June 7th, 2004 - This past weekend, we lost one of America’s greatest leaders—President Ronald Reagan.
I had the privilege of serving under President Reagan’s strong, principled leadership for 7 years—as Assistant to the President for Public Liaison, and as his Secretary of Transportation.
Greatness in a President is marked, I believe, by his ability to chart and implement a new course, a better course—and in his level of decency and integrity.
Ronald Reagan knew why he wanted to be President—he came to office with the clearest of vision, a passion for achieving his goals, and in conveying them, an eloquence almost unsurpassed. Ronald Reagan made us…all of us, the American people, believe in ourselves again.
He literally changed the world. Despite conventional wisdom, he determined that Communism had to be defeated, not tolerated. He rejected the Iron Curtain, he rejected the status quo, and his legacy to the world is freedom. His strength of character and bedrock belief in right and wrong ended the Cold War, and his leadership unshackled the yoke of tyranny for millions upon millions of people who had known only oppression.
I will always remember his remarkable rapport with the American people and what a true gentlemen he was. During my time on his White House staff, I brought scores and scores of people to meet with him, in the Oval Office, in the Cabinet Room, the Roosevelt Room. And he treated every person with courtesy and respect. Occasionally there’d be some who had a difference of view with him on some issue or another and they were going to give him a piece of their mind. Well, they came into his presence, and you could almost see that anger just fading away. And he would express his views, he would address their concerns, and then he might sit back and tell them a story or two, perhaps a humorous story…maybe pass the jelly beans around. And they’d be ready to climb any hill for Ronald Reagan. When the President would explain his position, obviously, he did in a very eloquent manner.
And what a remarkable person his wife Nancy is. What a tremendous partner —his best friend, his confidante, his trusted, beloved spouse. She deserves great credit for his accomplishments and hers.
And when I left the cabinet, a farewell function was planned, and we talked about the fact that it would be nice to invite people to that farewell party who would not otherwise be able to meet the President of the United States. He readily agreed. And I can remember one young woman from Arkansas. She was a part of the Make-A-Wish Foundation, she had a terminal illness and her great desire was to meet President Ronald Reagan. And I can still see her there in the White House and the compassionate way in which he greeted her and talked with her. And a young man from my hometown of Salisbury, North Carolina who was in a wheelchair. He had to wear a helmet most of the time because if he were to fall it would be very severe. And his mother and his uncle, very tenderly brought him to Washington to carry out his wish to meet the great Ronald Reagan, President of the United States. And once again, to watch the President and his compassion as he talked with Tommy is something that I will remember forever.
And you know one of the things that will really be an inspiration to me the rest of my life is a conversation I had with the President when the two of us were alone. We were waiting in a holding room for him to give a speech. And you don’t often find yourself alone with the President of the United States,but on this particular day we were waiting for a speech and I said, “Mr. President, I just can’t resist – I had to ask you – how in the world when you have the weight of the world on your shoulders are you able to be so gracious, so thoughtful, so kind? I never see you flustered or frustrated…how do you do it with such weight on your shoulders?” And he kind of leaned back – and he loved to tell a story and to reminiscence and he said, “Well, Elizabeth, when I was Governor of California it seemed like every day yet another disaster would be placed on my desk, and I had an urge to hand it to someone behind me and help me.” He said, “One day I realized I was looking in the wrong direction. I looked up instead of back.” And he said, “I’m still looking up. And I couldn’t go one more day in this office if I didn’t know I could ask God’s help and it would be given.”
There is no doubt in my mind that President Reagan was welcomed into the gates of Heaven with open arms, with the words, “Well done, my good and faithful servant.” Well done, indeed.
God Bless President Ronald Reagan and his family, and God bless this great land of the free—America.
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