oracle
04-08-2001, 02:24 PM
Reagan: mystery and majesty (http://www.oklahoman.com/cgi-bin/show_article2?ID=664578&TP=getarticle)
Patrick B. McGuigan
An honor received last week finally led me to pick up a book I'd intended to read for some time, A Shining City: The Legacy of Ronald Reagan (D. Erik Felten, editor; Simon and Schuster, 251 pages, $25 hardcover). Felten compiled tributes from friends and former foes, and Reagan's post-presidential speeches -- a gold mine on missions accomplished and unfinished business. Reagan is a man of some mystery. Saying this disturbs some conservatives who consider it a criticism. Others believe that asserting Reagan's unknowable core of being invariably leads to silly exercises in invention such as Edmund Morris' disappointing biography, Dutch. But Reagan is "mysterious" in the way Abraham Lincoln was mysterious. Each was a man with few, if any, close confidantes beyond his wife. Neither was given to lengthy introspection or to much baring of the soul in public.
In his presidency's farewell address, he said he was flattered that so many had given him the nickname, "the Great Communicator." But "I never thought it was my style or the words I used that made a difference; it was the content. I wasn't a great communicator, but I communicated great things, and they didn't spring full bloom from my brow, they came from the heart of a great nation -- from our experience, our wisdom and our belief in the principles that have guided us for two centuries. They called it the Reagan revolution. Well, I'll accept that, but for me it always seemed more like the great rediscovery, a rediscovery of our values and our common sense."
One "great thing" communicated was his vision for a national missile defense. At the foot of the Rocky Mountains, I spent three days last week studying this issue at a Heritage Foundation seminar, along with journalists of every ideological persuasion from every corner of the nation, representing newspapers large and small. I learned about the practicality of space-based defense, achievable protection for our homeland from enemies in the rogue nations. Nothing was as startling as discovering that the Washington Post, in an editorial some months ago, endorsed the same vision of missile defense that earlier editorial writers at the paper vigorously condemned 18 years ago. Reagan moved the world by his vision.
He used proverbs and parables to convey a point. What stands out in fresh readings is his use of apt proverbs from far-flung lands and cultures. Well-known is his application of various Russian sayings, especially his favorite: "Trust but verify." That was his guidepost in relations with the Soviet empire.
He anticipated developments in relations between the United States and Communist China. In a 1991 speech to the Los Angeles Junior Chamber of Commerce, he drew on the ancient Chinese philosopher Lao-tzu, saying, "Govern a great nation as you would cook a small fish; do not overdo it." He deployed, as well, another Chinese proverb that could just as well have been uttered by the framer of the American Constitution, James Madison: "Use power to curb power."
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Click here to read the complete article (http://www.oklahoman.com/cgi-bin/show_article2?ID=664578&TP=getarticle)
Patrick B. McGuigan
An honor received last week finally led me to pick up a book I'd intended to read for some time, A Shining City: The Legacy of Ronald Reagan (D. Erik Felten, editor; Simon and Schuster, 251 pages, $25 hardcover). Felten compiled tributes from friends and former foes, and Reagan's post-presidential speeches -- a gold mine on missions accomplished and unfinished business. Reagan is a man of some mystery. Saying this disturbs some conservatives who consider it a criticism. Others believe that asserting Reagan's unknowable core of being invariably leads to silly exercises in invention such as Edmund Morris' disappointing biography, Dutch. But Reagan is "mysterious" in the way Abraham Lincoln was mysterious. Each was a man with few, if any, close confidantes beyond his wife. Neither was given to lengthy introspection or to much baring of the soul in public.
In his presidency's farewell address, he said he was flattered that so many had given him the nickname, "the Great Communicator." But "I never thought it was my style or the words I used that made a difference; it was the content. I wasn't a great communicator, but I communicated great things, and they didn't spring full bloom from my brow, they came from the heart of a great nation -- from our experience, our wisdom and our belief in the principles that have guided us for two centuries. They called it the Reagan revolution. Well, I'll accept that, but for me it always seemed more like the great rediscovery, a rediscovery of our values and our common sense."
One "great thing" communicated was his vision for a national missile defense. At the foot of the Rocky Mountains, I spent three days last week studying this issue at a Heritage Foundation seminar, along with journalists of every ideological persuasion from every corner of the nation, representing newspapers large and small. I learned about the practicality of space-based defense, achievable protection for our homeland from enemies in the rogue nations. Nothing was as startling as discovering that the Washington Post, in an editorial some months ago, endorsed the same vision of missile defense that earlier editorial writers at the paper vigorously condemned 18 years ago. Reagan moved the world by his vision.
He used proverbs and parables to convey a point. What stands out in fresh readings is his use of apt proverbs from far-flung lands and cultures. Well-known is his application of various Russian sayings, especially his favorite: "Trust but verify." That was his guidepost in relations with the Soviet empire.
He anticipated developments in relations between the United States and Communist China. In a 1991 speech to the Los Angeles Junior Chamber of Commerce, he drew on the ancient Chinese philosopher Lao-tzu, saying, "Govern a great nation as you would cook a small fish; do not overdo it." He deployed, as well, another Chinese proverb that could just as well have been uttered by the framer of the American Constitution, James Madison: "Use power to curb power."
...
Click here to read the complete article (http://www.oklahoman.com/cgi-bin/show_article2?ID=664578&TP=getarticle)