Diary Entry - 09/17/1981
Key Facts
President Reagan attends a Cabinet Council meeting to discuss additional budget cuts due to rising interest rates.
President Reagan travels to Grand Rapids, MI for the opening of the Gerald Ford Presidential Library and Museum.
A car bomb explodes outside the PLO command center in Sidon, Lebanon, killing 20 and injuring 100.
Cabinet meeting on additional budget cuts for ’82 because of additional interest costs etc. Also cuts for ’83 & ’84 which we had announced as unspecified cuts. Jim Edwards & Ted Bell are racing to see which one will be 1st Cabinet member in history to dissolve his dept. Attitude by all was darn good. We hope announcement of this will reassure financial mkt. that we really are going to reduce govt. cuts. Then interest rates will come down. Leaving at 12:35 for Grand Rapids, Mich.—opening of Ford library & museum. Betty & Jerry Ford met us at the plane. At the hotel I went into meetings almost immediately with former Pres. of France, then P.M. Trudeau & last Pres. Lopez Portillo. The P.M. & I had a go around about his energy policy which has American investors in Canada quite upset. Then Jose & I had a real set to about El Salvador. He has evidently believed that we were on the verge of sending in the Marines. His whole demeanor changed when I told him we’d never entertained such a thought. It was a big night. In addition to the 3 I’ve mentioned the Foreign Minister of Japan was there plus all manner of American biggies from both business & govt. Lots of speeches & toasts. Dinner ran an hour late so the “Gala” started at 10 P.M. It actually was a taping of a Bob Hope special. Several times they had to re-do numbers so bedtime became 1:30.
