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Preserve The Moment /
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114 - In
Memory:
June
6, 2004 RONALD WILSON REAGAN / 1911-
2004
Reagan
Dies at 93
He created the Republican Inter-circle
Ronald
Reagan / White House
At the end of his two terms
in office, Ronald Reagan viewed with satisfaction
the achievements of his innovative program known as
the Reagan Revolution, which aimed to reinvigorate
the American people and reduce their reliance upon
Government. He felt he had fulfilled his campaign
pledge of 1980 to restore "the great, confident
roar of American progress and growth and
optimism."
----On
February 6, 1911, Ronald Wilson Reagan was born to
Nelle and John Reagan in Tampico, Illinois. He
attended high school in nearby Dixon and then
worked his way through Eureka College. There, he
studied economics and sociology, played on the
football team, and acted in school plays. Upon
graduation, he became a radio sports announcer. A
screen test in 1937 won him a contract in
Hollywood. During the next two decades he appeared
in 53 films.
----From
his first marriage to actress Jane Wyman, he had
two children, Maureen and Michael. Maureen passed
away in 2001. In 1952 he married Nancy Davis, who
was also an actress, and they had two children,
Patricia Ann and Ronald
Prescott.
----As
president of the Screen Actors Guild, Reagan became
embroiled in disputes over the issue of Communism
in the film industry; his political views shifted
from liberal to conservative. He toured the country
as a television host, becoming a spokesman for
conservatism. In 1966 he was elected Governor of
California by a margin of a million votes; he was
re-elected in 1970.
----Ronald
Reagan won the Republican Presidential nomination
in 1980 and chose as his running mate former Texas
Congressman and United Nations Ambassador George
Bush. Voters troubled by inflation and by the
year-long confinement of Americans in Iran swept
the Republican ticket into office. Reagan won 489
electoral votes to 49 for President Jimmy
Carter.
----On
January 20, 1981, Reagan took office. Only 69 days
later he was shot by a would-be assassin, but
quickly recovered and returned to duty. His grace
and wit during the dangerous incident caused his
popularity to soar.
----Dealing
skillfully with Congress, Reagan obtained
legislation to stimulate economic growth, curb
inflation, increase employment, and strengthen
national defense. He embarked upon a course of
cutting taxes and Government expenditures, refusing
to deviate from it when the strengthening of
defense forces led to a large
deficit.
----A
renewal of national self-confidence by 1984 helped
Reagan and Bush win a second term with an
unprecedented number of electoral votes. Their
victory turned away Democratic challengers Walter
F. Mondale and Geraldine
Ferraro.
----In
1986 Reagan obtained an overhaul of the income tax
code, which eliminated many deductions and exempted
millions of people with low incomes. At the end of
his administration, the Nation was enjoying its
longest recorded period of peacetime prosperity
without recession or
depression.
----In
foreign policy, Reagan sought to achieve "peace
through strength." During his two terms he
increased defense spending 35 percent, but sought
to improve relations with the Soviet Union. In
dramatic meetings with Soviet leader Mikhail
Gorbachev, he negotiated a treaty that would
eliminate intermediate-range nuclear missiles.
Reagan declared war against international
terrorism, sending American bombers against Libya
after evidence came out that Libya was involved in
an attack on American soldiers in a West Berlin
nightclub.
----By
ordering naval escorts in the Persian Gulf, he
maintained the free flow of oil during the
Iran-Iraq war. In keeping with the Reagan Doctrine,
he gave support to anti-Communist insurgencies in
Central America, Asia, and
Africa.
----Overall,
the Reagan years saw a restoration of prosperity,
and the goal of peace through strength seemed to be
within grasp.
///
Farewell
Address
Broadcast Jan. 11, 1989, from the Oval
Office
This is the 34th time I'll speak to you from the
Oval Office and the last. We've been together 8
years now, and soon it'll be time for me to go. But
before I do, I wanted to share some thoughts, some
of which I've been saving for a long time.
----It's been the
honor of my life to be your President. So many of
you have written the past few weeks to say thanks,
but I could say as much to you. Nancy and I are
grateful for the opportunity you gave us to
serve.
----One of the things
about the Presidency is that you're always somewhat
apart. You spent a lot of time going by too fast in
a car someone else is driving, and seeing the
people through tinted glass--the parents holding up
a child, and the wave you saw too late and couldn't
return. And so many times I wanted to stop and
reach out from behind the glass, and connect. Well,
maybe I can do a little of that tonight.
----People ask how I
feel about leaving. And the fact is, "parting is
such sweet sorrow." The sweet part is California
and the ranch and freedom. The sorrow--the
goodbyes, of course, and leaving this beautiful
place.
----You know, down the
hall and up the stairs from this office is the part
of the White House where the President and his
family live. There are a few favorite windows I
have up there that I like to stand and look out of
early in the morning. The view is over the grounds
here to the Washington Monument, and then the Mall
and the Jefferson Memorial. But on mornings when
the humidity is low, you can see past the Jefferson
to the river, the Potomac, and the Virginia shore.
Someone said that's the view Lincoln had when he
saw the smoke rising from the Battle of Bull Run. I
see more prosaic things: the grass on the banks,
the morning traffic as people make their way to
work, now and then a sailboat on the river.
----I've been thinking
a bit at that window. I've been reflecting on what
the past 8 years have meant and mean. And the image
that comes to mind like a refrain is a nautical
one--a small story about a big ship, and a refugee,
and a sailor. It was back in the early eighties, at
the height of the boat people. And the sailor was
hard at work on the carrier Midway, which was
patrolling the South China Sea. The sailor, like
most American servicemen, was young, smart, and
fiercely observant. The crew spied on the horizon a
leaky little boat. And crammed inside were refugees
from Indochina hoping to get to America. The Midway
sent a small launch to bring them to the ship and
safety. As the refugees made their way through the
choppy seas, one spied the sailor on deck, and
stood up, and called out to him. He yelled, "Hello,
American sailor. Hello, freedom man."
----A small moment
with a big meaning, a moment the sailor, who wrote
it in a letter, couldn't get out of his mind. And,
when I saw it, neither could I. Because that's what
it was to be an American in the 1980's. We stood,
again, for freedom. I know we always have, but in
the past few years the world again--and in a way,
we ourselves--rediscovered it.
----It's been quite a
journey this decade, and we held together through
some stormy seas. And at the end, together, we are
reaching our destination.
----The fact is, from
Grenada to the Washington and Moscow summits, from
the recession of '81 to '82, to the expansion that
began in late '82 and continues to this day, we've
made a difference. The way I see it, there were two
great triumphs, two things that I'm proudest of.
One is the economic recovery, in which the people
of America created--and filled--19 million new
jobs. The other is the recovery of our morale.
America is respected again in the world and looked
to for leadership.
----Something that
happened to me a few years ago reflects some of
this. It was back in 1981, and I was attending my
first big economic summit, which was held that year
in Canada. The meeting place rotates among the
member countries. The opening meeting was a formal
dinner of the heads of goverment of the seven
industrialized nations. Now, I sat there like the
new kid in school and listened, and it was all
Francois this and Helmut that. They dropped titles
and spoke to one another on a first-name basis.
Well, at one point I sort of leaned in and said,
"My name's Ron." Well, in that same year, we began
the actions we felt would ignite an economic
comeback--cut taxes and regulation, started to cut
spending. And soon the recovery began.
----Two years later,
another economic summit with pretty much the same
cast. At the big opening meeting we all got
together, and all of a sudden, just for a moment, I
saw that everyone was just sitting there looking at
me. And then one of them broke the silence. "Tell
us about the American miracle," he said.
----Well, back in
1980, when I was running for President, it was all
so different. Some pundits said our programs would
result in catastrophe. Our views on foreign affairs
would cause war. Our plans for the economy would
cause inflation to soar and bring about economic
collapse. I even remember one highly respected
economist saying, back in 1982, that "The engines
of economic growth have shut down here, and they're
likely to stay that way for years to come." Well,
he and the other opinion leaders were wrong. The
fact is what they call "radical" was really
"right." What they called "dangerous" was just
"desperately needed."
----And in all of that
time I won a nickname, "The Great Communicator."
But I never though it was my style or the words I
used that made a difference: it was the content. I
wasn't a great communicator, but I communicated
great things, and they didn't spring full bloom
from my brow, they came from the heart of a great
nation--from our experience, our wisdom, and our
belief in the principles that have guided us for
two centuries. They called it the Reagan
revolution. Well, I'll accept that, but for me it
always seemed more like the great rediscovery, a
rediscovery of our values and our common sense.
----Common sense told
us that when you put a big tax on something, the
people will produce less of it. So, we cut the
people's tax rates, and the people produced more
than ever before. The economy bloomed like a plant
that had been cut back and could now grow quicker
and stronger. Our economic program brought about
the longest peacetime expansion in our history:
real family income up, the poverty rate down,
entrepreneurship booming, and an explosion in
research and new technology. We're exporting more
than ever because American industry because more
competitive and at the same time, we summoned the
national will to knock down protectionist walls
abroad instead of erecting them at home.
----Common sense also
told us that to preserve the peace, we'd have to
become strong again after years of weakness and
confusion. So, we rebuilt our defenses, and this
New Year we toasted the new peacefulness around the
globe. Not only have the superpowers actually begun
to reduce their stockpiles of nuclear weapons--and
hope for even more progress is bright--but the
regional conflicts that rack the globe are also
beginning to cease. The Persian Gulf is no longer a
war zone. The Soviets are leaving Afghanistan. The
Vietnamese are preparing to pull out of Cambodia,
and an American-mediated accord will soon send
50,000 Cuban troops home from Angola.
----The lesson of all
this was, of course, that because we're a great
nation, our challenges seem complex. It will always
be this way. But as long as we remember our first
principles and believe in ourselves, the future
will always be ours. And something else we learned:
Once you begin a great movement, there's no telling
where it will end. We meant to change a nation, and
instead, we changed a world.
----Countries across
the globe are turning to free markets and free
speech and turning away from the ideologies of the
past. For them, the great rediscovery of the 1980's
has been that, lo and behold, the moral way of
government is the practical way of government:
Democracy, the profoundly good, is also the
profoundly productive.
----When you've got to
the point when you can celebrate the anniversaries
of your 39th birthday you can sit back sometimes,
review your life, and see it flowing before you.
For me there was a fork in the river, and it was
right in the middle of my life. I never meant to go
into politics. It wasn't my intention when I was
young. But I was raised to believe you had to pay
your way for the blessings bestowed on you. I was
happy with my career in the entertainment world,
but I ultimately went into politics because I
wanted to protect something precious.
----Ours was the first
revolution in the history of mankind that truly
reversed the course of government, and with three
little words: "We the People." "We the People" tell
the government what to do; it doesn't tell us. `We
the People' are the driver; the government is the
car. And we decide where it should go, and by what
route, and how fast. Almost all the world's
constitutions are documents in which governments
tell the people what their privileges are. Our
Constitution is a document in which "We the People"
tell the government what it is allowed to do. "We
the People" are free. This belief has been the
underlying basis for everything I've tried to do
these past 8 years.
----But back in the
1960's, when I began, it seemed to me that we'd
begun reversing the order of things--that through
more and more rules and regulations and
confiscatory taxes, the government was taking more
of our money, more of our options, and more of our
freedom. I went into politics in part to put up my
hand and say, "Stop." I was a citizen politician,
and it seemed the right thing for a citizen to
do.
----I think we have
stopped a lot of what needed stopping. And I hope
we have once again reminded people that man is not
free unless government is limited. There's a clear
cause and effect here that is as neat and
predictable as a law of physics: As government
expands, liberty contracts.
----Nothing is less
free than pure communism--and yet we have, the past
few years, forged a satisfying new closeness with
the Soviet Union. I've been asked if this isn't a
gamble, and my answer is no because we're basing
our actions not on words but deeds. The detente of
the 1970's was based not on actions but promises.
They'd promise to treat their own people and the
people of the world better. But the gulag was still
the gulag, and the state was still expansionist,
and they still waged proxy wars in Africa, Asia,
and Latin America.
----Well, this time,
so far, it's different. President Gorbachev has
brought about some internal democratic reforms and
begun the withdrawal from Afghanistan. He has also
freed prisoners whose names I've given him every
time we've met.
----But life has a way
of reminding you of big things through small
incidents. Once, during the heady days of the
Moscow summit, Nancy and I decided to break off
from the entourage one afternoon to visit the shops
on Arbat Street--that's a little street just off
Moscow's main shopping area. Even though our visit
was a surprise, every Russian there immediately
recognized us and called out our names and reached
for our hands. We were just about swept away by the
warmth. You could almost feel the possibilities in
all that joy. But within seconds, a KGB detail
pushed their way toward us and began pushing and
shoving the people in the crowd. It was an
interesting moment. It reminded me that while the
man on the street in the Soviet Union yearns for
peace, the government is Communist. And those who
run it are Communists, and that means we and they
view such issues as freedom and human rights very
differently.
----We must keep up
our guard, but we must also continue to work
together to lessen and eliminate tension and
mistrust. My view is that President Gorbachev is
different from previous Soviet leaders. I think he
knows some of the things wrong with his society and
is trying to fix them. We wish him well. And we'll
continue to work to make sure that the Soviet Union
that eventually emerges from this process is a less
threatening one. What it all boils down to is this:
I want the new closeness to continue. And it will,
as long as we make it clear that we will continue
to act in a certain way as long as they continue to
act in a helpful manner. If and when they don't, at
first pull your punches. If they persist, pull the
plug. It's still trust by verify. It's still play,
but cut the cards. It's still watch closely. And
don't be afraid to see what you see.
----I've been asked if
I have any regrets. Well, I do. The deficit is one.
I've been talking a great deal about that lately,
but tonight isn't for arguments, and I'm going to
hold my tongue. But an observation: I've had my
share of victories in the Congress, but what few
people noticed is that I never won anything you
didn't win for me. They never saw my troops, they
never saw Reagan's regiments, the American people.
You won every battle with every call you made and
letter you wrote demanding action. Well, action is
still needed. If we're to finish the job. Reagan's
regiments will have to become the Bush brigades.
Soon he'll be the chief, and he'll need you every
bit as much as I did.
----Finally, there is
a great tradition of warnings in Presidential
farewells, and I've got one that's been on my mind
for some time. But oddly enough it starts with one
of the things I'm proudest of in the past 8 years:
the resurgence of national pride that I called the
new patriotism. This national feeling is good, but
it won't count for much, and it won't last unless
it's grounded in thoughtfulness and knowledge.
----An informed
patriotism is what we want. And are we doing a good
enough job teaching our children what America is
and what she represents in the long history of the
world? Those of us who are over 35 or so years of
age grew up in a different America. We were taught,
very directly, what it means to be an American. And
we absorbed, almost in the air, a love of country
and an appreciation of its institutions. If you
didn't get these things from your family you got
them from the neighborhood, from the father down
the street who fought in Korea or the family who
lost someone at Anzio. Or you could get a sense of
patriotism from school. And if all else failed you
could get a sense of patriotism from the popular
culture. The movies celebrated democratic values
and implicitly reinforced the idea that America was
special. TV was like that, too, through the
mid-'60s.
----But now, we're
about to enter the nineties, and some things have
changed. Younger parents aren't sure that an
unambivalent appreciation of America is the right
thing to teach modern children. And as for those
who create the popular culture, well-grounded
patriotism is no longer the style. Our spirit is
back, but we haven't reinstitutionalized it. We've
got to do a better job of getting across that
America is freedom--freedom of speech, freedom of
religion, freedom of enterprise. And freedom is
special and rare. It's fragile; it needs production
[protection].
----So, we've got to
teach history based not on what's in fashion but
what's important--why the Pilgrims came here, who
Jimmy Doolittle was, and what those 30 seconds over
Tokyo meant. You know, 4 years ago on the 40th
anniversary of D-day, I read a letter from a young
woman writing to her late father, who'd fought on
Omaha Beach. Her name was Lisa Zanatta Henn, and
she said, "we will always remember, we will never
forget what the boys of Normandy did." Well, let's
help her keep her word. If we forget what we did,
we won't know who we are. I'm warning of an
eradication of the American memory that could
result, ultimately, in an erosion of the American
spirit. Let's start with some basics: more
attention to American history and a greater
emphasis on civic ritual.
----And let me offer
lesson number one about America: All great change
in America begins at the dinner table. So, tomorrow
night in the kitchen I hope the talking begins. And
children, if your parents haven't been teaching you
what it means to be an American, let 'em know and
nail 'em on it. That would be a very American thing
to do.
----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.
///
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Josie
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