YAF History: President Reagan Hosts NCSC at The White House

On August 5, 1981, in the very early days of the Reagan administration, President Reagan welcomed Egyptian President Anwar Sadat to the White House for their first official meeting together. On this historic day, President Reagan also invited the attendees of the Young America’s Foundation’s 1981 National Conservative Student Conference to be part of the official welcoming ceremony and to sit in the gallery. Pictured here are the 94 students in attendance during the third annual conference. They are assembled on the lawn of the White House after the welcoming ceremony. The most notable students are Malcolm Gladwell, Aviva Abosch, Yishaiya Abosch, John Mularoni, and Randall Bernard. Malcolm Gladwell is a Canadian journalist, bestselling author, and speaker. He started his journalism career at the American Spectator.  He has been a staff writer for The New Yorker since 1996. He has written five books, The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference (2000), Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking (2005), Outliers: The Story of Success (2008), What the Dog Saw: and Other Adventures (2009), a collection of his journalism, and David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants (2013). All five books were on The New York Times Best Seller list. Aviva Abosch, M.D., Ph.D., is a world-renowned neurosurgeon, director of research and professor at the University of Colorado Hospital.  She has pioneered research in the field of deep brain stimulation to improve our understanding of movement disorders, neuropsychiatric disorders, and epilepsy. Yishaiya Abosch, Ph.D., is a professor and advisor in the Political Science Department’s pre-law and legal certificate program at Fresno State.  Dr. Abosch’s teaching and research specialties are in political theory, especially Thomas Hobbes, and Constitutional Law. His research has appeared in the American Journal of Political Science and Political Research Quarterly. John Mularoni is currently a public affairs and communications consultant in Michigan. He was the Program Director for The National Center for Public Policy Research and worked in The White House Office of Communications under President Reagan. He helped manage policy briefings by the President, Cabinet Officers, National Security Council members, the CIA, the State and Defense Departments, and the NSA among many other accomplishments. Randall Bernard is a partner at Hugo Parker, LLP and is admitted in all federal courts in California.  He is a member of Bay Area Lawyers for Individual Rights and has extensive background in asbestos and products liability and government tort litigation. Also pictured are conference faculty William Keyes and James Gwartney.  William Keyes was the leader of the Conservative Black Political Action Committee and founded the Institute for Responsible Citizenship, an intensive leadership development program for talented African-American men.  James Gwartney, a YAF alumnus, is an author and current Director of the Gus A. Stavros Center for Economic Education at Florida State University. The many students pictured went on to become trial lawyers, novelists, U.S. Army officers, city council members, biologists, doctors, campaign managers, teachers, mothers and fathers.  There is no doubt that they carried what they learned at this conference and the memories of this day with them for the rest of their lives. This summer, students have the opportunity to learn from leading conservatives as they rally with hundreds of other young freedom fighters in our nation’s capital at the 39th National Conservative Student Conference. Registration is open now, so secure your spot before this legendary student conference sells out!