Inside Reagan Ranch: The quiet escape where Reagan shaped the future of America | America Right Now

Added: 2026-05-09

[00:00:01][cheering] >> It's become a scene all too familiar to Americans. Young people protesting and rioting in support of radical left-wing ideologies. But high up in the majestic hills above Santa Barbara, California, something different is happening.

[00:00:19]Each year they come by the hundreds from across America to the small adobe home of America's 40th president, Ronald Reagan.

[00:00:28]To learn about the man, themselves, and America. Andrew Coffin is the director of the Reagan Ranch.

[00:00:35]He's been on the staff of the Young America's Foundation for nearly 30 years.

[00:00:41]This is such an amazing piece of history.

[00:00:44]And Andrew, the thing that strikes me about it is its simplicity. Talk to us about this house. Yeah, this this this was him.

[00:00:52]This is an 1,800 square foot adobe home built in 1872.

[00:00:56]Uh the room we're standing now was a screened-in porch when he bought the property. Uh he put a small addition on the home by enclosing the porch, but even with that addition it's still only 1,800 square feet. There's no central heat, no air conditioning, just two fireplaces uh provide the primary heat for the home. I mean, it's all humble.

[00:01:13]You don't find anything ostentatious.

[00:01:15]You don't find anything designed to impress. There's no pictures of him with world leaders or from his Hollywood days. It's just western art, things they collected and enjoyed through the years.

[00:01:24]Talk to us about this. So, yeah, one of the few symbols of the presidency you find in the home is the seal that hangs on the fireplace. But if you look closely, that is made of finishing nails. It was done by a shop teacher in northern California uh who admired Ronald Reagan, found a way to get him uh that gift. Uh otherwise, when you walk through, you'd barely know that a president lived here.

[00:01:44]Now, this was uh the the main living room uh in in in the home, and I see an old tube television. You can only An old Zenith. And you'd think about uh what the Reagans would have watched. They enjoyed Jeopardy and Murder, She Wrote.

[00:01:59]>> What's so special about this bed?

[00:02:02]So, you walk in and your first thought maybe, "Oh, this is a king bed." Well, it's not a king bed. Uh when they bought the ranch, there were two twin bed frames here in the home. Uh they simply pushed them together. As you can see, the president used plastic zip ties to keep the headboard from coming apart.

[00:02:16]>> You're here, you're advancing this legacy, you're keeping it alive.

[00:02:20]But now it's almost like you're you're protecting, too, because this was such a special place for Michael Reagan.

[00:02:29]There's no question about that and I'm glad you noticed his uh picture there.

[00:02:33]Uh Michael was such a wonderfully important part of this project. Uh he came alongside Young America's Foundation uh almost as soon as we saved the ranch. Uh he spoke to almost every high school conference uh we ran here.

[00:02:44]He did such a great job representing his father, lessons he learned as a young man from his father, and really setting the stage for their visit to the ranch.

[00:02:53]Then a spot where some major history was made, the signing of the largest tax cut in American history. He walks out of the house dressed like a cowboy, uh jeans, cowboy boots, uh with his dog at his side, sits down. It's one of the few press events that took place here at the ranch. The ranch provides an analog blueprint for these digital age kids.

[00:03:15]And what stands out to them about Reagan and leadership has nothing to do with taxes or the Cold War. He was a humble man, a good man, a man who understood hard work. I would say it it helped form my view of how much I love America and how much I want to see America succeed and continue and prosper. I think that leadership being a humble servant leader is something that Reagan just really exemplified. How many students visit the ranch every year? We run programs for middle school, high school, and college students throughout the year. In um June, uh this summer, will welcome 400 or more students here to the ranch. Good news is we keep trying to scale up to meet the demand for these programs and we found that the combination of introducing young people to the ideas of freedom through great conservative leaders and speakers, the sessions that they have access to down in Santa Barbara matched with the chance to walk in Ronald Reagan's footsteps here at the ranch. It's a powerful combination. The biggest lesson for me be humble, man. It all comes back to the presence humility.

[00:04:21]He really was a humble guy and a great guy. If there's one thing that you want the kids who come out here to come away with about Reagan, but also about America.

[00:04:33]Ultimately, we want young people inspired by the ideas of freedom that Ronald Reagan championed, that our founders championed and that as Ronald Reagan understood well, would not be passed on to future generations in the bloodstream. They must take up that mantle. They must defend freedom in their own generation.

[00:04:51]Reagan once said that freedom is only one generation away from extinction. The young people of the Reagan Ranch know it takes hard work.

[00:04:59]But they're confident the flame of liberty won't be extinguished on their watch. For Newsmax at the Reagan Ranch in Santa Barbara, California, I'm Tom Basile.

[00:05:11]Information.

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