Reagan Remembered

Back in April the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute (RRPFI) announced the following:

On June 5, 2024, twenty years after the passing of former President Ronald Reagan, speakers will reflect on his enduring legacy and examine his profound influence on both domestic and foreign policy. Panelists will include senior Reagan administration officials and media commentators.

With June 5th upon us, many of those speakers have now been announced. They include:

1. Carol Thatcher, Journalist, Author, and Daughter of Former British Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher
2. Ben Mulroney, Producer, Broadcaster, and Son of Former Canadian Prime Minister, Brian Mulroney
3. William Inboden, Academic and Author of The Peacemaker: Ronald Reagan, the Cold War, and the World on the Brink
4. Steven Hayward, Author of The Age of Reagan: The Fall of the Old Liberal Order, 1964–1980, Greatness: Reagan, Churchill, and the Making of Extraordinary Leader and The Age of Reagan: The Conservative Counterrevolution: 1980–1989
5. Paula Dobriansky, Vice Chair of the Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security, the Atlantic Council, Director of European and Soviet Affairs, Reagan White House
6. Guy Benson, Columnist, commentator, and political pundit on Fox News, Townhall.com, and talk radio
7. Ken Adelman, President Reagan’s Arms Director, and author of Reagan at Reykjavik
8. Art Laffer, Member of President Reagan’s Economic Policy Advisory Board
9. KT McFarland, Former U.S. Deputy National Security Advisor
10. Stephen Moore, Reagan Administration Office of Management and Budget

The following day, the Foundation will be celebrating the 80th Anniversary of D-Day. Those speakers will be:

1. Condoleezza Rice, 66th U.S. Secretary of State (Keynote Conversation)
2. Douglas Brinkley, Historian and Author of The Boys of Pointe du Hoc: Ronald Reagan, D-Day, and the U.S. Army 2nd Ranger Battalion
3. Richard Burt, Former U.S. Ambassador to Germany
4. Lisa Zanatta Henn, Daughter of D-Day Army Engineers 37th Combat Battalion Private First Class Peter Robert Zanatta
5. Matt Kroenig, Vice President and Senior Director, Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security, Atlantic Council
6. James Kuhn, Assistant to the President, Reagan White House
7. Frank Lavin, Former Political Director, Reagan White House, and Former U.S. Ambassador to Singapore
8. Kate Bachelder Odell, Member of the Wall Street Journal’s Editorial Board
9. Cameron Toor, Veteran of the U.S. Army’s elite 75th Ranger Regiment

In other words, what the Reagan Foundation has put together is a decided celebration of, first, President Reagan himself. Followed by a remembrance of one of the most memorable moments in all of American history: the day Allied troops hit the beaches of Normandy to begin bringing down the horrendous evil that was Adolph Hitler’s Third Reich.

Not to be missed is the fact that D-Day and the Allied victory over Hitler set the stage for a postwar world rhat would, as it turned out, birth what became known as the Cold War. Which in turn was an epic, thankfully mostly peaceful, battle between former allies America versus the Communist Soviet Union.

And that battle, (again, thankfully mostly peaceful with the decided exceptions of the Korean and Vietnam wars and other flare-ups in places like Central America, Hungary, and Czechoslovakia), brought forth the unique political career of the man there-to-fore known as an American movie and television star: Ronald Reagan.

Reagan began to gather political attention when he took on the role of president of the Screen Actors Guild and discovered that Communism had infected Hollywood.

Historian ( and the The American Spectator’s own) Paul Kengor has recounted Reagan’s career in multiple books.

Notable in the group would be 11 Principles of a Reagan Conservative, a decidedly important book for upcoming young conservatives to learn from the man himself.

Then there is The Crusader: Ronald Reagan and the Fall of Communism, in which Kengor recounts “The story of his lifelong crusade against communism, and of his dogged–and ultimately triumphant–effort to overthrow the Soviet Union.”

Then there is the amazing behind-the-scenes story of A Pope and a President: John Paul II, Ronald Reagan, and the Extraordinary Untold Story of the 20th Century  

There is more like this from historian Kengor, including the not to be forgotten God and Ronald Reagan: A Spiritual Life

And it should also be noted that Reagan biographer Steven F. Hayward has a two-part very detailed Reagan biography: The Age of Reagan: The Fall of the Old Liberal Order, 1964-1980 and The Age of Reagan: The Conservative Counterrevolution: 1980-1989. 

Time, as they say, flies. And for those like myself who had the distinct honor of working in the White House for the President and will be gathering at the Reagan Library to recall and celebrate his remarkable life and achievements, it will be a momentous evening.

With all the chaos surrounding the current president and the lawfare targeting the former president, remembering President Reagan and the battles he fought — and won — will serve as a decided reminder that life is never without its struggles. The issue always is standing up for principle — and America.

Twenty years before he was sworn in as the 40th president — in fact five years before being elected Governor of California — private citizen Reagan gave a speech to the Phoenix, Arizona Chamber of Commerce. In which he said this:

Our Founding Fathers, here in this country, brought about the only true revolution that has ever taken place in man’s history. Every other revolution simply exchanged one set of rulers for another set of rulers.

But only here did that little band of men so advanced beyond their time that the world has never seen their like since, evolve the idea that you and I have within ourselves the God-given right and the ability to determine our own destiny.

But freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it on to our children in the bloodstream.

The only way they can inherit the freedom we have known is if we fight for it, protect it, defend it and then hand it to them with the well thought lessons of how they in their lifetime must do the same.

And if you and I don’t do this, then you and I may well spend our sunset years telling our children and our children’s children what it once was like in America when men were free.

Twenty years later, President Reagan’s words and wisdom still ring true. With this week serving as a particular reminder for Americans to celebrate Ronald Reagan’s life and times.

READ MORE from Jeffrey Lord:

‘Our Republican Legacy’ Is Not What the Washington Post Claims

Biden Presidency Becomes Biden Dictatorship

The post Reagan Remembered appeared first on The American Spectator | USA News and Politics.