Remembering 'Great Communicator'

On Feb. 6, Ronald Reagan's 93rd birthday, thoughts fragile and fleeting will comprise his mind, but there was a time we collectively chose Ronald Reagan to lead us and speak on our behalf -- and he gladly obliged with his poignant brand of thinking, especially his speeches. He shot from the hip, come what may.

Many Americans remember various Reagan speeches, but we should never forget the speeches that shared his personal philosophies and inspirational tonic, speeches meant solely for us as Americans.

During both his presidential terms, Reagan, via some of his old- fashioned, patriotism-soaked speeches, spoke often of his desire to bring all Americans together, pursuing his vision of a united country filled with a grandeur of spirit, an appetizing future, and a cast of unlikely heroes -- where "We The People" meant precisely that.

Reagan, ever the political pragmatist, felt he possessed a solid hold on what it really meant to be an American. He believed each of us holds the makings of something great, true, slightly heraldic, fully patriotic. He never preached anything he himself would not try to do.

Envisioning a better America, Reagan envisaged a brighter tomorrow in America, through fortitude and conviction of the individual, a maxim that came shining through in his first inaugural address on Jan. 20, 1981, when he said: "We have every right to dream heroic dreams. Those who say that we're in a time when there are no heroes, they just don't know where to look. You can see heroes every day going in and out of factory gates. Others, a handful in number, produce enough food to feed all of us and then the world beyond. You meet heroes across a counter, and they're on both sides of that counter. . . . They're individuals and families whose taxes support the government and whose voluntary gifts support church, charity, culture, art and education. Their patriotism is quiet, but deep. Their values sustain our national life."

Heroes were important to Reagan. And his heroes were those who gave selflessly of themselves under the cover of darkness. He spoke of his heroes in his State of the Union address on Jan. 26, 1982: "And there are countless, quiet, everyday heroes of American life -- parents who sacrifice long and hard so their children will know a better life than they've known; church and civic volunteers who help feed, clothe, nurse and teach the needy; millions who've made our nation and our nation's destiny so very special -- unsung heroes who may not have realized their own dreams themselves but then who reinvest those dreams in their children."

During his second term, Reagan again presented a glowing picture of what he believed America could become, with everyone pitching in. Reagan's second inaugural address, on Jan. 21, 1985, called upon every member of society to help in the creation of his American utopia: "Let us resolve that we, the people, will build an American opportunity society in which all of us -- white and black, rich and poor, young and old -- will go forward, arm in arm. Again, let us remember that though our heritage is one of bloodlines from every corner of the Earth, we are all Americans, pledged to carry on this last, best hope of man on Earth."

By the time Reagan gave his State of the Union address on Jan. 25, 1988, he had honed his "We The People" dictum to a sharp point, including politicians in the grand shaping of the American spirit: "And there's one lesson that has come home powerfully to me, which I would offer to you now. Just as those who created this Republic pledged to each other their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor, so, too, America's leaders today must pledge to each other that we will keep foremost in our hearts and minds not what is best for ourselves or for our party, but what is best for America."

In his farewell address to the nation on Jan. 11, 1989, Reagan finalized his last thoughts regarding his own public service. He also gave a simple opinion of his elocutionary reputation: ". . . I won the nickname, 'The Great Communicator.' But I never thought it was my style or the words I used that made a difference: it was the content. I wasn't a great communicator but I communicated great things, and they didn't spring full bloom from my brow, they came from the heart of a great nation -- from an experience, our wisdom, and our belief in the principles that have guided us for two centuries."

In that same speech, Reagan revealed a longing that he experienced while president, something which makes his current affliction all the more tragic, and it's ironic the ultimate team builder would face the ultimate isolation, then and now:

"One of the things about the presidency is that you're always somewhat apart. You spend a lot of time going by too fast in a car someone else is driving, and seeing people through tinted glass -- the parents holding up a child, and the wave you saw too late and couldn't return. And many times I wanted to stop and reach out from behind the glass, and connect. . ."

Robert Ward is a free-lance freelance writer living in Santa Cruz, Calif.

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