are just tuning in, here's background on this national initiative, as well as our corporate purpose statement.
Finally, remember, we can't do this without your support. No donation is too small!
Best,
Mary Claire Kendall, President
*******
Dear XXX,
I wanted to give you an update on the Friends of President Reagan’s Chicago Home, which had its inaugural board meeting on Monday, March 4. Our board now consists of... Don Totten, Dan Proft, Nicholas Hahn, Matt Rarey (Secretary) and myself (President).
As you know, we are seeking to preserve Reagan’s home on the Southside—the only Chicago home of the only President born and bred in Illinois.
A key part of our strategy is to help key officials at the University of Chicago, as well as in the City, understand the tremendous upside to saving this home. The goal is to develop it, in partnership with the university, into a museum and center, thereby completing the Reagan Trail, which starts in Tampico, immediately followed by Chicago. The museum would restore the home to its original 1915 splendor, showing what it was like back then when children such as Dutch Reagan, age 4, would look out their big windows—the equivalent of TV back then—and take in a whole bustling world that brightened their little lives. The center would celebrate Reagan’s historic presidency and acknowledge his end of life struggle with Alzheimer’s that ironically the Center for Care and Discovery is now seeking a cure for.
Barring a miracle, we can’t possibly achieve our goal of raising $5-10 million by March 29, when the administrative hold on demolishing the building is lifted. These funds would allow us to develop a plan to transform the home as outlined above and put it on the table for the university’s consideration. We would need an extension of 60-90 days and would like to know if the university is amenable to this.
Given that... Chicago ranked #4 in the Forbes list of most miserable cities to live in, our efforts are very timely. And, while this is no doubt a temporary condition—and I, for one, love Chicago—I can’t think of a better person than Mr. Sunshine and Optimism himself—Ronald Reagan—to help ensure it is more temporary than permanent.
Besides infusing the city with that Reagan magic, the Reagan Museum and Center would produce substantial travel and tourism dollars. If folks travel from around the world and across the fruited plain to visit tiny Tampico and small Dixon, they would surely travel to Chicago. This, of course, means jobs.
And, while everyone says, well the Reagan Boyhood Home in Dixon—along with the Birthplace in Tampico—is the place to go if you want to visit a Reagan home, the fact is, as our friend Redd Griffin made clear in this oral history, the whole reason for establishing the Dixon Boyhood Home was none other than economic development.
Now, I understand you are in a delicate position and I’m not asking you to go to bat to save the Chicago home and win one more for the Gipper. But, what I thought would make sense is to ask you to go to bat to win one more for Chicago by making clear the potency of the Reagan Museum and Center for growth and jobs. Just like William Butler Ogden, Chicago’s first mayor, who thought he had been victim of the worst swindle when his brother-in-law bought Chicago land in the early 1830s, only to discover the goldmine he was sitting on, it is my hope that the University of Chicago and City will understand, before it’s too late, what a goldmine they are sitting on with the Reagan Chicago home.
Thanks, XXX for anything you might do to gently bring this point home...
Best,
Mary Claire Kendall, President
Saturday, February 23, 2013
Money, Big & Small: Sine Qua Non* of Saving Reagan's Chicago Home
Dear Friends of President Reagan's Chicago Home:
I'll make this brief and to the point.
Major players are coming on board to help with fundraising, especially the overarching goal of raising significant funds needed to open negotiations with the University of Chicago to save President Reagan's Chicago home at 832 E. 57th Street and transform it into a museum and center.
Meantime, we are doing the final work of building the non-profit vehicle, the sine qua non, which takes much smaller funds. But, it does take funds - not just high-fives and 'atta boys and girls.' Our goal by the end of February is to raise $2000 more. Thus far, we have raised nearly $2000 over the last two months, including commitments to send money. (And, we will need to raise $2000 more in March and April each.) We are deeply grateful to all those who have contributed thus far. Every little bit helps. No amount is too small. (See right for information on donating.)
For those who are just tuning in, here's background on this national initiative, as well as our corporate purpose statement.
Finally, below are two photos, taken this week, showing the stately building where Reagan lived when he was four, now standing alone, like Reagan, himself, when he was a lone voice arguing for the defeat of Soviet Communism and the Liberal Welfare State. But, he believed "It Can Be Done." The same exact spirit with which we are pursuing this mission to save Reagan's Chicago home. Recently I have been encountering many who, in essence, tell me "It Can't Be Done." With that defeatist spirit, it surely will not be done. But, I remain convinced "It Can Be Done." Yet, time is short. As the gentleman who took these photos, a key preservationist in Hyde Park told me, "Please remind your stalwarts that the Demolition Permit's administrative hold will expire in five weeks."
Let's win one more for the Gipper!
And, remember, no amount is too small.
Sincerely yours,
Mary Claire Kendall
Acting President/CEO
Friends of President Reagan's Chicago Home
* For those who are rusty on their Latin, "sine qua non" means "without which, nothing," which is to say, "the indispensable condition."
I'll make this brief and to the point.
Major players are coming on board to help with fundraising, especially the overarching goal of raising significant funds needed to open negotiations with the University of Chicago to save President Reagan's Chicago home at 832 E. 57th Street and transform it into a museum and center.
Meantime, we are doing the final work of building the non-profit vehicle, the sine qua non, which takes much smaller funds. But, it does take funds - not just high-fives and 'atta boys and girls.' Our goal by the end of February is to raise $2000 more. Thus far, we have raised nearly $2000 over the last two months, including commitments to send money. (And, we will need to raise $2000 more in March and April each.) We are deeply grateful to all those who have contributed thus far. Every little bit helps. No amount is too small. (See right for information on donating.)
For those who are just tuning in, here's background on this national initiative, as well as our corporate purpose statement.
Finally, below are two photos, taken this week, showing the stately building where Reagan lived when he was four, now standing alone, like Reagan, himself, when he was a lone voice arguing for the defeat of Soviet Communism and the Liberal Welfare State. But, he believed "It Can Be Done." The same exact spirit with which we are pursuing this mission to save Reagan's Chicago home. Recently I have been encountering many who, in essence, tell me "It Can't Be Done." With that defeatist spirit, it surely will not be done. But, I remain convinced "It Can Be Done." Yet, time is short. As the gentleman who took these photos, a key preservationist in Hyde Park told me, "Please remind your stalwarts that the Demolition Permit's administrative hold will expire in five weeks."
Let's win one more for the Gipper!
And, remember, no amount is too small.
Sincerely yours,
Mary Claire Kendall
Acting President/CEO
Friends of President Reagan's Chicago Home
* For those who are rusty on their Latin, "sine qua non" means "without which, nothing," which is to say, "the indispensable condition."
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)