The birthday of Ronald Reagan is February 6. There is no shortage of grey hair on the coffee committee, and no shortage of appreciation for the contributions made by our fortieth President. I mention the grey hair because we lived through the Reagan years as well as the buildup to them. We see history being tweaked to deemphasize his accomplishments and we see politicians, envious of his continued popularity, claiming an ideological kinship to Reagan when they are nothing of the sort. In this article we will give a picture of the times Ronald Reagan lived, as it is an important bit of history for younger Americans to know.
Ronald Wilson Reagan came of age during the buildup to the Second World War and the advent of communism and the National Socialist German Workers Party; that is communist Russia and Hitler’s Nazi Party. He worked in the Hollywood movie industry. Even then there were a lot of artists that sympathized with communism and socialism, but the films they made were usually supportive of traditional American values, hard work, you get the idea. The nickname “The Gipper” came from his role in a movie about the Notre Dame football team, Knute Rockne their coach, and George Gipp an All American player who died tragically.
During the war Reagan worked in the military with films made to help support the war effort. The important thing to note here is the pro-American nature and general acceptance of the films. They would be shown at movie theaters during intermissions. Americans were aware and in agreement with their support for freedom and opposition to the ethnic cleansing and the totalitarianism that threatened our world.
Reagan had always been a Democrat, but in the early 1960’s switched to Republican. He stated often over the years, “I didn’t leave the Democrat party, they left me.” He came to national prominence with a convention speech in support of Barry Goldwater for president in 1964. In the meat of the speech he talks of a time for choosing; “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.” And also “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.” It is important here to get a feel for the times. Both political parties had a broad spectrum from right to left. Neither party had anyone as far to the left as the majority controlling the Democrat party of today, or if they were and were found out they would have been unelectable anywhere in America and been dismissed as commie pinko’s. But both parties were inching to the left, growing government little by little. A few men led the way for a return to a constitutional republic that limited the scope of government. Among them were Barry Goldwater, William F. Buckley Jr., and Ronald Reagan.
Reagan worked to move the country to the right using the existing Republican framework, rather than through a third party effort. After the ‘76 and ‘80 campaign and near economic ruin of our economy by the left wing policies of both parties, the country chose the constitutional conservative Reagan for president.
Now here is an important part of the reason for the success that Reagan enjoyed. From the beginning of television and through the Reagan years, when a U.S. President asked for network time for a speech it was covered wall to wall by all three networks. Keep in mind that the Democrats controlled both houses of congress and had for decades. Reagan was able to talk regularly and directly to the people. Pressure by the American people achieved the Reagan tax cuts and reduced regulation that gave us a generation long strong economy. Do you know that interest rates prior to his election had gone as high as 18% and inflation was estimated at 10%? Anyway the networks were just as liberal then as today. It was the traditional respect expected to be given the president that facilitated the people expressing their will over that of the media and the members of congress. After Reagan’s success over the media, they changed the rules for presidential access. Now there is discussion about the ‘newsworthiness’ of the expected speech, and they talk over top of it, feed us approved excerpts or decline to cover it at all.
Reagan led the Cold War victory he shares with Pope John Paul II and Margaret Thatcher among others. Reducing the threat of nuclear war was a lifelong quest for him. “Peace through Strength”, he said it many times and has shown us the fruit of that wisdom.
I remember his funeral and the prior ceremonies; I stood in line for hours and wound through miles of theater style fencing with thousands of nicest people waiting to pay our respects in the Rotunda. I hope for the day when such clarity of thought can draw the country together again. Happy birthday to a fine man.
Respectfully submitted,
The Coffee Committee