Ronald Reagan Remembered
by George Shadroui
intellectualconservative
08 June 2004
It is easy to forget today that Ronald Reagan was reviled by many, many people in the 1980s, most of them liberals who had neither his courage nor his optimism in facing down the great issues of our time.
Scene 1
The place was the student union at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. The time was 1980. The subject (on television) was the presidential debate between Ronald Reagan and Jimmy Carter.
As he did when debating John Anderson solo, Reagan scored, students winced and the Reagan revolution began amid tears from liberal students who were sure the world was about to end.
Scene 2
The place was a low-rent hotel in Cairo. The time was the early 1980s. The subject was Ronald Reagan and the deployment of Pershing missiles in Europe. In a room full of European leftists, I endured every negative cliché thrown at the Great Communicator -- idiot, cowboy, dunce, dangerous war-monger. I would hear the same from other sophisticated Americans then living abroad. I stood my ground as Reagan stood his.
Scene 3
The place was a cottage on the shores of Lake Champlain. The time was the summer of 1987. The subject was the Iran-Contra hearings. My family watched, angered, as Democrats, befuddled by the dunce for almost two full terms, finally found an issue they could use to try to destroy their formidable opponent. But Reagan rebounded as only Reagan could.
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It is easy to forget today that Ronald Reagan – the late 40th president now being celebrated worldwide – was reviled by many, many people in the 1980s, most of them liberals who had neither his courage nor his optimism in facing down the great issues of our time.
I was a bit of a skeptic myself back when I was a college student in 1980. <font size=4>But Reagan won me over, time and again, with his courage, his grace under pressure and his fierce advocacy of freedom in the face of Soviet and communist tyranny. It did not take me long to realize that his critics were more dogmatic than he was. There was nothing about him that suggested the caricature drawn by his opponents. He towered over them and played whatever part they wanted – dunce, demagogue, and doddering old guy – as long as it got the job done.
And now we have Ted Kennedy, of all people, suggesting that Reagan will be remembered as the President who won the Cold War. We have Russian politicians, including Mikhail Gorbachev, calling him one of the great leaders of the century. We have the very European masses who detested Reagan now thanking him for making them safer and liberating much of the world.
Reagan is enjoying a well deserved revival, not only because history is vindicating him on virtually every major issue – from tax cuts to a moral stance against communism – but because of the publication of letters and speeches that show that he was far more impressive and knowledgeable than the mainstream media or his opponents could ever bring themselves to admit.
Some months ago I wrote on this site that he was one of our greatest presidents. I wonder today if I did him full justice. But as an American who grew from college student to adult and into middle age in a world very much shaped by Reagan, I have always been struck most of all by his capacity to dream and hope. His love of this nation and its people – even as he faced his own descent into the darkness that is Alzheimer’s disease – never wavered.
His mind and body were strong enough, but it is still remarkable that he managed to live another 15 years after leaving office as an old man. There is no irony here, but rather a symbolic tribute to one of the strongest, generous hearts of our time.<font size=3>
George Shadroui has been published in more than two dozen newspapers and magazines, including National Review and Frontpagemag.com.
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