In a gathering that resembled a political convention more than a birthday bash, about 35 people convened to celebrate former President Ronald Reagan's 83rd birthday Saturday night.
It was the Conservative Union at Dartmouth's third annual celebration of the event.
"We wanted to have a social event that would be good fun and good humor," CUaD's Co-Vice- President Judd Serotta '94 said.
CUaD also wanted the party to make a political statement to the campus, Bill Hall '96, CUaD's other co-vice-president, said.
"It just makes a very good point to the campus," Hall said. "We wanted to do this because some people like to harsh on [Reagan] and they get the majority of the say," he said.
During the celebration, the participants sang "Happy Birthday," blew out candles on a cake decorated like an American flag, and played a trivia game that tested their knowledge in categories such as "Reagan's Cabinet," "Reagan's Victories" and "Reagan's Quotes."
Other party activities included a voice impersonation contest in which contestants read from some of Reagan's famous speeches and tried to imitate Reagan's cadence and mannerisms.
There was a "Federal Funding Free-For-All," a game in which guests tried to destroy a donkey pinata labeled "malaise." The donkey was filled with fake money, welfare checks, tax forms and federal subsidies.
Guests also played "Pin the Tail on Bill and Ted," a version of "Pin the Tail on the Donkey" in which participants tried to pin a marijuana joint on President Bill Clinton or Senator Edward Kennedy's lips.
The party's video entertainment included Reagan's 1984 Republican Convention acceptance speech and several scenes from Reagan's most popular movies.
Sporting a "Reagan and Bush in '88 pin," Matthew Berry '94, president of CUaD, said the group chose Reagan's birthday because he was "the greatest president of the 20th century."
"He won the Cold War and he promoted the longest peacetime economic expansion in America's history and restored America's confidence in itself," Berry said.
Berry said Reagan is still very popular at Dartmouth. "According to our national issues poll conducted in October, more Dartmouth students have a favorable impression of Ronald Reagan than Bill Clinton," Berry said.
