White House Diaries

Friday, December 31, 1982

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We’re off for Phoenix, L.A. & Palm Springs—a week in all. Last night I cleaned up all the mail on my desk—quite a stack. Mon. & Tues. morning in Ariz.—weather nice & found Deedee much improved due at least in part to the change in Doctors. Tues. afternoon in Long Beach Calif.—a crowd of 9 or 10,000 for the recommissioning of the battleship New Jersey. It was a heartwarming & thrilling experience, especially when the order was given for the 1500 man crew to come on board. Wed. to Palm Springs—arrived late afternoon—it was cold & grey. Thurs. wearing 3 sweaters 9 holes of golf. Dinner party that night given by Wilsons & Jorgensons. Fri. the weather turned beautiful—played 11 holes & surprised myself with a few pars. New Years Eve at Sunny Lands & as always a wonderful evening with old friends. Sat. New Years day—beautiful but spent half the day in meetings & the rest watching the bowl games on T.V. Dinner party at a new club—given by the Wrathers & Darts. Mike D. proposed & I agreed to go by the La. floods on way home. And Sun. on the way back (Nancy staying in Calif. for a few days doing some charity events) set down at Monroe La. It really is devastated by the floods but the people were out in droves and their spirits are high. I shoveled a few sand bags for the cameramen—toured the area with Governor Dave Treen & a good boll-weevil Congressman. Then went on radio and called on others to help the flood victims. Promised I’d approve Gov’s. request for disaster aid. Now its bed time and tomorrow is Mon.