SIMI VALLEY : Director Appointed for Reagan Library
A University of Southern California administrator and former White House official has been appointed director of the yet-to-be completed Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in the hills near Simi Valley, the National Archives announced Wednesday.
Ralph C. Bledsoe, 57, will oversee operations of the $60-million complex that ultimately will hold a public museum and an estimated 54 million pages of White House documents generated during the Reagan Administration. The library is scheduled to open in November.
Until his appointment to the $93,000-a-year position, Bledsoe was the director of USC’s Washington Public Affairs Center, a graduate research and education center in the nation’s capital. Bledsoe holds a doctorate from USC in public administration.
During Reagan’s presidency, Bledsoe held a number of White House positions, including executive secretary of the President’s Domestic Policy Council from 1985 to 1988. He has been a longtime Reagan supporter. In 1973, then-Gov. Reagan appointed him to a state research foundation on crime technology.
“Dr. Bledsoe served ably during my terms as governor and as President,” Reagan said in a statement Wednesday.
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