1979 — “One small step for Ronald Reagan, one giant leap for Chiropractic.” That famous phrase came to mind in describing an event that should be recorded indelibly in chiropractic history books when reporting the 239th Seminar of the Parker School for Professional Success and the 28th mid-winter junior homecoming of the Parker Chiropractic Research Foundation.

Indeed, it was chiropractic history in the making. Ronald Reagan spent several hours in the company of the leaders of the Chiropractic profession and thousands in his audience who made him well aware of the fact that today’s Chiropractic has truly come of age, is an integral part of the American health provider system, possesses powerful political clout and must be taken into consideration in all government health care involvements. By the time this issue of The Digest reaches its readers, it is more than likely that Ronald Reagan, twice governor of California, will have announced his candidacy for the Republican nomination for president for the November 1980 election year.

This particular PSPS Seminar all came about 53 days after 4,000 DCs, CAs, and CWs left the New York City November Parker Seminar. More than 4,400 members of the Chiropractic program convened at the Las Vegas MGM Grand Hotel again to take advantage of the over one hundred separate training sessions offered as part of the PSPS program.

But without question, the most dynamic aspect of the Seminar was the presence and personality of Ronald Reagan when he socialized, conversed, dined, and learned more about Chiropractic than any possible presidential candidate in history.

The presence of the presidents or representatives of the two chiropractic associations, the National Licensing Board and most chiropractic colleges with some level of CCE-status (which were the ones necessarily invited in order to get all to cooperate, attend, and take advantage of the potentially tremendous opportunity for chiropractic) added a dimension that made it possible for Reagan to realize how Chiropractic has developed today.

Efforts were made to take advantage of every minute. The presidents had photos taken with Mr. Reagan and all present at the dinner/conference were able to express their thought, about chiropractic or otherwise, freely. Seated at the head of the table with Governor Reagan, in the center, were Dr. & Mrs. Parker, Dr. Phil Aiken, President of the ACA, and Dr. Bill Day, Chairman of the Board of ICA. Dr. Jim Parker and Reagan discussed Chiropractic and its relationship with the federal Health Care Delivery Systems. “We tried to cover every base,” said Dr. Parker. “I noticed Dr. Janse talked with Reagan; his obvious brilliance was no doubt observed. Dr. Bill Day, on the Health Committee in the Washington State Senate, discussed health cost inflation. I not only explained practical items such as the ‘x-ray mandate’ and ‘capitation by the manpower act’ but also accreditation, student loans, and our present college enrollment. The chiropractic map along with large blowups of colleges with the name, town, and state indicated, along with some large, impressive chiropractic clinics, were displayed throughout the suite. These were pointed out to him. I am sure these were most impressive to Mr. Reagan. In another vein, we all felt that he was very happy to reminisce his early days with B.J. and chiropractic.”

As a matter of fact, his story about B.J. and his “economy of words” bears repeating, so we will herewith print it verbatim: “This has been a nostalgic evening for me because you knew a gentleman that I also knew. B.J. Palmer was my boss from 1932 to 1937 when I first started in radio, and the studios were in the Palmer School of Chiropractic in Davenport, Iowa. Perhaps many of you didn’t know that B.J. Palmer, as the owner of a radio station or two, was one of the greatest exponents of economy of words and language, and he impressed on all of us in radio, to never use negatives, to use positives. Don’t say ‘don’t forget.’ Say ‘remember’ for example. But one night, for those of you who might remember, Ed Raymers, who was with the ‘All State Insurance Company,’ was on the air, and I was a sports announcer then. We were sitting in the studios that night, and Ed gave the station break. We were an NBC station and there were 20 seconds in there, but he didn’t have any ad or anything to fill 20 seconds, just the call letters of the station. So to try to fill the empty dead air, he said, ‘This is radio station WHO, Des Moines, Iowa.’

“The door opened a few minutes later and in walked B.J. He said, ‘Ed, I heard the station break.’ He said ‘You know, you don’t really need ‘this is.’ If they are hearing us, they know ‘this is.’ Ed thanked him and he said, ‘Ed, you don’t need radio station’ — that’s all they can get on their sets.’ So Ed’s now down to ‘WHO, Des Moines, Iowa’ and as B.J. started to leave, he turned in the doorway and said ‘Ed, there’s only one Des Moines in the world.” So we all knew that from then on, it was “WHO, Des Moines” and let there be dead air.”

The standing ovations at the beginning and end of Governor Reagan’s talk were augmented by numerous ear-piercing outbreaks of applause throughout his delivery.

The presentation of “The Free Enterprise System: The ‘Backbone’ of America to Ronald Reagan,” an impressive Lucite encased miniature spine which PCRF has given to prominent figures like Bob Hope, Art Linkletter, etc., was a highlight for Chiropractic and the Governor had it sent directly to his college Alma Mater for the Reagan Trophy Room where his other memorabilia is already located.

Following his speech, Mr. Reagan was taken by the security team to the photo booth where he extended his “ten to fifteen minutes” of photo time to over one hour. Some 700 people stood for about 200 separate photos with the Governor.

“This was really a heart-warming experience for me,” Governor Reagan remarked to Mrs. Jim Parker, while they were returning to his suite amidst a tight security of seven pistol-packing security men. Indeed, it was felt by all those who were close to the affair that a friend was both made and re-made. A friend who, because of his experience and learning about up-to-date, present-day chiropractic on this auspicious occasion, may be in a position to serve his country better by serving Chiropractic and its patients better in whatever federal involvement there may be in health care delivery systems.

Not to be outdone, the president or representatives of the Chiropractic associations and colleges spoke graciously and brilliantly about their individual organizations to those assembled for a three hour “Presidents” Parade. Each delivered his chosen message about his chiropractic world and the thrust of his association or college in Chiropractic.

Even though weather conditions throughout the country kept hundreds away who had already registered and caused the largest cancellation and “no shows” in PCRF history resulting in its failure to reach the anticipated 5,000 in attendance, the halls, meeting rooms, casinos, and restaurants were filled with voices that echoed the same refrain — “Tremendous, great, amazing, so glad to see Reagan at a chiropractic meeting,” etc. Even when several dozen had to stay over Sunday night because weather prevented some places from flying into different parts of the country, most just settled back and took the opportunity to enjoy a town renowned for always having plenty to do and see.

Following this PSPS Seminar experience was the 240th Seminar at the Dallas Hilton where closed circuit TV was set up for the opening Thursday afternoon five-hour sessions with Dr. Jim Parker. This was necessitated by the fact that nearly 3,000 attended which recorded the largest regular, home-based PSPS Seminar in history.

And now, the next of 241st PSPS Seminar will again be held at the Dallas Hilton, May 10-13, where the usual, complete program for not only doctors and spouses but CAs as well will be presented in keeping with the on-going training program of the Parker Chiropractic Research Foundation.