Posted on 06/05/2004 6:07:30 PM PDT by wagglebee
As I read the reports of Mr. Reagan’s failing health, my mind took me back to the days of his presidency. Mr. Reagan arrived on the national politicalscene at a critical time. Faith in the Oval Office had deteriorated underPresident Carter. The immorality of our present age was taking a strong social foothold. Our economy was in turmoil.
America needed a hero.
And Ronald Reagan was such a man.
Liberals continue to portray him as not much more than a grandfatherly simpleton who yielded control of the White House to his aides and his wife, but the Ronald Reagan I knew was a man of great intelligence, grace, humor and, most importantly, Christian values.
He’ll be remembered by many for championing a booming economy and conquering the “evil empire” of the Soviet Union (even though the mainstream press regularly attempts to credit Mikhail Gorbachev’s alleged defense of democracy as the reason for the Soviet downfall).
Anyone who believes that Ronald Reagan was the kindly dunce that the press often made him out to be needs to read the book Reagan In His Own Hand to comprehend the aptitude and vision of this man.
I will remember Mr. Reagan primarily for his relationship with the evangelical Christian values of our Founders. He respected the presidency (unlike our 42d president).
I had traveled to New Orleans to meet him at the airport. His plane landed and we rode together to the place where thousands were waiting to hear his fresh and conservative message.
In the back seat of the limo, he shared his vision for America with me. He told me how and when he had become a follower of Jesus Christ. He confirmed all my hopes that this was the man to save America.
On the day after his election in November 1980, he conducted his first press conference as the president-elect. From 3,000 miles away, I listened carefully as a reporter asked him if he would be listening to all these evangelicals and religious conservatives, i.e., “moral majoritarians.”
He said to this reporter, to us, and to the world that he would be giving special attention to the people who had helped elect him. And he did.
Early in his first term, I met privately with President Reagan in the Oval Office to communicate to our new leader a list of the major concerns of the so-called “religious right.”
I was so impressed with his crisp and convictioned responses, making it very clear to me that he was as pro-life, pro-family, pro–national defense and pro-Israel as we were. I left that meeting with a fire burning in my heart.
In answer to prayer and hard work, God had given us a great leader. The only other person in the room that day was Faith Whittles, his very loyal and conservative aide. Whenever I have seen Faith since then, we almost always speak of that special day when our beloved president commissioned me to tell the world that a new day had dawned in America. And I spent eight years doing so.
I appeal to all believers across this nation to rededicate ourselves to the Reagan agenda. Let us fearlessly stand up for the unborn, the Biblical family, strong national defense and unswerving support for Israel. This is what Ronald Reagan taught us.
I am thankful to God in 2002 that America again has a president who is committed to the Reagan agenda.
(This article first appeared in the September 2002 edition of the National Liberty Journal.)
And Ronald Reagan was such a man.
Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln and Reagan are IMHO America's greatest heroes.
.
President RONALD REAGAN shares what makes an American Hero to him in the inspiring new book about our Heroes coming out July 4th titled:
'MODERN DAY HEROES: In Defense of America'
..by Pete Mitchell & Bill Perkins
http://www.ModernDayHeroes.com
Signed:
"ALOHA RONNIE" Guyer / 'MODERN DAY HEROES' - Contributing Author
.
WHY IS FR NOT POSTING A TRIBUTE ON THE HOME PAGE YET
And do you remember how the liberals screamed at the time how he "blew it"? They were as out of tune then as now. God bless Ronald Reagan.
Im sure he heard these words " Well done good and faithful servant"
Great book!
"And do you remember how the liberals screamed at the time how he 'blew it'?"
They're still screaming....only I am not listening!
Ronald Reagan is the reason I left the Democratic party and became a Republican. And I hace NEVER regretted that decision since. Not once.
Like President Bush, President Reagan wasn't my favorite cup of conservative tea. He WAS however, the best man in a long, long time. I'll genuinely miss the man.
Oddly enough, I have been missing him for about 15 years...
As a small-town newspaper reporter, I had an opportunity to meet and photograph him at the Washington State Republican convention in 1976. I was using a brand new press camera which I had barely learned to operate.
Governor Reagan couldn’t have been more gracious. Since he was so tall I couldn’t get a really good camera angle from my 5 ft. perspective, he agreed to sit down for the photos, then took directions dutifully when I asked him to hold some reading material for a more natural pose. Before my time was up I was emboldened to speak up and beg him to please, please run again in 1980.
I was overcome with the fear that if he lost to Gerald Ford (which he did) he might simply retire to private life. He received my presumptuous plea with a simple “Thank you, I appreciate that.”
Later I learned that wherever he appeared during the campaign that year, people came up to him and begged him to “please run again.”
Many of us apparently had the same insight: that this was a truly humble man who was not thirsting after power, who really did not have that driving ambition and overwhelming ego that propels most politicians.
I think that is an important clue to his personality. He was motivated not by personal ambition but by ideas, the ideas of the conservative movement that would soon burst into full bloom under his leadership.
Bush surely got it right - - Ronald Reagan is now in a Shining City, and the best is yet to come. God bless you, President Reagan.
It's disappointing to realize that we'll never see the likes of him again, though he had to be one of a kind to be the sort of statesmen that earned our respect, admiration, gratitude and love over the course of his two terms in office.
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