Ronald Reagan: Tribute and Requiem

A tribute to Ronald Wilson Reagan (6 Feb. 1911—5 June 2004), who died twenty years ago today, and a requiem for America. Reagan revitalized America after Vietnam. Reagan’s America was epitomized by his “Morning in America” commercial of 1984 and “Shining City upon a Hill” farewell address of 11 January 1989. However, Reagan’s America that we loved; the America that we were proud to belong to; the America that we proudly served in uniform; the America that we would have sacrificed our lives for, is dead.

Tribute

The 40th president, January 20, 1981—January 20, 1989, was loved by Republicans; he was the “Grand Old Man of the Grand Old Party.” Independent voters and blue-collar Democrats flocked to Reagan’s side. His detractors were forced to surrender to Reagan’s powers of persuasion and popular appeal. He was re-elected in 1984 after winning 49 of 50 states; he would have won the 50th (Minnesota) if Donks had not bussed in Native Americans from the reservations to ensure that Fritz Mondale did not lose his home state!

RR never had a Republican-majority House in eight years in office. Democrats controlled the Senate for six of eight years; but Reagan got everything he asked for because We the People supported him. He won because we loved him and his ideas. Speaker Tip O’Neill had no choice but to accede to popular will and allow Republican-sponsored legislation to be put to a vote.

Requiem

Since the Gipper left office in January 1989, America has slid inexorably toward the dustbin of history. Apart from Papa Bush—who was elected in part due to the unpalatability of the Donkey Party; in part because voters wanted to “Win one for Gipper”—America has elected a series of pikers and poseurs. An incorrigible liar and sex fiend from a trailer park in Arkansas (1993—2001); a stuttering cluster f**k from Texas (2001—08); a village idiot from Kenya (2009—2017); an orange-colored sociopath and convicted felon from Mar-a-Lago (2017—2021); a plagiarist and unindicted co-conspirator kept alive by a battery of machines and medical staff from Bethesda Naval Hospital (2021—). It is little surprise that the Global South looks to Xi and Putin for leadership. As Osama bin Laden said, “When people see a strong horse and a weak horse, by nature they will like the strong horse.”

Closing

The Reagan legacy includes the end of the Cold War. We won the Cold War, and by this, I do not mean just the United States, but the Republican Party and its Cold Warriors: Dwight D. Eisenhower, Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, and their national security staffs. As Ronnie said at the 1992 Republican Convention, “I heard those speakers at the other convention saying ‘we won the Cold War.’ And I couldn’t help wondering just who exactly do they mean by ‘we’.” (begins at 13:31 in video).

The modern GOP is an unserious party (the Democrats always were a joke). The GOP uses Reagan’s name but none of his policies, ideas, or approaches. The unseriousness of the GOP is manifest today: the endless wars in the Middle East (Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq, Yemen); hostility toward Iran, China, and Russia; and unqualified support for Israel. It was not always so. On 1 October 1981, for example, in response to arrogant demands from Israeli PM Menachem Begin, Reagan said: “American security interests must remain our internal responsibility. It is not the business of other nations to make American foreign policy.” He looked out for America unlike the modern GOP, which takes its orders from Tel Aviv. The era when an American president governed America for the benefit of America expired with Ronald Reagan. Reagan, asked why he had quit the Democrat Party for the Republican Party, replied: “I didn’t leave the Democratic party, the Democratic Party left me.” Thus so for millions of us veterans of Reagan’s Regiments who have no political home anymore because the GOP left us.

Selection of Reagan’s Speeches and Jokes

Ronnie’s finest speech (in my opinion) was the one he gave at Normandy on 6 June 1984 for the 40th anniversary of D-Day. His tribute to the U.S. Army Rangers that took “Point du Hoc” still brings tears to my eyes:

“These are the boys of Pointe du Hoc. These are the men who took the cliffs. These are the champions who helped free a continent. These are the heroes who helped end a war.”

We’ll preserve for our children this [America], the last best hope of man on earth, or we’ll sentence them to take the last step into a thousand years of darkness.

“The crew of the space shuttle Challenger honored us by the manner in which they lived their lives. We will never forget them, nor the last time we saw them, this morning, as they prepared for their journey and waved goodbye and ‘slipped the surly bonds of earth’ to ‘touch the face of God’.”

General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization: Come here to this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!