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The Reagan I Knew
One hundred years ago today Ronald Wilson Reagan, 40th President of the United States of America, was born in a little walk up apartment over a bank in the small town of Tampico, Illinois.
I had the honor of meeting Ron Reagan for the first time on the back of flatbed truck outside the Cow Palace in San Francisco during the 1964 Republican National Convention.
I was there in my dual capacity as a Barry Goldwater delegate from my home state of Maryland, and as National Chairman of Young Americans for Freedom (YAF), then the leading conservative youth group in America.
A member of the YAF Advisory Board, Reagan, well known Hollywood actor (53 films) and star of a then current General Electric TV series, was speaking to hundreds of assembled YAF members, all of us enthusiastic Goldwater backers – and I had the honor to introduce him.
It was then that I heard Reagan deliver some of what would soon become known famously as Speech” – the eloquent nationally televised plea for the election of Goldwater he made three months later just before the 1964 election. I would meet him again later when Reagan appeared in Ohio on behalf of my friend, the late Rep. John M. Ashbrook.
Leadership
In 1966 Reagan went on to become a two-term governor of California and the undisputed heir to leadership of the conservative movement.
In 1976, then a Member of Congress from Maryland, I headed our state’s Reagan for President Committee, when he came close to winning the GOP nomination at Kansas City over incumbent President Gerry Ford – an old friend who never did forget my Reagan apostasy.
But one of the most memorable meetings of my lifetime came in 1975 when ex-Governor Reagan agreed to speak at my major annual congressional fund raiser, the “Bob Bauman Bull Roast.”
Bull roasts are an old Maryland political ritual at which a candidate’s supporters gather for roast beef, clams, oysters, libations and political palaver. When word got out that Reagan would be the speaker, our usual crowd of a thousand grew several times over, as did press coverage.Unexpected Invitation
The day before the event I met Governor Reagan, along with his long-time aide, Lyn Nofziger, when he flew in to Baltimore-Washington International (BWI) Airport.
But as I rode with Reagan and Nofziger to their hotel, Lyn said: “Why don’t you join the Governor in his hotel room after he gets settled in. I am sure you will have lots to talk about Maryland and national politics.”
Not long after I found myself, a lowly junior Member of Congress, seated casually across from a future president, at first recalling his Cow Palace speech, and his YAF associations, but soon enough, getting into some serious history and policy discussions.
Knowledgeable Politician
In shirt sleeves, sipping mineral water, for over an hour a relaxed Ronald Reagan expounded on a wide range of topics, some elicited by my questions, other he chose: the theory and history of Communism, Red infiltration of the movie unions, the role and size of government, the intent of the Founders and the meaning of the Constitution, the Soviet threat, the international balance of power, the role of the UN, the future of the conservative movement.
I learned firsthand that this was no bumbling actor following a script. This was a dedicated and knowledgeable American politician, in the best since of that too often pejoratively used word. Reagan expressed a contagious optimism about the future of America that left no room for doubt about the inevitable triumph of liberty.
History Decides
History will decide the measure of Ronald Reagan.
But on this his 100th birthday millions of Americans remember him and his style, his character, his conservatism, his charisma and his ability to make us feel proud to be Americans.
Ronald Reagan was a president with a sense of patriotism, proud of our Republic as a beacon, “a shining city on a hill,” for the rest of the world. He believed in fiscal responsibility and free market economics. He acknowledged God as the source of human rights and in whose Providence our nation was founded.
If only there was such a leader in America today.
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If only indeed!
I so appreciate you remembering Ronald Reagon on this his 100th Birthday. What a Patriot!!! If only we could wake up a vast majority of U S citizen to the facts of reality today..Bob, keep putting out the great info. We need you.
Lena C.
Well said. I only hope the main stream meadia don’t succeed in remaking Reagan in their own image.
Yes I would love to see a man such as Ron R. come forward as for just a time as this.