Pat McGuinness was a friend and favored guest of Walt Disney.  From opening day at Disneyland in 1955, until Walt's death in 1966, Pat McGuinness was a fixture in Southern California Disney events.  Patrick was also a guest in the Disney home on numerous occasions.  Patrick McGuinness was also the ONLY reporter ever to be granted a completely personal interview by Walt to discuss is family and personal history!

Disney met Patrick McGuinness on a visit to the yet incomplete Disneyland in 1955, while Pat was giving a live broadcast from the construction site - at the invitation of the Disney company to build up "buzz" for the upcoming opening day.  From that point, until they had their falling out in 1962/63, Walt Disney played an active role in the career of Patrick McGuinness.  McGuinness was given access to Disney company secrets, and unannounced plans.  Disney was also instrumental in moving Pat in the anchor position with ABC.  McGuinness also became a personal friend of Walt's which brought him into the Disney inner political circle - introducing folks like Governor Pat Brown, and the up and coming Ronald Reagan, then just an actor in Disney's circle. 

Patrick was also introduced into the space program through Disney.  This introduced him to such notables as Werner Von Baun, and others in the developing NASA Space Program.

Unfortunately, with Patrick's divorce to Elizabeth, the relationship largely came to an end

In 1966, Reagan defeated Pat Brown by almost a million votes.

Pat McGuinness met Ronald Reagan through Walt Disney - Reagan was a favored star and friend of Walt.  Patrick also served from time to time as an informal political advisor to Reagan.

This afforded McGuinness an extraordinary connection to the U.S. space program