Ronald Wilson Reagan: A Man For Us All
There will be no better tribute to Ronald Wilson Reagan's life than this one. I do not say that out of arrogance (though I can be arrogant) or out of pride (though I can be prideful) but because Ronald Wilson Reagan was a man of humble beginnings and he deserves to be lauded by the simplest of human beings (that's me).
Ronald Wilson Reagan was born in 1911. As a child I envied the generation before me because they had the chance to invent all kinds of wonderful things that changed the world. I used to read newspapers from the 1920's and 30's about Thomas Edison and Henry Ford and others. It seemed that each day back then something new was invented. My life seemed so drab in comparison and I felt that by being born in the 50's, I had lost out on any chance at greatness. That was never Ronald Wilson Reagan's problem. He never worried about greatness. He had dreams but he just went after them rather than worry about them.
As some of you know, I am a genealogy buff. I will start my tribute back in 1930, before I was born. I stumbled upon an old census record from Dixon Township, Lee County, Illinois. In this town was listed the following family: John E. Reagan (46) a shoe salesman, Nelle Reagan (46) a sales clerk in a ready to wear shop, Neil Reagan (20), and Ronald Reagan (18). John Reagan's parents were Irish and Nelle Reagan's father was Scottish and her mother was English. That's it. Nothing special about this family. That was Ronald Wilson Reagan. Nothing special about him. In 1930 at age 18 he was just beginning to work toward the dreams he had. He became a sportscaster, an actor, a soldier (Stateside), and a reluctant politician. I learned later that his father was a drunk and his mother was a strong Christian. He could have turned out so differently. How many young men on his street in Dixon Township turned out to be drunks, wife beaters, criminals, or average citizens? No idea.
I never knew Ronald Wilson Reagan and yet everybody knew him. I never met him. In fact, I did not like him when he first ran for President in 1976 (he lost the nomination to Gerald Ford). My guy was Jimmy Carter. I had just got out of the Army and I participated in my first political event. It was a Jimmy Carter-inspired March for Jobs. There I was in my old Army fatigue jacket, long hair, thick beard, thinking I knew it all. Jimmy Carter would get us jobs, I was sure. Well, after four years of Jimmy Carter telling us to turn down the heat and wear sweaters, I was ready for a change. Then I heard Ronald Wilson Reagan talking about "it's morning in America again". What a hopeful statement! Hope is what I needed. Hope is what America needed. Hope is what Ronald Wilson Reagan was all about. In spite of being raised by Democrats, I found myself pulling that formerly evil "R" lever in the voting booth.
Life changed for all Americans in 1980. All of a sudden America was hopeful again. Our hockey team beat the Russians for the gold medal in the Olympics! As soon as Ronald Wilson Reagan became President, the hostages were released from Iran (after 444 days in captivity). We had a President who talked to the common man and spoke his language. A President who believed in the same things that most Americans believed in. Taxes were reduced, gas prices went down, communism was called evil, morality was something to be cherished, and the military was respected once again (I even joined the Army National Guard in 1983 to be a part of a respected military again). Things changed. America went to work and America became great again. We stopped apologizing for being Americans but we did not boast about how great we were. We took our cues from a President who quoted another great President, Harry S. Truman: "It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit."
I loved Ronald Wilson Reagan and I taught my children to love him. They often had to defend him to their Democrat-raised peers who, like the partisan media, were sold on the idea that Ronald Wilson Reagan was a warmonger, not very bright, and "just an actor". But when he told Mr Gorbachev to "tear down this wall", it happened. When he told us it was morning in America again, suddenly it was.
My last "contact" with President Ronald Wilson Reagan was writing him a letter of sympathy when I learned he had Alzheimer's. A few weeks later I was amazed to get a card from him with words of thanks and expressing his optimism that everything would be okay. I know that everyone else in the world got a similar card but I have saved it and feel a deep sense of awe that I have his words in my possession.
Mrs. Nancy Reagan called her husband's Alzheimer's "the long goodbye". Oh, it is that! But perhaps it was fitting for such a man as Ronald Wilson Reagan. Not that he suffered from the disease but perhaps a man as great as Ronald Wilson Reagan needed ten years for us to say goodbye to him. Still I was shocked when I heard about his passing. A man who survived an assassination attempt, won the Cold War, and brought "morning" to an America fast asleep in malaise. Perhaps it is also fitting that he never had a chance to consider how great a man he really was. He would never think that to begin with but in the end, he probably had no recall of it of all. Sad, but it fits the man in an odd way. Oh, how I miss you Ronald Wilson Reagan. Thank you for what you did for America, for the World, and for the heart of man. Thank you for your wonderful wife, Nancy, who taught us how a wife is to stand by her husband in sickness and health. Thank you for the letter, for your kindness to us simple people, and for giving us hope. I know that in Heaven, where it's always "morning", you are rejoicing upon meeting your Mom, Nelle, again. We will wait to see you again. We will try to keep that hopefulness alive in America and will try to spread it throughout the world. With the help of your Savior and ours, Jesus Christ, we will tell the world that "it's morning in the world again." May God rest your soul, Ronald Wilson Reagan. ~Gary~(6-6-2004)