Posted on 11/04/2005 12:49:06 PM PST by Pyro7480
A caller to Hannity's radio show remembered that on this date, a quarter-century ago, Ronald Wilson Reagan was elected the 41st President of the United States. I was only an infant at the time, but I do remember vaguely his presidency. He was like a "national grandfather" in my eyes.
One of the great dates in American history!
Also proves a conservative candidate can carry Mass&$%*ets if they are really conservative.
ah geez why remind me where I'm stuck living?
thanks alot.
I was fortunate enough to the phone bank director for Lincoln Parish (county) in Louisiana for that election. I can still see the stunned look on the face of Cronkite that evening. Tom Wicker of the New York Times looked like he could vomit at any moment...
It was grand!!!
And on this same date twenty five years ago, the radicals in Iran took notice that they weren't going to push America around anymore. America had enough and Jimmy Carter was on his way out.
Senator Hatfield, Mr. Chief Justice, Mr. President, Vice President Bush, Vice President Mondale, Senator Baker, Speaker O'Neill, Reverend Moomaw, and my fellow citizens:
To a few of us here today this is a solemn and most momentous occasion, and yet in the history of our nation it is a commonplace occurrence. The orderly transfer of authority as called for in the Constitution routinely takes place, as it has for almost two centuries, and few of us stop to think how unique we really are. In the eyes of ma in the world, this every-4-year ceremony we accept as normal is nothing less than a miracle.
Mr. President, I want our fellow citizens to know how much you did to carry on this tradition. By your gracious cooperation in the transition process, you have shown a watching world that we are a united people pledged to maintaining a political system which guarantees individual liberty to a greater degree than any other, and I thank you and your people for all your help in maintaining the continuity which is the bulwark of our Republic.
The business of our nation goes forward. These United States are confronted with an economic affliction of great proportions. We suffer from the longest and one of the worst sustained inflations in our national history. It distorts our economic decisions, penalizes thrift, and crushes the struggling young and the fixed-income elderly alike. It threatens to shatter the lives of millions of our people.
Idle industries have cast workers into unemployment, human misery, and personal indignity. Those who do work are denied a fair return for their labor by a tax system which penalizes successful achievement and keeps us from maintaining full productivity.
But great as our tax burden is, it has not kept pace with public spending. For decades we have piled deficit upon deficit, mortgaging our future and our children's future for the temporary convenience of the present. To continue this long trend is to guarantee tremendous social, cultural, political, and economic upheavals.
You and I, as individuals, can, by borrowing, live beyond our means, but for only a limited period of time. Why, then, should we think that collectively, as a nation, we're not bound by that same limitation? We must act today in order to preserve tomorrow. And let there be no misunderstanding: We are going to begin to act, beginning today.
The economic ills we suffer have come upon us over several decades. They will not go away in days, weeks, or months, but they will go away. They will go away because we as Americans have the capacity now, as we've had in the past, to do whatever needs to be done to preserve this last and greatest bastion of freedom.
In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem. From time to time we've been tempted to believe that society has become too complex to be managed by self-rule, that government by an elite group is superior to government for, by, and of the people. Well, if no one among us is capable of governing himself, then who among us has the capacity to govern someone else? All of us together, in and out of government, must bear the burden. The solutions we seek must be equitable, with no one group singled out to pay a higher price.
We hear much of special interest groups. Well, our concern must be for a special interest group that has been too long neglected. It knows no sectional boundaries or ethnic and racial divisions, and it crosses political party lines. It is made up of men and women who raise our food, patrol our streets, man our mines and factories, teach our children, keep our homes, and heal us when we're sick -- professionals, industrialists, shopkeepers, clerks, cabbies, and truckdrivers. They are, in short, ``We the people,'' this breed called Americans.
Well, this administration's objective will be a healthy, vigorous, growing economy that provides equal opportunities for all Americans with no barriers born of bigotry or discrimination. Putting America back to work means putting all Americans back to work. Ending inflation means freeing all Americans from the terror of runaway living costs. All must share in the productive work of this ``new beginning,'' and all must share in the bounty of a revived economy. With the idealism and fair play which are the core of our system and our strength, we can have a strong and prosperous America, at peace with itself and the world.
So, as we begin, let us take inventory. We are a nation that has a government -- not the other way around. And this makes us special among the nations of the Earth. Our government has no power except that granted it by the people. It is time to check and reverse the growth of government, which shows signs of having grown beyond the consent of the governed.
It is my intention to curb the size and influence of the Federal establishment and to demand recognition of the distinction between the powers granted to the Federal Government and those reserved to the States or to the people. All of us need to be reminded that the Federal Government did not create the States; the States created the Federal Government.
Now, so there will be no misunderstanding, it's not my intention to do away with government. It is rather to make it work -- work with us, not over us; to stand by our side, not ride on our back. Government can and must provide opportunity, not smother it; foster productivity, not stifle it.
If we look to the answer as to why for so many years we achieved so much, prospered as no other people on Earth, it was because here in this land we unleashed the energy and individual genius of man to a greater extent than has ever been done before. Freedom and the dignity of the individual have been more available and assured here than in any other place on Earth. The price for this freedom at times has been high, but we have never been unwilling to pay that price.
It is no coincidence that our present troubles parallel and are proportionate to the intervention and intrusion in our lives that result from unnecessary and excessive growth of government. It is time for us to realize that we're 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. So, with all the creative energy at our command, let us begin an era of national renewal. Let us renew our determination, our courage, and our strength. And let us renew our faith and our hope.
We have every right to dream heroic dreams. Those who say that we're in a time when there are not heroes, they just don't know where to look. You can see heroes every day going in and out of factory gates. Others, a handful in number, produce enough food to feed all of us and then the world beyond. You meet heroes across a counter, and they're on both sides of that counter. There are entrepreneurs with faith in themselves and faith in an idea who create new jobs, new wealth and opportunity. They're individuals and families whose taxes support the government and whose voluntary gifts support church, charity, culture, art, and education. Their patriotism is quiet, but deep. Their values sustain our national life.
Now, I have used the words ``they'' and ``their'' in speaking of these heroes. I could say ``you'' and ``your,'' because I'm addressing the heroes of whom I speak -- you, the citizens of this blessed land. Your dreams, your hopes, your goals are going to be the dreams, the hopes, and the goals of this administration, so help me God.
We shall reflect the compassion that is so much a part of your makeup. How can we love our country and not love our countrymen; and loving them, reach out a hand when they fall, heal them when they're sick, and provide opportunity to make them self-sufficient so they will be equal in fact and not just in theory?
Can we solve the problems confronting us? Well, the answer is an unequivocal and emphatic ``yes.'' To paraphrase Winston Churchill, I did not take the oath I've just taken with the intention of presiding over the dissolution of the world's strongest economy.
In the days ahead I will propose removing the roadblocks that have slowed our economy and reduced productivity. Steps will be taken aimed at restoring the balance between the various levels of government. Progress may be slow, measured in inches and feet, not miles, but we will progress. It is time to reawaken this industrial giant, to get government back within its means, and to lighten our punitive tax burden. And these will be our first priorities, and on these principles there will be no compromise.
On the eve of our struggle for independence a man who might have been one of the greatest among the Founding Fathers, Dr. Joseph Warren, president of the Massachusetts Congress, said to his fellow Americans, "Our country is in danger, but not to be despaired of . . . . On you depend the fortunes of America. You are to decide the important questions upon which rests the happiness and the liberty of millions yet unborn. Act worthy of yourselves."
Well, I believe we, the Americans of today, are ready to act worthy of ourselves, ready to do what must be done to ensure happiness and liberty for ourselves, our children, and our children's children. And as we renew ourselves here in our own land, we will be seen as having greater strength throughout the world. We will again be the exemplar of freedom and a beacon of hope for those who do not now have freedom.
To those neighbors and allies who share our freedom, we will strengthen our historic ties and assure them of our support and firm commitment. We will match loyalty with loyalty. We will strive for mutually beneficial relations. We will not use our friendship to impose on their sovereignty, for our own sovereignty is not for sale.
As for the enemies of freedom, those who are potential adversaries, they will be reminded that peace is the highest aspiration of the American people. We will negotiate for it, sacrifice for it; we will not surrender for it, now or ever.
Our forbearance should never be misunderstood. Our reluctance for conflict should not be misjudged as a failure of will. When action is required to preserve our national security, we will act. We will maintain sufficient strength to prevail if need be, knowing that if we do so we have the best chance of never having to use that strength.
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. It is a weapon our adversaries in today's world do not have. It is a weapon that we as Americans do have. Let that be understood by those who practice terrorism and prey upon their neighbors.
I'm told that tens of thousands of prayer meetings are being held on this day, and for that I'm deeply grateful. We are a nation under God, and I believe God intended for us to be free. It would be fitting and good, I think, if on each Inaugural Day in future years it should be declared a day of prayer.
This is the first time in our history that this ceremony has been held, as you've been told, on this West Front of the Capitol. Standing here, one faces a magnificent vista, opening up on this city's special beauty and history. At the end of this open mall are those shrines to the giants on whose shoulders we stand.
Directly in front of me, the monument to a monumental man, George Washington, father of our country. A man of humility who came to greatness reluctantly. He led America out of revolutionary victory into infant nationhood. Off to one side, the stately memorial to Thomas Jefferson. The Declaration of Independence flames with his eloquence. And then, beyond the Reflecting Pool, the dignified columns of the Lincoln Memorial. Whoever would understand in his heart the meaning of America will find it in the life of Abraham Lincoln.
Beyond those monuments to heroism is the Potomac River, and on the far shore the sloping hills of Arlington National Cemetery, with its row upon row of simple white markers bearing crosses or Stars of David. They add up to only a tiny fraction of the price that has been paid for our freedom.
Each one of those markers is a monument to the kind of hero I spoke of earlier. Their lives ended in places called Belleau Wood, The Argonne, Omaha Beach, Salerno, and halfway around the world on Guadalcanal, Tarawa, Pork Chop Hill, the Chosin Reservoir, and in a hundred rice paddies and jungles of a place called Vietnam.
Under one such marker lies a young man, Martin Treptow, who left his job in a small town barbershop in 1917 to go to France with the famed Rainbow Division. There, on the western front, he was killed trying to carry a message between battalions under heavy artillery fire.
We're told that on his body was found a diary. On the flyleaf under the heading, ``My Pledge,'' he had written these words: ``America must win this war. Therefore I will work, I will save, I will sacrifice, I will endure, I will fight cheerfully and do my utmost, as if the issue of the whole struggle depended on me alone.''
The crisis we are facing today does not require of us the kind of sacrifice that Martin Treptow and so many thousands of others were called upon to make. It does require, however, our best effort and our willingness to believe in ourselves and to believe in our capacity to perform great deeds, to believe that together with God's help we can and will resolve the problems which now confront us.
And after all, why shouldn't we believe that? We are Americans.
God bless you, and thank you.
The first time I ever voted and first President I ever voted for!
Yes, the presidential election was over by 8 that evening (remember the roll call of the states supporting Reagan just as the polls closed?) with Carter's concession speech at 9 as I remember. The Demos on the West Coast were fit to be tied, as their voters supposedly had no incentive to go to the polls (still open) after that speech, resulting in even more losses in the House and Senate. What a wonderful evening, with much gnashing of teeth by the chattering class.
I know,I know....it's a trick question!
I was three years old. Just thought I would give some perspective. :-)
As I recall it - Steve McQueen died on the same day.
Sweet. Jimmy's still bitter & proves it weekly.
Wow, that would have been my very first vote cast. What a privilege.
And yet the New York Times endorsed Jimmy Carter...shocking I tell ya.
God Bless Ronald Reagan
Massachusetts is a lost cause for Republicans/conservatives. As much as I hate to say it,you've gotta trust me on this.But there's an upside...the state is losing population so,as time goes on,its influence in DC will continue to erode,as it's been doing for the last 30+ years.
I voted for him, twice. It was a sweet victory to experience and see....that landslide, his second term.....
you and me both. At 18 I was involved, working the phones, and having a great time.........
Technically, he wasn't elected until December, 1980, but what the heck, its your thought that counts.
It was my first time for voting - great to get to vote for the gipper!
I'm glad that I too was too young, but only because the first 21 months of my life were under President Carter. I have fond memories of being in grade school while Reagan was president...he will always be my "original" President, since he was the first I ever knew. May he rest in peace.
My very first national election that I could participate in - I voted for Ronnie!
Imagine if Jimmy Carter had showed some testicular fortitude when it was his time?
This Islamic pandemic might be mitigated....
Oh, but he might not have won the Nobel Prize!
One more thing...I remember back in 1984, my father took me to the polls to vote and he let me pull the lever (we lived in NY where they use a lever). So, can I claim to have voted for Reagan the first time I voted too at age 5?!!!!
Reagan was the greatest. Never afraid to admit a mistake and surrounded with smart capable men- remember the "3 Wise Men" at the end?
He never modified his vision for the USA and stuck to it.
When Jimmy Carter passes, very few will care. Unlike last summer.
We miss you Gipper.
One of the great dates in American history!
----
God, how I pray for another one.
" I was only an infant at the time,..."
I was a grad student in Chapel Hill, and a (choke) liberal at that, even though I voted for John Anderson (remember him?). I was not happy, and even more bummed that the Republicans took the Senate.
But I got better!
My first vote was for Ronnie. And a little while later he was my Commander in Chief.
[snif]
The brightest day in modern politics.
I was a senior in college and the day before someone in a Political Science class mentioned the possibility of Reagan winning the electoral vote but losing the popular vote. I couldn't believe how many students didn't know what the electoral college was!
Anyway, on the night of the 4th I was relieved it was all over so early. I was afraid it would be a cliffhanger like 1976. I cast my first presidential vote for Ronald Reagan and was so proud to do so. Carter was, and remains, so despicable, he got the humiliating defeat he so richly deserved.
It was great also that so many left wingers in the Senate went down to defeat, like Birch Bayh, John Culver, Frank Church, and especially the wretched George McGovern.
In retrospect, I fully agree! My first presidential was for Carter in '76 (I've apologized, remember?). That was the first year 18 year olds could vote for president, and I feel strongly that that's the reason the peanut won.
First President I ever voted for as well although I had to wait until 1984.
Technically, you didn't vote for the Gipper, but rather, you voted for electors who then cast their ballot for the greatest president since Washington at the meeting of the Electoral College in December, 1980. BTW, that was also the first time I voted in a presidential election, and damn, I still can't say the name "Ronald Reagan" without getting chills down my spine.
My favorite election night. What a great evening.
My first vote was proudly cast for Ronald Reagan. I didn't know it at the time but it was also the best vote I ever cast. Reagan always made you proud to be an American, and in 1980 that was not easy. The economy was in shambles, hostages in Iran, the failed rescue attempt to free the hostages, America couldn't get anything right. The Soviets were going to dominate the planet. One man stood up and said enough, America is the shining city on hill.
I covered the 1980 campaign! Reagan did not run as a conservative.
In every speech in every Democratic state, Reagan started his stump speech by saying that his political heros were Franklin Delano Roosevelt and John Fitzgerald Kennedy. In every speech Reagan announced that his economic and foreign Policies were identical to JFK's. Don't you think a candidate who promised to be a clone of JFK would do well in Mass?
Teddy Kennedy kept calling Reagan a liar for saying he was going to govern exactly like JFK. But as a matter of fact Reagan did just that. So if Reagan ran as a conservative in 1980 then Franklin Delano Roosevelt and John Fitzgerald Kennedy must have both been conservatives too.
In 1980 in every speech in the industrial Midwest,Reagan held up his Union Membership card high above his hear. He told the audience that he was still a member in good standing of the Actors Union and he supportred Unions. Once that sunk in, he told them that he was twice elected president of his union by large margins. Reagan would say I am the only man who has been elected president of his union to run for the presidency of the United states. He would add, "Yet the Democrats tell you I am Anti Union. Tell that to the men and woman I bargained for and company negotiaters I won great contracts from!"
And we all know how Conservative Hollywood actors and union presidents are.
Time after time in speechs during that campaign Reagan promised to only make Welfare better. He said he was going to get the freeloaders off the dole, so people who really needed it would get the welfare. Reagan said he was not going to cut government programs .. He was going stop graft and waste so it would help the people who needed it.
Reaga said he had no love for big corporations. IN his stump speech Reagan told the story of his Dad being fired by a big company on Christmas Eve.
Reagan time after time said he had been a good Democrat and had not changed his views. Reagan claimed the times were bad because Jimmy Carter was not a good Democrat in the FDR and JFK mold. Reagan told the voters he was!
People on the right like to rewrite history. But Reagan got elected as stealth candidate.
In fact way back in 1963 when Reagan decided to run for Governor of California in the 1966 election, the polling showed Reagan could beat Democrat Governor Brown in the 1966 general election but he could not win the primary. California primary voters don't take to RINOs. Reagan was the definition of a RINO.
They had to find a way to fix his RINO image. After all 4 years earlier Reagan had been a registered Democrat donating money to the Democratic party.
Two of Reagan's buddies ED Meese and Cap Weinburger came up with an idea. Everyone knew Goldwater was going to get the Republican nomination in 64, but was also going down to a massive defeat. Few if any Republicans wanted to speak for Goldwater at the Republican convention. Cap and Ed suggested they contact Goldwater and offer Reagan as a pro Goldwater speaker. After all a RINO endorsing Goldwater might look good to the Goldwater campaign. So the deal was struck. Reagan would speak for Goldwater in prime time at the 1964 convention. A RINO Hollywood actor speaking for Goldwater was a very welcome thing.
Reagan gave a very very very good speech. And the media in the form of Cronkite, Rather, Brokaw, the New York Times and Washington post to name a few saw an immediate danger. Reagan was a Republican who could win. They decided to destroy Reagan by painting him as a far out right winger. And they did.
Reagan used every campaign from 1966 through 1980 trying to convince moderate voters he was not a right wing conservative. He was very effective at painting himself as a moderate.
When the economy was booming in 1984 lots of Reagan Democrats came out to vote. They knew the economy was great and it was the JFK policies both at home and abroad that Reagan had adopted. They voted for Reagan as their kind of card carrying union member who was in the JFK mold. It really ticked Teddy and the rest of the Kennedy Klan off.
1/11/89,Farewell Address to the Nation,"And how stands the city on this winter night?"
(click to listen)
Speeches and other Media Uses by Ronald Reagan, 40th President of the United States, 1/20/81-1/20/89
I believe we have one in President George W. Bush.
That was the election that I voted for Ted Kennedy in the Democrat primary so I could vote against Jimmy Carter twice!
Drat.
I had to wait until his second term. : )
Big corporations are just about as bad as big government. Reagan's policies helped small buinesses the most and that's where all the job growth has been since Reagan took office.
Reagan gave a very very very good speech. And the media in the form of Cronkite, Rather, Brokaw, the New York Times and Washington post to name a few saw an immediate danger.
What were Rather and Brokaw doing in 1964?
They voted for Reagan as their kind of card carrying union member who was in the JFK mold.
I doubt if many air traffic controllers did.
If you have the Christmas picture of President and Mrs. Reagan, where Nancy is wearing a red coat and holding their little Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, I wish you would post it.
[I have it but do not have the means to convert it from a picture to a postable image...]
I took the right index finger of my then 16 month old, first born son and pulled the lever for RR.
He has moved to a red state, registered R and votes R.
Thanks, abb ...
What a sick mischaracterizations of America's greatest modern president. In 1976, former California Governor Ronald Reagan challenged President Gerald Ford for the Republican Presidential nomination.
Never before in American history had an incumbent President been denied his own party's nomination for the Presidency. Even the immensely unpopular Herbert Hoover, during the height of the Great Depression, was renominated for a second term by Republicans in 1932.
The powerful machinery of the Republican Party organization fully supported Ford over Reagan.
The left-wing news media joined in with endless daily stories about how "extreme," "inexperienced" and "dumb" Reagan was, and how if nominated, Reagan would surely lead the party to overwhelming defeat just as Goldwater did in 1964.
Despite the overwhelming odds, the conservatives of 1976 came out in force on behalf of Reagan. With no other way to channel their frustration, fear and anger, conservatives concentrated their energy on trying to take over the Republican Party.
Ford defeated Reagan for the Republican nomination, but only by the skin of his teeth. Reagan came very close to winning, and had the support of almost half of the delegates at the 1976 Republican National Convention.
In 1980, Reagan again sought the Republican Presidential nomination. This time, the Republican Party establishment supported former UN Ambassador and CIA Director George Bush for the party's 1980 Presidential nomination.
Reagan easily defeated Bush and almost a dozen other Republican candidates in the 1980 Presidential primaries and caucuses.
Conservatives in 1980 were fully prepared and mobilized to overwhelm the Republican Party in order to nominate their hero Ronald Reagan for President.
After it became clear that Reagan would be the Republican candidate, the Democrats, the news media and the left-wing establishment were certain that Reagan would lose the general election in a landslide just as Goldwater did in 1964.
But Reagan proved all of the "experts" wrong. He did not lose by a landslide. He won by a landslide.
Stop the lies. Democrats do that enough.
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