RONALD WILSON REAGAN: AN AMERICAN LIFE
Defining moment: Governor Ronald Reagan of California is entering a public building with an escort of state troopers. He
walks past a gauntlet of hostile protestors who are lined up on either side of him, shouting slogans for whatever their cause
was and waving their placards as Reagan walks stoically past them. Then, as he gets to the end of the gauntlet, he suddenly
turns to face them. He puts one index finger up to his lips and says, "shhhshhh" and everyone bursts into laughter. There
was something infectious about the humor and spontaneity of it, about the good-natured grin, and they couldn’t help
themselves from losing, at least for the moment, their anger and hostility. Gov. Reagan then smiled, waved, and went on his
way, leaving them befuddled by their own reaction. That moment, as well as any I can think of, sums up the enigma that was
Ronald Reagan.
The nemesis of liberals, he was so personally likeable that he became close friends with Congressman Tip O’Neil,
an icon of blue-collar liberalism. Once the head of a large union, the Screen Actors Guild, he was the union-busting president
who destroyed PATCO, the air traffic controllers union, and somehow won public support for doing so. As president he slashed
social programs and unemployment benefits but sent personal checks to strangers who wrote to him for help. He often appeared
distant and detached from those around him, yet he maintained a letter writing correspondence with people he’d never
met personally, writing long letters himself in pen and ink, and often these correspondences lasted for years; a simple human
connection between two citizens, one of whom lived in the White House. As his son, Ron, once said, "You’re not going
to figure him out."
Ronald Reagan spent a lifetime being underestimated, and I think that suited him just fine. Those who thought he was dumb
often found out that he was smarter than they were. Those who thought he was weak discovered that he had nerves of steel.
He had a casual self-confidence that made being president look, as one writer stated, "like rolling off a log." He was known
for his courtesy and graciousness on a personal level, and it was not an act. He liked people. When he and Nancy moved to
Washington they brought with them a certain Hollywood-style glamour that had been missing since the days of John F. Kennedy.
After all, they had starred in films together, remember? And he had a twinkle in his eyes that made you feel that you could
sit down with him, have a cup of coffee, and just talk. Columnist Kathleen Parker recalls being in a hotel with Ronald and
Nancy Reagan back in 1977 and being so relaxed that she almost dozed off. It was, she said, "like being in my own father’s
kitchen."
Was Ronald Reagan a great president? That debate will undoubtedly continue for a long time. Many credit him as the man
who "won the Cold War" and brought an end to what he called the "Evil Empire" of the Soviet Union. It can be argued that the
Soviet Union was on its last legs when he took office and would have collapsed under its own dead weight by now anyway. We’ll
never know. But collapse it did, and at the very least he helped make it happen a little faster, so he deserves at least some
of the credit. What we do know for sure is that he was a great American. In so many ways he embodied what we like to believe
are the finest attributes of the American character. He rose from humble beginnings to great prominence and great achievements.
He was witty, funny, friendly, self-confident, courteous, graceful, charming and incredibly strong-willed and resilient. This
is the man who joked with his doctors as he was wheeled into an operating room with a bullet lodged one inch away from his
heart.
I can remember the day when President Reagan left office. It was a cold winter day and he wore a black coat with a white
scarf draped around his neck. He was 77 years old and still looked like a movie star. He was America’s leading man.
Having entered office as the oldest president in history, he was the only one who didn’t seem to age a day while he
was there. He exited center stage as gracefully as he had entered but in the interim period our perspective of him had been
altered immeasurably. One journalist reporting on that day’s events put it this way: "When he entered office we called
him ‘that actor.’ When he left we called him ‘Mr. President’."
Ronald Reagan then flew off into the California sunset and the simple life of Rancho del Cielo overlooking the Santa Ynez
Valley. A few years later, in his final public farewell, he announced to the world that he was ill. The illness, he well knew,
was incurable and would steal away his mind. It is reported that as he drifted into the fog of Alzheimer’s disease he
often recalled the events of his past life and that the thing he was most proud of were the 77 drowning victims he had saved
as a young lifeguard in the mid-west so long ago. The fog grew thicker, surrounding his memories in a dim mist, until one
day he was presented with a small replica of the White House and asked if he knew what it was. "I don’t know," he answered
in confusion, "but I think it has something to do with me." Everything was being taken from him, including, eventually his
ability to recognize those closest to him.
And now he is gone. As I write these words, Ronald Reagan’s body is interred in a casket in the rotunda of our Nation’s
Capitol, resting upon the very same wooden platform that once held the casket of another president from Illinois, Abraham
Lincoln. Yesterday, at a brief ceremony in the rotunda, Vice President Cheney quoted something that Ronald Reagan had once
said, and it is fitting to end this tribute to him with his own words: "You make a living by what you get from the world.
You make a life by what you give."
Good night, Mr. President. Rest in peace.
- Jerry Redmond
