Diary Entry - 12/12/1985
Key Facts
President Reagan attends a Cabinet Council meeting to discuss the 1987 budget.
President Reagan calls Major General Burton Patrick, Commanding Officer of the 101st Airborne Division, who lost 250 men in a plane crash earlier that morning.
Nothing very startling in staff & N.S.C. meetings—just commiserating over the Cong. & it’s stupid conduct yesterday on the tax reform proposal.
Over to the E.O.B. to present the Distinguished Exec. Rank Awards to Exec’s. who have done such things as save in one case $300 mil. for the govt.
Geo. B. & I lunched & of course talked about what a foolish thing the (or some of) the Repub. Congressmen had done.
Then a cabinet meeting & their 1st sight of our proposed bud. Actually they thought it was pretty good. Then I met with 37 of our leading Eagles who are co-chairing the Inaugural Anniversary Ball Jan. 21—it could raise $6 mil. for the party.
Scott Cunningham—’86 March of Dimes Ambas. came for a visit accompanied by his family & the M. of D. people. Scott is 6 yrs. old—in a brace & on crutches. He is a Spinal Bifida child—11 operations—but a bright, cheerful young man.
A visit by 9 officials of the Nat. Fed. of Repub. Women. I took advantage of the visit to urge them to pitch for observance of the 11th Commandment in the ’86 elections. Sen. Mark Hatfield came in for a quick photo to accompany a story the Oregon mag. is doing. Then a photo with the whole gang of advance people who advanced Geneva.
From there it was a re-do in the East Room of the photo we’d done last night with the mil. Social Aides. This time the camera worked. Then outdoors with Nancy & Rex to light the official Christmas Tree.
At 8:15 downstairs for another 400 hand shakes. During the day I phoned Gen. Patrick in Ky. commander of the 101st Airborne. This morning 250 of his men returning from 6 mo’s. duty in the Sinai, died in a plane crash as they took off from Newfoundland after refueling.
