The University of Mississippi GOP and Young Americans for Freedom organizations hosted Peggy Grande, former executive assistant to President Ronald Reagan, on Tuesday, Oct. 22. The Declaration Center held an informal reception before the event and provided 10 signed copies of Grande’s book for a raffle after the event.
Grande authored “The President Will See You Now: My Stories and Lessons from Ronald Reagan’s Final Years” and is currently on the Board of Advisors for Pepperdine University’s School of Public Policy. Grande also worked as the executive secretariat for the U.S. Office of Personnel Management and the deputy director for the President’s Commission on White House Fellowships under President Donald Trump.
“I think everybody can relate to part of my story, being young and green and stepping into a really big space where at first you didn’t really belong,” Grande said. “You find your footing and you realize you can add value there and be confident in a new, big space.”
Grande discussed her start in politics as a young woman from Southern California and her role as Reagan’s executive assistant.
“He was, in a lot of ways, the convergence of everything that I loved,” Grande said. “He was a man of faith, integrity, character, and he was such a great communicator.”
Grande talked about traveling and meeting world leaders at Reagan’s side, but she said her most memorable moments were quiet days in the office and car rides to events.
“(Reagan) spoke more to me with his actions, how he treated me, how he showed me respect (and) how he never demeaned or belittled me,” Grande said.
Grande published her book after the deaths of Ronald and Nancy Reagan, and she said she is proud of how she incorporates revealing, yet respectful information about the former president.
“I think it gives you an inside view into who he was and what he was about outside of the policy,” Grande said. “This is a character sketch of a person at the times when the cameras weren’t rolling when he thought nobody was watching.”
Grande also discussed Reagan’s struggle with Alzheimer’s disease.
“Reagan was willing to take something that was very private, personal and painful and be public about it,” Grande said. “As a result, he’s helped not only a lot of patients with Alzheimer’s, but he’s helped families.”
Grande has visited many college campuses as a speaker, and she said she was pleased with the turnout at the event at UM.
“I loved the curiosity on their faces for my story and the reflection you could see them doing about what that means for them and their future,” Grande said.
While visiting campuses, Grande said she especially enjoys talking to young women.
“I didn’t really have any political role models back in the day because there weren’t so many women in politics,” Grande said. “Hopefully there are young women who can picture themselves in the political or professional arena and can also picture themselves having the greatest struggle of all, which is becoming a mom.”
Colton Jones, a graduate student pursuing a masters in accountancy and data analytics, is the president of UM GOP. He said the organization invited Grande to speak as a way to bring members together to learn about her experiences.
“I hope that having speakers like Peggy (Grande) give an inside scoop that we would not have ever gotten to see,” Jones said. “I’ve never had a speaker like Peggy who told us about a person who had the highest job in the world.”
Jones said he felt the most important aspect of the event was Grande’s discussion on respectful interactions.
“I think once we learn each other on a personal level, we have greater respect for one another, and we’re able to lead like we should,” Jones said.
Dave Roberts, a freshman finance major, said he has always been interested in politics and decided to attend the event after hearing about it from a friend.
“I was like, ‘that’d be awesome just to go and meet (Grande),’ and it just sounded like a great opportunity,” Roberts said.
