Ronald Reagan on Principles & Values President of the U.S., 1981-1989; Republican Governor (CA)

Sub-sections under Principles & Values:
• Political Philosophy
• Religion
• Other issues under Principles & Values

1964 presidential election was choosing America's path

And the other, an oppressive government that would lead America down a darker, less free path. I'm no Ronald Reagan and this is a different moment in time, but I believe with all my heart and soul, that we face another time for choosing, one that will have profound consequences for the Republican Party, and more importantly, for our country.

I say this, in part, because of my conviction that America is poised to lead the world for another century. If we make the right choices [against Donald Trump], America's future will be even better than our past and better than our present.

Reagan Democrats: 1980s blue-collar Republican supporters

9 scariest words: I'm from the government & I'm here to help

Our federal government regulates everything and anything. How much water goes into you commode. How much water comes out of your showerhead. The temperature of the water in your washing machine. How many miles to the gallon your car must get.

1950s America was a different America; America is freedom

"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 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.

"But now, 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 American is freedom--and freedom is special and rare. It's fragile; it needs protection."

The actor responsible for those words was Ronald Reagan, in his farewell address to the nation in 1989. His warnings still ring with truth.

Stanford University rejected Reagan presidential library

One of the precipitating events occurred in 1988, when the university had ended the core humanities curriculum, called Western Civilization. Western Civ had been deemed to be about "dead white men" and therefore unacceptable for a multiethnic, multiracial, multigendered campus. The course had been replaced with Culture, Ideas and Values, also known as CIV, without the offending "Western" preceding it. CIV's curriculum required race at least one book by a "woman of color."

The rifts became chasms when Stanford rejected the request of the family of Ronald Reagan to establish his presidential library on campus. Ostensibly, the excuse was traffic congestion at the site, but everyone knew that it had been the agitation of a small but vocal group that forced the university to turn down the library.

1976: Considered outside of mainstream Republican Party

Perhaps ironically, every Republican likes to claim the mantle of Reagan these days, sometimes out of genuine admiration, other times, pure politics. I'll always remember that much like my father today, Reagan in 1976 was considered by many establishment types to be outside the "mainstream" of the Republican Party.

At the 1976 convention, my father was one of only four US Congressmen to support Reagan over a sitting Republican president.

Freedom is never more than one generation from extinction

"Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it on to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it was once like in the United States when men were free."

1980: Victory in New Hampshire primary sealed nomination

There was a lot of speculation about whom Reagan would choose for vice president. At the convention in Detroit, he was in discussion with Gerald Ford about some sort of co-presidency. They agreed it wouldn't work--a good decision. Then Reagan called Dad and asked him to be his running mate--an even better decision.

On election night, the Reagan-Bush ticket crushed Jimmy Carter and Walter Mondale 489-49 in the Electoral College.

1975: conservative banners of bold colors, not pale pastels

Reagan used this strategy throughout his political career. He had defeated a popular incumbent California governor by more than a million votes because Reagan boldly and clearly declared his opposition to more spending and higher taxes, and his commitment to bringing efficiency and eliminating waste in Sacramento.

He again contrasted his clear, profound beliefs with the temporizing "realism" of the Republican establishment in his 1976 presidential primary campaign against President Jerry Ford. And in 1980 Reagan again offered Americans a clear choice between his vision of a resurgent America and President Carter's focus on adapting to American decline.

1984: I won't exploit my opponent's youth & inexperience

1980: Won Texas by 14 points via local community organizing

It was a huge success. We raised $3.1 million--more than all the Victory Committee in America combined. The Reagan national campaign supporte our efforts with a modest TV buy and a more-than-adequate number of appearances by Reagan and his home state vice presidential running mate, George H. W. Bush. In Texas, Reagan-Bush walloped Carter-Mondale by nearly 14 points.

Texas 1980: walloped Carter-Mondale by nearly 14 points

The county committees and coalition groups were then drawn into an elaborate voter identification and get-out-the-vote operation from more than a hundred phone centers and many more local headquarters. We put special efforts into precincts where past election returns provided evidence of lots of swing voters and even focused on Democratic primary voters in precincts where conservative Democrats ran well.

It was a huge success. We raised $3.1 million. The Reagan national campaign supported our efforts with a modest TV buy and a more-than-adequate number of appearances by Reagan & Bush. In Texas, Reagan-Bush walloped Carter-Mondale by nearly 14 points.

Spoke "to independents & Democrats seeking better future"

To be clear, inclusion does not mean lack of principles. In 1975, after the post-Watergate Democratic landslide, Ronald Reagan encouraged conservatives to raise a "banner of no pale pastels, but bold colors." We once again need bold colors to reinvigorate our movement. Our solutions must be clear enough and bold enough to make it evident how different we are than the Left and to cut through the mainstream media's leftwing bias and trivial obsessions.

OpEd: Media judges even Reagan's great achievements poorly

OpEd: Reagan in 1980 was a movement, not just a candidate

What would have happened had I gained the nomination? Frankly, I don't know that I could have beaten Ronald Reagan. He was more than a candidate at that time; he was a movement.

After the election, I phoned President Carter on December 15, as his administration was nearing its end. He asked me if I was looking forward to the new administration. I answered, "Not one day sooner than they take office."

Nancy's book: You bet I gave Ronnie advice

"Mrs. Reagan was a precise and demanding woman," recalls the Reagan aide over administration of the White House. "Her sole interest was the advancement of her husband's agenda." It turned out that most of Nancy's advice was sound. As she explained it, "As much as I love Ronnie, I'll admit he does have at least one fault: He can be naive about the people around him. Ronnie only tends to think well of people. While that's a fine quality in a friend, it can get you into trouble in politics."

Picked up Goldwater's mantle after 16 years

OpEd: Transformational president on non-government solutions

To the list of transformative presidents we must add one conservative, Ronald Reagan. After the depressing years of the 1970s, people were ready for "morning in America." Reagan had the gift of leadership, and behind Reagan were armies of strategists able to turn a personal triumph into a systematic ideological reversal. Reagan succeeded in transforming public assumptions from the general premise that government should help to the idea that government was likely to make matters worse. Thanks to very effective Republican campaign machinery, ideological zeal, and party unity, that presumption held for another two decades--until it was ultimately discredited by events.

1950s: 375 speeches as GE employee education on free markets

Boulware gave Reagan books by great free-market thinkers like Hayek & Friedman. Reagan spent hours reading them on the train, which is how he travelled in those days, and this prepared him to talk to blue collar workers about the American system.

Boulware believed every issue had an "M"--the point where the majority opinion on that topic was found. If you could "move the M," you moved the entire framework of the debate. Reagan did not argue within the framework of the leftwing elites. He "moved the M," changing the fundamental framework of the debate and requiring people to think about issues in a completely new way.

1,000 people worked on presidential transition for 7 months

The irony was that Bill was an avid student of history and had read at least 10 presidential biographies for guidance on successful transitions. He cited Ronald Reagan's disciplined approach as his model, specifying that he would "follow Reagan's pattern in establishing a limited set of priorities." George Stephanopoulos said that, like Reagan, his boss didn't want to get "sidetracked by side issues." Indeed, the Reagan transition was a paragon of efficiency and planning that began 7 months before Election Day, with nearly 1,000 people working on it. By contrast, the Clinton transition sometimes seemed to have a staff of two--Bill & Hillary--and their failure to delegate slowed the appointment process to a crawl

1980: Insisted John Anderson be in presidential debate

Until that point--people forget this today--the race was neck-and-neck. In one of the debates of the 1980 campaign, Reagan wasn't brilliant. But he was fine. He didn't fumble lines. But his most brilliant move was the way he dealt with Carter's attempt to attack him as a dangerous ideologue. When Carter suggested that Reagan had tried to discontinue Medicare, Reagan looked directly at the president, and laughed, "There you go again..." That was it. Carter looked like a fool.

OpEd: Had a message, and delivered it masterfully

George Bush, mumbling, when he was asked why he should be elected to the highest office in the land, said, "It's not a job. It's a challenge. And I am idealistic. I'm driven to contribute something."

1981 assassin Hinckley not guilty by reason of insanity

In the White House situation room, George Bush, who had been told Reagan would recover, left the President's chair empty and sat in his own seat. "The President is still the President," he said. His graceful comportment contrasted sharply with that of the Secretary of State, who had raised hackles earlier in the day by dashing to the lectern in the White House pressroom and declaring himself in charge.

Hid seriousness of 1981 assassination attempt

Reagan accepted his honorary degree, [and endorsed the Brady Bill], named in honor of his press secretary James Brady, who was forever disabled by the handgun aimed at the President and his party in 1981.

1980 Reagan Revolution included defeat of liberal Senators

Reaganism echoed in U.K. by Thatcherism

The Republican Party in the US had been masterful at creating a groundswell for conservative ideas after Senator Barry Goldwater's resounding defeat by Lyndon Johnson in the 1964 Presidential election. Shocked by the margin of their party's losses, several Republican multimillionaires embarked on a strategy to seed conservative, even right-wing political philosophy, and to develop and advance specific policies to further it. They funded think tanks, endowed professorships and seminars and developed media channels for communicating ideas and opinions.

Child of alcoholic father, but mother was open about it

It is important to stress that a significant difference exists between Reagan & Clinton. Reagan did not repeatedly demonstrate the effects of his background as an ACOA. Clinton, on the other hand, did.

One can draw an interesting parallel between Reagan and Clinton. Reagan's mother dealt directly with his father's alcoholism. In the case of Clinton, denial of the problem and of anything unpleasant was the means by which the alcoholism was avoided.

Kept perfect White House diary, but revealed little of self

One might compare my task to that of a film editor who has to integrate a few hundred close-focus frames with 20,000 feet of gauzy long shots. But biography is sometimes freer than film to rise to such challenges.

Any quest for the real Dutch is bound to be an exercise in frustration. Hence the dullness of many of the books that have been written about him, their inability to capture his magic. Since Reagan has primarily been a phenomenon of the American imagination, he can only be re-created by an extension of biographical technique.

Author Morris is character “Dutch” in Reagan’s bio

“Dutch is days away from publication. but in the meantime, its publisher, Random House, is guarding copies zealously, party for fear of a controversy about Mr. Morris’s writing style, which employs an unconventional technique that disturbs historians and former Reagan officials who have heard about it.

Simply put, Mr. Morris has invented a character: himself. For literary purposes, the author, 59, has essentially transformed his own life. revised his age, birthplace, identity and resume to become a Zeligesque narrator who is a Reagan contemporary.“

NY Times review, ”Is Dutch flawed by Mr. Morris’s technique? To judge from the book’s extensive notes, it in no way distorts the record of Mr. Reagan’s life, only the viewpoint from which it is told.“

Seems to lack recognition; but sees people deeply

Dutch, 81 years old, stepped to the podium to give a short speech of thanks. “God bless, the United States of America.” He said it so reverently that I wondered if love for country was not Reagan’s one and only passion.

Afterward, in the receiving line, he took my hand and nodded with patent lack of recognition. Yet the following afternoon, his retirement chief of staff called to say that Reagan had remarked, “I saw Edmund in the reception line. I think he is waiting for me to die before he publishes his book.”

Even in his dotage, he had seen something in my gaze that I did not want to acknowledge.

OpEd: hands-off management has inevitable disasters

At first it was difficult to believe that such a management policy could be intentional. Mixed results were inevitable; disaster was possible--even probable. I found myself in an environment in which there seemed to be no center, no structure, no agreed policy. I struggled to understand a reality that was far removed from what I had always imagined life in a high government post to be.

Scale of re-election victory meant mandate on policies

Trusted his aides to act on his intentions, not his orders

Never did President Reagan really lose his temper or utter a rude of unkind word. Never did he issue a direct order, although I, at least, sometimes devoutly wished that he would. He listened, acquiesced, played his role, and waited for the next act to be written.

Survives getting shot; an “excellent physical specimen”

They reached George Washington University Hospital in three-and-a-half minutes. Reagan made himself get out and walk toward the emergency-room door. Just inside, out of public sight, his knees buckled.

[He was wheeled into surgery] with his wit intact: “Honey, I forgot to duck,” “Who’s minding the store?” and-to the solemn company costumed in surgical greens-“Please tell me you’re Republicans.”

The President’s chest was closed at 5:24 PM. He had “sailed through” surgery, the hospital announced, and was an “excellent physical specimen.” On April 11, the President was well enough to walk out of the hospital.

1966 Gubernatorial nominee: running to change the country

Many establishment Republicans in Washington scoffed at Reagan's candidacy.

What the mainstream politicos did not understand about Ronald Reagan was that he was running for a reason--not for the money and not for fame (he already had both). He was running to change the country.

If not us, who? And if not now, when?

The speaker on the radio was CNBC reporter Rick Santelli, on the floor of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, in his now-famous rant that sparked the modern Tea Party movement. The next day I started organizing.

I had never organized a protest before. I had never even been to a protest. But I had been active online. And I did understand politics. Most important, I knew that the time had come to do something to save the country. I was reminded, deep inside, of something that Ronald Reagan said in his 2nd inaugural address: "If not us, who? And if not now, when?" As I looked at my young children, I could not shake the thought that this was my personal responsibility as a citizen and as a mother.

Eleventh Commandment: Don't speak ill of political allies

Conservatism of bright colors, not pale pastels

As Ronald Reagan always liked to say, he didn't leave the Democratic Party--the Democratic Party left him. Now I too knew the feeling.

Indeed, during the late seventies, Marcus and I grew increasingly attracted to Reagan and his conservative philosophy. We loved it when he said that Americans wanted a conservatism of bright colors, not pale pastels--we sure did. That is, we wanted someone who would unabashedly take the fight directly to the economic declinists, the foreign policy defeatists, and the anti-family relativists who seemed at the time to dominate both parties. Republicans of the "me-too" persuasion held no appeal to us. We wanted a GOP that would fight to make real change. So we liked Reagan.

Tea Party too extreme for Reagan? No, he did radical things

Common sense conservatism is antithesis to fanaticism

We have to fight for freedom and protect it

Pick your core agenda issues and focus on those

Preserve the last best hope of man on earth

Private values must be at the heart of public policies

Reagan won the hearts and votes of the American people by shifting the debate from a myriad of confusing political issues to values Americans recognized immediately as their own. By reminding Americans of our goodness and strengths, Reagan held up a mirror and helped us see ourselves at our very best. Reagan made us believe we could get across any river on our own. Reagan convinced Americans that freedom would work for everyone and that the big-government welfare state was just a fox clothed in deceptive political promises.

Unfortunately the cause of freedom has had too few articulate champions since Ronald Reagan.

Replace left-right with up (freedom)& down (totalitarianism)

Reagan knew every generation of Americans must make a choice between freedom and socialism. Today that choice confronts Americans more urgently than ever before.

OpEd: Sunny optimist in the midst of fighting the Cold War

Eradicating American memory results in erosion of spirit

Most concerned for special interest group, "We the People"

Built morale so people believed things could be accomplished

When Carter was president, the prevailing mood was malaise. Nobody could run the country, you just did the best you could not to make it worse. When Reagan became president, all of a sudden people started to believe things could be accomplished. The Soviet Union could be stared down and spoken about in plain language, unions could be forced to behave responsibly, taxes could be reduced in the hope that individuals would make smarter decisions for their dollars than the federal government. The feeling was that the president was very much in charge. Reagan understood that much of that was optimism. It did not mean that leaders ran around cheerful all the time, but that they found ways to build morale.

The Teflon President: unburdened & un-blamed

Cared more about policies than being “Great Communicator”

Great Communicator? I just spoke 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. 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.

As long as we remember our first principles and believe in ourselves, the future will always be ours.

Shining City on a Hill: she still stands strong and true

And how stands the city? More prosperous, more secure, and happier than 8 years ago. And after 200 years, she still stands strong and true on the granite ridge; her glow has held steady no matter what storm. And she's still a beacon, still a magnet for all the pilgrims from all the lost places who are hurtling through the darkness, toward home.

The Shining City is freer, and is left in good hands

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.

My friends, we did it. 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.“

What you see is what you get with Reagan, and nothing more

“What you see is what you get,” several of his intimates had warned me, when I asked about his hidden depths. Nevertheless, I could not believe how little one got and how shallow those depths appeared to be. At 75, he was taciturn much of the time, conducting meetings with only the barest of introductory remarks, which he would read from typed cards. When he was asked direct questions, he would refer again to his cards, and if there was nothing there to help him, he would smile, shrug, and let Shultz or Regan answer.

Re-election: Morning in America; ship of state realigned

Poor decent, dull Walter Mondale realized Reagan [was unbeatable] when he debated him, and was famously rolled for trying to raise the age issue. “I am not going to exploit, for political purposes, my opponent’s youth and inexperience,“ Reagan promised. Even Mondale had to laugh.

Americans favored Reagan because for four years he’d kept, or fought to keep, all his campaign promises. He had cut taxes, harnessed government, revived the economy, freed the entrepreneur, and cursed the ungodly. The ship of state was realigned, empowered, larger, prouder-and for those reasons less considerate of people who sailed steerage, or of powers that got in its way.

Political spectrum: up is freedom; down is statism

Isn’t our choice really one of up or down? Down through statism, the welfare state, more and more government largesse, accompanied always by more government authority, less individual liberty and ultimately totalitarianism, always advanced as for our own good. The alternative is the dream conceived by our Founding Fathers, up to the ultimate in individual freedom, consistent with an orderly society.

We don’t celebrate Dependence Day on the Fourth of July. We celebrate Independence Day.

Civilized ideas are rooted in the belief in a Supreme Being

Similarly, in his "Evil Empire" speech in 1983, Reagan declared, "The source of our strength in the quest for human freedom is not material, but spiritual. And because it knows no limitation, it must terrify and ultimately triumph over those who would enslave their fellow man." When human freedom and dignity were under assault during the Cold War, Reagan knew that the spiritual nature of man and the freedom to know God where central to defining humanity and decisive in defeating tyranny.

1980s: Soviet leaders openly repudiate religion

"Soviet leaders have openly and publicly declared that the only morality they recognize is that which will further their cause, which is world revolution. Lenin, their guiding spirit, said in 1920 that they repudiate all morality tha proceeds from supernatural ideas--that's their name for religion--or ideas that are outside class conceptions...They must be made to understand we will never abandon our belief in God. Yes, let us pray for the salvation of all of those who live in totalitarian darkness--pray they will discover the joy of knowing God."

What drove his critics crazy wasn't that Reagan pointed out the godlessness of the Soviet system, but that he pointed out the presence of God in ours.

"City on a Hill" cites Jesus' Sermon on the Mount

In that speech Winthrop predicted that the new land would become a "city upon a Hill." Those words, of course, appear in the Book of Matthew, in the Sermon on the Mount, where Jesus called upon his flock to be "the light of the world," a shining example.

More than three centuries later, those words would also inspire Ronald Reagan--he believed that America must always be that City on a Hill. In 1974, at the first Conservative Political Action Conference, held, interestingly enough, in Washington, D.C., the Gipper declared that American was "the last best hope of man on earth." He sure was right!

1979: Endorsed faith voters & activated movement

I remember when Ronald Reagan embraced these spiritual leaders well known within the community of faith but largely unknown by the general public and told them, "I'm not here for you to endorse me; I'm here to endorse YOU." In the elections since 1980, when this constituency was energized and turned loose, they made the difference in elections. When they were discouraged or driven to the sidelines, elections were lost.

Freedom prospers when religion is vibrant

I read the Bible. I travel with one, in fact, and there's never a time that I don't have a page or a passage bookmarked or flagged for my ready reference. Why? Because the Bible always has something new to teach me, some new way to look at the world. It's accessible, and at the same time it's beyond knowing, and I can't for the life of me figure how anyone gets along without it.

Not first religious president but first hero to evangelicals

[The evangelical community] wanted their president to be a godly man. Jimmy Carter had talked about being born again but had disappointed most evangelicals. Though Carter at least made faith in office fashionable, Ronald Reagan was their true hero. He talked about divine destiny, the rights of the unborn, and the influence of the Bible on his life. But despite his eight years in office, th Reagan administration had not made much progress on the issues religious conservatives cared about. They wanted a man who would use the presidency as a bully pulpit, face down the liberals, and make the country safe for faith once again.

Jesus is more real to me than my mother