The HyperTexts
Ronald Reagan: Quotes, Quips, Anecdotes, Eulogies, Epigrams and Poems
compiled and edited by Michael R. Burch
All italicized text was either written or spoken by Ronald Reagan ...
Quotations
Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall! (President Reagan, at the Brandenburg Gate, West Berlin, June 12, 1987)
I do not believe in a fate that will fall on us no matter what we do.
I do believe in a fate that will fall on us if we do nothing.
Life is one grand, sweet song, so start the music. (These words appeared next to Reagan's high school yearbook
picture)
Whatever else history may say about me when I'm gone, I hope it will record that I appealed to your best
hopes, not your worst fears; to your confidence rather than your doubts. My
dream is that you will travel the road ahead with liberty's lamp guiding your
steps and opportunity's arm steadying your way.
I wasn't a great communicator, but I communicated great things ...
A leader, once convinced a particular course of action is the right one, must
have the determination to stick with it and be undaunted when the going gets rough.
There is no limit to what a man can do or where he can go if he doesn't mind
who gets the credit.
I know it's hard when you're up to your armpits in alligators to remember you
came here to drain the swamp.
In America, our origins matter less than our destination, and that is what
democracy is all about.
There are simple answers to the nation's problems, but not easy ones.
While I take inspiration from the past, like most Americans, I live for the future.
We don't have a trillion-dollar debt because we haven't taxed enough; we have a
trillion-dollar debt because we spend too much.
Can anyone here say that if we can't do it, someone down the road can do it? And
if no one does it, what happens to the country? ... I know it's a tremendous
challenge, but ask yourselves: If not us, who? If not now, when?
It was leadership here at home that gave us strong American influence abroad,
and the collapse of imperial Communism. Great nations have responsibilities to
lead, and we should always be cautious of those who would lower our profile,
because they might just wind up lowering our flag.
Ronald Reagan "putting" on the Ritz
A man of rare good humor, Ronald Reagan knew how to have fun, and he was
famously quick with a quip (we know that the first two quotes below, at least, were not rehearsed):
After Hinckley shot him, Reagan mock-pled to the George Washington Hospital
trauma team, Please tell me you're all Republicans. The head
of the team, Dr. Joseph Giordano, a liberal Democrat, reassured him, "We're
all Republicans today."
His first words to Nancy after having been shot were: Honey, I forgot to duck!
I've always stated that the nearest thing to eternal life we'll ever see on this earth is a government program.
I did turn 75 today — but remember, that's only 24 Celsius.
After Reagan had endured a particularly tough photo-op with Archbishop Desmond
Tutu (who took the opportunity to roundly criticize the Reagan administration's
South Africa policies), the media asked how things went. Reagan responded: Tutu? So-So.
I have wondered at times what the Ten Commandments would have looked like if Moses had run them through the U.S. Congress.
The nine most terrifying words in the English language are, "I'm from the government and I'm here to help."
A friend of mine was asked to a costume ball a short time ago. He slapped some egg on his face and went as a liberal economist.
I want you to know that also I will not make age an issue of this campaign. I
am not going to exploit, for political purposes, my opponent's youth and
inexperience. (Reagan's response after being asked if he felt his age would be an issue,
during a 1984 presidential debate with the much younger Walter Mondale)
Recession is when your neighbor loses his job. Depression is when you lose yours. Recovery is when Jimmy Carter loses his.
When you see all that rhetorical smoke billowing up from the Democrats, well,
ladies and gentleman, I'd follow the example of their nominee: don't inhale.
(Speaking of Bill Clinton in 1992)
Politics is supposed to be the second oldest profession. I have come to
realize that it bears a very close resemblance to the first.
Reagan, the notoriously good and frequent napper: I have left orders to
be awakened at any time in case of national emergency, even if I'm in a cabinet meeting.
In the same vein, he told a visitor to the Oval Office: Some day, people will say Ronald Reagan slept here.
Reagan could zing a chiasmus with the best of 'em: The difference between
them [Democrats] and us [Republicans] is that we want to check government
spending and they want to spend government checks.
It's true hard work never killed anybody, but I figure, why take the chance?
How do you tell a Communist? Well, it's someone who reads Marx and Lenin.
And how do you tell an anti-Communist? It's someone who understands Marx and
Lenin.
Reagan told a story about an old Russian woman who asked Mikhail Gorbachev
whether communism had been invented by a scientist or a politician. Gorbachev
said he thought it was a politician. "That explains it," said the
woman, "a scientist would have tried it on mice first."
Detente — isn't that what a farmer has with his turkey — until Thanksgiving?
Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases:
If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.
I've always thought that the common sense and wisdom of the government were
summed up in a sign they used to have hanging on that gigantic Hoover Dam. It
said, "Government property. Do not remove."
Politics is not a bad profession. If you succeed there are many rewards, if you
disgrace yourself you can always write a book.
There are advantages to being elected President. The day after I was elected, I
had my high school grades classified "top secret."
When I was a little boy, my father proudly told me that the Irish built the
jails in this country, then proceeded to fill them.
Ahead of his TIME? Reagan once told members of the media: Before I refuse to take your
questions, I have an opening statement.
I am not worried about the deficit. It is big enough to take care of itself.
Reagan's love of levity sometimes went a bit too far. With the world still
in a Cold War deep freeze, August 11, 1984, during a radio microphone test, he
jested: My fellow Americans, I'm pleased to tell you today that I've
signed legislation that will outlaw Russia forever. We begin bombing in five
minutes.
More Quotations
Above all, we must realize that no arsenal, or no weapon in the arsenals of the
world, is so formidable as the will and moral courage of free men and women.
The men of Normandy had faith that what they were doing was right, faith that
they fought for all humanity, faith that a just God would grant them mercy on
this beachhead or on the next. It was the deep knowledge — and pray God we have
not lost it — that there is a profound moral difference between the use of
force for liberation and the use of force for conquest.
You and I have a rendezvous with destiny. We will preserve for our children
this, the last best hope of man on earth, or we will sentence them to take the
first step into a thousand years of darkness. If we fail, at least let our
children and our children's children say of us we justified our brief moment
here. We did all that could be done.
Welfare's purpose should be to eliminate, as far as possible, the need for its own existence.
Are you willing to spend time studying the issues, making yourself aware, and
then conveying that information to family and friends? Will you resist the
temptation to get a government handout for your community? Realize that the
doctor's fight against socialized medicine is your fight. We can't socialize the
doctors without socializing the patients. Recognize that government invasion of
public power is eventually an assault upon your own business. If some among you
fear taking a stand because you are afraid of reprisals from customers, clients,
or even government, recognize that you are just feeding the crocodile hoping
he'll eat you last. If all of this seems like a great deal of trouble, think
what's at stake. We are faced with the most evil enemy mankind has known in his
long climb from the swamp to the stars. There can be no security anywhere in the
free world if there is no fiscal and economic stability within the United
States. Those who ask us to trade our freedom for the soup kitchen of the
welfare state are architects of a policy of accommodation. They say the
world has become too complex for simple answers. They are wrong. There are no
easy answers, but there are simple answers. We must have the courage to do what
we know is morally right. Winston Churchill said that "the destiny of man
is not measured by material computation. When great forces are on the move in
the world, we learn we are spirits—not animals." And he said, "There
is something going on in time and space, and beyond time and space, which,
whether we like it or not, spells duty." You and I have a rendezvous with
destiny. We will preserve for our children this, the last best hope of man on
earth, or we will sentence them to take the first step into a thousand years of
darkness. If we fail, at least let our children and our children's children say
of us we justified our brief moment here. We did all that could be done.
We who live in free market societies believe that growth, prosperity and
ultimately human fulfillment, are created from the bottom up, not the government
down. Only when the human spirit is allowed to invent and create, only when
individuals are given a personal stake in deciding economic policies and
benefiting from their success — only then can societies remain economically
alive, dynamic, progressive, and free. Trust the people. This is the one
irrefutable lesson of the entire postwar period contradicting the notion that
rigid government controls are essential to economic development.
It's time we asked ourselves if we still know the freedoms intended for us by
the Founding Fathers. James Madison said, "We base all our experiments on
the capacity of mankind for self-government." This idea that government was
beholden to the people, that it had no other source of power, is still the
newest, most unique idea in all the long history of man's relation to man. This
is the issue of this election: Whether we believe in our capacity for
self-government or whether we abandon the American Revolution and confess that a
little intellectual elite in a far-distant capital can plan our lives for us
better than we can plan them ourselves.
I believe we shall rise to the challenge. I believe that Communism is another
sad, bizarre chapter in human history whose last pages even now are being
written.
Ronald Reagan, Poet!
Was Ronald Reagan a romantic poet at heart? You be the judge, as he recalls a scene from his childhood in his own words:
The best part was that I was allowed to dream.
Many the day I spent deep in a huge rocker
in the mystic atmosphere
of Aunt Emma's living room
with its horsehair-stuffed gargoyles of furniture,
its shawls and antimacassars,
globes of glass over birds and flowers,
books and strange odors;
many the day I remained hidden
in a corner downstairs
in Uncle Jim's jewelry shop
with its curious relics,
faint lights from gold and silver and bronze,
lulled by the erratic ticking of a dozen clocks.
The poems below were
written while Ronald Reagan was a teenager:
Our troubles break and drench us.
Like spray on the cleaving prow
Of some trim Gloucester schooner.
As it dips in a graceful bow ...
But why does sorrow drench us
When our fellow passes on?
He's just exchanged life's dreary dirge
For an eternal life of song.
— From "Life" by Ronald Reagan, age 17
Isn't it just like Ronald Reagan to question our lack of optimism at his passing?
Millions have gone before us,
And millions will come behind,
So why do we curse and fight,
At a fate both wise and kind?
— From "Life" by Ronald Reagan
I wonder what it's all about, and why
We suffer so, when little things go wrong?
We make our life a struggle,
When life should be a song.
— From "Life" by Ronald Reagan
What is the inborn human trait
That frowns on a life of song?
That makes us weep at the journey's end,
When the journey was oft-times wrong?
— From "Life" by Ronald Reagan
"Life" was published in Reagan's high school yearbook in 1928. Since Reagan was
born in 1911, the poem was written when he was 17 or younger. Judging by the
meter and rhyme of the poem, it was not his first attempt. There are reports
that Reagan wrote poetry somewhat (or perhaps quite) prolifically:
"High
Flight" by John Gillespie Magee Jr., was a favorite poem of Reagan's,
according to Peggy Noonan, one of his speechwriters:
Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds — and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of — wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov'ring there,
I've chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air.
Up, up the long, delirious, burning blue
I've topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace
Where never lark, or even eagle flew —
And, while with silent lifting mind I've trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand and touched the face of God.
Reagan's Poetic Prose
The young Ronald Reagan was capable of precise, poetic prose, for instance describing a
canoeist's impression of the wind:
It bends the trees on either shore like a
hand pulled across the bristles of a hairbrush ... Oily rollers appear; swifter,
higher, higher they climb,—white crests break at the peak of each swell ...
At his farewell address he still spoke with precise, passionate eloquence:
I wasn't a great communicator, but I communicated great things, and they
didn't spring full bloom from my brow; they came from the heart of a great nation.
Reagan's "Crossing the Bar"
Patti Davis remembers her father: Many years ago, my father decided to write
down his reflections about death, specifically his own, and how he would want
people to feel about it. He chose to write down the first verse of an Alfred
Lord Tennyson poem, "Crossing the Bar," and then he decided to add a
couple lines of his own. I don't think Tennyson will mind. In fact, they've
probably already discussed it by now. Tennyson wrote:
Sunset and evening star,
And one clear call for me!
And may there be no moaning of the bar,
When I put out to sea.
My father added:
We have God's promise
that I have gone on to a better world,
where there is no pain or sorrow.
Bring comfort to those who may mourn my going.
Reagan's Eulogy
Ronald Prescott Reagan's eulogy for his father is without a doubt a poem:
Humble as he was, he never would have assumed a free pass to heaven.
But in his heart of hearts, I suspect he felt he would be welcome there.
And so he is home. He is free.
Those of us who knew him well will have no trouble imagining his paradise.
Golden fields will spread beneath a blue dome of a western sky.
Live oaks will shadow the rolling hillsides.
And someplace, flowing from years long past,
a river will wind toward the sea.
Across those fields, he will ride a gray mare he calls Nancy D.
They will sail over jumps he has built with his own hands.
He will, at the river, carry him over the shining stones.
He will rest in the shade of the trees.
Our cares are no longer his. We meet him now only in memory.
But we will join him soon enough. All of us.
When we are home. When we are free.
More Eulogies from Around the Globe
We've done our part. And as I walk off into the city streets, a final word
to the men and women of the Reagan revolution, the men and women across America
who for eight years did the work that brought America back. My friends: We did
it. We weren't just marking time. We made a difference. We made the city
stronger. We made the city freer, and we left her in good hands. All in all, not
bad, not bad at all. And so, good-bye, God bless you, and God bless the United
States of America.
In closing, let me thank you, the American people, for giving me the great honor
of allowing me to serve as your president. When the Lord calls me home, whenever
that day may be, I will leave with the greatest love for this country of ours
and eternal optimism for its future. I now begin the journey that will lead me
into the sunset of my life. I know that for America there will always be a
bright dawn ahead.
Nancy Reagan: "I think they broke the mold when they made Ronnie. He had absolutely no ego, and he was very comfortable in
his own skin; therefore, he didn't feel he ever had to prove anything to anyone."
Ronald Prescott Reagan: "History will record his worth as a leader. We here
have long since measured his worth as a man. Honest, compassionate, graceful,
brave. He was the most plainly decent man you could ever hope to meet."
Michael Edward Reagan: "At the early onset of Alzheimer's disease, my
father and I would tell each other we loved each other and we would give each
other a hug. As the years went by and he could no longer verbalize my name, he
recognized me as the man who hugged him. So when I would walk into the house, he
would be there in his chair opening up his arms for that hug hello and the hug
goodbye. It was a blessing truly brought on by God. We had wonderful blessings
of that nature. Wonderful, wonderful blessings that my father gave to me each
and every day of my life. I was so proud to have the Reagan name and to be
Ronald Reagan's son. What a great honor."
Patti Davis: "He was the one who generously offered funeral services for
my goldfish on the morning of its demise. We went out into the garden and we dug
a tiny grave with a teaspoon and he took two twigs and lashed them together with
twine and formed a cross as a marker for the grave. And then he gave a beautiful
eulogy. He told me that my fish was swimming in the clear blue waters in heaven
and he would never tire and he would never get hungry and he would never be in
any danger and he could swim as far and wide as he wanted and he never had to
stop, because the river went on forever. He was free. When we went back inside
and I looked at my remaining goldfish in their aquarium with their pink plastic
castle and their colored rocks, I suggested that perhaps we should kill the
others so they could also go to that clear blue river and be free. He then took
more time out of his morning — I'm sure he actually did have other things to
do that day — and patiently explained to me that in God's time, the other fish
would go there, as well. In God's time, we would all be taken home. And even
though it sometimes seemed a mystery, we were just asked to trust that God's
time was right and wise."
Jimmy Carter: "This is a sad day for our country. I probably know as well as anybody what a formidable communicator and
campaigner president Reagan was. It was because of him that I was retired from my last job."
Helmut Kohl: "His consistent championing of freedom contributed decisively to overcoming the division of Europe and Germany.
We Germans have much to thank Ronald Reagan for."
Mikhail Gorbachev: "I take the death of Ronald Reagan very hard. He was a man whom fate set by me in
perhaps the most difficult years at the end of the 20th century. He has already
entered history as a man who was instrumental in bringing about the end of the
Cold War. To use the terminology of those years, he was a hawk. Nevertheless, that hawk loved life.
He was a man who respected traditions, and I think he was concerned about how he would be remembered in history.
It was his goal and his dream to end his term and enter history as a peacemaker."
George W. Bush: "Ronald Reagan had the confidence that
comes with conviction, the strength that comes with character, the grace that
comes with humility, and the humor that comes with wisdom. He leaves behind a
nation he restored and a world he helped save."
Maggie Thatcher: "Ronald Reagan had a higher claim than any other
leader to have won the cold war for liberty. To have achieved so much, against
such odds, and with such humour and humanity, made Ronald Reagan a truly great
American hero."
Ed Koch: "Of the three [Reagan, JFK and Martin Luther King, Jr.], I think
Ronald Reagan is clearly the most beloved. His support crosses party lines,
notwithstanding the fact that our country is nearly split down the middle on
most issues. Reagan's domestic policies were, in the opinion of many,
exceedingly conservative. But he had charm and character, and all negatives
resulting from policies are trumped by those rare virtues."
Maggie Thatcher: "Nothing was more typical of Ronald Reagan than his
large-hearted magnanimity — and nothing more American."
Jacques Chirac: "[Reagan was] a great statesman who through the strength of his convictions and his commitment to
democracy will leave a deep mark in history."
George H. W. Bush: "Ronnie stayed with his principles, which is very important, and he proved to be a strong leader for
what he believed. But secondly there were the human qualities of decency and
kindness, a wonderful sense of humor. All of these things added up to the fact
that even if he disagreed with a person, that person would not become a
political enemy; he conducted himself in a very civil manner."
Bill Clinton: "Hillary and I will always remember President Ronald Reagan for the way he
personified the indomitable optimism of the American people, and for keeping
America at the forefront of the fight for freedom for people everywhere."
John Kerry: "Ronald Reagan's love of country was infectious. Even when he was
breaking Democrats' hearts, he did so with a smile and in the spirit of honest
and open debate ... Today in the face of new challenges, his example
reminds us that we must move forward with optimism and resolve. He was our
oldest president, but he made America young again."
Former Soviet dissident Natan Scharansky: "My Soviet jailers gave
me the privilege of reading the latest copy of Pravda. Splashed
across the front page was a condemnation of President Ronald Reagan for having
the temerity to call the Soviet Union an 'evil empire.'
Tapping on walls and talking through toilets, word of Reagan's 'provocation' quickly spread throughout the prison. We dissidents
were ecstatic. Finally, the leader of the free world had spoken
the truth — a truth that burned inside the heart of each and every one of us."
Sydney: The Sydney Morning Herald, June 7, 2004: In
1980, on the eve of an era nobody predicted, the conventional wisdom was that
Ronald Reagan was the journeyman, the B-grade actor, the mouthpiece for big
business interests who was too old, who read Reader's Digest, and had twice
failed to win the Republican presidential nomination in 1968 and 1976. When he
tried once more, at the age of 69, he was, for a long time, simply not taken
seriously by the media consensus. The view was widely shared in Australia, and
to Australian eyes, even in an American context, Reagan did seem remarkably
folksy, with a message too simple for a great imperial power. In the sweep of
history, who looks myopic now?
Hong Kong: Asia Times, June 7, 2004: For his
lonely stand against the forces of barbarism, I rate Winston Churchill the
greatest statesman of the 20th century. Ronald Reagan though, arguably was the
greater commander in chief. Decisiveness (translating Clausewitz's term Entschlossenheit)
depends in turn upon strategic vision. But a commander
requires not only vision, but also the intestinal fortitude to endure
uncertainty, and the will to force the burden of uncertainty onto his opponent.
Borrowing from the language of economics, one might call this a predilection for
creative destruction. Whatever his faults, Reagan possessed the great attribute
of command … To a generation that has come of age after the fall of the Soviet
Empire, it is hard to imagine that the smart money in Europe wagered on Russian
dominance when Ronald Reagan took office in 1981. I can attest that the closest
advisors of French President Francois Mitterand and German Chancellor Helmut
Schmidt thought NATO would lose the Cold War. So humiliating was the later
collapse of the communist regimes that the pundits could argue credibly that it
had fallen of its own weight. No such thing happened. Reagan took office at a
dark hour for the West, and did things that the elite of Europe had deemed
impossible … For now it is enough to say that Ronald Reagan goes to his rest
with the gratitude of free people everywhere. — Spengler
Jerusalem: The Jerusalem Post, June 7, 2004: Like World War II, the Cold
War is now viewed retrospectively through American eyes as inevitable, just, and
ending in the West's victory. But as Reagan himself pointed out in his farewell
address, the policies that he espoused were widely derided as
"dangerous" before and during his tenure.
Moscow: Moscow Times, June 11, 2004: Reagan turned the tide
[of the Cold War] with his unique approach and interest in the Soviet people. "He really wanted to
know how ordinary Russians thought and lived and their aspirations ... He was the first president, I think to
understand very clearly the difference between 'Russian' and 'Soviet'." — Simone Kozhuarov
London: The Guardian, June 7, 2004: Ronald Reagan ... gave an always dignified
and warm performance, serenely meeting such challenges as increasing deafness,
two bouts of cancer, and an assassination attempt one year into his presidency.— Hugh Brogan
Tokyo: The Japan Times, June 7, 2004: Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said Reagan laid the
foundation for the Japan-U.S. alliance. Former Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone
mourned him as a great leader and "a friend of Japan ... a great president who led
the Cold War against communism to the victory of freedom and democracy."
... "He was a good friend of the Japanese people as he respected Japan and its
culture." Koizumi said in a statement: "The foundation of the Japan-U.S.
alliance that now serves as a driving force to solve international issues with
other countries was built during President Reagan's era."
Common Folk Talk
Nan Kester: "He made us proud."
Greg Williams: "He put a face on freedom."
R. B. Henry: "Day by day, he looks like he's in trouble and losing
everything, but in the end he seems to get what he wants. I'd say he knows what
he wants to do, he believes in it, and quite frankly he's gotten quite a bit
done, even though that didn't always appear to be the case."
Beth Vanderkooi: "Ronald Reagan touched all of our lives and reminded us of what we ought to be."
A Man of Faith, a Man of God
Weep when we reach the door
That opens to let us in,
And brings to us eternal peace
As it closes again on sin.
— From "Life" by Ronald Wilson Reagan
Faith in God, patriotism, freedom, the love of freedom, family, work,
neighborhood — the heart and soul of America's past and the promise of her
future. If we stand together and live up to these principles, we will not fail.
I've always believed that this land was set aside in an uncommon way, that
a divine plan placed this great continent between the oceans to be found by a
people from every corner of the earth who had a special love of faith, freedom
and peace.
Whatever happens now, I owe my life to God and will try to serve him in
every way I can. (Ronald Reagan, writing in his diary after John
Hinckley's attempt on his life on March 30, 1981)
"Dad was also a deeply, unabashedly religious man. But he never made the
fatal mistake of so many politicians wearing his faith on his sleeve to gain
political advantage. True, after he was shot and nearly killed early in his
presidency, he came to believe that God had spared him in order that he might do
good. But he accepted that as a responsibility, not a mandate. And there is a
profound difference." — Ronald Prescott Reagan
A Man of Realized Dreams
Reagan "had a dream that recurred throughout his life: 'He had always
dreamed that he was living in a big white house.'” He told [speechwriter]
Peggy Noonan that the dream “just kept coming back … that I was going to
live in a sort of mansion with big rooms like this one …” — Phil Brennan
"Reagan believed that he survived the 1981 attempt on his life only by
divine intervention. Not only did the bullet Hinckley fired miss Reagan's
heart by inches, but also the Devastator bullet Hinckley used inexplicably and
miraculously failed to explode. Soon after being shot, Reagan had a vision while
lying in his hospital bed. He was startled to see 'figures in white standing
around him.' He wasn't sure he was still alive, so he scribbled a note to
Nancy: 'I'm alive, aren't I.' He wrote during his recuperation, 'Whatever
happens now I owe my life to God and will try to serve him every way I can.'
Interestingly, Mother Teresa believed Reagan's survival had a higher purpose.
She told him privately that there was 'a purpose to this.' She said the
attack had helped him to 'understand the suffering and pain of the world.'” — Phil Brennan
On November 3, 1980, a double-rainbow crested over Main Street in Tampico,
Illinois, where Ronald Reagan was born. The next day, Reagan was elected the 40th president of the United States. The
Israelites entered the promised land after spending 40 years in the wilderness. "When we saw the double rainbows,
we knew he had it won," explains Amy McElhiney, who, with her husband
Lloyd, manages the Reagan Birthplace Museum. — related by Brad Lips and Dan
Lips
As related in Dutch by Edmund Morris, the double rainbow appeared, seemingly prophetically,
over Reagan's birthplace: "Two arcs of colored light shafted out of a dark sky onto the
Birthplace's roof, pointing precisely at the spot where Nelle had labored so
long to bring him forth. An amateur photographer caught the effect and sent a
print to the President-elect. Dutch delightedly pasted it into a scrapbook he
keeps of his youth. On November 3, 1980, he wrote in his careful, crabbed hand, this
double rainbow appeared in Tampico, Ill. The rainbow appears to end on top of
the First National Bank, where Ronald Reagan was born. The next day Mr. Reagan
was elected Pres. of the U.S.A. "
As the high school art director of the Dixonian, Reagan laid out the
volume "in the style of a silent-movie storyboard. The various sections
were given such titles cards as 'Directors,' 'Cast,' 'Stage," and
'Filming.' Even more remarkably, he had illustrated each of these cards with silhouette
drawings of himself as an authority figure. Reels of transparent film roll
through his masterful hands. He calls orders through a megaphone. He sits behind
his desk, solitary and darkly directorial. To this day, when I show this last
silhouette to veterans of Ronald Reagan's White House, they gasp with
recognition. The resemblance to the man in the Oval Office is almost occult. 'He
drew it," I tell them, "when he was sixteen." — Edmund Morris, Dutch
Related by Patti Davis in her eulogy for her father: I don't know why
Alzheimer's was allowed to steal so much of my father — sorry — before
releasing him into the arms of death, but I know that at his last moment, when
he opened his eyes, eyes that had not opened for many, many days and looked at
my mother, he showed us that neither disease nor death can conquer love.
Ms. [Patti] Davis revealed earlier this year that her father, crippled
by Alzheimer's disease for ten years, had not been able to recognise Mrs
Reagan for a number of years. He could no longer talk, walk or feed himself.
Despite having had years to prepare for his departure, Ms Davis said the reality
was crushing her mother. As the 93-year-old Mr Reagan's health deteriorated
sharply last week, the family gathered by his bedside. Ms Davis held her mother
as she was “shaking with so much pain you think if you were at the centre of
the Earth you could probably feel it”. But in an article to be published later
this week, she wrote: “At the last moment, when his breathing told us this was
it, he opened his eyes and looked straight at my mother. Eyes that hadn't
opened for days did, and they weren't chalky or vague. They were clear and
blue and full of love. And they closed with his last breath. If a death can be
lovely, his was.” — Times Online
... as Nancy Reagan publicly showed her heartbreak, details of her
final private moment with the love of her life were revealed last night as one
of deep sorrow and miraculous surprise. The former First Lady believes her
long-suffering husband recognized her when he stared into her eyes for an
instant before taking his last breath, his daughter Patti Davis writes. "It
was the greatest gift he could have given me," the former First Lady told
her family. Sobbing, shaking and knowing death was imminent, she held her
husband's hand about 1 p.m. Saturday as he inhaled deeply and opened his eyes
for the first time in five days. While most thought Alzheimer's disease had
robbed former President Reagan of all his memory, the last look he gave his wife
was one of deep acknowledgment, Davis writes for People magazine in its
upcoming edition ... Davis and her brother Ron were standing next to their
father's bed when the astonishing interchange between their parents took place.
"In his last moment he taught me that there is nothing stronger than love
between two people, two souls," Davis writes. "It was the last thing
he could do to show my mother how entwined their souls are, and it was
everything." The former President died just before Michael Reagan entered
his father's room, but he said the look on Nancy Reagan's face revealed she had
been given a gift even as she began to mourn her loss. "His last earthly
look was at his wife, his next look was at the face of God," Michael Reagan
told People. The Reagans' personal physician, Dr. John Hutton, could not
rule out the possibility that Ronald Reagan recognized his wife of 52 years just
before he died. "Whereas one could not explain it on any medical or
physiological terms, I think there must be something to this," Hutton said last
night on MSNBC's "Countdown with Keith Olbermann." "It's something that if you
believe in it, you should take great joy and happiness in your belief," he said,
adding that such moments have more to do with "the belief of people and their
faith." — Michelle Caruso, Bill Hutchinson and Corky Siemaszko, Daily News, June 8, 2004
A Man of Prayer
In telephone calls to the families of servicemen who had died, he would ask
if he could lead the family in prayer. — Phil Brennan
There is one thing about campaigning. We talk about how hard it is, but when
you go out across the country and meet the people, you can't help but pray and
remind God of that passage in 2nd Chronicles [about healing the land], because
the people of this country are not beyond redemption. They are good people and I
believe this nation has a destiny yet unfulfilled.
Perhaps one of the most powerful such moments [of Reagan's] came on the
night he accepted the party nomination at the national convention in Detroit's
Joe Louis Arena. It was not a graceful moment, but a certain awkwardness in
execution often seems to blend into a special Reagan graciousness that
translates into persuasiveness. Looking up, and then down, and then back up, he
seemed small and even insecure behind the massive convention podium. Then he
blurted, "I'll confess that I've been a little afraid to suggest what I'm
going to suggest." He paused slightly. "I'm more afraid not to—that
we begin our crusade joined together in a moment of silent prayer." He
allowed ten seconds or more to pass, although it seemed longer, and he looked
up. Everyone was on his side in that moment. "God bless America," he
said huskily. — from Reagan Inside Out, by Bob Slosser
When I interviewed Judge William P. Clark [as I was working on my book, How Ronald Reagan Changed My
Life, from which this passage is drawn], I found myself wanting to ask not about
Reagan's policies but about his interior life. What had Clark, the man who was
probably closer to the President than anyone outside the Reagan family, seen in
the chief executive that would have been hidden from an ordinary member of the
staff such as a speechwriter like me? The private, inner Reagan—what had he
been like? ... “He was a man of prayer,” Clark said. Reagan's favorite setting for prayer?
The outdoors. “He didn't need a church to pray in,” Clark explained. “He referred to his ranch as an open
cathedral with oak trees for walls.” On trail rides, Clark and Reagan would
often recite the famous prayer of St. Francis of Assisi that opens, “Lord, make
me an instrument of Thy peace.” “Sometimes,” Clark said, “the President
would look around and say, ‘What a wonderful place for prayer.' And
sometimes he'd just look up at the sky and say, ‘Glory to God.'” — Peter Robinson
Prayer also helped Reagan with his fears. One was his fear of
flying. For decades he refused to fly and took cars and trains to travel across
the country. He overcame that fear through prayer, and began every flight with a
silent prayer. His daughter Patti, once seeing him pray before a flight, asked
if he was requesting that the plane not crash. "No," Reagan responded,
"I pray that whatever God's will is, I'll be able to accept it with grace and have
faith in His wisdom.” — Phil Brennan
A Man of Conviction
No arsenal or no weapon in the arsenals of the world is so formidable as
the will and moral courage of free men and women.
It is time for us to realize that we are too great a nation to limit
ourselves to small dreams. We're not, as some would have us believe, doomed to
an inevitable decline. I do not believe in a fate that will fall on us no matter
what we do. I do believe in a fate that will fall on us if we do nothing.
In 1975, Reagan wrote this in one of his radio commentaries: The leaders of
[the WWII generation] saw the growing menace and talked of it
but reacted to the growing military might of Germany with anguished passiveness.
Will it be said of today's world leaders as it was of the pre-WWII leaders:
"They were better at surviving the catastrophe than they were at preventing
it"?
Let it be said of us that we, too, did not fail; that we, too, worked
together to bring America through difficult times. Let us so conduct ourselves
that two centuries from now, another Congress and another President, meeting in
this Chamber as we are meeting, will speak of us with pride, saying that we met
the test and preserved for them in their day the sacred flame of liberty — this
last, best hope of man on Earth.
You and I are told we must choose between a left or right, but I suggest there
is no such thing as a left or right. There is only an up or down. Up to man's
age-old dream — the maximum of individual freedom consistent with order — or
down to the ant heap of totalitarianism. Regardless of their sincerity, their
humanitarian motives, those who would sacrifice freedom for security have
embarked on this downward path. Plutarch warned, "The real destroyer of the
liberties of the people is he who spreads among them bounties, donations and
benefits."
It is time, indeed, to do more than just talk of a better world. It is time to
act. And we will act when nations cease to try to impose their ways upon others.
And we will act when they realize that we, for whom the achievement of freedom
has come dear, will do what we must to preserve it from assault.
Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass
it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and
handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years
telling our children and our children's children what it was once like in the
United States where men were free.
Only when the human spirit can worship, create, and build, only when people are
given a personal stake in determining their own destiny and benefiting from
their own risks, do societies become prosperous, progressive, dynamic, and free.
A Man of Talent and Accomplishment
Consider this: As a lifeguard in the small town of Dixon, Illinois, Ronald
Reagan saved 77 people from drowning in Rock River. As Paul Kengor says, "Saving
a drowning victim is not easy under any circumstance, but it was especially
difficult in the treacherous Rock River, where the swirling water is so deep and
murky that swimming there today has long been banned." Reagan had a number of successful careers by anyone's estimation:
lifeguard, scholarship student, radio sportscaster, writer of radio
commentaries, acclaimed actor, TV host, syndicated columnist, governor of California twice, president of the United
States twice. He didn't become president at the height of his powers, but was
the oldest United States president ever elected. Soon thereafter he was shot and
almost died. He battled cancer twice while in office, and probably the
early symptoms of Alzheimer's disease. And yet the things he accomplished! Reagan was the poor, myopic son of a nowheresville
town drunk, but he did things most men only dream of. — MRB
As a teenager, Reagan was the art director of his high school's newspaper, the Dixonian,
and drew well enough to see himself "earning a living as an artist."— Edmund Morris, Dutch
Ronald Reagan was a man who had it all. It is difficult to identify an American who lived a fuller, or greater, life — what he
understatedly called "An American Life." In nearly everything he did, Reagan
succeeded. When he left his parents' home in 1932, he landed a coveted
job in radio. Then came the movies and television, in the heyday of each medium.
In the 1930s, when most of America suffered, Reagan soared. By the 1940s, he was
one of the top box office draws in Hollywood and received more fan mail than any
actor at Warner Brothers except Errol Flynn. His hosting of the number-one rated
television show GE Theatre from 1954 to 1962 made him one of the most recognized
names in America. Of course, after that, he entered politics and twice won the
governorship of the nation's largest state and the presidency of the world's
most powerful nation. And I'm certain that his epitaph will be that he was the
president who won the Cold War. — Paul Kengor
A Man of Letters
I've been looking through Reagan: A Life in Letters, a book whose publication will no doubt startle a lot
of people unaware that Ronald Reagan was the most prolific presidential
correspondent of modern times. I'm not talking about the kind of
"letter" produced in batch lots by a team of secretaries equipped with
autopens, either. Of the 1,100 letters in this 934-page book, some 80% were
written by hand, another 15% dictated. The editors had "over 5,000 genuine
Reagan letters" to choose from, and they estimate that another 5,000 or so
have yet to surface. Put aside for a moment your opinion of Reagan (either way) and think instead about the implications of those
numbers. Speaking as a biographer, I can assure you that this is an
extraordinarily large number of letters to have been written by any
public figure, much less one who wasn't a professional writer—though Reagan,
as it happens, spent a number of years writing his own speeches, radio
commentaries, and syndicated columns, and would also have been perfectly capable
of writing his own memoirs without assistance had he been so inclined. Off the
top of my head, I can't think of any other 20th-century president who left
behind so large a body of informal writing, and few who wrote as much in any
medium. Theodore Roosevelt, probably Nixon, possibly Calvin Coolidge (who was,
believe it or not, the best by-his-own-hand presidential prose stylist in modern
times), and…who else? Nobody comes to mind. On
paper, Reagan was unselfconscious, fluent, surprisingly candid, and rarely
eloquent—most of his best-remembered speeches were written by other people,
and I doubt that anything in Reagan: A Life in Letters will make it into
the next edition of Bartlett's. Still, I have no doubt whatsoever that
his next biographer will quarry this volume assiduously ... Beyond this, of
course, the mere fact that Reagan chose to put so much energy, even as
president, into corresponding with friends, colleagues, and plain old pen pals
is fascinating in and of itself. So is the introduction to Reagan: A Life in
Letters, in which the editors describe his letter-writing routine in some
detail. As I worked on The Skeptic: A Life of H. L. Mencken, I never ceased to be astonished by the
sheer volume of Mencken's correspondence, and I couldn't help but wonder how
he managed to churn out so many letters while simultaneously functioning as a
full-time writer. I'm even more mystified that Reagan wrote all those personal
letters—most of them by hand—while serving as president ... henceforth,
anyone who tries to make sense of Reagan the man will have to start by
explaining the very existence of these letters. — Terry Teachout
A Man with Staying Power
"Peggy Noonan ... offered a plausible explanation of [Reagan's legendary]
opaqueness in her deft life of Reagan, When Character Was King: 'Ronald Reagan once had deep friendships and close friends.
He had men who knew all about him, but by the time he'd reached the presidency they were dead. He'd outlived them.'" — Terry Teachout
A Man of Character
"For all his strength and directness, he was the most decent man I've
ever known. And certainly the kindest." — Ronald Prescott Reagan
From Dutch by Edmund Morris: Many years later, I asked Gorbachev the
question that tantalized me that morning: what he saw when he looked up into
Ronald Reagan's eyes. “Sunshine and clear sky. We shook hands like friends.
He said something, I don't know what. But at once I felt him to be a very
authentic human being.”... “Authentic? What word is that in Russian?” I
asked the interpreter. He was startled to be addressed directly, and shot
Gorbachev a nervous look. “Lichnost. It is a very difficult word to
translate because it means ‘personality' in English. Or ‘figure,' but in
the dignified Italian sense, figura. But in Russian its meaning is much
bigger than in these languages: a lichnost man is someone of great
strength of character who rings true, all the way through to his body and soul.
He is authentic, he has”... “Kalibr,” said Gorbachev, who had been
listening intently. He is so intuitive that he can follow dialogue without
vocabulary. “I know what kalibr is, Mr. President, “ I said. “We
have the same word in our language.”
Reagan was proud of his Hollywood career, and would surely have wanted it
remembered and mentioned today. It happens that I saw Kings Row for the
first time a couple of months ago. The movie itself is more or less
preposterous, a whole field full of stale corn, but I marveled at the
late-romantic beauties of the Erich Wolfgang Korngold score—more Straussian than
Strauss—and I was no less surprised to discover that Reagan was a damned good
actor. The only Reagan movie I'd ever seen was Bedtime for Bonzo, not
exactly a fair test of his skills, but he was definitely up to the challenge of
the demanding part he played in Kings Row. (In case you've forgotten,
it's the one where he wakes up, sees that his legs have been amputated, and
shrieks "Where's the rest of me?") Just to confirm my first impressions, I looked up Otis Ferguson's 1941
New Republic review of the film, and found that it refers in passing to
"Ronald Reagan, who is good and no surprise." Obviously Ferguson, the
best American film critic of his generation, took Reagan's gifts for
granted-surely the finest kind of tribute. — Terry Teachout
Terry Teachout's estimate of Reagan as an actor—that he was good—reminds me of a couple of conversations I
had with Ed Meese and Lyn Nofziger. They agreed that there were only two sure
ways of making Reagan angry: To overbook him, forcing him to keep people waiting
(Ed told me that as governor Reagan once grew so angry that the staff had forced
him to keep a series of people waiting that he took off his reading glasses and
whipped them across the room) and to call him a B actor. "Anytime he heard
he'd been called a B actor," Lyn told me, "he'd start listing all the
great stars he'd worked with. He was proud of that career." — Peter Robinson
A Man of Vision: The Prophet of the Demise of Communism
Communism is neither an ec[onomic] or a pol[itical]
system—it is a form of insanity—a temporary aberration which will one day
disappear from the earth because it is contrary to human nature. I wonder how
much more misery it will cause before it disappears. — Reagan: In His Own Hand (written 1975, collected 2001)
The Russians have told us over and over again their goal is to impose
their incompetent and ridiculous system on the world. — Reagan: In His Own Hand (written 1975, collected 2001)
I believe we shall rise to the challenge. I believe that Communism is
another sad, bizarre chapter in human history whose last pages even now are
being written. I believe this, because the source of our strength and the quest
for human freedom is not material, but spiritual. And because it knows no
limitation, it must terrify and ultimately triumph over those who would enslave
their fellow man. For in the words of Isaiah, “He giveth power to the faint,
and to them that have no might, He increase strength. But they that wait upon
the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings as eagles.
They shall run and not be weary.
In early September 1990 Reagan arrived in Berlin, greeted by a city
newspaper that had printed the words to a new love song written in honor of him,
“The Man Who Made Those Pussyfooters and Weaklings Feel Ashamed.” He made
his final pilgrimage to the Wall and was given a hammer and chisel. He was 79
now, but he took a few pieces out of the large gray edifice. Then he walked
along the death strip where East German border guards had once operated with
orders to shoot anyone trying to escape. He shook hands with ordinary Germans.
“Thank you, Mr. President,” one resident shouted. “Well,” he said in
response, “we can't be happy until the whole world knows freedom the way we
do.” From Germany he traveled to Gdansk, Poland, the birthplace of the
Solidarity movement. He was greeted by torrential rain and hail, but 7,000
people had shown up for a public ceremony in his honor, chanting “Thank you,
Thank you!” while singing “Sto Lat,” a song in honor of Polish heroes. As
the crowd watched, Lech Walesa's former parish priest presented Reagan with a
sword. “I am giving you the saber for helping us to chop off the head of
communism,” he said. — Reagan biographer Peter Schweizer, author of Reagan's
War
A Man with Formidable Allies
"Reagan saw his own political crusade as a spiritual revival and
frequently spoke of the need for a spiritual revival in America. He thought that
the decline of Western civilization could be thwarted only by America's
spirituality. He frequently quoted Pope Pius XII: 'Into the hands of America,
God has placed an afflicted mankind.' Protestant Reagan made fast friends in the
Vatican for his spiritual struggle against communism. [Paul] Kengor details how
Reagan made a secret alliance with the pope to undermine communism. The church
became an ally in U.S. efforts to undermine totalitarianism, not only in the
pope's native Poland but also in stopping the spread of communism in Latin
America, especially in Nicaragua." — Phil Brennan
"The entire twentieth century is being sucked into the vortex of atheism
and self-destruction. We can only reach with determination for the warm hand of
God, which we have so rashly and self-confidently pushed away ... There is
nothing else to cling to in the landslide." — Aleksander I. Solzhenitsyn
"The turning point in Reagan's war with the Soviets was the emergence of
Mikhail Gorbachev, who became the Soviet general secretary in 1986. Reagan
thought Gorbachev was different. His frequent references to God made Reagan
believe that the communist leader was a secret Christian. After meeting
Gorbachev, an excited Reagan told his aide Michael Deaver, “He believes.” He
explained to Deaver that he had no doubt Gorbachev was a believer in God, a
'higher power.'” — Phil Brennan
Solid Foundations
It was Nell Reagan that made Ronald Reagan president. We understand that
Reagan was driven by a set of core political convictions that he had since
possibly the late 1940's, certainly since the mid-1960's, and that those
drove him throughout much of his political life. But what we don't understand
is that he was driven by a core of spiritual convictions, Christian religious
convictions, that were inculcated in the 1920's by his mother. Ronald
Reagan's first audiences were in a church. The great communicator learned to
speak in a church. He taught Sunday school when he was a teenager. He didn't
miss a single Sunday in two years. In fact, I even found the records from his
Sunday school class where the first three or four Sundays after he left for
college, Eureka College, he drove the two-and-a-half hours home and continued to
teach the Sunday school class. He was so mature and serious about his faith as a
teenager that people in Reagan's congregation when he was growing up thought
that he would be a minister rather than an actor. And that's a side of Reagan
that we did not know. — Paul Kengor
Ronald Reagan — who endured an alcoholic father, a poor childhood, uncertain
college prospects, a failed marriage, political isolation in Hollywood, a
declining movie career, a failed presidential bid and an assassination attempt
— found solace to help him endure life's trials. It was his faith. —
James G. Lakely, The Washington Times, June 7, 2004
The man even looked at Alzheimer's optimistically. Reagan believed that
Alzheimer's is what God had chosen for him. It was God's plan for how Reagan
would die and he believed that we have no reason to question God. Reagan truly
believed that even something that negative could be part of God's plan. We don't
quite appreciate how eternal his optimism was. — Paul Kengor
Reagan's "Time Capsule" Letter
Shaping the World for 100 Years to Come
September 1, 1976
In this election year many of us talk about the world of tomorrow but do we
really think about it? I'll be right back.
Sometimes it's very easy to get very glib about how the decisions we are
making will shape the world for a hundred years to come. A few weeks ago I found
myself faced with having to really think about what we are doing today &
what people like ourselves will say about us.
I'd been asked to write a letter for a "time capsule" which would
be opened 100 yrs. from now. The occasion will be the Los Angeles Bicentennial
& of course our country's tri-centennial. It was suggested that I mention
some of the problems confronting us in this election year. Since I've been
talking about those problems for some 9 months that didn't look like too much of
a chore.
So riding down the coast highway from Santa Barbara — a yellow tablet on my
lap (someone else was driving) I started to write my letter to the future.
It was a beautiful summer afternoon. The Pacific stretched out to the horizon
on one side of the highway and on the other the Santa Ynez mt's were etched
against a sky as blue as the Ocean.
I found myself wondering if it would look the same 100 yrs. from now. Will
there still be a coast highway? Will people still be travelling in automobiles,
or will they be looking down at the mountains from aircraft or moving so fast
the beauty of all this would be lost?
Suddenly the simple drafting of a letter became a rather complex chore. Think
about it for a minute. What do you put in a letter that's going to be read 100
yrs. from now — in the year 2076? What do you say about our problems when
those who read the letter will know what we don't know — namely how well we
did with those problems? In short they will be living in the world we helped to
shape.
Will they read the letter with gratitude in their hearts for what we did or
will they be bitter because the heritage we left them was one of human misery?
Oh I wrote of the problems we face here in 1976 — The choice we face
between continuing the policies of the last 40 yrs. that have led to bigger
& bigger govt, less & less liberty, redistribution of earnings through
confiscatory taxation or trying to get back on the original course set for us by
the Founding Fathers. Will we choose fiscal responsibility, limited govt, and
freedom of choice for all our people? Or will we let an irresponsible Congress
set us on the road our English cousins have already taken? The road to ec. ruin
and state control of our very lives?
On the international scene two great superpowers face each other with nuclear
missiles at the ready — poised to bring Armageddon to the world. Those who
read my letter will know whether those missiles were fired or not. Either they
will be surrounded by the same beauty we know or they will wonder sadly what it
was like when the world was still beautiful.
If we here today meet the challenge confronting us, — those who open that
time capsule 100 yrs. from now will do so in beauty, peace, prosperity and the
ultimate in personal freedom, consistent with an orderly, civilized society.
If we don't keep our rendezvous with destiny, the letter probably will never
be read — because they will live in the world we left them, a world in which
no one is allowed to read of individual liberty or freedom of choice. — From Reagan: In His Own Hand
Historians, Biographers, Philosophers, Reporters, Economists, Scholars, Politicians and Other Assorted and Various "Experts" Speak
"The world was one vast opportunity for Ronald Wilson Reagan." —
Reagan biographer Lou Cannon, President Reagan: The Role of a Lifetime
“The measure of a master is his success in bringing all men round to his opinion twenty years later.” —
Ralph Waldo Emerson
"He was the kind of president who, it seemed to me at that young age, we
ought to have. He was strong, he was sure of himself, and he laughed—a lot.
For a child, especially, this laughter was very reassuring. For his laughter was
a laughter of confidence ... Reagan's gift to us was not that he made us have
faith in him. It was that he made us have faith in ourselves." — Julie Ann
Ponzi, a former professor of American Studies and currently a stay-at-home
mother
"There are those who say he lived in a kind of fantasy world, but the most
important thing is he lived that fantasy — (a belief) that good will triumph
over evil, and if we're strong and firm in our convictions we will win in the
end." — presidential scholar Stephen Wayne, author of Road to the White
House
"For Ronald Reagan, the distinctions of past, present, future, may have
been irrelevant. He remained a constant in the eight years he occupied 1600
Pennsylvania Avenue, his outlook, if not always his deeds, unwavering from first
word to last. And so he was able to act as a conduit to connect us to who we
have been and who we could be." — Dan Rather
"Reagan is a lot smarter than most politicians. He takes the long view. ...
He has that uncanny ability to know just what impact his actions will have. ...
That's why he can compromise." — Drew Parkhill, CBN economics specialist
Two virtues that Ronald Reagan so admired—courage and character—are what his
nearly half-century battle against communism required most. Beginning in
Hollywood and throughout his presidency, Reagan was always willing to speak the
truth about communism. Sometimes his strong views brought physical threats
against his life and family. More often, they would prompt ridicule or
denunciation of him as a dangerous ignoramus. In either case, Reagan
unflinchingly pressed on, opposed by old friends, cabinet officers, and
sometimes even members of his own family ... He believed in ideas much larger
than himself; and his ideas did not shift over the course of his public life,
nor did he ever attempt to camouflage them. When they seemed unpopular, he clung
to them stubbornly. When established opinion called them simpleminded, he smiled
and pressed ahead. Reagan cared deeply about these ideas; he would not jettison
them simply to collect more votes ... In retrospect, it is clear that Reagan was
largely correct about communism and his critics were wrong. Soviet communism was
the threat that he claimed it was and was vulnerable in the way he said it would
be. He was on the correct side of the great battles of the struggle against
communism. Moscow and its supporters did try to gain a level of control
in Hollywood; the peace movement in the 1970s and 1980s was being
influenced by the Soviet Union; and Moscow and Havana did have plans to
subvert Central America. Archives in the former Soviet bloc settle these
debates. He also predicted that the Soviet Union would “end up on the ash heap
of history” half a dozen years before others saw it ... far from being a
simple conduit for presidential aides ... Reagan embraced many of these ideas
before he was president. He was himself once asked how he figured all of this
out, and he gave an interesting answer ... he simply pointed out that everyone
knew the Soviet Union was evil, expansionist, and in trouble but that no one
wanted to say it. Courage, it seems, made all the difference, an important
lesson in an age when supreme importance seems to be placed on the intelligence
of our leaders rather than their courage. — Reagan biographer Peter
Schweizer, author of Reagan's War
Many of Reagan's most critical initiatives were launched alone. He
approved massive defense increases in 1981, even though a majority of his
cabinet was opposed and former presidents Nixon and Ford were advising him to
cut spending. He launched the Strategic Defense Initiative almost entirely by
himself, informing his secretary of state and most other advisers only hours
before he announced his plans to the public. When he took a hard line over the
declaration of martial law in Poland in an effort to keep Solidarity alive, he
did so with scant support from any major ally save Great Britain's Margaret
Thatcher. All the while, he was ridiculed for failing to grasp the intricacies
of the global situation. Even when the opportunity arose to secure his place in
history by striking a diplomatic bargain with Gorbachev at Reykjavik, Reagan
resisted the temptation, much to the consternation of many who were watching. He
would not change course, even in pursuit of political glory. — Reagan
biographer Peter Schweizer, author of Reagan's War
Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall! —President Reagan, at the Brandenburg Gate, West Berlin, June 12, 1987
... Most of his senior aides didn't want him to say it. Indeed, they
tried repeatedly to talk him out of it. You'll embarrass your host,
West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl. You'll anger and provoke Mikhail
Gorbachev, with whom you've just started making progress on arms
control. You'll whip up false hope among East Germans—for surely the
Berlin Wall isn't coming down any time soon. Besides, Germans have
grown used to the Wall. The ultimate reason: You'll look naïve and
foolish, Mr. President. "Virtually the entire foreign policy apparatus of the U.S.
government," Reagan speechwriter Peter Robinson recalled, tried to
stop Ronald Reagan from saying "Tear down this wall,"
including Reagan's Secretary of State George Shultz and the new
National Security Adviser, General Colin Powell ... Reagan had to intervene against his own
advisers. Ken Duberstein, serving then as Reagan's deputy chief of
staff, has offered different accounts of how the conversation went, but
the gist of it was like this—Reagan: "I'm the president,
right?" Duberstein: "Yes, sir, Mr. President. We're clear
about that." Reagan: "So I get to decide whether the line
about tearing down the wall stays in?" Duberstein: "That's
right, sir. It's your decision." Reagan: "Then it stays
in." — Steven Hayward, journalist and writer
"Along with Abraham Lincoln, Harry Truman, and Dwight Eisenhower, Mr.
Reagan had the good fortune to be consistently underestimated by his
adversaries. But even his advisers could miss the mark. Robert McFarlane, who
served as one of President Reagan's national security advisors, once said of
him, 'he knows so little and accomplishes so much.'" — Mackubin Thomas
Owens, professor of strategy and force planning at the Naval War College
Contrarians
Sometimes we take the measure of man by how he responds to adversity.
Could Reagan actually not have known important details of the Iran-Contra
imbroglio? Although history will probably not let him off the hook for his
off-hands management style, Reagan was the exact opposite of a "micro
manager." Fortune magazine ran an interview with the President in September 1986, a
few months before the Iran-Contra Affair hit the newsracks, in which he said:
Surround yourself with the best people you can find, delegate
authority, and don't interfere. Personally I can't and don't condone many
of the policies and actions of the Reagan administration, but I sincerely
believe Reagan was a patriot through and through. Of course, in intellectual
circles these days it's unfashionable to sincerely believe in anything, much
less a human being, and a politician at that! So call me unfashionable. It has a
nice ring to it. Even call me naive. I'd simply say that it's better to believe in a man and risk disappointment than to
disbelieve in principled men on principle.
What does an honest man sound like when he admits he's not sure of his facts?
Perhaps like this: A few months ago I told the American people I did not trade arms for
hostages. My heart and my best intentions still tell me that's true, but the
facts and the evidence tell me it is not. Did Reagan's refusal to
micro-manage, and perhaps his trusted staff, let him down? He said of himself, Much has been
said about my management style, a style that's worked
successfully for me during eight years as Governor of California and for most of
my Presidency. The way I work is to identify the problem, find the right
individuals to do the job, and then let them go to it. I've found this
invariably brings out the best in people. They seem to rise to their full
capability, and in the long run you get more done. [...] When it came
to managing the NSC staff, let's face it, my style didn't match its previous
track record. Duplicity or honesty? The man's words have the ring of honesty to them, at
least in my admittedly receptive ears. But I believe him because of the man he
was, because of the testimony of his life. Reagan wasn't a man to debate the
meaning of the word "is." Instead, time and time again, he could be
depended on to "tell it like it is." As he saw "it," of course.
Reagan: in Retrospect
Reagan is TIME's [1980] Man of the Year—for having risen so smoothly and
gracefully to the most powerful and visible position in the world. He is also
the idea of the year, his triumph being philosophical as well as personal. He
has revived the Republican Party, and has garnered high initial hopes, even from
many who opposed him, both because of his personal style and because the U.S. is
famished for cheer. On Jan. 20 Reagan and the idea he embodies will both emerge
from their respective seclusions with a real opportunity to change the direction and
tone of the nation. Reagan is also TIME's Man of the Year because he stands at
the end of 1980 looking ahead, while the year behind him smolders in pyres. The
events of any isolated year can be made to seem exceptionally grim, but one has
to peer hard to find elevating moments in 1980. Only Lech Walesa's stark
heroism in Poland sent anything resembling a thrill into the world. The national
strike he led showed up Communism as a failure—a thing not done in the Warsaw
Pact countries. Leonid Brezhnev, a different sort of strongman, had to send
troops to Poland's borders, in case that country, like Czechoslovakia and Hungary before it, should prove in need of
"liberation." — Roger Rosenblatt
It's hard to remember how bleak the future seemed in 1980. Many conceded the
military superiority of the USSR, and the United States seemed incapable of
mustering the national gumption to tackle Iran or Libya, much less to take on a
global superpower. The economy was in shambles. The nation was at a loss,
without direction, without inspiration, hopeless. Reagan sunnily, incongruously,
told us there was a rainbow around the corner. Almost no one believed him. Those who did were a
ragtag collection of relics, anachronisms and throwbacks. What a difference
eight years can make! Reagan proved a stronger and better man than the Brezhnevs
and Qadhafis. He was strong, brave, resilient, cheerful, optimistic, humble,
gracious, courteous and kind. He had the best interests of his country and
countrymen—men and women like you and me—at heart. He said and did what he thought was right.
You may fault him for not thinking as you think, for not doing as you might have
done, but when have you ever put your entire heart, soul, mind, strength and faith into making what you think come
to be: for a nation and for much of the world? It's a shame that many of
his countrymen bemoaned (and still bemoan) Reagan's "policies" even as
liberated East Germans danced in the streets and tore down the hated Berlin
Wall. If you think Reagan's policies were shortsighted or misguided, ask the
millions upon millions of men and women who love and idolize him to this day in Eastern
Europe and around the globe. As for those who truly loathe him: ask how evil and
repressive their regimes are. — MRB
Press Clippings
John Kerry: "Ronald Reagan's love of country was infectious. Even when he was
breaking Democrats' hearts, he did so with a smile and in the spirit of honest
and open debate. Despite the disagreements, he lived by that noble ideal that at
5 pm we weren't Democrats or Republicans, we were Americans and friends.
President Reagan and Tip O'Neill fought hard and honorably on many issues, and
sat down together to happily swap jokes and the stories of their lives. The
differences were real, but because of the way President Reagan led, he taught us
that there is a big difference between strong beliefs and bitter partisanship.
He was the voice of America in good times and in grief. When we lost the brave
astronauts in the Challenger tragedy, he reminded us that, 'Nothing ends here;
our hopes and our journeys continue.' Now, his own journey has ended—a long and
storied trip that spanned most of the American century—and shaped one of the
greatest victories of freedom. Today in the face of new challenges, his example
reminds us that we must move forward with optimism and resolve. He was our
oldest president, but he made America young again."
Sydney: The Sydney Morning Herald (centrist), June 7, 2004: In
1980, on the eve of an era nobody predicted, the conventional wisdom was that
Ronald Reagan was the journeyman, the B-grade actor, the mouthpiece for big
business interests who was too old, who read Reader's Digest, and had twice
failed to win the Republican presidential nomination in 1968 and 1976. When he
tried once more, at the age of 69, he was, for a long time, simply not taken
seriously by the media consensus. The view was widely shared in Australia, and
to Australian eyes, even in an American context, Reagan did seem remarkably
folksy, with a message too simple for a great imperial power. In the sweep of
history, who looks myopic now?
Hong Kong: Asia Times (online publication), June 7, 2004: For his
lonely stand against the forces of barbarism, I rate Winston Churchill the
greatest statesman of the 20th century. Ronald Reagan though, arguably was the
greater commander in chief. Decisiveness (translating Clausewitz's term Entschlossenheit)
depends in turn upon strategic vision. But a commander
requires not only vision, but also the intestinal fortitude to endure
uncertainty, and the will to force the burden of uncertainty onto his opponent.
Borrowing from the language of economics, one might call this a predilection for
creative destruction. Whatever his faults, Reagan possessed the great attribute
of command … To a generation that has come of age after the fall of the Soviet
Empire, it is hard to imagine that the smart money in Europe wagered on Russian
dominance when Ronald Reagan took office in 1981. I can attest that the closest
advisors of French President Francois Mitterand and German Chancellor Helmut
Schmidt thought NATO would lose the Cold War. So humiliating was the later
collapse of the communist regimes that the pundits could argue credibly that it
had fallen of its own weight. No such thing happened. Reagan took office at a
dark hour for the West, and did things that the elite of Europe had deemed
impossible … For now it is enough to say that Ronald Reagan goes to his rest
with the gratitude of free people everywhere. — Spengler
Jerusalem: The Jerusalem Post (conservative) June 7, 2004: Like World War II, the Cold
War is now viewed retrospectively through American eyes as inevitable, just, and
ending in the West's victory. But as Reagan himself pointed out in his farewell
address, the policies that he espoused were widely derided as
"dangerous" before and during his tenure.
Moscow: Moscow Times (independent), June 11, 2004: Former U.S. President Ronald Reagan's one-time
adviser on Soviet affairs remembers him as the man who forever changed the face
of Moscow-Washington relations. Suzanne Massie, Reagan's adviser from 1984 to
1988 and a Democrat at the time, said Reagan played a "very
significant" role in ending the Cold War ... Reagan was the first U.S.
president to build human relations between the two countries, which were locked
in the decades-long Cold War, Massie said ... Reagan turned the tide with his
unique approach and interest in the Soviet people. "He really wanted to
know how ordinary Russians thought and lived and their aspirations, rather than
bureaucrats," she said. "He was the first president, I think to
understand very clearly the difference between 'Russian' and 'Soviet'." — Simone Kozhuarov
London: The Guardian (liberal), June 7, 2004: Ronald Reagan, who has
died aged 93, following complications from Alzheimer's disease, served two terms
as U.S. president, from 1981 to 1989. He will be long remembered for his part in
ending the cold war, although what that part was exactly will be long disputed.
Perhaps the cold war was certain to end peaceably, rather than in a nuclear
holocaust; perhaps the dissolution of the Soviet Union was equally certain. But
it is at least as probable that the rise of Mikhail Gorbechev as Soviet leader
in 1985, and the presence of the Republican Reagan in the White House, created a
window of opportunity, which both men, to their credit, took full advantage of
... he gave an always dignified and warm performance, serenely meeting such challenges as increasing deafness,
two bouts of cancer, and an assassination attempt one year into his presidency. — Hugh Brogan
Amman: The Jordan Times (independent), June 7, 2004: Reagan ...
called the Soviet Union an evil empire and helped defeat it in the cold war by
presiding over massive U.S. defence build-up that the Russians could not afford
to keep up with. In a flood of tributes from America and abroad, Reagan was
hailed as the man who changed the course of world history by hastening the end
of Soviet communism ... The father of Soviet Perestroika reform Mikhail
Gorbachev praised Reagan, his partner on the world stage, as a great leader who
dared to change the tide in relations between the cold war superpowers.
Gorbachev said his dialogue with Reagan "kick-started the process, which
ultimately put an end to the cold war." Former British Prime Minister
Thatcher — the "Iron Lady" to Reagan's warm "Great
Communicator" — said: "Ronald Reagan had a higher claim than any other
leader to have won the cold war for liberty. To have achieved so much, against
such odds, and with such humour and humanity, made Ronald Reagan a truly great
American hero." … French president Jacques Chirac called him "a great
statesman who through the strength of his convictions and his commitment to
democracy will leave a deep mark in history."
Tokyo: The Japan Times (independent centrist), June 7, 2004:
Prime ministers past and present offered words of tribute Sunday for former U.S.
President Ronald Reagan. Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said Reagan laid the
foundation for the Japan-U.S. alliance. Former Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone
mourned him as a great leader and "a friend of Japan." Nakasone, prime
minister from 1982 to 1987, described Reagan as a "great president who led
the Cold War against communism to the victory of freedom and democracy."
"He was a good friend of the Japanese people as he respected Japan and its
culture." Koizumi said in a statement: "The foundation of the Japan-U.S.
alliance that now serves as a driving force to solve international issues with
other countries was built during President Reagan's era."
For Nancy Reagan and the Reagan Family
Dear Nancy Reagan and the Reagan family: We cannot bear, as you do, the full
impact of this tragedy. But we feel the loss, and we're thinking about you so
very much. Your loved one was daring and brave, and he had that
special grace, that special spirit that says, "Give me a challenge, and
I'll meet it with joy." He had a hunger to explore the universe and
discover its truths. He wished to serve, and he did. He served
all of us. We've grown used to wonders in this century. It's hard to
dazzle us. But for almost 25 years Ronald Reagan did just
that, first as our nation's president, then as an example of how to face
sickness, debilitation, isolation and death with faith, courage, grace and
dignity. We've grown used to the idea of space, of wide-ranging
freedom and liberty, and perhaps we forget that we've only just begun. We're
still pioneers. He was for a time the great trailblazer and captain of our
ongoing expedition, and we'll miss him very much. He was much loved and admired.
The future doesn't belong to the fainthearted; it belongs to the brave.
He was pulling us into the future, and we'll continue to follow his
direction, his example. Nothing ends here; our hopes and our journeys
continue. Nancy, we can say along with him, in his own words: "Your
dedication and professionalism have moved and impressed us for decades. And we
know of your anguish. We share it." He honored us by the manner in
which he lived his life. We will never forget him, nor the last
time we saw him as he waved goodbye and prepared for his long journey
home: to slip "the surly bonds of earth" to “touch the face of
God." Thank you. — Based on Ronald Reagan's speech the day of
the Challenger disaster, June 28, 1986
In Closing, In Memoriam
We've done our part. And as I walk off into the city streets, a final word
to the men and women of the Reagan revolution, the men and women across America
who for eight years did the work that brought America back. My friends: We did
it. We weren't just marking time. We made a difference. We made the city
stronger. We made the city freer, and we left her in good hands. All in all, not
bad, not bad at all. And so, good-bye, God bless you, and God bless the United
States of America.
In closing, let me thank you, the American people, for giving me the great honor
of allowing me to serve as your president. When the Lord calls me home, whenever
that day may be, I will leave with the greatest love for this country of ours
and eternal optimism for its future. I now begin the journey that will lead me
into the sunset of my life. I know that for America there will always be a
bright dawn ahead.
Letters to in Response to This Tribute and Memorial to Ronald Reagan
I paid a visit to The HyperTexts tonight and see that your excellent work
continues, adding artists to the growing list of contemporary poets. Curious, I
clicked on Ronald
Reagan. Sure 'nuff, the man was a poet, more of a versifier — a graceful
one, it turns out — and that counts too. I have mixed feelings about R.R. I did
pay attention to his passing, which was also the passing of a certain optimism
and genteel America in the 20th Century, the "American" Century, that is now
history. You have undoubtedly written one of the finest tributes to the man and
president. With luck, it will end up in his library! I have one personal
recollection. I used to work at the tip of Manhattan near the helicopter pad
where the President landed when he paid a visit to NYC. One day, I happened to
catch a glimpse of President Reagan waving from the window of his limo as his
motorcade headed uptown. Unaccountably, I waved back. — Hudson
Owen, poet
The HyperTexts