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                                       A Tribute to Ronald Reagan

I am deeply moved to express my thoughts about the man, whose memory, and the remnants of whose earthly frame we recently showered with highest honor. Few, I’m sure, can disagree that Ronald Reagan was a great President.

He came to the helm at a time when the U.S. was seen as a declining power; a time when many expected the advent of a global Soviet dominance. But Reagan was not one of those. He knew the great strengths of America, and knew how to re-awaken them.

For those of us who were in the military in the early and mid 1980’s, he is a revered figure. He gave us back our sense of pride and purpose, and re-dedicated us with firm a firm will to defend our nation.

Though not an academic or intellectual, he instinctively knew how to revive the economy. He also instinctively understood that the Soviet system was rotten at the core, and that a demonstration of steadfast American will and purpose would make that system collapse in upon itself.

He then guided the Cold War to a soft end, with the native American magnanimity that has cemented our greatest victories. I am truly glad that he was able to see the application of his firmly held beliefs come to fruition.

Some today wonder why the nation is so moved at his final departure. I think the answer is simple: we now realize that we lived in the aura of greatness, though we did not know it at the time. Reagan was humble in the light of his triumphs, and would have attributed them to the acts of a concerned and caring God.

But we now realize the man’s historic impact, and I think his service to our nation can be best expressed by borrowing a phrase from a another man, who was probably our greatest president: “... that the nation shall, under God, have a new birth of freedom...” Ronald Reagan blessed our generation with yet another new birth of freedom - and for that, we shall ever be grateful.

Copyright ã, Douglas Holt, 2004