“Reagan’s Roots” by Peter Hannaford of Eureka, California, will be published December 1 by Images From the Past, Inc. followed by a two-week book tour by the author.
The book examines the sources of Reagan’s character which the author concludes was formed during the first 21 years of the late president’s life, all of them spent in rural settings in northwestern Illinois. Born in the small town of Tampico, Reagan lived in five other locations during his childhood and youth, culminating in four years at Eureka College, a small liberal arts school 25 miles east of Peoria. Three months after graduating, he got his first job, as a radio sportscaster at a station just across the Mississippi River in Davenport, Iowa.
During the week of December 5-9, Hannaford will give a series of talks about the book’s topic in Illinois in the following cities and towns: Chicago, Dixon, Tampico, Fulton, Decatur, Morton, Washington, Eureka, Peoria.
On December 12 he will speak at the Reagan Ranch Center in Santa Barbara; on the 13th at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley; on the 15th at the Heritage Foundation in Washington, D.C. On Friday, December 16, he will be the featured speaker at the Marin County, California, Republican Christmas Gala.
This is Hannaford’s 10th published book and his sixth about the 40th president, with whom he was closely associated for several years. His 11th book, “Presidential Retreats” is scheduled for publication in Summer 2012 by Simon & Schuster.
After 22 years in public affairs and public relations in Washington, he and his wife, Irene, moved back to their native California in 2006.
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