Reagan’s 100th Will Be a Party to Remember

A big celebration of Ronald Reagan’s 100th birthday in California this weekend shows how popular the Gipper remains, especially among Republicans, The New York Times reports. Official commemorations of the country’s 40th president, who served in office from 1981 to 1989 and died in 2004, will range from a Rose Parade float and a Beach Boys concert to a graveside wreath-laying at the Reagan Library in Simi Valley, Calif., by his widow, Nancy Reagan.

President Reagan

Festivities and somber memorials alike at the library will be attended by former aides, old friends, and even some potential Republican presidential candidates, including Sarah Palin and Newt Gingrich.

The bill for these events is estimated to be approximately $5 million.

President Reagan also will be honored in a video tribute at this Sunday’s Super Bowl at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas.

Admiration for Reagan, the 40th president of the United States, has proven to be a constant in American life and has “endured even as so many institutions have been under attack,” the Times reports.