Remembering President Reagan's First Press Conference

 

WNU Editor: Compare this press conference with any of President Biden's press conferences. (Hat tip Small Dead Animals).

Sighh .... maybe Harper's Magazine is right that the American Century is over(see below):

What Comes After the American Century
In Search of the Ukrainian Foreign Legion
When Private Money Fails Public Health
Édouard Louis on his Mother's Liberation
and more in the July Issuehttps://t.co/GuQNj3iQRy pic.twitter.com/mcdSZvnAVC

— Harper's Magazine (@Harpers) June 21, 2022

Ronald Reagan, 77, Versus Joe Biden, 78.

Ronald Reagan, 77, versus Joe Biden, 78. pic.twitter.com/tDs1l1ke6d

— tsar becket adams (@BecketAdams) May 19, 2021

WNU editor: No comparison.

President Ronald Reagan At Normandy: The Boys Of Pointe du Hoc

The Boys Of Pointe du Hoc -- President Reagan, Washington Times

We’re here to mark that day in history when the Allied armies joined in battle to reclaim this continent to liberty. For four long years, much of Europe had been under a terrible shadow. Free nations had fallen, Jews cried out in the camps, millions cried out for liberation. Europe was enslaved, and the world prayed for its rescue. Here in Normandy, the rescue began. Here the Allies stood and fought against tyranny in a giant undertaking unparalleled in human history.

Read more ....

My Comment: God .... I miss this President.

President Reagan's Address At The Ceremony Commemorating The 40th Anniversary Of The Normandy Invasion, D-day At Point-du-Hoc - 6/6/84.

My Comment: One of the best speeches that I have ever heard .... commemorating men who deserve the recognition and honor for their bravery on that fateful day.

President Reagan 30 Years Ago: “Mr. Gorbachev Tear Down This Wall!”

WNU editor: Its been 30 years already!?!?! I still get goosebumps when I listen to that speech.

Former First Lady Nancy Reagan Dead At 94

NBC: Former First Lady Nancy Reagan Dead at 94

Nancy Reagan, one of the most high-profile and influential first ladies of the 20th century, has died, according to a spokeswoman with the Reagan Library. She was 94.

The cause of death was congestive heart failure, according to her rep Joanne Drake. "Mrs. Reagan will be buried at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California, next to her husband, Ronald Wilson Reagan, who died on June 5, 2004," Drake wrote in a statement.

Read more ....

WNU Editor: Our thoughts and prayers are with the family.

Remembering President Reagan's Speech Commemorating The 40th Anniversary Of The Normandy Invasion, D-Day 6/6/84

President Ronald Reagan's Christmas Address (12/23/81)

My Comment: One more reason on why I have always admired President Reagan.

Hat Tip: Lucianne

Briefing By CIA Video?

Grade School In-Class Video Or Classified Presidential Briefing? CIA Reveals Videos It Made To Help Ronald Reagan -- Daily Mail

The Central Intelligence Agency has released videos about the Soviet Union that have all the charm of retro grade school public service announcements.

Except, these movies - complete with cheesy special effects, dramatic music and a droll narrator - were classified intelligence briefings for President Ronald Reagan.

The agency began producing the briefings in 1981, suggesting they might be 'helpful for Reagan'.

Read more ....

My Comment: When I first heard about Ronald Reagan, it was in the mid-1970s when he was defeated by then President Ford for the Republican Presidential ticket. I read what he wrote at the time (and he wrote a lot), as well as watching him on two Firing Line episodes on PBS (I was always impressed with William Buckley's english) and in other debates. What was my take on his opinions and approach towards the Soviet Union .... to put it bluntly ..... Reagan was spot on. As to the question .... did these videos have an impact in influencing his thinking .... hmmmm ..... I doubt it. President Reagan was a man who clearly had principles that he held very dear to his chest, and his hatred towards communism and totalitarianism was something that he was not going to compromise on.

Republicans No Longer Support A Strong Military (Commentary)

No Longer Ronald Reagan's Party -- Zbigniew Mazurak, American Thinker

The Republican Party used to be the party standing for a strong defense. This was true from at least the Goldwater times. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Ronald Reagan strengthened the GOP's commitment to a strong military and simultaneously devoted much time to explaining this issue to the American people. He frequently reminded Republicans of various stripes that the GOP was a three-legged stool, consisting of social, fiscal, and defense conservatives. Each of these stools belonged in the GOP, and none of them was more important than the others.

Thus, the GOP was kept united, and the country was kept safe.

In 2000, another Republican president re-committed the GOP to the goal of a strong defense, after twelve years of continous defense cuts.

Since the late 2000s, however, Republicans have been abandoning this commitment and principle, with the result that nowadays, most Republican politicians, and the party as a whole, are no longer committed to a strong military.

Read more ....

My Comment: If he knew what was happening to America today .... I am sure that President Reagan would be turning in his grave.

Remembering the Assassination Attempt Against President Reagan

Secret Service Releases Audio of President Ronald Reagan Shooting -- ABC News

Ever wonder what goes on inside those ubiquitous Secret Service earpieces?

The Secret Service has released audio from the confused and dramatic moments in 1981 when President Ronald Reagan was shot outside the Hilton Hotel in Washington, DC.

The shots themselves cannot be heard, but it is clear that agents close to Reagan initially thought the President – “Rawhide” was their code name for him – was okay and they immediately sped the Presidential limo – “stagecoach” toward the White House – “Crown.”

Read more ....

My Comment: I had just got back home from the University when I first heard that President Reagan was shot. This release of Secret Service chatter gives me another look at what happened that day .... an event that (I must confess) is still disturbing and unsettling to me whenever I choose to remember it.

Remembering President Reagan's "Tear Down This Wall" Speech 23 Years Ago

Tear Down This Wall (Ronald Reagan) -- Wikipedia

"Tear down this wall!" was the challenge from United States President Ronald Reagan to Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev to destroy the Berlin Wall.

In a speech at the Brandenburg Gate commemorating the 750th anniversary of Berlin,[1][2] by the Berlin Wall on June 12, 1987, Reagan challenged Gorbachev, then the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, to tear it down as a symbol of Reagan's desire for increasing freedom in the Eastern Bloc.

Read more ....

My Comment: When I heard this speech 23 years ago .... I had goose bumps all over. The walls were already crumbling in Eastern Europe .... so when President Reagan made his speech it became widely disseminated in Eastern Europe .... the Soviet Union included.

My father's reaction was typical of what the older Russian generation felt .... they were uncomfortable with change, especially if it concerned Germany. The horrors of World War Two were still fresh in their minds, and national security (including keeping Germany in check) trumpeted all other concerns. For the younger generation (myself included) .... this was not the case. Communism and government intervention in our lives was something that was no longer tolerable .... that a new direction was not only needed .... but we were hungry for it.

Hope for change became change .... and very quickly.

President Reagan's speech was perfect for its timing .... at that moment in time he was able to tap into what many Eastern Europeans were feeling .... change had to happen and the Berlin Wall was the symbol that we all had to overcome. It is therefore no surprise that when the Berlin Wall did fall down .... so did everything else .... and for that reason alone President Reagan's Berlin Wall speech will be remembered for the ages.

Recalling Ronald Reagan At Normandy

President Ronald Reagans Speech at Point-du-Hoc, Normandy

From Politico:

On Saturday, President Barack Obama will be in Normandy, France, to mark the 65th anniversary of D-Day. The Allied invasion is one of the most famous moments in the military history of the United States. The successful, albeit deadly, invasion began a two-month campaign that ended with the liberation of Paris from the Nazis in August. Normandy has become a symbol for military valor and moral clarity in American foreign policy.

President Ronald Reagan traveled to Normandy in June 1984 to deliver one of his most famous addresses. In a carefully choreographed moment at Pointe du Hoc, adviser Michael Deaver had the president stand in front of a dramatic backdrop where one Army battalion, being commemorated, had launched its attack. “These are the champions who helped free a continent,” Reagan said of the veterans in front of him. “These are the heroes who helped end a war.”

Read more ....

My Comment: I still miss him .... and listening to this speech makes me miss him more.