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The group included Young America’s Foundation and Reagan Ranch supporters from across the country—individuals who have been instrumental in advancing freedom and conservative principles among young people—who wanted to spend time with like-minded friends while participating in educational sessions and visiting interesting port stops along the way. Reagan Ranch Board of Governors members who joined in the 2008 Baltic cruise included: Governor George Allen and his wife, Susan; Al & Bette Moore; and Doug & Pat Perry. The nearly two-week cruise included stops in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Russia, Poland, Finland, Denmark, Sweden, and an excursion to Berlin, Germany. While in Germany, the group visited the Brandenburg Gate, a section of the Berlin Wall still intact, and Checkpoint Charlie. While the group docked in Tallinn, Mart Laar, Estonia’s prime minister from 1992 to 1994 and again from 1999 to 2002, provided inspirational comments on his country’s transition
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from a centrallyplanned economy to a capitalist one. Inspired by Milton Friedman’s book Free To Choose, Laar presided over Estonia’s vast economic progress, earning him the title, “Baltic Tiger.” Laar’s appearance was made possible by supporter Beverly Danielson who encouraged the former prime minister to spend his vacation with our group. Laar described his appreciation for Ronald Reagan: Without this man, I would be somewhere in Siberia in chains… Ronald Reagan was a man who changed world history. Many people in Central and Eastern Europe think that there has not been enough understanding in the world, including in the United States, of what Ronald Reagan has done. While in Klaipeda, Lithuania, former president Vytautas Landsbergis (1990 to 1992) discussed the growing threat Russia poses to his country’s freedom and prosperity. He also reflected on Ronald Reagan: “Reagan was a great man indeed. He deserves
the memory of all captive nations. He was a person who could stand against the Soviets, but not just stand, but put them down also.” In addition to the three heads of state, Young America’s Foundation hosted speakers who traveled with the group overseas and shared comments on a variety of topics. In a session emceed by Vice President Richard Kimble, Edwin Meese, 75th U.S. attorney general, discussed milestones on Ronald Reagan’s road to victory during the Cold War. One of those momentous occasions was a speech Attorney General Meese watched Ronald Reagan give at Westminster where he said, “The march of freedom and democracy will leave Marxism and Leninism on the ash heap of history.” Foundation President Ron Robinson reexamined Whittaker Chambers’ book Witness and Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’s The Gulag Archipelago in order to describe how freedom prevailed against all odds. Best-selling author Peter Schweizer’s speech addressing
4) Estonian Prime Minister (1992 to 1994 & 1999 to 2002) and “Baltic Tiger” Mart Laar shares his personal struggle for free enterprise in Estonia. 5) Lithuanian President (1990 to 1992) Vytautas Landsbergis gives the travelers an indication of how those in the Baltic region credit Ronald Reagan with their freedom from Communism. 6) Steve & Terry Miller, Jack & Katherine Perrin, and Michelle Easton & Ron Robinson enjoy an evening meal together on board the Seven Seas Voyager in northern Europe. 7) Joan Lamoreaux, Kathy & Peter Easton, and Rick Schwartz listen as their Berlin tour guide (center) shares information about the Berlin Wall dividing East from West. 8) Cruise traveler Mark Kroll asks one of his pressing questions during the speakers program on board the ship. 9) Reagan Ranch Board of Governors members Al & Bette Moore visit Peterhof, the palaces and gardens of the “Russian Versailles,” just outside of St. Petersburg.