Ronald Reagan's Last Message to America

President Reagan’s Most Enduring Message

Michael Reagan bids farewell to his father, Ronald Wilson Reagan.

President Reagan had many strengths, but he is not generally recognized as having been a strong, involved, and intimate father. When I think of President Reagan and his relationship with his own children, I am reminded of the many biblical stories of tragedy and triumph, of victory and failure within the lives of patriarchs and kings depicted in the narratives from Genesis to Malachi. Somewhere along the long political life of Ronald Reagan, a crucial connection was not made with several of the children, some of whom publicly dishonored their father with highly inappropriate behavior and comments.

But here, through the words of Michael, we get a glimpse at the fatherhood of Ronald Reagan and the power for good that comes when older men continue to disciple their grown children. In Michael’s testimony about the then septuagenarian Reagan sharing his faith with his son, we see the hope of a patriarch who desires to know that his children will pass his faith on to future generations and someday stand with him in Paradise.

And so, in Ronald Reagan’s last public moment, with the leaders of the world present, with all of America watching, we see the beauty and glory of the grace of God personified through the beaming radiant countenance of a son who loved his father from the depth of his soul. Yes, Michael Reagan beamed. He beamed with the confidence of a man who knows his God, and a son who loved his father.

Michael Reagan performed the duty of a true covenant-keeping son. He communicated to his own children, and the children of the world, the essence of the heart of his father. In so doing, he delivered on behalf of his father the message that the imperfect, aged, but Christ-loving patriarch might have said himself, had Alzheimer’s not robbed him of the ability to do so. This is the duty of a true son, and Michael did it well.

How appropriate that the greatest message of Ronald Reagan’s life — his most noble testimony — was saved for last, and spoken through the words of a son. What was the message? Simply this: The only hope of presidents and paupers, of kings and counselors, is redemption from the penalty of sins and forgiveness through the blood of Jesus Christ, the Lord of the world to whom all glory, honor, and dominion is due.

On June 9, Michael Reagan honored his father. He kept the Fifth Commandment, and he did so with all the world watching. I predict “it will be well” with him.

“Honour thy father and mother; which is the first commandment with promise; That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth” (Ephesians 6:2-3).

May I strongly recommend for your family: Reagan: A Life in Letters, edited with an introduction by Kiron K. Skinner, Annelise Anderson, Martin Anderson; with a foreword by Geroge P. Shultz (Free Press). If you want to understand the heart and the mind of this man, then there is no substitute for reading this book which traces more than seventy years of his life through his personal correspondance. This is a massive (960 pages), but easy to read book which is conveniently organized topically so you can see the President’s intellectual and spiritual growth over the decades. Vision Forum has this book on sale for 25% off through the month of June. It is the best insight into the real Ronald Reagan you will find. Simply wonderful.

A favorite Reagan film is The Santa Fe Trail (I watched it just before the onset of the birth of my first son). It is the fabulous story of the hanging of that old rascal, John Brown. Ronald Reagan plays the part of General George Armstrong Custer. Interesting historical fiction. Available through Vision Forum.

Posting text of Ron Prescott Reagan's remarks at RWR's funeral, so readers of this thread can contrast the viewpoint of the two half-brothers. [BEGIN TRANSCRIPT]

He is home now. He is free. In his final letter to the American people, Dad wrote, "I now begin the journey that will lead me into the sunset of my life." This evening, he has arrived.

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.

He used to say, "A gentleman always does the kind thing." And he was a gentleman in the truest sense of the word. A gentle man.

Big as he was, he never tried to make anyone feel small. Powerful as he became, he never took advantage of those who were weaker. Strength, he believed, was never more admirable than when it was applied with restraint. Shopkeeper, doorman, king or queen, it made no difference, Dad treated everyone with the same unfailing courtesy. Acknowledging the innate dignity in us all.

The idea that all people are created equal was more than mere words on a page, it was how he lived his life. And he lived a good, long life. The kind of life good men lead. But I guess I’m just telling you things you already know.

Here’s something you may not know, a little Ronald Reagan trivia for you, his entire life, Dad had an inordinate fondness for earlobes. Even as a boy, back in Dixon, Ill., hanging out on a street corner with his friends, they knew that if they were standing next to Dutch, sooner or later, he was going to reach over and grab hold of their lobe, give it a workout there. Sitting on his lap watching TV as a kid, same story. He would have hold of my ear lobe. I’m surprised I have any lobes left after all of that.

And you didn’t have to be a kid to enjoy that sort of treatment. Serving in the Screen Actors Guild with his great friend William Holden, the actor, best man at his wedding, Bill got used to it. They would be there at the meetings, and Dad would have hold of his earlobe. There they’d be, some tense labor negotiation, two big Hollywood movie stars, hand in earlobe.

He was, as you know, a famously optimistic man. Sometimes such optimism leads you to see the world as you wish it were as opposed to how it really is. At a certain point in his presidency, Dad decided he was going to revive the thumbs-up gesture. So he went all over the country, of course, giving everybody the thumbs up.

Doria and I found ourselves in the presidential limousine one day returning from some big event. My mother was there and dad was, of course, thumbs-upping the crowd along the way, and suddenly, looming in the window on his side of the car, was this snarling face. This fellow was reviving an entirely different hand gesture. And hoisted an entirely different digit in our direction. Dad saw this and without missing a beat turned to us and said, "You see? I think it’s catching on."

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.

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. [END TRANSCRIPT]

Technically, a nicely crafted speech, but one that's formulaic and lacks the heart of Michael Reagan's speech. The only point in it where Little Ron showed any passion was the passage where he slammed politicians who "wear their religion on their sleeve to gain political advantage." I also didn't like the business about the earlobes, because I took it as calculated to make his father seem weird.

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