President Ronald Reagan
Timeline of Ronald Reagan’s life, 1911-1958
Timeline of Ronald Reagan’s life, 1959-1977
Timeline of Ronald Reagan’s life, 1978-1982
Timeline of Ronald Reagan’s life, 1983-1985
Timeline of Ronald Reagan’s life, 1986-1988
Timeline of Ronald Reagan’s life, 1989-2000
A worthwhile visit, a PBS site….: The American Experience: Reagan
1. This URL will lead you to Reagan wav and avi files:…www.reagan.com
2. This URL is Ronald Reagan sounds:…www.earthstation.com
3. This URL is the political humor of RR:…livelifebetter.com
(Ronald Reagan during one of his college football games in Eureka College, IL) c. 1930From his earliest days as a public speaker to his final days in the public eye, Ronald Reagan never made a speech that didn't invoke America's greatness. Often anecdotal, the speeches covered any number of topics -- the economy and the Soviets were two favorites -- but no matter the subject, the message remained consistent: America was "a shining city on a hill," and its promise, as well as its people's, was boundless.
"Sometimes when I'm faced with an unbeliever, an atheist, I am tempted to invite him to the greatest gourmet dinner that one could ever serve, and when we finished eating that magnificent diner, to ask him if he believes there's a cook."
"Nations crumble from within when the citizenry asks of government those things which the citizenry might better provide for itself."
"My whole family were Democrats. As a matter of fact, I had an uncle who won a medal once for having never missed voting in an election for fifteen years....and he's been dead for fourteen."
"Government does not solve problems; it subsidizes them."
Reagan Humor Museum
June 1952 (from a commencement address at Williams Woods College,
"I, in my own mind, have always thought of America as a place in the divine scheme of things that was set aside as a promised land. It was set here and the price of admission was very simple: the means of selection was very simple as to how this land should be populated. Any place in the world and any person from those places; any person with the courage, with the desire to tear up their roots, to strive for freedom, to attempt and dare to live in a strange and foreign place, to travel halfway across the world was welcome here."June 7, 1957, Commencement Address at Eureka College
In a phase of this struggle not widely known, some of us came toe to toe with this enemy this evil force in our own community in Hollywood, and make no mistake about it, this is an evil force. Don't be deceived because you are not hearing the sound of gunfire, because even so you are fighting for your lives. And you're fighting against the best organized and the most capable enemy of freedom and of right and decency that has ever been abroad in the world. ………This democracy of ours which sometimes we've treated so lightly, is more than ever a comfortable cloak, so let us not tear it asunder, for no man knows once it is destroyed where or when he will find its protective warmth again
October 27, 1964 (from his nationally televised speech, which he called "A Time for Choosing" but was later simply referred to as "The Speech," in support of candidate Barry Goldwater)
"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."October 27, 1964, from "The Speech"
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.October 27, 1964, from "The Speech"
Have we the courage and the will to face up to the immorality and discrimination of the progressive tax, and demand a return to traditional proportionate taxation? . . . Today in our country the tax collector's share is 37 cents of every dollar earned. Freedom has never been so fragile, so close to slipping from our grasp. [Contributor's note: The Tax Foundation reports government at all levels as of 1994 takes 49% of personal income, minus transfer payments.]October 27, 1964, from "The Speech"
Public servants say, always with the best of intentions, "What greater service we could render if only we had a little more money and a little more power." But the truth is that outside of its legitimate function, government does nothing as well or as economically as the private sector.October 27, 1964, from "The Speech"
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.October 27, 1964, from "The Speech"
The Founding Fathers knew a government can't control the economy without controlling people. And they knew when a government sets out to do that, it must use force and coercion to achieve its purpose. So we have come to a time for choosing.October 27, 1964, from "The Speech"
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."October 27, 1964, from "The Speech"
We are for a provision that destitution should not follow unemployment by reason of old age, and to that end we have accepted Social Security as a step toward meeting the problem. However, we are against those entrusted with this program when they practice deception regarding its fiscal shortcomings, when they charge that any criticism of the program means that we want to end payments.October 27, 1964, from "The Speech"
We are for aiding our allies by sharing our material blessings with nations which share our fundamental beliefs, but we are against doling out money government to government, creating bureaucracy, if not socialism, all over the world.October 27, 1964, from "The Speech"
We need true tax reform that will at least make a start toward restoring for our children the American Dream that wealth is denied to no one, that each individual has the right to fly as high as his strength and ability will take him. . . . But we cannot have such reform while our tax policy is engineered by people who view the tax as a means of achieving changes in our social structure.October 27, 1964 , from "The Speech"
Yet any time you and I question the schemes of the do-gooders, we're denounced as being opposed to their humanitarian goals. It seems impossible to legitimately debate their solutions with the assumption that all of us share the desire to help the less fortunate. They tell us we're always "against," never "for" anything.October 27, 1964, from "The Speech"
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."October 27, 1964, from "The Speech"
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."During a college demonstration when students chanted around the governor's limousine, 'We are the future,' Reagan scribbled a reply on a piece of paper, which he held up to the car window:" I'll sell my bonds.
1965
Government is like a baby--an alimentary canal with a big appetite at one end and no sense of responsibility at the other.1966
I don't know of anybody who was born holding public office. I am not a professional politician. The man [Pat Brown] who currently has the job has more political experience than anybody. That's why I'm running.January 5, 1967, "California and the Problem of Government Growth"
if no one among us is capable of governing himself, then who among us has the capacity to govern someone else? Using the temporary authority granted by the people, an increasing number lately have sought to control the means of production, as if this could be done without eventually controlling those who produce. Always this is explained as necessary to the people's welfare. But, "The deterioration of every government begins with the decay of the principle upon which it was founded" [Montesquieu]. This is as true today as it was when it was written in 1748.Government is the people's business, and every man, woman and child becomes a shareholder with the first penny of tax paid. With all the profound wording of the Constitution, probably the most meaningful words are the first three: "We, the People." Those of us here today who have been elected to constitutional office or legislative position are in that three-word phrase. We are of the people, chosen by them to see that no permanent structure of government ever encroaches on freedom or assumes a power beyond that freely granted by the people. We stand between the taxpayer and the tax spender.
The Creative Society, 1968
Government must not supersede the will of the people or the responsibilities of the people. The function of government is not to confer happiness, but to give men the opportunity to work out happiness for themselves.The Creative Society, 1968
The American dream is not that every man must be level with every other man. The American dream is that every man must be free to become whatever God intends he should become.1969
Their signs said make love, not war, but they didn't look like they could do either.January 7, 1970….Los Angeles Times,
Welfare's purpose should be to eliminate, as far as possible, the need for its own existence.May 10, 1972
Too many people, especially in government, feel that the nearest thing to eternal life we will ever see on this earth is a government program.August 9, 1973
Do you remember back in the days when you thought that nothing could replace the dollar. Today it practically has!)November 14, 1974
"Government does not produce revenue; it consumes it."August 29, 1975
I don't have much faith in the third-party movement. I think a third party usually succeeds in electing the people they set out to oppose.March 31, 1976 (from his "To Restore America" speech, which included one of many references to his experiences during the Depression)
"No one who lived through the Great Depression can ever look upon an unemployed person with anything but compassion. To me, there is no greater tragedy than a breadwinner willing to work, with a job skill but unable to find a market for that job skill. Back in those dark depression days I saw my father on a Christmas eve open what he thought was a Christmas greeting from his boss. Instead, it was the blue slip telling him he no longer had a job. The memory of him sitting there holding that slip of paper and then saying in a half whisper, 'That's quite a Christmas present,' it will stay with me as long as I live."I would like to be president, because I would like to see this country become once again a country where a little six-year old girl can grow up knowing the same freedom that I knew when I was six years old, growing up in America. If this is the America you want for yourself and your children; if you want to restore government not only of and for but by the people; to see the American spirit unleashed once again; to make this land a shining, golden hope God intended it to be…
March 2, 1977
Politics is supposed to be the second oldest profession. I have come to realize that it bears a very close resemblance to the first.1980 (during the 1980 presidential campaign) "A recession is when your neighbor loses his job. A depression is when you lose yours. And recovery is when Jimmy Carter loses his."
July 17, 1980 (from his acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention)
"[The Democrats] say that the United States has had its days in the sun, that our nation has passed its zenith.… My fellow citizens, I utterly reject that view."1980
You know, I think the best possible social program is a job.
Pledging his Sacred Honor to protect, defend and uphold the Constitution and America. He believed his sworn oath and he lived it. God Bless You, Mr. President.
First Inaugural Address, January 20, 1981
It is not my intention to do away with government. It is rather to make it work -- work with us, not over us; stand by our side, not ride on our back. Government can and must provide opportunity, not smother it; foster productivity, not stifle it. This Administration's objective will be a healthy, vigorous, growing economy. "January 20, 1981 First Inaugural Address,.
[N]o arsenal or no weapon in the arsenals of the world is so formidable as the will and moral courage of free men and women.
February 18, 1981 (from his speech to Congress detailing his program for economic recovery)
"We don't have an option of living with inflation and its attendant tragedy.…We have an alternative, and that is the program for economic recovery. True, it'll take time for the favorable effects of our program to be felt. So, we must begin now. The people are watching and waiting. They don't demand miracles. They do expect us to act. Let us act together."1981
Sometimes our right hand doesn't know what our far right hand is doing.March 30, 1981…To surgeons as he entered the operating room,
I hope you're all Republicans.May 17, 1981 Notre Dame Univ.
"The years ahead will be great ones for our country, for the cause of freedom and the spread of civilization. The West will not contain Communism, it will transcend Communism. We will not bother to denounce it, we'll dismiss it as a sad, bizarre chapter in human history whose last pages are even now being written."September 29, 1981
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 benefitting 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.October 5, 1981 Address to the National Alliance of Business
The size of the federal budget is not an appropriate barometer of social conscience or charitable concern.October 30, 1981
Government has an important role in helping develop a country's economic foundation. But the critical test is whether government is genuinely working to liberate individuals by creating incentives to work, save, invest, and succeed.1981 Commenting on Congress and the federal budget
Cures were developed for which there were no known diseases.
November 13, 1981
You know, Senator Kennedy was at a dinner just recently, the ninetieth birthday party for former governor and ambassador Averell Harriman. Teddy Kennedy said that Averell's age was only half as old as Ronald Reagan's ideas. And you know, he's absolutely right. The Constitution is almost two hundred years old, and that's where I get my ideas.....January 14, 1982 ..Address to the New York City Partnership Association,
Government is the people's business and every man, woman and child becomes a shareholder with the first penny of tax paid.March 28, 1982 ..Address to National Association of Realtors,
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.1982 Speech to Britain's Parliament,
It is the Soviet Union that runs against the tide of history.... [It is] the march of freedom and democracy which will leave Marxism- Leninism on the ash heap of history as it has left other tyrannies which stifle the freedom and muzzle the self-expression of the people.June 1982
"In an ironic sense, Karl Marx was right. We are witnessing today a great revolutionary crisis -- a crisis where the demands of the economic order are colliding directly with those of the political order. But the crisis is happening not in the free, non-Marxist West, but in the home of Marxism-Leninism, the Soviet Union.... [Communism will be] left on the ash heap of history."October 13, 1982 (in an address to the nation on the economy)
"I have a special reason for wanting to solve this [economic] problem in a lasting way. I was 21 and looking for work in 1932, one of the worst years of the Great Depression. And I can remember one bleak night in the thirties when my father learned on Christmas Eve that he'd lost his job. To be young in my generation was to feel that your future had been mortgaged out from under you, and that's a tragic mistake we must never allow our leaders to make again."March 8, 1983 Speech to the National Association of Evangelicals,
Let us beware that while they [Soviet rulers] preach the supremacy of the state, declare its omnipotence over individual man, and predict its eventual domination over all the peoples of the earth, they are the focus of evil in the modern world.... I urge you to beware the temptation ... to ignore the facts of history and the aggressive impulses of any evil empire, to simply call the arms race a giant misunderstanding and thereby remove yourself from the struggle between right and wrong, good and evil.March 23, 1983 Address to the Nation,
I call upon the scientific community in our country, those who gave us nuclear weapons, to turn their great talents now to the cause of mankind and world peace, to give us the means of rendering those nuclear weapons impotent and obsolete.May 18, 1983
Somebody asked me one day why we didn't put a stop to Sam's [correspondent Sam Donaldson] shouting questions at us when we're out on the south lawn. We can't. If we did, the starlings would come back....
Abortion and the Conscience of AmericaJuly 19, 1983
Source: The Human Life Review; Published:Spring 1983 (reprinted 1993);
Author: Ronald ReaganRonald Reagan, while sitting as the fortieth president of the United States, sent us this article shortly after the tenth anniversary of Roe v. Wade; we printed it with pride in our Spring, 1983 issue, and reprint it now, after Roe's twentieth anniversary, just as proudly.
The 10th anniversary of the Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade is a good time for us to pause and reflect. Our nationwide policy of abortion-on-demand through all nine months of pregnancy was neither voted for by our people nor enacted by our legislators— not a single state had such unrestricted abortion before the Supreme Court decreed it to be national policy in 1973. But the consequences of this judicial decision are now obvious: since 1973, more than 15 million unborn children have had their lives snuffed out by legalized abortions. That is over ten times the number of Americans lost in all our nation's wars.
Make no mistake, abortion-on-demand is not a right granted by the Constitution. No serious scholar, including one disposed to agree with the Court's result, has argued that the framers of the Constitution intended to create such a right. Shortly after the Roe v. Wade decision, Professor John Hart Ely, now Dean of Stanford Law School, wrote that the opinion "is not constitutional law and gives almost no sense of an obligation to try to be." Nowhere do the plain words of the Constitution even hint at a "right" so sweeping as to permit abortion up to the time the child is ready to be born. Yet that is what the Court ruled.
Many governments oppress their people and abuse human rights....I have one question for those rulers: If communism is the wave of the future, why do you still need walls to keep people in, and armies of secret police to keep them quiet?September 20, 1983 Address to the University of South Carolina, Columbia,
There are no such things as limits to growth, because there are no limits on the human capacity for intelligence, imagination and wonder.September 5, 1983 (in a televised speech following the Soviets' downing of a Korean airliner)
"And make no mistake about it, this attack was not just against ourselves or the Republic of Korea. This was the Soviet Union against the world and the moral precepts which guide human relations among people everywhere. It was an act of barbarism born of a society which wantonly disregards individual rights and the value of human life and seeks constantly to expand and dominate other nations."September 20, 1983. Address to the University of South Carolina, Columbia
I call upon the scientific community in our country, those who gave us nuclear weapons, to turn their great talents now to the cause of mankind and world peace, to give us the means of rendering those nuclear weapons impotent and obsolete. Address to the Nation, March 23, 1983 There are no such things as limits to growth, because there are no limits on the human capacity for intelligence, imagination and wonder,January 16, 1984
History teaches that wars begin when governments believe the price of aggression is cheap. Address to the nation,
***. This Url is RR’s speech on the 50th anniversary of Normandy’s D-Day (NOT wav)…reagan.com
June 6, 1984.. Normandy, France,
We will always remember. We will always be proud. We will always be prepared, so we may always be free.June 6, 1984 ... Normandy, France,
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 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.August 23, 1984 RNC speech,
In this springtime of hope, some lights seem eternal; America's is. "The poet called Miss Liberty's torch 'the lamp beside the golden door.' Well, that was the entrance to America, and it still is. And now you really know why we're here tonight.
The glistening hope of that lamp is still ours. Every promise, every opportunity, is still golden in this land. And through that golden door our children can walk into tomorrow with the knowledge that no one can be denied the promise that is America. Her heart is full; her torch is still golden, her future bright. She has arms big enough to comfort and strong enough to support, for the strength in her arms is the strength of her people. She will carry on in the '80s unafraid, unashamed, and unsurpassed. In this springtime of hope, some lights seem eternal; America's is."
"The best minds are not in government. If any were, business would hire them away. "...
"However, our task is far from over. Our friends in the other party will never forgive us for our success, and are doing everything in their power to rewrite history. "...R.R.
1984
"Liberals are like puppies, all warm, fuzzy and cuddly [pregnant pause]" "The only difference is that puppies open their eyes after six weeks!"
January 28, 1986…Speech about the Challenger disaster,
We will never forget them, nor the last time we saw them -- this morning, as they prepared for their journey, and waved good-bye, and "slipped the surly bonds of earth" to "touch the face of God."February 4, 1986…State of the Union Address,
Government growing beyond our consent had become a lumbering giant, slamming shut the gates of opportunity, threatening to crush the very roots of our freedom. What brought America back? The American people brought us back -- with quiet courage and common sense; with undying faith that in this nation under God the future will be ours, for the future belongs to the free.
August 15, 1986..Remarks to the White House Conference on Small Business,
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.September 15, 1986 FORTUNE,
"Surround yourself with the best people you can find, delegate authority, and don't interfere."
December 10, 1986…Remarks at Human Rights Day event,
The other day, someone told me the difference between a democracy and a people's democracy. It's the same difference between a jacket and a straitjacket.September 25, 1987…Remarks in Arlington, Virginia,
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 responds to the applause of the German crowd at Berlin's Brandenburg Gate after calling on Mikhail Gorbachev to "Tear down this wall."1987..Speech near the Berlin Wall
Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!
-------- This URL contains the speech…halfway down the page (wav 66K)… politicalwavmachine.com
February 11, 1988
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.
May 31, 1988 Address to students at Moscow State University
Freedom is the right to question and change the established way of doing things. It is the continuous revolution of the marketplace. It is the understanding that allows to recognize shortcomings and seek solutions. ,Republicans believe every day is 4th of July, but Democrats believe every day is April 15.
PRESIDENT REAGAN BIDS FAREWELL TO WASHINGTON
From the President's Farewell Address:
And that's about all I have to say tonight, except for one thing. The past few days when I've been at that window upstairs, I've thought a bit of the `shining city upon a hill.' The phrase comes from John Winthrop, who wrote it to describe the America he imagined. What he imagined was important because he was an early Pilgrim, an early freedom man. He journeyed here on what today we'd call a little wooden boat; and like the other Pilgrims, he was looking for a home that would be free. I've spoken of the shining city all my political life, but I don't know if I ever quite communicated what I saw when I said it. But in my mind it was a tall, proud city built on rocks stronger than oceans, windswept, God-blessed, and teeming with people of all kinds living in harmony and peace; a city with free ports that hummed with commerce and creativity. And if there had to be city walls, the walls had doors and the doors were open to anyone with the will and the heart to get here. That's how I saw it, and see it still.And how stands the city on this winter night? More prosperous, more secure, and happier than it was 8 years ago. But more than that: After 200 years, two centuries, she still stands strong and true on the granite ridge, and her glow has held steady no matter what storm. And she's still a beacon, still a magnet for all who must have freedom, for all the pilgrims from all the lost places who are hurtling through the darkness, toward home.
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 8 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, goodbye, God bless you, and God bless the United States of America.
Now there was a President
and a First Lady to be Proud of
Spring 1989, The Reagan Years --Special Commemorative Issue (The Heritage Foundation)
The Ten Legacies of Ronald Reagan
August 17, 1992 ..Republican National Convention,.
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.August 17, 1992 ..Republican National Convention,
This fellow they've nominated claims he's the new Thomas Jefferson. Well let me tell you something; I knew Thomas Jefferson. He was a friend of mine and Governor... You're no Thomas Jefferson!August 17, 1992 RNC speech,
For you see, my fellow Republicans, we are the change!The poet called Miss Liberty's torch, "the lamp beside the golden door." Well, that was the entrance to America, and it still is. And now you really know why we're here tonight.
The glistening hope of that lamp is still ours. Every promise every opportunity is still golden in this land. And through that golden door our children can walk into tomorrow with the knowledge that no one can be denied the promise that is America.
Her heart is full; her torch is still golden, her future bright. She has arms big enough to comfort and strong enough to support, for the strength in her arms is the strength of her people. She will carry on in the eighties unafraid, unashamed, and unsurpassed.
Feb. 3, 1994…RNC Annual Gala,
"After watching the State of the Union address the other night, I'm reminded of the old adage that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Only in this case, it's not flattery, but grand larceny: the intellectual theft of ideas that you and I recognize as our own. Speech delivery counts for little on the world stage unless you have convictions, and, yes, the vision to see beyond the front row seats."Feb. 3, 1994…RNC Annual Gala,
"Although the political landscape has changed, the bold ideas of the 1980's are alive and well. Republican candidates swept every major election across the country last year... and as a result, it seems that our opponents have finally realized how unpopular liberalism really is. So now they're trying to dress their liberal agenda in a conservative overcoat."Feb. 3, 1994 ...RNC Annual Gala,
"However, our task is far from over. Our friends in the other party will never forgive us for our success, and are doing everything in their power to rewrite history. Listening to the liberals, you'd think that the 1980's were the worst period since the Great Depression, filled with suffering and despair. I don't know about you, but I'm getting awfully tired of the whining voices from the White House these days. They're claiming there was a decade of greed and neglect, but you and I know better than that. We were there."Feb. 3, 1994 …RNC Annual Gala,
"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."Feb. 3, 1994 RNC Annual Gala,
"Now, as most of you know, I'm not one for looking back. I figure there will be plenty of time for that when I get old. But rather, what I take from the past is inspiration for the future, and what we accomplished during our years at the White House must never be lost amid the rhetoric of political revisionists."Feb. 3, 1994 RNC Annual Gala,
"The Democrats may remember their lines, but how quickly they forget the lessons of the past. I have witnessed five major wars in my lifetime, and I know how swiftly storm clouds can gather on a peaceful horizon. The next time a Saddam Hussein takes over Kuwait, or North Korea brandishes a nuclear weapon, will we be ready to respond? In the end, it all comes down to leadership, and that is what this country is looking for now."Feb. 3, 1994 RNC Annual Gala
The best minds are not in government. If any were, business would hire them away. "After watching the State of the Union address the other night, I'm reminded of the old adage that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Only in this case, it's not flattery, but grand larceny: the intellectual theft of ideas that you and I recognize as our own. Speech delivery counts for little on the world stage unless you have convictions, and, yes, the vision to see beyond the front row seats.",November 5, 1994 (from his letter to the American people revealing his Alzheimer's diagnosis)
November 5, 1994 "My fellow Americans, I have recently been told that I am one of the millions of Americans who will be afflicted with Alzheimer's disease.Upon learning this news, Nancy and I had to decide whether as private citizens we would keep this a private matter or whether we would make this news known in a public way. In the past, Nancy suffered from breast cancer and I had my cancer surgeries. We found through our open disclosures we were able to raise public awareness. We were happy that as a result, many more people underwent testing. They were treated in early stages and able to return to normal, healthy lives.
So now we feel it is important to share it with you. In opening our hearts, we hope this might promote greater awareness of this condition. Perhaps it will encourage a clearer understanding of the individuals and families who are affected by it.
At the moment I feel just fine. I intend to live the remainder of the years God gives me on this Earth doing the things I have always done. I will continue to share life's journey with my beloved Nancy and my family. I plan to enjoy the great outdoors and stay in touch with my friends and supporters.
Unfortunately, as Alzheimer's disease progresses, the family often bears a heavy burden. I only wish there was some way I could spare Nancy from this painful experience. When the time comes, I am confident that with your help she will face it with faith and courage. 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.
Thank you, my friends. May God always bless you. "
Feb. 6, 2000, on Reagan's 89th birthday
Reagan Library
Proudly saluting the FINEST PRESIDENT IN MODERN HISTORY.... RONALD REAGAN!!!
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You may be interested in reading this tribute by Prime Minister Margaret Thacther...
"Courage" - Margaret Thatcher's thoughts on Ronald Reagan
Source: The Heritage Foundation;Published: December 10, 1997;Author: Margaret ThatcherDelivered by The Right Honorable The Baroness Thatcher at The Heritage Foundation's "Leadership for America" Gala, December 10, 1997.
" ... President Reagan is one of the greatest men of our time, and one of the greatest American Presidents of all time. If that is not fully appreciated today, and sadly it is not, it isn't really surprising. After all, so many people have been proved wrong by Ronald Reagan that they simply daren't acknowledge his achievement. Forests have already been pulped to print the revisionist analyses of the eighties. Those who were once so confident of the superiority of the Soviet system that they advocated appeasement of it now pretend to believe that it was doomed to inevitable collapse. Tell that to the Russians! The former Soviet ministers didn't and don't doubt the seriousness of the struggle, even if Western liberal commentators do. ..... "
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Reagan in Full
On the new collection Reagan, In His Own Hand.
By Jay Nordlinger, NR’s managing editor
| Reagan, In His Own Hand: The Writings of Ronald Reagan That Reveal His Revolutionary Vision for America, ed. by Kiron K. Skinner, Annelise Anderson, and Martin Anderson (Free Press, 549 pp., $30) We were awfully excited when we first heard about it — "we" being Reaganauts (to use the original term), and "it" being a cache of documents in the former president's own hand. We had always known he was an inveterate writer, and a formidable one. And now we would be able to prove it to the world. And that is a problem we Reagan champions have: always trying to prove that our man — undeniably a politician and leader of great skill — was an intellectual force as well. This has become an exhausting, sometimes pathetic mission. The strength of Reagan's mind has long been obvious to anyone who has given the man two seconds' thought; but, of course, many people — many influential people — are unwilling to put in a good two seconds. To them, Reagan will always be, if not quite a boob, a lightweight all the same — a lucky innocent, who stumbled onto some success as president. About that cache of documents: Not long ago, a scholar from Carnegie Mellon, Kiron K. Skinner, was poking around Reagan's private papers for a study of the Cold War. And among those papers she found a treasure-trove of manuscripts — true manuscripts, which is to say, documents written by hand. These were radio addresses that Reagan had given between the years 1975 and 1979 (after he left the governorship of California and before he became president of the United States). There were almost 700 of them, and they showed Reagan in something close to his fullness. Together with the Hoover Institution's Martin and Annelise Anderson — veteran Reaganauts — Skinner assembled the manuscripts into this present, extraordinary volume: Reagan, In His Own Hand. And these writings really do, as the subtitle proclaims, "reveal" our 40th president's "revolutionary vision for America." But when excerpts from the book appeared in the The New York Times Magazine, I got a marveling phone call from an old friend, reared in the liberal Democratic (and Reagan-hating, or at least-belittling) faith. "Can you believe it?" he said. "Can you believe how impressive these things are? They are completely at odds with the image we have of him." I could only respond, Reagan-style, "What do you mean 'we,' Kemosabe?" Reagan-lovers will gulp down this book, and fall in love all over again; others — if they are open-minded, like my friend — will be affected. Whatever else the collection does, it proves that Reagan, in addition to the many other things he was, was a writer. As president in particular, he would have many top-flight speechwriters — Tony Dolan, Bentley Elliott, Peggy Noonan, Peter Robinson, John Podhoretz — but I think that all of them would agree that no one ever wrote for Reagan better than he wrote for himself, when he could. I close by noting that Reagan, In His Own Hand carries a most unusual, and poignant, dedication: "For Ronald Reagan, who wrote the documents." For several years now, we have grown accustomed to thinking and talking about Reagan in the past tense. It cannot be helped. But we should also note that Reagan turned 90 on February 6. And after reading and rubbing my eyes at this astounding book, I can only blurt out:Hail to the Chief. |
