God Bless the Gipper

Having touched on two previous presidents – Washington and Eisenhower – who served as generals in the field as well as Commander-in-Chiefs as civilians, I’d like to finish this mini-series on Presidential Farewell Addresses with the one delivered to the nation on January 11, 1989, by the greatest Chief Executive of my lifetime… and an Army captain, to boot.

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Ronald Wilson Reagan… the Gipper!

In his eloquent (did you expect anything less) speech, Reagan humbly spread the credit around for the success of the aptly named Reagan Revolution. On whom did he bestow such glowing accolades? Try the American people and the American dream.

Getting the last laugh on his critics, Reagan said that “what they called ‘radical’ was really ‘right.’ What they called ‘dangerous’ was just ‘desperately needed.’”

Reagan also downplayed his famous nickname, “The Great Communicator,” crediting the content of his words more than his delivery. “And they didn’t spring full bloom from my brow, they came from the heart of a great nation,” he added with humility.

Calling the Reagan Revolution more like a “great rediscovery… of our values and our common sense,” The Gipper gave some prime examples. “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 than ever before.”

“Common sense also told us that to preserve the peace, we’d have to become strong again after years of weakness and confusion” (see the Carter administration, emphasis mine). “So, we rebuilt our defenses, and this New Year we toasted the new peacefulness around the globe.”

Cause and effect. Peace through strength. Trust but verify. Pretty basic stuff that apparently, they never taught at the Naval Academy when Jimmy Carter was a midshipman.

Another guiding principle that Reagan felt had been rediscovered during his eight years in office was that “the moral way of government is the practical way of government. Democracy, the profoundly good, is also the profoundly productive.”

A smart and very perceptive man!

Perhaps the heart of Reagan’s farewell address was his emphasis on the “power of the people” as evidenced by the Preamble to the U.S. Constitution. “We the People tell the government what to do; it doesn’t tell us. We the People are the driver; the government is the car. And we decide where it should go, and by what route, and how fast.”

Comparing our Constitution to those of other nations, Reagan said that the difference was that their founding documents “tell the people what their privileges are.” Conversely, in our Constitution, “We the People tell the government what it is allowed to do.”

The Gipper went on to say that “man is not free unless government is limited… As government expands, liberty contracts.” Right again, Ron!

In his closing comments, Reagan called on Americans not only to remember what made our country great, but also to convey that greatness to future generations. “If we forget what we did, we won’t know who we are,” he said. “I’m warning of an eradication of the American memory that could result, ultimately, in an erosion of the American spirit. Let’s start with some basics: more attention to American history and a greater emphasis on civic ritual.”

“We’ve got to do a better job of getting across that America is freedom – freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of enterprise,” Reagan reminded us. “And freedom is special and rare. It’s fragile; it needs protection.”

I guess that’s why the Gipper called for a “new patriotism… grounded in thoughtfulness and knowledge.” Not blind allegiance, mind you, but an unconditional and unwavering belief in America, American values, and the American dream.

Or, as Reagan put it in his second farewell address, this one announcing his Alzheimer’s diagnosis… “When the Lord calls me home, whenever that may be, I will leave with the greatest love for this country of ours and eternal optimism for its future.”

If I could summarize Reagan’s farewell address in a few short words, it would be this: a call for common sense and common decency, coupled with less government interference and more personal freedom. Oh, how we could use those helpful reminders today!

“All great change in America begins at the dinner table,” Reagan declared. Sadly, families gathering together at mealtime to discuss the day’s events and to inculcate children in once cherished and commonly-held values is becoming as obsolete as typewriters, VHS tapes, and leisure suits.

But if America, thanks to Ronald Reagan, can bounce back from Vietnam, Watergate, and the malaise of the Carter administration, we can do it again. And it really doesn’t matter who leads the charge. After all, as the Gipper famously said, “There is no limit to the amount of good you can do if you don’t care who gets the credit.”