Diary Entry - 11/18/1988
Key Facts
President Reagan meets with President Ershad of Bangladesh.
President Reagan participates in the official pardon of the national Thanksgiving Turkey.
President Reagan signs legislation creating a cabinet-level drug czar and providing the death penalty for drug traffickers who kill.
Into the office at 10 A.M. Discussed bills I’ll be signing later in the day. Ken D. suggested that while at the ranch I might try putting down some thoughts for the farewell address. Ken also reminded me that 11 A.M. I would have a full briefing on the budget I must submit. In the meantime Dan Crippen gave me a little advance on it. A. B. Culvahouse came in to discuss who I’d turn to as legal counsel when I left office. I told him I already retained a firm of which Bill Smith was a member.
N.S.C.—Sofear of St. Dept. is going to the Hague about the Iranian funds we still have tied up and which we need to turn over to them. A B-1 Bomber crashed last night. Crew all safe. Apparently it was pilot error not a failure of the plane. Last word on Persian Gulf is that we can make another reduction of our forces there. Then some desk time & bills to sign but only briefly. The Pres. of Bangladesh (Ershad) came by for a brief visit. We’ve been helping them with their flood situation. Then the budget briefing. More desk time & lunch. A photo with a staff members family. Then over to E.O.B. for ceremony—10 awards for Preservation of Historic sites. Then meeting with George Shultz after photos with his entire family—18 in all. Occasion is a daughter getting married. Then Georges regular meeting. This time he had Chet Crocker reporting on the Angola situation & the schedule for Cuban troops going home. Out to the Rose Garden for annual presentation of Turkey. The bird isn’t the one they give us to eat—it’s a 50 lb. monster. Finally up to get Nancy then down to East Room for signing of Drug Bill—The Anti-drug Abuse Act of 1988. Quite a turnout. Congressmen, Cabinet, the father & mother of a young policeman Dave Byrne—murdered by a drug pusher, & the mother of a girl brutally raped & murdered by 3 Pornographers. Upstairs more bill signing & paperwork, then exercise, shower, dinner & early to bed.
