Remembering Ronald Reagan's life and legacy
John Heubusch, executive director for the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute, hosts Bill Hemmer and 'America's Newsroom' at the Reagan Library in Simi Valley, California.
Birthdays are important to celebrate – yes, as milestones, but also as markers of significance. And consequence. One hundred and twelve years ago Monday, on February 6, 1911, Ronald Wilson Reagan was born in Tampico, Illinois. He is remembered and celebrated all these years later – not because he is gone – but because of how he lived. The legacy he left behind both inspires and, in part, mystifies us still.
He has been analyzed and scrutinized from every angle, yet the magical formula or "secret recipe" of Ronald Reagan all these years later seems as elusive as ever. What was behind his indisputable success? Can his ability to communicate and connect with others be imitated? Learned? What about his capacity to rally people to support him? Not just enthusiastically agree with his ideas, but truly evangelize for Reaganism – or more importantly – Americanism. Was the essence of Ronald Reagan uniquely his and will never be replicated? Or is there still an undiscovered element to his past which could inform our future?
Perhaps it was that he simply knew who he was. He also knew who we wanted him to be – and in many ways those were the same thing. This enhanced his success since it was naturally who he already was. Ronald Reagan was authentic and unapologetic about who he was – and who he wasn’t. We as a nation were lucky.
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He embodied the beauty of an "only in America" story. The range of his life spanned from humble simplicity to global greatness – and then back to the simplicity of his beginnings in a humble, and in many ways, tragic, end. A uniquely American life, yet simultaneously ordinary in its arc, mirroring the lifespan of us all.
America likes a statesman, and perhaps a bit of a showman, as her president. In Reagan we had the stage presence of an actor with the heart of a Midwesterner. The camera loved him – and the American people did too. As did our friends worldwide.
When Air Force One landed internationally and the President of the United States walked out and waved, Ronald Reagan was making more than an arrival, he was making a statement. A statement of peace and strength - and a statement of freedom. Not just for the United States, but he held high a beacon of freedom which shone brightly for others to follow - and they did.
This American crusader became a magnet of greatness and liberty, drawing others in with a desire to be allied and aligned with him and with the USA. His embodiment of American exceptionalism was infused with both the acknowledgment of the many divine blessings bestowed upon America and its people, coupled with the responsibility to be good stewards of that exceptionalism, sharing our strength with a world in need of leadership and resolve.
President Ronald Reagan at Durenberger Republican convention Rally, 1982 (Photo by Universal History Archive/Getty Images)
There also was an unspoken power behind that majesty which made adversaries think twice before crossing Reagan or the nation he served and loved. He was not to be underestimated – ask the Air Traffic Controllers. Or Mikhail Gorbachev.
Patriotism is contagious and Reagan spread it generously everywhere he went. People loved him, but also loved themselves and were proud to be Americans when he was president. Whether they worked with their hands on a family farm, or worked for a corporation in a high-rise building, Americans felt important to the nation, and valued by their president.
And as for immigrants, when Reagan was president, they not only wanted to be in America, but wanted to become Americans. Embraced not because of birthright, but because of their desire to be part of the great American experiment of individual liberty and freedom of opportunity.
Ronald Reagan’s legacy of patriotism and optimism is timeless and transparently apparent. Yet the "why" behind everything he did was never really stated by him outright. We know his faith guided him, but beyond that we long for him to have left a checklist of how to be Reagan-like.
As the Great Communicator though, in his written and spoken words, Ronald Reagan left many clues for us to find and decipher. Some seem as if they were given not only to America and the world but were almost as if he was also describing his own North Star. Like when he said, "Live simply, love generously, care deeply, speak kindly, leave the rest to God." A clear life motto - one he lived out both publicly and privately. Good words for us to adopt and live out too. Simplicity. Love. Generosity. Caring. Kindness. Faith. When stated like that it doesn’t seem so elusive after all.
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As we celebrate Ronald Reagan this week, we really celebrate America – and Americans who were part of an era in which President Reagan ensured that government got out of the way of the American people, allowing them to unleash their innovation, ingenuity, creativity, and industriousness. Reagan led us and invited us to join him, but even he credited the American people for doing the hard work and being the difference makers in the nation, not him. Together, under President Reagan’s leadership, we, not just he, made America great. And the world safer.
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Perhaps the "secret" of Ronald Reagan has been evident all along, "Live simply, love generously, care deeply, speak kindly, leave the rest to God." That doesn’t sound mysterious or impossible – it sounds like the way most Americans live their lives every day. And do so, regardless of who is in the Oval Office.
Even amidst these dark and difficult times politically for our nation, as we celebrate the birth and life of Ronald Reagan, we are reminded anew that America is still Reagan Country, which means that yes, like he always promised, "America’s best days are yet to come. Our proudest moments are yet to be. Our most glorious achievements are just ahead."
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