Reagan at 100: If I Could Ask Him One Question ...

by Ken Coleman

From a flailing economy to Soviet aggression to the threat of international terrorism, President Ronald Reagan presided over one of the most tumultuous times in modern American history. If I could ask Reagan just one question it would be, “How did you remain positive amid such difficult times?”

I still remember the first time I heard President Reagan speak on August 23, 1984. Reagan stepped up to the podium in the Dallas Convention Center to accept the nomination at the Republican Convention in his quest for a second term. Though only ten, I was completely captured by his reassuring voice and confident demeanor. To this day, I remain moved by his closing words:

The poet called Miss Liberty's torch the ``lamp beside the golden door.'' Well, that was the entrance to America, and it still is. And now you really know why we're here tonight.

The glistening hope of that lamp is still ours. Every promise, every opportunity is still golden in this land. And through that golden door our children can walk into tomorrow with the knowledge that no one can be denied the promise that is America.

Her heart is full; her door is still golden, her future bright. She has arms big enough to comfort and strong enough to support, for the strength in her arms is the strength of her people. She will carry on in the eighties unafraid, unashamed, and unsurpassed.

I could not fully understand the power of those words that night. Yet, as I’ve matured and grown, so has my admiration for Ronald Reagan. He has been called “The Great Communicator,” and he was. I suggest that he should also be called “The Great Restorer.”

Ronald Reagan restored America’s confidence and stature around the world. When the economy was down, he cast a vision for triumphant recovery. In the midst of the Cold War, he daringly proclaimed that Communism would “end up on the ash heap of history.” His prophecy proved true. And who can forget his famous demand to the sitting Soviet leader: “Mr. Gorbacev. Tear down this wall!”

[Boston Globe offers "Thoughts on Reagan's Legacy"]

Reagan comforted America and her school children after they watched the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster on live television. He engaged his political adversaries with humor and competitive civility, traits uncommon in modern public discourse.

At his funeral, President George H.W. Bush said of President Reagan, “Politics can be cruel and uncivil, our friend was strong and gentle. Once he called America hopeful, big-hearted, idealistic, daring, decent, and fair. That was America, and yes, our friend.”

How could a single leader remain so calm in the face of unbridled aggression? How could one man settle the hearts of a restless nation? How did he remain positive amid such difficult times?

In his absence, none can answer with certainty. But I think he would say the source of his composure was the power of his belief. Ronald Reagan believed the best about America; he believed in her people and the strength of their collective resolve. Ronald Reagan spoke of America as “a shining City on a hill,” and he believed such a dream was attainable.

CBS Correspondent Mike Wallace once asked Reagan to identify an American leader he admired, Mr. Reagan cited Franklin Delano Roosevelt. "He took his case to the people," Mr. Reagan said. "The greatest leader is not necessarily the one who does the greatest things. He is the one that gets the people to do the greatest things."

Reflecting on this interview years later, Mrs. Reagan said her husband lived up to his own definition. "He got them to believe in themselves once again," she said. "He got them to think about the whole country differently.”

Many will remember Ronald Reagan as a great President. Many more, regardless of political persuasion, will remember Ronald Reagan as a great man. Perhaps one day future generations will question how we too remained positive amid our own difficulties. And maybe—just maybe—they will credit impeccable role models like Reagan who showed us how best to lead.

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Do you agree with Coleman's assessment of Reagan or do you feel he's too generous? What one question would you ask the former President?

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Editor’s Note: The picture above is from a 1987 LIFE magazine photoshoot in Century City, California with photographer Harry Benson.

Comments

Mark Cook

I think you hit the nail on the head. I, too, remember Mr. Reagan fondly. I was 15 when he was elected to his first term, and my first vote was cast for Ronald Reagan for President in 1984. His greatest legacy in my mind will always be how he restored our belief in our nation by doing so himself.

His ability to communicate with the American people has always struck me as nothing short of magnificent. I can remember seeing him on TV sitting behind that big desk in the Oval Office speaking to the people as if he were talking to each of us one on one. No doubt, that was how he was able to lead the nation so well. I don't think we have had a leader who could communicate with the public that well since Reagan.

Jeff Nelson

I too was amazed at how the Nation as a whole felt better about herself and was more confident under the presidency of Ronald Reagan. He inspired many to higher levels of achievement because he genuinely believed in and trusted people. Yes he was just a man, but a man who inspired many. Not unlike Billy Graham who had a much different mission, and is still inspiring people and will continue too inspire long after he is gone. Inspiration and encouragement is like an investment and through the power of compound interest it continues to grow and snowball, and the sum total will far exceed the initial investment, but it is that investment that starts process like a single flake of snow. Reagan, unselfishly realized that investing in people would reap the maximum benefit for this country and to the world. I believe I would have to say that President Reagan has been the finest example of what a president should be in my lifetime. And if I had a chance to ask him one question, well I would pass, but instead I would thank him for the investment.

Sean

Greatest prez of my lifetime, for sure.

William Harris

I am not of the True Believer persuasion. The Reagan years were the ones where I came of age politically, where I saw the moderate Republicanism of my youth get pushed aside.

As to Reagan's rhetoric, I am also one of those unmoved. Partisanship? Somewhat, but also because of its basic abstractness. Rather than create imagery, the speech summons a sort of memory, "her door still open, her future bright." To my ears then, this was little more than cliche. Platitudes.

My question for the President would be, "What did you think of Cuomo's 84 address"

That speech concluded with a word picture that still lives with me, 25 years later:

"That struggle to live with dignity is the real story of the shining city. And it's a story, ladies and gentlemen, that I didn't read in a book, or learn in a classroom. I saw it and lived it, like many of you. I watched a small man with thick calluses on both his hands work 15 and 16 hours a day. I saw him once literally bleed from the bottoms of his feet, a man who came here uneducated, alone, unable to speak the language, who taught me all I needed to know about faith and hard work by the simple eloquence of his example. I learned about our kind of democracy from my father. And I learned about our obligation to each other from him and from my mother.... "

Bleeding from the bottom of your feet -- that's a word picture you don't forget.

David Miller

While you were a ten year enamored with Reagan's eloquence - of which he had no shortage - I was in my late 20's directing a church service agency that was focusing its energy on work among the homeless.

Homelessness skyrocketed during the Reagan years. It was a "new homelessness" that included large numbers of intact families who were displaced by a changing job market and the dismantling of a social safety net. My problem with Reagan's rhetoric was that it was too much like that of the wizard of Oz. It functioned to distract and ignore unpleasant realities.

We cannot remember Reagan honestly without remembering the School of the Americas, the funding of illegal wars, the propping up of oppressive and murderous regimes, and the favoring of big agribusiness while the family farm economy collapsed.

The Reagan years I experienced differed significantly from the golden age of your ten year old perceptions.

Steve

HA ! "While you were a ten year enamored with Reagan's eloquence - of which he had no shortage - I was in my late 20's directing a church service agency that was focusing its energy on work among the homeless...The Reagan years I experienced differed significantly from the golden age of your ten year old perceptions."

Congrats on your work -- but what would the 50 year old say to your 20 year old perceptions? Poor form -- I am willing to presume a 10 year old can be more perceptive than a 20 year old...I saw Goonies. Perhaps, during all of your work during the Reagan years, you missed that movie...

David Miller

I am not challenging that a 10 year old's perceptions have validity. What I am challenging is the persistent misremembering of the Reagan years. It is a construct built on a false history. Reagan was not the embodiment of all evil - but neither was the golden age remembered of the substance to which it is now appealed. Reagan mastered language and image, but the realities for folks at the bottom - who were kept out of sight during the Reagan years was far from the "Morning in America."

To your question - do you mean what a fifty year old during the Reagan years would have said or what I as a fifty five year old would now say to my 20 something perceptions?

The fifty year olds that I met on the street and those I knew who served with witness for peace in Nicaragua had one perception of the Reagan years, those whose taxes were cut and profits increased had another. One legacy that those who look to the Reagan years as a golden era tend to ignore is that Reagan's (and subsequent) policies have generated the greatest wealth gap in American history. (See: http://www.businessinsider.com/plutocracy-reborn )

Ben

David, you obviously didnt attempt to purchase a home, car, or have to pay too many bills during the panacea of the administration prior to Reagan's arrival. Had you done so you may not have quite the view your possess now (how does 18% interest strike you?). My point being, no person is perfect...certainly no politician...but Reagan (for all his foreign policy faults) did more to restore the spirit and dignity of this country than any other president in my life time. I grew up on a poor wheat farm in north texas. Reagan's policies meant our family farm finally thrived because the annual loan didnt come with thousands of dollars in interest, exorbitant fuel prices, and low returns at the market. So, before you qualify his record by his foreign policy, you would be well-served to remember that he salvaged the economy and saved many, including me, from poverty.

Ben Pickett

mike

He and Thachter freed millions, he stood up to a system that was morally evil.

mike

Homelessness did not skyrocket in the 80's, that is a Democrat false talking point. Please read Thomas Sowell.

Sandra

Actually, Mike, it did. After Sowell wrote on this, the AHAR Congressional report came out and proved him wrong with the most sweeping homelessness statistics ever released.

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