Honoring the legacy and character of our nation’s 40th President, the GE-Reagan Foundation Scholarship Program rewards college-bound students who demonstrate exemplary leadership, drive, integrity, and citizenship with financial assistance to pursue higher education.

Applications for the 2012 GE-Reagan Foundation Scholarship Program will be accepted online between November 14, 2011 and February 17, 2012.

Like President Reagan, candidates use the formative experiences of their youth to lead, serve, and pursue a life of purpose and significance, both individually and for their communities. Each year, roughly 20 Scholars will receive a $10,000 scholarship renewable for an additional three years – up to $40,000 total per recipient.

GE-Reagan Foundation Scholars candidates must:

• demonstrate exemplary leadership, drive, integrity, and citizenship at school, at home, at the workplace, and within the community;
• be nominated by an eligible community leader, such as a high school principal, elected official or executive director of a nonprofit organization;
• be recommended by an authority figure, such as a student activity advisor, community service coordinator, coach, employer, teacher, counselor or religious leader;
• demonstrate strong academic performance (3.0 or greater GPA or equivalent);
• demonstrate financial need;
• be a citizen of the United States of America;
• graduate from high school in Winter 2011 or Spring 2012; and
• use scholarship funds for student tuition, room, and board while pursuing a bachelor’s degree at an accredited U.S. college or university in Fall 2012.

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 partnered with The Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation in 2010 to sponsor the celebrations with a $15 million commitment.

For more information on the GE-Reagan Foundation Scholarship, please visit http://www.reaganfoundation.org/SCHOLARS-PROGRAM.aspx

From 1954 through 1962, Ronald Reagan worked for GE as host of a weekly television series, General Electric Theater, and traveled as a GE spokesman to 139 GE plants meeting more than 250,000 employees. As part of each episode, Reagan highlighted the work of these employees by promoting GE products like automatic dishwashers and electric can openers, products that were transforming American homes with the era’s emerging technologies. Reagan punctuated each spot with GE’s tag line at the time: “Progress is Our Most Important Product.”

Back in March of 2010, the partnership between the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and GE supporting the two-year-long celebration for President Reagan’s 100th birthday on February 6 of this year was announced.

GE’s participation as Presenting Sponsor of the Ronald Reagan Centennial Celebration included:

-Support of the completely transformed, state-of-the-art Museum at the Reagan Library, including a new General Electric Theater focusing on Reagan’s career in radio, television, and film.

-The GE-Reagan Scholars Program to provide 200 four-year college scholarships over the next decade to deserving students who embody the vision and values personified by President Reagan.

-A donation from GE/NBC Universal to the Reagan Foundation of 208 restored episodes of General Electric Theater in which Ronald Reagan hosted or appeared from 1954-1962. The episodes, many of which were thought to be lost and some of which were damaged, were recently uncovered and restored to broadcast quality for purposes of the renovated Reagan Museum.

-An ad campaign and interactive Internet presence located at www.ge.com/reagan to promote the Centennial and honor President Reagan’s service to our nation and time with GE. TV, radio and print advertisements in support of the Centennial that will remind audiences of Reagan’s optimistic spirit as well as his legacy at both GE and as President can be found on this site.

At the end of May a gala was held in President Reagan’s honor in Washington D.C. CEO Jeff Immelt served as the gala chairman.

View from above at the GE Ronald Reagan Gala in Washington, DC.

GE CEO Jeff Immelt addresses the crowd at the GE Ronald Reagan gala in Washington, DC.

Perhaps no state is celebrating the centennial with as much emotional spirit as Illinois, the president’s birthplace and childhood home. The president was born above a storefront in the village of Tampico, grew up in the city of Dixon, and attended Eureka College in Eureka, Illinois. These and other Western Illinois towns that profoundly impacted Reagan’s personal and professional development are continuing to host dozens of events that will run until the end of the year.

“Everyone is reacting really well,” says Ann Lewis, the vice chairman of the Illinois Reagan Centennial Commission and a resident of Dixon. “You can’t be in Dixon and not know that Ronald Reagan lived here from 1921 to 1931. We’ve made sure that we have at least one event every month, involving music, sports and education–and all connected to Mr. Reagan.”

Some of the upcoming events have been geared for Illinois students, while others reach out for a national or international audience. Like an international painting competition that’s awarding a $5,000 first prize to the best portrait or landscape imagining the president at the Reagan ranch. Ranch Center Curator Marilyn Fisher, will judge the entries on May 6th, including numerous oils and water colors of the president on horseback and a more unusual work that portrays Reagan with a Picasso-style cubism.

On August 6th, the celebration moves to Chicago as the Cubs host a Reagan game day at Wrigley Field. First son Michael Reagan will throw out the first pitch, and Lewis says that 20 students from Eastern Europe will be attending their first baseball game along with busloads of fans from Dixon. Reagan was a Chicago Cubs announcer for an Iowa radio station in the 1930’s.

In October, a time capsule will be buried as part of the Dixon High School homecoming celebration. The capsule is scheduled to be excavated in fifty years by the class of 2061. Included among the buried artifacts will be an original score, a classical composition performed and written for the centennial by composer, David Holsinger.

In the nation’s capital, The National Archives continues its yearlong retrospective of Reagan artifacts, including the original copy of Reagan’s 1982 “evil empire speech” (Complete with his own handwritten edits.) Archive-goers can also read the president’s correspondence with Soviet General Secretary, Mikhail Gorbachev, and see the fragment of the last Soviet SS-20 missile destroyed on May 12, 1991.

Beginning on July 1st and running until May 2012, the National Portrait Gallery’s exhibition “One Life: Ronald Reagan” will commemorate the centennial by exploring photographs of the president through the years. One well-known portrait shows a seemingly relaxed and joyful president riding atop a favorite horse at the Reagan ranch. It’s a perfect image, capturing the president at rest—and at play.

GE Chairman and CEO, Jeffrey Immelt was joined by Fred Ryan, Chairman of the Board of Trustees for the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation at the dedication of the GE Theater, where a plaque was unveiled recognizing GE’s sponsorship of the new exhibit. The event took place during the weekend celebration of the Reagan Centennial.

“We cannot be more grateful,” said Mr. Ryan as he thanked Mr. Immelt and GE for their $15 million sponsorship of the gallery and the centennial celebration.

“It is a great honor for the company and our employees,” said Mr. Immelt, “to be associated with the centennial of Mr. Reagan, to have this as a living legacy to his communication, we think a little bit of which was developed on the factory floors of our great company.”

Mr. Immelt stressed how particularly proud GE employees in Europe and Eastern Europe are of the company’s involvement in the Reagan Centennial Celebration, because of the 40thPresident’s role in bringing freedom there.

The new General Electric Theater presents a 5-minute video for gallery visitors, highlighting how Ronald Reagan’s work as GE’s ambassador from 1954 to 1962, helped prepare the Hollywood actor and union leader for a political career. Ronald Reagan called his travel to 139 plants in 40 states, “a post-graduate course in political science for me. I am seeing how Government really worked and affected people in the grass roots of America, not how it was taught in school.”

Pictured: L-R Jeff Immelt, GE CEO, John Heubusch, executive director of the Ronald Reagan Foundation and Fred Ryan, chairman of the Board of Trustees for the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation.

The gallery traces Reagan’s roots as a communicator from his earliest days as a high school student in Dixon, Illinois through to the White House. Displays include artifacts not seen before such as a high school essay in which the young Reagan expresses the optimism and character that would define him.

(Take a tour of the GE Theater exhibit in the video below.)

The exhibit chronicles how Reagan continued to hone his skills, transitioning from sportscaster during the Depression years at W-H-O Radio, to Hollywood, where he built a connection with audiences in famous roles like George “The Gipper” Gip in “Knute Rockne, All American.”

Large photographs show Reagan meeting with GE employees on factory floors around the country. That crucial experience helped Reagan formulate the ideas that culminated with the, “Rendezvous With Destiny,” speech that launched his political career in 1964, when he ran for Governor of California.

The Evolution of the Great Communicator gallery and the General Electric Theater play an important role in understanding how each step of President Reagan’s life prepared him for the next and resulted in his unique ability to inspire Americans and the world to believe that their best days were, indeed, ahead.

The western sky glowed a deep orange, as friends of the Reagans from their years in Hollywood, Sacramento and Washington gathered with guests from around the country at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California to pay tribute to Reagan’s leadership and legacy.

Recalling the glamor of the Reagan era in Washington, the Air Force One Pavilion was transformed into a brilliant, multi-level concert hall. An artful showcase of video and live performances wove past with present to bring the Reagan legacy alive for generations in the audience not yet born when he was in office.

Reflecting Reagan’s exuberance and love of football, the USC Marching Band burst into the pavilion with a rousing performance of the, ”Stars and Stripes” and the National Anthem. Country superstars, Lonestar, rocked the house with, “Party Heard Round The World.” Famed pianist, Roger Williams, reminisced about his friendship with Reagan, and captured the essence of his optimism with a moving performance of “Dream The Impossible Dream.” Presidents George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush, The Honorable Edwin Meese and Marlin Fitzwater appeared in video tributes, each praising Reagan for his accomplishments, optimism, honesty and strength.

GE’s role as presenting sponsor of the Reagan Centennial Celebration was highlighted by a video presentation chronicling Reagan’s years as host of GE Theater. Chairman and CEO, Jeffrey Immelt described how as GE’s ambassador, Reagan visited 140 plants in 36 states, traveling tirelessly around the country, talking to workers, and how he continues to inspire the company today.

“It is an honor for GE to once again be involved with President Reagan and the legacy he left with us,” said Immelt.

He added a personal recollection of Ronald Reagan’s inauguration day, “that day in 1980 was when I joined GE, as a 24 year-old, with $60,000 in student loans and wanted to be lead, and lead he did.” Immelt continued, “In my mind President Reagan really represents the very best of American leadership. He’s a tough-minded, optimist.”

Former Reagan speechwriter and Wall Street Journal columnist, Peggy Noonan, paid tribute to Reagan the communicator, saying, “To be asked to be a speechwriter for Ronald Reagan was like being asked to write a nice little song for Mozart. It was like being asked to cook for Julia Child. He was the master.”

The Beach Boys were among the Reagan’s favorite visitors to the White House. Fifty years after they first put California surf culture to music, the band brought the crowd to its feet dancing and singing, “California Girls” and “Help Me Rhonda.”

It was an extraordinary evening of celebration for an extraordinary President – the kind of party Ronald Reagan would have loved.

How did Reagan’s years at GE impact his overall economic philosophy?

Reagan discovered that GE workers were different than they were portrayed in the media; they were not a bunch of Trotskyites or Mother Jones soapbox preachers. There was a deep patriotic grain of Americans that didn’t like being taxed so much. He found that working people were really more conservative than he was led to believe He was not only a great communicator, but a very good listener.

What type of things did he hear from GE employees when he visited them at the factories?

He heard the same refrain: ‘The government is getting too much of my money.’ He found that working America loved this country and would do anything for the flag. Reagan’s economic philosophy was really a hyper-patriotism; a devotion to country and to curtail a government that was extracting too much income from workers.

How did these conversations about the economy with GE workers prepare him for his political future?

He crisscrossed America like he was running for president. It really prepared him for national office and future campaigns. It prepared him for listening to the voices of the American people. In the Whitehouse, he read and responded to random correspondence; he never tuned out working people.

Did he relate well to the factory workers?

He was not a Roosevelt or a Kennedy. He grew up in humble circumstances in Western Illinois. He wrote everything on index cards and brought them to the GE factories. Workers would pull him aside, and if he heard a story that he liked, he’d scrawl it on note cards. It was a witty collection of folk wisdom. What is generally misunderstood about Reagan is that he had a well honed intellect. He was a voracious reader and had a great mind for distilling the most important facts. .

Did his time at GE influence his more conservative ideas about the economy and other issues?

The roots of his conservatism were in his family, but his conservatism came together at GE. One of the main things Reagan learned from GE was how to find the perfect way to hone and refine “the speech.” (The nomination speech Reagan gave for Barry Goldwater at the 1964 Republican convention.)

He liked reading good books about economics and history. He read Henry Hazlitt and Adam Smith. He would go through the writings of Whittaker Chambers, Eisenhower, Truman’s memoirs, William Buckley, and Lawrence Fertig.

GE helped in his education as a conservative, but he wasn’t an armchair intellectual or an elitist. He had an equality of spirit and never looked down on anyone. It didn’t matter if you had a job on an assembly-line or were a GE investment financier. In Reagan’s eyes, it was all about character.

Did Reagan’s years at GE make him more sympathetic to a corporation’s economic needs?

He had an understanding of how the corporation was the heart and soul of America. Companies like GE represented the inventions and innovations of tomorrow He looked at GE as a microcosm of all big companies. You can say he was a champion of Fortune 500 companies, but it wasn’t just about the CEO’s. It was mainly about American workers.

“General Electric recognizes that the computer business is an exciting frontier,” Reagan told his audience in 1961 at the Superstition Hotel. “The traditional pioneering efforts of the company in this field have already resulted in dramatic technologies….The broad expanse of this region is almost limitless.”

GE’s most notable achievement in those early years was the 1958 production of ERMA, (Electronic Recording Machine Accounting) an automatic check reading computer developed in partnership with Bank of America and the Stanford Research Institute. This new supercomputer was the first to automate the check-clearing process. Reagan himself hosted a press event to commemorate the debut of the first commercially shipped device in 1959.

Several years earlier, (In 1956) GE had opened computer manufacturing and operation facilities in Phoenix Arizona, an important expansion for both the company and the city.

“ERMA put the GE computer division on the map,” says Ed Sharp, an archivist and founder of the Southwestern Museum of Engineering, Communication and Computation. (SMECC.) in Glendale, Arizona. “It was also great for the entire city of Phoenix. At the time it was an area where you had sheep crossing the road, and then GE brought high quality technology to the Westside.”

At the same time Reagan promoted ERMA and the computer division, a prominent engineer who would one day have his own Hollywood connection, was also making inroads at GE and working on the ERMA project. In 1957, Arnold Spielberg, father of future directing superstar Steven, served as tbe head of the GE process control engineering section in Phoenix. The senior Spielberg (Who will turn 94 on February 6^th) designed the GE 225, a 20-bit computer and also process control devices such as the GE 312 and GE 412. In 2006, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Computer Society gave Spielberg its “Computer Pioneer” award for his career contributions at GE and RCA.

“His contributions were very significant in the development of process control systems,” said Mr. Sharpe.

There’s no record that Reagan and Spielberg ever had their own “close encounter,” but apparently Spielberg did attend the 1961 conference, was photographed in the program yearbook, and identified as the unit’s manager of small computer systems. If not aware of his name, Reagan certainly was kept informed of Spielberg’s innovations and those of the entire department.

“Both General Electric Company and the Bank of America are in the age of the computer,” Reagan presciently concluded in that 1961 speech.

The weekend will kick off with a Concert for America: A Tribute to Ronald Reagan at 7 p.m. on Saturday, February 5. Combining live musical acts with video tributes to Reagan’s life and Presidency, the concert will feature The Beach Boys, Lonestar, Lee Greenwood, and Roger Williams with video tributes from both former Presidents George Bush and George W. Bush as well as from Edwin Meese, Attorney General during the Reagan administration.

On Sunday, February 6, the Centennial weekend festivities will continue with a morning military tribute to the 40th President. Five F-18 Hornets will take off from the flight deck of the U.S.S. Ronald Reagan and fly over the official wreath-laying ceremony at the Presidential Library, followed by a 21-gun howitzer salute. James Baker, III, former Reagan Chief of Staff and Secretary of State under President George Bush, will be the keynote speaker. The official ribbon cutting for the renovation of the Reagan Library Museum will follow the ceremony. “The birthday events are meant to be a celebration of his life,” says Melissa Giller, Director of Communications and Programs for The Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation. “Ronald Reagan inspired freedom and changed the world.”

On Monday, the Presidential Library and Museum will be open to the public with free birthday cake, birthday albums for visitors to sign, and the first public access to the museum following its $15 million renovation. Newt and Callista Gingrich will also be on hand signing copies of Ronald Reagan: A Rendezvous with Destiny, based on the award-winning documentary of the same title. Monday evening, guests can enjoy a birthday dinner with live band with purchase of advance tickets at www.reaganfoundation.org.

Among the many dignitaries who will be attending the Centennial weekend in Simi Valley are former Secretary of State George Shultz, former National Security Advisor Robert McFarlane, Arizona Governor Jan Brewer, Larry King, two of the Secret Service agents who protected Reagan during the assassination attempt in 1981, and ambassadors from several Eastern European countries, including Hungary, Serbia, Estonia, and Lithuania.

Giller says the Foundation has been planning the Centennial celebration for two years and credits GE’s generous sponsorship with making it possible. GE presented a $15 million gift to the foundation to go toward museum renovations, advertising and marketing for the Centennial, and to support 20 annual GE-Reagan Foundation college scholarships for American high school students. Among the dignitaries who will be speaking at the weekend birthday celebration are GE’s CEO Jeffrey Immelt, who Giller says will address “what it means to have had Ronald Reagan as an employee of GE.”

While the festivities of February 5 and 6 are private, full coverage of the Centennial weekend will be available to the public via live podcast at www.reaganfoundation.org.

“Ronald Reagan believed in educating and inspiring the future leaders of tomorrow,” Frederick Ryan, Jr., chairman of the board of trustees of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation, said. “The GE-Reagan Foundation Scholarship Program enables us to continue this tradition and keep his spirit alive among the youth of today.”

Qualified applicants will be evaluated on the following four categories: leadership, drive, integrity, and citizenship.

*Leadership- Scholars pursue leadership roles that have a positive impact in communities and showcase the value of lifelong learning.

*Drive- Firm believers “that our best days are ahead” scholars, have the conviction, ambition, discipline and courage to make their dreams reality.

*Integrity- Rooted in values and ethics, scholars possess the unique combination of integrity, dependability and humility that defined President Reagan’s leadership.

*Citizenship- Scholars are driven by a sense of civic commitment and actively engage in their communities to affect positive change.

The GE-Reagan Foundation Scholarship Program will annually select up to 20 recipients to receive a $10,000 scholarship renewable for an additional three years – up to $40,000 total per recipient. Scholarships will be applied to student tuition, room, and board while the recipient is pursuing a bachelor’s degree at an accredited U.S. college or university.

GE Chairman and CEO Jeff Immelt said, “GE prides itself on continuous learning and leadership development. We are proud to have Ronald Reagan as a part of our leadership tradition. His optimistic style and enduring belief in innovation and technology are great examples for tomorrow’s leaders. We believe that the GE-Reagan Foundation Scholars will continue President Reagan’s legacy.”

With a total $15 million grant, GE is the presenting sponsor of the Ronald Reagan Centennial Celebration, a year-long celebration for the President’s 100th birthday on February 6, 2011. As part of this partnership, $5 million was committed to establish this 10-year national college scholarship program. The Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation is contributing $3 million to the program. From 1954 through 1962, Ronald Reagan worked for GE as host of a weekly television series, General Electric Theater, and traveled as a GE spokesman to 139 GE plants meeting more than 250,000 employees. As part of each episode, Reagan highlighted the work of these employees by promoting GE products like automatic dishwashers and electric can openers, products that were transforming American homes with the era’s emerging technologies. Reagan punctuated each spot with GE’s tag line at the time: “Progress is Our Most Important Product.”

Today, GE employs more than 130,000 American workers. Consistently lauded by outside sources such as BusinessWeek and FORTUNE magazines for principles considered core to President Reagan himself, GE has been ranked among the world’s best companies for leaders, as one of Fast Company’s most innovative, and as one of GI Jobs magazine’s top military friendly employers while consistently scoring well as one of the best places to launch a career.

The Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation is a non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to the preservation and promotion of the legacy of Ronald Reagan and his timeless principles of individual liberty, economic opportunity, global democracy, and national pride. The Foundation also supports a scholarship program for graduates of Ventura County, Calif., high schools.

More information about both programs is available at www.reaganfoundation.org/scholarships.

Qualified candidates may apply online between January 20, 2011 and March 18, 2011. To be considered for this award, candidates must complete the secure online application, in its entirety, prior to the deadline. Applicants must be nominated by a community leader, such as a high school principal, elected official or nonprofit executive. Recipients will be recognized at an awards ceremony in summer 2011.

For more information on application requirements and a link to the application please visit:
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/gereaganscholarships

Reagan enjoyed these Hollywood to New York excursions. The trips gave him a close-up view of the changing post-war American landscape, many hours to pursue his love of reading, and a chance to reflect on his evolving political philosophy.

“He was an obsessive reader, who absorbed everything,” says Thomas Evans the author of “The Education of Ronald Reagan” which chronicles the president’s years working for GE from 1954-1962. “The hours spent in bi-coastal luxury trains were study halls and homework.”

Reagan usually traveled on the transcontinental Super Chief, a train line known for hosting celebrity passengers such as Frank Sinatra and Elizabeth Taylor. There were private dining cars and the menu favored lobster, steak and freshly caught trout.

“He would take the Super Chief to Chicago and then (Often on the 20th Century liner) onto New York,” Evans says. “Luxury sounds too ‘highfalutin’ but it was a very comfortable ride, the food was pretty good, and he would occasionally bump into Hollywood friends.”

But Reagan spent more time reading than socializing and there was never any shortage of material for him to absorb. At the time, GE published four publications and all were required reading for the president. These newsletters and magazines covered topics ranging from government and the economy, to company bowling results. Reagan used the material to communicate more effectively when giving speeches and talking informally to thousands of GE factory workers.

Train travel and chauffeured car trips to company plants, allowed him to read the economic texts of writers Henry Hazlitt and Louis Haney and immerse himself in Sun Tzu’s “Art of War” and Friedrich Hayek’s economic and political writing. Both Hazlitt and Haney were especially influential in shaping Reagan’s views on deficit spending. From an article in “The Forum” (A GE defense quarterly) came the seeds for the Strategic Defense Initiative.

One of the downsides of train travel was the time he spent away from his wife. In her book “I love You Ronnie: The Letters of Ronald Reagan to Nancy Reagan”, Mrs. Reagan lamented the long separations she endured while her husband was traveling for GE. When the Super Chief made its stop in Albuquerque, Reagan would rush into a Western Union Station and send a telegram to his wife.

Despite the occasional loneliness, train travel was seemingly therapeutic for the president.

“Churchill had painting,” says Evans. “Reagan had vacations at the ranch and train trips.”