Ronald Reagan At 100

A selection of some of his greatest speeches.

First his seminal speech..."A Time For Choosing". A great speech from 1964 in support of Bary Goldwater. The depressing thing about it? Considering the speech is almost 50 years old and we are dealing with many of the same problems, we as a nation chose poorly.

Reagan's First Inaugural.

Favorite Quotes:

In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem.

...

So, as we begin, let us take inventory. We are a nation that has a government—not the other way around. And this makes us special among the nations of the Earth.

...

It is no coincidence that our present troubles parallel and are proportionate to the intervention and intrusion in our lives that result from unnecessary and excessive growth of government. It is time for us to realize that we are too great a nation to limit ourselves to small dreams. We are not, as some would have us believe, doomed to an inevitable decline. I do not believe in a fate that will fall on us no matter what we do. I do believe in a fate that will fall on us if we do nothing. So, with all the creative energy at our command, let us begin an era of national renewal. Let us renew our determination, our courage, and our strength. And let us renew our faith and our hope.

An excerpt from his Berlin Wall Speech.

Reagan makes teh funny. Yeah, he kicked the Soviets in the ass and laughed at them in the process.

I'll put up a few more but this is a good start.

Thanks to Nathan Wurtzel who did "A Regan Speech A Day" on Twitter for some of the suggestions.

The Challenger Speech.

I love how he spoke directly to the kids watching the launch (this was the flight that had Krista McAuliffe, the First Teacher in Space on board). He told them death is a tragedy but it's part of the cost of exploration and that exploration must continue. Perfect.

The 40th Anniversary of D-Day

So many great moments to chose from. There's more here.

I think the fact that liberals like Barack Obama have to pretend to like Reagan and want to be seen as like him shows what an important, popular and transformative figure he was.

He wasn't perfect and he didn't win every fight but we'll be damn lucky if we see another like him in our lifetimes.

posted by DrewM. at 01:12 PM

| Access Comments