White House Diaries

Wednesday, June 24, 1981

View the President's Schedule

Off to San Antonio to address Nat. Jaycees Conv. Landed at Kelly field—paraded past the troops who look great & discovered they were in basic training & had only been in uniform 28 days. I think the vol. forces are looking up. Speech to Jaycees (almost 10,000) was on our ec. package. Interrupted more than half a dozen times by standing ovations. They were showing their support for the program. Departed for Calif. Arrived there & helicoptered to the Bev. Hills Hi F.B. field. Then 5 min. drive to Century Plaza arriving about 3:30 P.M. A list of phone calls was waiting because the next day our bud. pckg. was to be voted on in the House & Tip was playing games—hard ball style. There I was in Calif. & never left the hotel room except for a speech next day (noon) in the hotel dining room. Just before going down learned we had won the 1st big vote. It meant some quick changes in the speech. Back to the room for an afternoon on the phone. We won the next two votes & the victory was ours. Finally Fri. about 11 A.M. got out of the hotel & on to the ranch. The weather was beautiful & so was Rancho del Cielo. Patti arrived Sat. morning. We all rode in the A.M. After lunch Geo. & Barbara Bush came up to brief me on European trip on their way to the Marcos’ Inaugural in Manila. They got on their way and I headed for the hills with Barney & Dennis to clear trails that were blocked by fallen limbs from the snow storm in April. It was good to be doing that again. Sun. A.M. cancelled ride because of fog. It cleared about 11 & the day was beautiful but it was also back to town day. Mon. A.M. on to Denver to address the N.A.A.C.P. Convention. It looked like 10,000 but I dont know the count. I was sure I was up against a hostile group but the speech was well received. I’m sure I didn’t make any converts but maybe it will be harder for someone to convince them I have horns. Back on Air Force 1 and W.H. about 8 P.M.