August 11, 1984: President Ronald Reagan Jokes About Starting World War III

August 11, 1984: President Ronald Reagan is preparing for his weekly Saturday morning radio address, with a remote hookup from his home-away-from-home, his Rancho del Cielo (Ranch in the Sky) in Goleta, California.

He was scheduled, as usual, to go on the air at 12:00 Noon, Eastern Time. Since he was in California, on Pacific Time, this meant the address would begin at 9:00 AM. Usually, since Reagan started the weekly tradition in 1982, it started a few minutes late, to give the national networks time to give a short introduction.

Sure enough, this address began at 9:06. It wasn't especially memorable. It began, "My fellow Americans: I'm pleased to tell you that today I signed legislation that will allow student religious groups to begin enjoying a right they've too long been denied: The freedom to meet in public high schools during nonschool hours, just as other student groups are allowed to do."

It was typical Reagan garbage: Pandering to the religious right with something that was blatantly unconstitutional. After all, the Republican was running for re-election, with the Democratic nominee being former Vice President Walter Mondale.

What was not typical was what happened a few minutes before the broadcast. A live feed was being transmitted to radio stations around the country. Many rebroadcasters were already recording the feed, to be ready for the official transmission. Many in the media heard Reagan's impromptu remarks as he gave them, but they were not broadcast live.

Reagan, known for his sense of humor, decided to have a little fun. He said, "All right. My fellow Americans, I'm pleased to tell you today that I've signed legislation that will outlaw Russia forever. We begin bombing in five minutes."

Laughter could be heard. It's not clear who in the room was laughing. Maybe it was everyone.

Ironic: The 1st former actor to become President, the most media-savvy President ever, failed to notice that this joke was being recorded.

He also failed to notice that it wasn't funny at all. War is not funny. Nuclear destruction is not funny. And this son of a bitch was joking about starting World War III.

It took 2 days for the recording to reach the outside world. Mondale took the high road, saying, "A President has to be very, very careful with his words." He did not suggest that Reagan was mentally unstable, or in the throes of dementia. But Reagan's 1994 admission of Alzheimer's disease seemed to confirm what many people were already suspecting 10 years earlier.

On August 14, the Soviet government announced that Reagan's remarks were "unprecedentedly hostile." Soviet forces were placed on high alert, and it took some very careful words from the U.S. Department of State to calm the Soviets down.

I was 14 years old. I couldn't vote for another 4 years. I was convinced that there might not be an election in 4 years. I was hoping that America would recognize that a 73-year-old man either evil enough, crazy enough, or impaired enough to make just such a joke was unacceptable, and that they would then vote for Mondale.

When I went to bed on November 6, 1984, every State except Minnesota had been called, all for Reagan. Minnesota was Mondale's home State, and it hadn't yet been called for him. Only the majority-black District of Columbia had. Or, as comedian Jay Leno put it, "When I went to bed, Mondale had only 3 more Electoral Votes than I did, and I wasn't even running!" Mondale eventually won the State by just 4,000 votes. I have had a great deal of respect for Minnesota ever since.

But Reagan had won, and I was very, very scared.

As it turned out, Reagan's 2nd term was terrible, full of scandal and a hollow prosperity, but did not include a World War III.

Rancho del Cielo is 124 miles northwest of Los Angeles, 90 miles northwest of Reagan's Presidential Library in Simi Valley, 30 miles northwest of Santa Barbara, and 6 miles north of the Pacific Ocean at Refugio Beach. The house was built in 1871, and Reagan bought the ranch in 1974, as his 2nd term as Governor of California was winding down. (While Governors of California are now limited to 2 terms, that was not the case then, but he didn't run for a 3rd term, anyway.)

Reagan had signed his disastrous 1981 tax cut there, and had also entertained many world leaders there, including Britain's Queen Elizabeth II and Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, and Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev.

Friends would say of Ronald and Nancy Reagan that the ranch was his house, while any home they had near Hollywood was her house. Due to Reagan's advancing Alzheimer's disease, Nancy sold the property in 1998, to the Young America's Foundation, a conservative group, which maintains it and holds conferences there. It is now open by appointment.

After Reagan, both George Bushes, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama continued the weekly radio address. After 9 months in office, Donald Trump stopped doing it. He thought he was too good to speak to us one Noon a week, every week. Joe Biden resumed the tradition.

*

August 11, 1984 was a Saturday. This was also the day of the Mary Decker-Zola Budd confrontation in the 1984 Olympics. I have a separate entry for that event.

These Major League Baseball games were played that day:

* The New York Yankees beat the Cleveland Indians, 10-1 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. Mike Pagliarulo and Don Mattingly hit home runs in support of Phil Niekro.

* The New York Mets beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 3-1 at Shea Stadium. George Foster hit a home run, and Rookie of the Year-in-waiting Dwight Gooden struck out 10 batters.

* The Chicago Cubs beat the Montreal Expos, 2-1 at the Olympic Stadium in Montreal. Pete Rose was available for the Expos, but did not play. Five days later, he was traded to the Reds, and named their manager, and his chase for 4,192 career hits was back on.

* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 6-1 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia. Steve Carlton was the winning pitcher. Mike Schmidt was 0-for-3, but had an RBI on a sacrifice fly.

* The San Diego Padres beat the Atlanta Braves, 4-1 at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium. Graig Nettles hit a home run, and Tony Gwynn went 1-for-4.

* The Toronto Blue Jays beat the Baltimore Orioles, 3-2 at Exhibition Stadium in Toronto. Eddie Murray went 2-for-3, and Cal Ripken went 3-for-4 with an RBI.

* The Houston Astros beat the Cincinnati Reds, 8-4 at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati. 

* The Milwaukee Brewers beat the Chicago White Sox, 10-5 at Comiskey Park in Chicago. Robin Yount went 1-for-4, and Paul Molitor was injured and did not play.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the Kansas City Royals, 9-5 at Royals Stadium (now Kauffman Stadium) in Kansas City. George Brett went 2-for-4 with a solo home run.

* The Boston Red Sox beat the Texas Rangers, 5-4 at Arlington Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas. Wade Boggs went 2-for-5 with an RBI.

* The Oakland Athletics beat the California Angels, 3-2 at Anaheim Stadium (now Angel Stadium of Anaheim). An error by Daryl Sconiers on a Mike Davis grounder gave the A's the winning run in the top of the 10th inning. Neither Reggie Jackson nor Rod Carew entered the game for the Angels. Rickey Henderson went 3-for-6 for the A's.

* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat their arch-rivals, the San Francisco Giants, 4-2 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco.

* And the Seattle Mariners beat the Minnesota Twins, 5-4 at the Kingdome in Seattle. Al Cowens singled home the winning run in the bottom of the 10th.

One other item from baseball: Dominican slugger Melky Cabrera was born on this day.