Free Republic

It's morning again in America.

On March 31, 1981 at precisely 2:27 pm, six gunshots rang out just outside the VIP entrance to the Washington Hilton. Moments later, as three felled men lay bleeding on the ground outside the hotel, an armored limousine carrying the President of the United States raced away from the scene. Though it wasn’t immediately apparent, the president had been shot. Ronald Wilson Reagan was just weeks into his first term in office when he was struck in the side by a deflected bullet fired by a mentally deranged would-be assassin. Most Americans are aware, of course, that Reagan survived this...

Watch this powerful video HERE.

Today is the 46th anniversary of Ronald Reagan’s famous speech, “A Time for Choosing.” The thing that struck me as I watched it again was how relevant its message still is for today’s America. Just as in 1964, we have a president who says “we must accept a greater government activity in the affairs of the people.” And just as then, we hear the voices of those on the left who claim the profit motive has become “outdated” and the Constitution “outmoded.” Back then liberals aimed to build a Great Society in which the state looked after us “from...

I just looked at a photograph of a leader. A man that inspired millions across the fruited plains and wove a tapestry that knit together a coalition unseen in modern times. This man was from the Midwest and knew small town American values. This man knew that America's best days were ahead of it. This man fought a totalitarian empire and liberal opponents in this country that accused him of trying to start World War Three, unknowing that we were in World War Three and he was determined to win it. Millions behind the iron curtain are free today. Millions...

Contact: Tracey Schmitt 202-863-8614Documentary Celebrates Reagan’s Life And Presidency 25 Years After First InaugurationWashington, DC – The Republican National Committee celebrated the 25th anniversary of President Ronald Reagan’s Inauguration today by releasing a special tribute documentary. The documentary was presented to RNC members at the RNC Winter Meeting held in Washington D.C. and is available for viewing at www.gop.com“President Reagan inspired me and many others to become a part of the Republican Party,” said RNC Chairman Ken Mehlman. “His faith, and optimism for the future of the country, restored the confidence of Americans who responded by making our country and...

On June 6, 1984, President Ronald Reagan visited France to mark the 40th anniversary of D-Day. The speech he delivered at the windswept Normandy promontory looking out over the English Channel--known now in history as the Boys of Pointe du Hoc address--was the opening salvo to a new American indebtedness to World War II veterans. By honoring the daring action of the 2nd Ranger Battalion--225 young Army volunteers whose mission was to climb the treacherous 100-foot-high Pointe du Hoc cliff while being shot at by entrenched German soldiers--he was paying tribute to an entire generation. (Out of those 225 "boys,"...

<p>He speaks to the future in the phrases of the past. He believes, as he once told a class at his alma mater, that "we must learn from yesterday to have a better tomorrow." He quotes from Tom Paine, Thomas Jefferson, Mark Twain and Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and sees Soviet expansion in much the same way Roosevelt did Nazi aggression. At age 69, Ronald Wilson Reagan, a cultural Democrat, has become the last best hope of Republican conservatives to capture the White House.</p>

Even with the death of Ronald Reagan, the country's mainstream media and by extension the liberal establishment, cannot help themselves. Ronald Reagan had been deceased only a short time, but the muted and insincere praise voiced by Reagan's many detractors and enemies is quickly coming to an end. The first few nights after Reagan's death, the chattering class was awash in muted yet high-minded praise for America's 40th President. Listen to Ted Kennedy, the old liberal lion and adversary of Ronald Reagan: ''We often disagreed on issues of the day, but I had immense respect and admiration for his leadership...

When I heard about the passing of my hero, President Reagan, I was not prepared for the wave of sadness I would feel. We’ve all known we lost him to the ravages of Alzheimer’s many years ago. I suppose the finality of no longer having him as a light in our world, even if only a glimmer of its prior brightness, released years of pent up grieving. We decided to make the long trek to DC to say thank you. This is very long, but I wanted to get all the sights and sounds in.

ON THE MEDIA Missing A Beat By William Powers, National Journal © National Journal Group Inc. Friday, June 11, 2004 Reagan Week is finally drawing to a close, and at first blush it seems the media have told us everything we'd ever want to know about the ex-president, plus a lot we didn't want to know. I personally could have pressed on happily without the Bela Lugosi headline I saw in the online edition of the Times of London: "Reagan Rose From Coma for Last Look at Nancy." (Though it's headed straight for my ever-expanding So-Awful-It's-Excellent collection and so...

Information you should know...... Just now on MSNBC, Lawrence O'Donnell was relating the following anecdote: A few months ago, he had to visit the offices of the Screen Actors Guild in order to fill out some paperwork. The place is covered in photos of past presidents of the union, and some even had statues of themselves. Except for Ronald Reagan. O'Donnell said he went all over the building and could find no sign that Ronald Reagan ever even existed. He was disgusted and amazed by it, especially since Reagan is the only president of a union to become President of...

Ronald Reagan’s death was a sad day for America.  We remember when America had lost its confidence in the 1970’s, with stagflation and the Iran hostage crisis.  And weremember how the country chose a visionary in Reagan to restore its pride.  Despite omissions in the obituaries that the media are writing, we remember how Reagan ended the Cold War without a shot being fired and how his policies led to the largest economic expansion in American history.  And while news coverage following Reagan’s death give the impression that he was an ''actor who got lucky,'' we remember that prior to...

There are significant lessons to be learned from studying President Ronald Reagan and President Franklin Delano Roosevelt that would help our generation meet the challenges of our times. I combine Reagan and FDR because they were the two most effective presidents of the 20th century. Reagan was an FDR Democrat for much of his life. As late as 1948, he cut commercials for President Truman and senatorial candidate Hubert Humphrey (then the leading anti-communist liberal in Minnesota). We live in a world that would have been dramatically different without them.In both domestic policy and foreign policy, it is impossible to...

STEPHEN MARKS: Senator Kennedy, I'd like to ask you what you think of Dean Rusk's recent claim that the effect of anti-Vietnam war demonstrations in the States may actually be to prolong the war rather than to shorten it?SENATOR ROBERT KENNEDY: The war is going on in Vietnam, being extended in Vietnam, really because of the determination of those who are our adversaries, the North Vietnamese, the Vietcong, National Liberation Front. I don't think a particular action takes place - military action takes place in South Vietnam because of the protests here in the United States. I think that...

One day after the death of Ronald Reagan, I can't help but think back to that quote by Flaubert: ''Language is like a cracked kettle on which we beat our tunes to dance to, while all the time we long to move the stars to pity.'' How do you explain the totality of Ronald Reagan to people who were too young to remember him, disinterested in politics, or even to those who just can't understand the depth of feeling that so many people in this country have for the man? It's a difficult task, one that is perhaps beyond my...