Many of us are old enough to remember President Ronald Reagan. President Reagan, who combined a sunny optimism with a steely resolve, was far and away the most significant president of the second half of the 20th century. During and after his presidency and in large part due to his policies, the Soviet Union went into a fatal tailspin, Germany was put on the path to being reunified, and in time most of Eastern Europe was redeemed from communism. The American economy rebounded from the "malaise" years of President Carter; after cauterizing the wounds of inflation with the application of temporarily higher interest rates, the economy rebounded. President Reagan's second campaign focused on that, with the theme "Morning in America," and it worked; he won re-election in a 49-state landslide.
On this 250th anniversary of American liberty, as politicians of all sorts are speechifying around the country, we would do well to look back at President Reagan's famous 1986 Independence Day speech; it was one of his best, and he was pretty good at it, being the Great Communicator.
You can read the entire speech here. Let's look at some of the high points.
First, he pays tribute to the men behind the day: The signatories of the Declaration of Independence.
What a contrast with the sober scene that had taken place a short time earlier in Independence Hall. Fifty-six men came forward to sign the parchment. It was noted at the time that they pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honors. And that was more than rhetoric; each of those men knew the penalty for high treason to the Crown. ``We must all hang together,'' Benjamin Franklin said, ``or, assuredly, we will all hang separately.'' And John Hancock, it is said, wrote his signature in large script so King George could see it without his spectacles. They were brave. They stayed brave through all the bloodshed of the coming years. Their courage created a nation built on a universal claim to human dignity, on the proposition that every man, woman, and child had a right to a future of freedom.
For just a moment, let us listen to the words again: ``We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.''
That's something too many people don't understand. The Founders weren't being rhetorical when they said they were pledging their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor. Some of them lost sons in the fighting. John Witherspoon, from New Jersey, lost his son James at the Battle of Germantown. Abraham Clark, an ancestor of mine, had his two sons captured and held on a notoriously brutal British prison ship, although they survived. But these men, these brave men, faced hanging if they lost. They knew that. They forged on anyway.
President Reagan recognized the courage, not only of the men who fought for our independence, but also of those who fought to preserve it:
In the last few years, I've spoken at Westminster to the mother of Parliaments; at Versailles, where French kings and world leaders have made war and peace. I've been to the Vatican in Rome, the Imperial Palace in Japan, and the ancient city of Beijing. I've seen the beaches of Normandy and stood again with those boys of Pointe du Hoc, who long ago scaled the heights, and with, at that time, Lisa Zanatta Henn, who was at Omaha Beach for the father she loved, the father who had once dreamed of seeing again the place where he and so many brave others had landed on D-day. But he had died before he could make that trip, and she made it for him. ``And, Dad,'' she had said, ``I'll always be proud.''
And I've seen the successors to these brave men, the young Americans in uniform all over the world, young Americans like you here tonight who man the mighty U.S.S. Kennedy and the Iowa and other ships of the line. I can assure you, you out there who are listening, that these young are like their fathers and their grandfathers, just as willing, just as brave. And we can be just as proud. But our prayer tonight is that the call for their courage will never come. And that it's important for us, too, to be brave; not so much the bravery of the battlefield, I mean the bravery of brotherhood.
The bravery of the battlefield counts for a lot, and when it's necessary, it may count for everything. But President Reagan mentions the bravery of brotherhood; that's apt. Soldiers fight for their country and they fight for their homes and families, but in the heat of battle, they fight for their fellows - their brothers. I've always said, any man who wore this country's uniform is my brother, and any woman who did so, my sister. President Reagan understood those bonds.
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President Reagan concluded his address, a short one for him, by encouraging us to remember - and also, to be happy, to take joy in the day.
My fellow Americans, we're known around the world as a confident and a happy people. Tonight there's much to celebrate and many blessings to be grateful for. So while it's good to talk about serious things, it's just as important and just as American to have some fun. Now, let's have some fun -- let the celebration begin!
That's great advice! We should all, on this 250th Independence Day, stop to reflect on the courage and sacrifice of the Founders, the men of courage, determination, and vision who set this country on its course. But this is a day of celebration as well; as President Reagan notes, it's just as American to have some fun. We are, by and large, a happy people, as many visitors to the United States are learning this year.
Read all of President Reagan's speech. It's worth a few minutes. Most of President Reagan's best speeches are worth that and more.
It's the 250th anniversary of American liberty. Much of the United States is under a heat wave, but it's been hot before, and we can overcome that. Here in the Susitna Valley, it's a chilly, damp Independence Day, but Alaskans are accustomed to that. We'll have some fun. We all should have some fun today, of all days. It's America's 250th birthday - take President Reagan's recommendation, and enjoy it!
