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Noted American columnist George Will summed up former President Ronald Reagan's international legacy very well. He wrote: "One measure of a leader's greatness is this: By the time he dies, the dangers that summoned him to greatness have been so thoroughly defeated, in no small measure by what he did, it is difficult to recall the magnitude of those dangers, or his achievements.
"So if you seek Ronald Reagan's monument, look around and consider what you do not see. The Iron Curtain that scarred a continent is gone, as is the Evil Empire responsible for it. The feeling of foreboding —the sense of shrunken possibilities—that afflicted Americans 20 years ago has been banished by a new birth of the American belief in perpetually expanding horizons" (The Wall Street Journal Europe, June 7, 2004).
When Ronald Reagan was inaugurated into office as America's 40th president, his goal was not to somehow survive the Cold War but to end it. He boldly referred to the old Soviet Union as the Evil Empire and challenged its leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, to tear down the Berlin Wall. Previous U.S. presidents had only talked of détente. While other leaders spoke of America's malaise, he continually extolled his country's heritage and its role in the world.
A firm belief in America's divine destiny
Undergirding President Reagan's patriotism was his unshakable conviction about America's divine destiny. He once said while president: "I have always believed that this anointed land was set apart in an uncommon way, that a divine plan placed this great continent here between the oceans to be found by people from every corner of the earth who had a special love of faith and freedom" (quoted in "The Great American Experiment," The Plain Truth, September 1988, emphasis added throughout article).
During the early 1950s he declared, "I, in my own mind, have thought of America as a place in the divine scheme of things that was set aside as a promised land" (Reagan: A Life in Letters, 2003, p. 255). He had commented to a colleague in a personal letter, "How much better the world is because of the voyage of Columbus" (letter to Cyndi Davis while governor of California).
A number of years later, in a letter to a resident of New England, he wrote: "We have every right to stand tall. Our country is unique in the world. A former prime minister of Australia said some years back, 'I wonder if anybody has thought what the situation would be if there were not in existence the United States—if there were not this giant country prepared to make so many sacrifices'" (letter to L. Dianne Roe, Sept. 27, 1985).
Like nearly all U.S. presidents, Ronald Reagan had a strong sense of American history and grasped the importance of the views of the early leaders who founded the nation. During the last year of his first term (1984), he told a group of Christian believers in Dallas: "Those who created our country—the Founding Fathers and Mothers—understood that there is a divine order which transcends the human order. They saw the state, in fact, as a form of moral order and felt that the bedrock of moral order is religion. The Mayflower Compact began with the words, 'In the name of God, amen.'
"The Declaration of Independence appeals to 'Nature's God' and the 'Creator' and 'The Supreme Judge of the world' ... James Madison in the Federalist Papers admitted that in the creation of our Republic he perceived the hand of the Almighty. John Jay, the first chief justice of the United States, warned that we must never forget the God from whom our blessings flowed" (transcript of speech, Aug. 23, 1984).
National morality and belief in God
Patriot that he was, Ronald Reagan also understood the necessity of right national behavior and that such behavior is a natural result of a sincere belief in God and His laws. To make his point, in the same Texas speech he also quoted the words of George Washington, the first U.S. president: "Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports ... Let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion."
Later in the speech President Reagan added: "We poison our society when we remove its theological underpinnings. We court corruption when we leave it bereft of belief ... Those who believe must be free to speak or act on their belief, to apply moral teaching to public questions ...
"Without God, we're mired in the material, that flat world that only tells us what the senses perceive. Without God there is a coarsening of society. And without God, democracy will not and cannot long endure. If we ever forget that we're one nation under God, then we will be a nation gone under" (ibid.).
This constitutes a stern national warning from one of the greatest and most beloved presidents in U.S. history. On occasion Ronald Reagan did not hesitate to remind America of some of its specific weaknesses. For example, his words from a July 9, 1979, radio broadcast (he wrote most of these himself, some 670 original handwritten drafts of which survive), recorded during the Iranian hostage crisis, proved quite prophetic:
"We know that we are paying a high price in dollars for imported oil—how much are we paying in loss of independence and self- respect?... Are we choosing paths that are politically expedient and morally questionable ... Are we as Americans so thirsty for oil that we'll forget the traditions upon which our country is founded and let our foreign policy be dictated by anyone who has oil for sale? If so we may be nearer the dustbin of history than we realize" (Reagan in His Own Hand, 2001, p. 16).
Belief in the Bible and prayer
This popular president always sought to be optimistic about America and her future. He wrote the following in a personal letter to the founder of Christian Families Today: "I have long believed that the American people are hungry for a spiritual revival. I also believe that there are evidences that such a revival is taking place. It is true that we can still see pornography, drug use, profane and obscene language commonly used, etc....
"But there are other signs, increased membership in the fundamental religions where [the] social gospel has not replaced the Bible. Let me reassure you that 2 Chronicles 7:14 is ever present in my mind. My daily prayer is that God will help me to use this position [as president] to serve Him" (letter to Greg Brezina, Oct. 25, 1982).
The verse to which President Reagan referred quotes God as saying: "If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land."
On occasion Ronald Reagan would compose a radio broadcast that reflected something of a special personal concern. For instance, like many Christians today he had a very high regard for the King James Version of the Bible and did not appreciate it when modern translations like the Good News Bible took considerable liberties with its majestic, classical language. Mr. Reagan illustrated his point with some indicative examples. We quote just one:
"King James Version: 'The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way ...'"
"Good News Bible: 'Someone is shouting in the desert, "Get the road ready ..."'"
His comment on the Good News Bible translation: "It sounds like a straw boss announcing lunch hour is over" (radio broadcast, Sept. 6, 1977).
The point for us is not so much that modern versions don't often help clarify the 1611 language of the King James Version (they do), but that Ronald Reagan would take such a keen interest in the relative merits of various Bible versions. Given our secular society today, we don't normally expect that of our national leaders.
Most Christians know that prayer and Bible study go very well together. While addressing a religious group in Florida, President Reagan said: "The other day in the East Room of the White House, at a meeting there, someone asked me whether I was aware of all the people praying for me. I had to say, 'Yes I am.' In fact, I believe in intercessory prayer" (address to the Association of Evangelists, Mar. 8,1983).
His widow Nancy Reagan adds: "He never took off or landed in a plane without looking out the window and saying a silent prayer" (Nancy Reagan, "The Eternal Optimist," Time, June 14, 2004).
Prayers for protection are important. In a 1981 assassination attempt, the bullet that struck him came within an inch of his heart. "God," he wrote in his autobiography, "for some reason, had seen fit to give me his blessing and allow me to live a while longer" (An American Life, 1990, p. 262).
One of President Reagan's thoughts on the way to the operating room was to pray for the misguided and mentally disturbed would-be assassin, John Hinckley, Jr. He later wrote, "He was a mixed-up young man from a fine family. That day, I asked the Lord to heal him, and to this day, I still do" (ibid., p. 263).
After he returned to the White House, the president wrote in his diary: "Whatever happens now I owe my life to God and will try to serve him in every way I can" (ibid.).
God's plan for humanity
Of course, it still was a traumatic experience. Nancy Gibbs wrote in Time magazine's memorial edition: "Later after Reagan was restored to health, the effects of the attack lingered. 'There was a certain sadness,' said one of his old friends Senator Paul Laxhalt. 'You could see it in his eyes. It wasn't just the physical pain. I think he was deeply hurt emotionally that this could happen to him.'
"Reagan was reluctant to admit any such hurt, but he did acknowledge to an interviewer that it had been 'a reminder of mortality and the importance of time.' Beyond that he liked to say 'God has a plan for everyone'" (Nancy Gibbs, "The All-American President," Time, June 14, 2004).
In commenting on her husband's "strong, unshakable religious beliefs," Mrs. Reagan wrote, "Ronnie always believed that God had a plan for each of us and that we might not know what it is now, but eventually we will" (Time, June 14, 2004).
In a letter of condolence to a friend's wife, Mr. Reagan wrote: "We can only trust in God's mercy and know that He does have a plan for each of us ... Know that you have our deepest sympathy and that you are in our thoughts and prayers" (Letter to Mrs. Charles Grimm, July 6, 1987).
A good and decent man
In reading through many of President Reagan's personal letters and radio broadcasts, it becomes obvious that whatever we may make of his encounters in the political arena (his thrusts and parries were milder than most), on a one-on-one basis he came across as a good and decent man. Loyal to friends and acquaintances throughout life, he wrote letters to ordinary people he didn't even know—not just to those concerned with affairs of state.
Ronald Reagan responded without malice to vitriolic personal attacks and tried to reason with his attackers. He didn't answer in kind. As noted British columnist William Rees-Mogg observed: "His speeches were those of a very likeable man, tolerant, easygoing and humorous. He never made harsh personal attacks."
In his article of appreciation, Mr. Rees-Mogg also stated that "he was on the ordinary citizen's side and gently mocked pomposity, even when he was the most powerful man on earth" ("Reagan Dreamt Heroic Dreams and Made a Difference," The Times [London], June 7, 2004).
The Time feature article rightly concluded: "For a man with the power to pull history around a corner; to end a long, cold fearsome war; to change the conversation of our politics and culture as much by the sheer force of his personality as by the power of his ideas, Ronald Reagan was an unaccountably modest and good-natured soul" (Gibbs, June 14, 2004).
Perhaps his religious beliefs and relationship with God accounted for his remarkable humility. GN
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