Former Rep. James Rogan, when he speaks in a few days at the Ronald Reagan President Library, joins names like Vin Scully and Tommy Lasorda, Jeb Bush and Gov. Scott Walker, as celebrities the library has hosted.
But those names are little enough compared to the individuals about whom Rogan has written, names like Harry Truman, John F. Kennedy, Richard Nixon, Billy Graham, Bob Hope, Jimmy Stewart, Hubert Humphrey, Barry Goldwater, Cary Grant and Willie Mays.
Rogan will speak at the library May 11, and he’ll also sign copies of his book, “‘And Then I Met…’ Stories of Growing Up, Meeting Famous People, and Annoying the Hell Out of Them.”
The events are set 3:30-4:30 p.m. Pacific there on May 11.
Rogan’s own career has been impressive. He was the GOP congressman on the House Judiciary Committee who helped lead the impeachment of Bill Clinton when he was president.
That came years after Clinton had advised Rogan to go into law and politics.
Such odd twists of fate and the importance of personal connections are recurring motifs in “And Then I Met,” which chronicles Rogan’s encounters with figures Truman and Kennedy, Nixon and Graham, Hope and Grant, and more.
Rogan even met the last survivor of the massacre at the Little Big Horn and the cast of “Gone With the Wind.”
A former gang-murder prosecutor, Rogan’s also been a successful politician, an adjunct law professor and a judge of the Supreme Court of California, appointed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Yet coming back to the Reagan library is a milestone for Rogan now that his career as a politician is over, especially to help promote a book that recounts his experiences with, among others, former President Reagan.
Rogan observes, “During my career in public life, I have enjoyed the privilege of speaking many times at the Ronald Reagan library, although it has been about 10 years since my last visit. I think I was last there when my first book, “Rough Edges,” came out. I did a talk and book signing, and have very fond memories of that event.”
“Rough Edges: My Unlikely Road from Welfare to Washington”chronicles Rogan’s rise from being a down and out son of a single mother who was a convicted felon to one of the top leaders around.
And Rogan’s early life is too unbelievable for fiction. After a rough childhood in San Francisco’s notorious Mission District, Rogan worked at several jobs many would consider unsettling or even dangerous, as a bartender on Hollywood’s Sunset Strip and in a Hell’s Angels’ bar for outlaw bikers. He even worked as a porn theater bouncer.
In the decade since his last event at the Reagan library, Rogan also wrote, “Catching Our Flag: Behind the Scenes Of a Presidential Impeachment.”
As Rogan chronicles, perhaps the most important part of his political career involved defending the rule of law from the very person who had first encouraged Rogan to go to law school back when Bill Clinton was just an ambitious Arkansas politician.
Rogan will also be speaking to the Reagan Library’s Docent Volunteer group. And as someone who has so often found himself encountering great personalities at the very crossroads of history, Rogan is a fitting addition to the Reagan Library’s list of presenters and hosted guests, which includes:
- George Will – March 3, 2015
- Steve Forbes – January 14, 2015, October 5, 2012
- Gov. Rick Perry – October 27, 2014
- Dr. Steven Hayward – October 27, 2014
- Newt and Callista Gingrich – October 21, 2014, February 3, 2014, November 28, 2012
- Peter Thiel – October 1, 2014
- Dr. Ben Carson – September 28, 2014
- Paul Ryan – August 28, 2014, May 22, 2012
- Brett Baier – June 23, 2014
- Vin Scully – June 11, 2014
- Lynne Cheney – May 20, 2014
- Rick Santorum – May 2, 2014
- Tommy Lasorda – April 28, 2014
- Gov. Bobby Jindal – February 13, 2014
- PJ O’Rourke – February 8, 2014
- Dr. Robert Gates – January 29, 2014
- Joe Scarborough – December 13, 2013
- Charles Krauthammer – November 2, 2013
- Mark Levin – September 7, 2013
- Rand Paul – May 31, 2013
- Donald Rumsfeld – May 21, 2013
- Jeb Bush – March 8, 2013
- Greg Gutfeld – November 26, 2012
- Governor Scott Walker – November 16, 2012
- Regis Philbin – October 29, 2012
WND recently published one chapter of Rogan’s “‘And Then I Met…’ Stories of Growing Up, Meeting Famous People, and Annoying the Hell Out Them.”
See the book trailer:
[jwplayer GnG5NC3k]
