Wednesday, November 11, 2009

A Great President on a Great Anniversary

For Veteran's Day: President Reagan's speech at Point du Hoc, June 6, 1984 -- the 40th anniversary of D-Day.

9 comments:

  1. He knew the fullest significance of what the Rangers did -- assualting the Greatest Evil that assaulted Europe, truly fighting for freedom for not only ourselves but for the world. If they had failed on that cliff that day, if the Germans had been successful in throwing them back into the sea and then turned to concentrate their forces on the rest of the Allied invasion, where would we be today? Reagan knew that at that point, the battle between good and evil had been at a most critical juncture.
    Compared with the fraud who sits in the Oval Office today who, when the rest of the world leadership was at the Berlin Wall commerating the demise of Communism, was home at the White House -- which issued as the picture of the day a shot of the President alone in the Rose Garden reading a book (!!) (probably his own "memoir" and marvelling at what a great guy he is...) you have to shake your head and wonder what has happened to our country.
    Reagan was a great President and a kind and generous man. But the secret to him -- why so many people failed to understand him and still talk of him being a "different man" was, quite simply, his humility. In Hollywood and Washington, that is a completely alien quality. I worked for him in the White House from `86 to `88 and am amazed today that many of the intensely personal acts of kindness he showed people -- sending his own money to sick children, paying for and sending medicines for orphanages in South Korea, treating a blind student who was lost and seperated from her class field trip to a meeting in the Oval Office and writing her teacher a note to excuse her because "he needed to meet with her"(a WH staffer found her lost and crying outside the complex and brought her in to help get her back to her group - and thought, why not see if the President is around -- he'd like to meet her. And he did!). Or, when Mother Theresa wrote a letter to him asking if he could help with immigration papers for 16 of her nuns who were hoping to staff a mission in Los Angeles, the letter was in his hands personally within an hour of delievery and he personally called the head of the INS to tell him he wanted the visas issued by the end of the day (the standing order from on high was whenever Mother sent a note or called the President, the President had to know about it IMMEDIATELY).
    We need to pray that a Reagan-type of man or woman rises up to lead our country again. One who intuitively understands what one relatively small battle on windy seaside bluff really meant to humanity. One who answers the call of saints and the helpless.
    Sorry for the long riff - seeing the video again weighs heavily on me as I head off to work - a day where I have to deal directly with the sad collection of hacks, thugs and posers who now occupy the White House.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Compared with the fraud who sits in the Oval Office today who, when the rest of the world leadership was at the Berlin Wall commerating the demise of Communism, was home at the White House -- which issued as the picture of the day a shot of the President alone in the Rose Garden reading a book (!!) (probably his own "memoir" and marvelling at what a great guy he is...) you have to shake your head and wonder what has happened to our country.

    Come now. We have to remember that Communists and totalitarians don't celebrate their defeats.

    Yes, I think that this nation has been turned over to her enemies for her chastisement.

    ReplyDelete
  3. As usual, Anita, you are spot-on correct (our should we start referring to each other as "comrade"?). Keep up the great work (Love your blog. And Thomas More protect and guide us!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thank you.

    I lament the fact, by the way, that on the 50th anniversary of D-Day, the vets had to look at Bill Clinton. I don't know if there will be any D-Day vets left on the 70th anniversary, but if there are, I hope they won't have to look at Obama in his second term.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Just Another Guy - thanks for commenting about the Mother Theresa and Reagan association - I did not know that. It is always excellent to hear reports like that.


    Anita - so you know - the video for this post has disappeared, at least on my browser.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Scratch that - video is back. Thanks for posting it.

    ReplyDelete
  7. TH2: thank YOU. I've noticed YouTube has been off and on for the last couple of days

    ReplyDelete
  8. PBS of all institutions did a biography of RR some years back. The first week that RR was back in the Oval Office after being shot, Mother came (unexpectantly) and visited him at the White House. She told him, as I remember the PBS biography reported, that God had saved him for a very special reason. One of which, we know now was the defeat of Communism. Well worth finding the PBS Reagan piece they did.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Back when I lived in the people's republic of Portland Oregon, a housemate of mine had a bumper sticker that said, "I remember Reagan". Unfortunately the MSM tries not to remember him, but how can you not? It was also a pleasure to 'scandalize' people in OR... like burning a tire on Earth Day.

    ReplyDelete