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Our Evening
with the Secretary was a great event! Thank you to all who attended. The New Hampshire Ronald Reagan Dinner "An Evening with the
Secretary" The New Hampshire Reagan Network honored J. William Middendorf II The Former Secretary of the Navy and Ambassador was the featured speaker at our annual dinner on Friday, June 13th
at the Radisson in Manchester. Ambassador
Middendorf has played a unique role in the modern history of the Republican Party. He was the campaign treasurer
and member of the inner circle for Senator Barry Goldwater's 1964 presidential campaign. He has recently authored
"A Glorious Disaster", an insider's account of that campaign. He served in the Nixon, Ford and Reagan administrations as Secretary of the Navy, Ambassador
to the Netherlands, U.S. Representative to the Organization of American States (OAS) and U. S. Representative to the European
Community. He
also served as treasurer of the Republican National Committee, was a founding member, with the late William F. Buckley Jr.,
of the American Conservative Union (ACU) and is a trustee of the Heritage Foundation. He is the founder of the Marine
Corps Marathon and the winner's trophy is named in his honor.
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| | Former US Senator Gordon Humphrey presents Reagan award to State
Senator Sheila Roberge |
Link to Reagan's "I paid for this microphone" at 1980 Nashua, NH debate (also see Bob
Molloy clip on "turn off his mike" The first Ronald Reagan "I paid for this microphone" award dinner was a great sell out success! Held June 4th, 2007 at the Radission in Manchester The
Dinner was an exciting nostalgic trip down primary memory lane! The exchange over the microphone at the Debate
in Nashua became one of the most pivotal moments in the campaign. Former Ambassador Gerry Carmen and Former Representative
Dan Hughes gave memorable accounts of their personal experiences that night with Ronald Reagan. Reagan later recounted the incident as a "brief and seemingly small event, one lasting only a few seconds,"
that he said he thought, "helped take me to the White House." He continues: - "When the Nashua Telegraph offered to sponsor a debate between the two of us on the Saturday evening
preceding the election, we both accepted. Understandably, this brought howls from the other candidates. In protest, one of
them, Senator Bob Dole, complained to the Federal Elections Commission that by financing a debate between only two of the
seven candidates, the newspaper was making an illegal campaign contribution to the Bush and Reagan campaigns. The commission
agreed with him, so my campaign offered to pay the full cost of the debate - a few thousand dollars - and they accepted. I
thought it had been unfair to exclude the other candidates from the debate."
After arriving at the debate, he found two chairs - one for him and frontrunner George H.W. Bush, and himself.
The other candidates were confused, as was the audience. - "I
decided I should explain to the crowd what the delay was all about and started to speak. As I did, an editor of the Nashua
newspaper shouted to the sound man, "Turn Mr. Reagan's microphone off." Well, I didn't like that - we were
paying the freight for the debate and he was acting as if his newspaper was still sponsoring it. I turned to him, with the
microphone still on, and said the first thing that came to my mind: "I am paying for this microphone, Mr. Breen."
(sic) Well, for some reason my words hit the audience, whose emotions were already worked up, like a sledgehammer. The crowd
roared and just went wild. I may have won the debate, the primary - and the nomination - right there."
The first Ronald Reagan
"I paid for this microphone" award dinner was a great sell out success! Held
June 4th, 2007 at the Radission in Manchester The Dinner was an exciting
nostalgic trip down primary memory lane! The exchange over the microphone at the Debate in Nashua became one of
the most pivotal moments in the campaign. Former Ambassador Gerry Carmen and Former Representative Dan Hughes
gave memorable accounts of their personal experiences that night with Ronald Reagan. Reagan later recounted the incident as a "brief and seemingly small event, one lasting only a few seconds,"
that he said he thought, "helped take me to the White House." He continues: - "When the Nashua Telegraph offered to sponsor a debate between the two of us on the Saturday evening
preceding the election, we both accepted. Understandably, this brought howls from the other candidates. In protest, one of
them, Senator Bob Dole, complained to the Federal Elections Commission that by financing a debate between only two of the
seven candidates, the newspaper was making an illegal campaign contribution to the Bush and Reagan campaigns. The commission
agreed with him, so my campaign offered to pay the full cost of the debate - a few thousand dollars - and they accepted. I
thought it had been unfair to exclude the other candidates from the debate."
After arriving at the debate, he found two chairs - one for him and frontrunner George H.W. Bush, and himself.
The other candidates were confused, as was the audience. - "I
decided I should explain to the crowd what the delay was all about and started to speak. As I did, an editor of the Nashua
newspaper shouted to the sound man, "Turn Mr. Reagan's microphone off." Well, I didn't like that - we were
paying the freight for the debate and he was acting as if his newspaper was still sponsoring it. I turned to him, with the
microphone still on, and said the first thing that came to my mind: "I am paying for this microphone, Mr. Breen."
(sic) Well, for some reason my words hit the audience, whose emotions were already worked up, like a sledgehammer. The crowd
roared and just went wild. I may have won the debate, the primary - and the nomination - right there."
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