By Tim Ruzek
The Washington Post
January 27, 2003
Almost a year after President Bush signed a bill to make former president Ronald Reagan's boyhood Illinois home a national historic site, the place remains privately owned.
The foundation that owns and manages the site is not happy with the federal government's offer for it.
Norman Wymbs, head of the Ronald Reagan Boyhood Home Foundation in Dixon, Ill., called the Interior Department's $420,000 offer in December for the site "kind of insulting." The foundation values the site -- which includes the home, an adjacent visitors center and a park with a statue of the 40th president -- at $2.5 million to $3 million.
Wymbs, a close friend of Reagan's and author of two books on the former president, said his foundation cannot accept the offer and that if Interior doesn't "think it's that important -- we do."
An independent appraiser for Interior assessed the site for its real and personal property at the fair market value required in the act.
The foundation did a "very good" job of re-creating the Reagan's 1920s-style home, but it just doesn't have that much value, said Alfred M. Suarez Jr., chief of land resources for the National Park Service's Midwest region.
Reagan, who lived in the Dixon home from 1920 to 1923, considered the town his boyhood home. Along with his brother, Neil, he helped the nonprofit foundation renovate it when the group took ownership in 1980. Reagan also helped open the site to the public in 1984.
The former president, 91, is in frail health, suffering from Alzheimer's disease.
The foundation, which plans to vote on the Interior Department's offer next month, has spent about $5 million on the place, which averages 15,000 to 20,000 visitors a year, Wymbs said.
The issue is not about money, though, Wymbs said, adding that the foundation actually would have donated it if the Interior Department had shown more interest in the home and in maintaining its quality.
Any money received from a sale would go toward the foundation's other projects, Wymbs said.
The Interior Department indicated "a lack of interest in what we've done there," Wymbs said. More attention from the department would have made a great difference in the acquisition process, he said.
National Park Service officials said they never were made aware of the foundation's willingness to donate the site.
Interior opposed the legislation last February because the agency wanted to study the site and determine whether the federal government should run it, said Florence I. Six, public affairs officer for the National Park Service's Midwest region.
The Park Service would operate the Reagan home like any other national historic site and would keep it open year-round, Suarez said.
The foundation's 40 to 60 volunteers would continue to operate and manage the site as part of a cooperative agreement with the Park Service, according to the act. These types of agreements are becoming increasingly common for the department, Six said.
Brad Hahn, a spokesman for House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.), who sponsored the legislation, said he hopes both sides can work out a deal for the property because Congress has shown a "clear interest" in it.
The acquisition is important to the Reagan legacy and Dixon community, Hahn said. When introducing the bill in February 2001, Hastert said, "Ronald Reagan will go down in history as one of our greatest presidents. We have a special responsibility to protect and preserve his legacy for future generations."
Under the act, Interior has until Feb. 6, 2004 -- Reagan's 93rd birthday -- to acquire the property.
The Park Service hopes to reach an agreement with Wymbs and his foundation, Suarez said.
Wymbs said he wants to see a stronger sign that Interior thinks the home is worth preserving; otherwise, the group will continue operating it.
"We'll keep on doing what we've been doing," Wymbs said. "We've been doing it for 20 years, and we've been doing a pretty good job of it."