Ann Sheridan, Ronald Reagan
1942
Warner Bros.
President Reagan certainly could deliver a speech; I have a vivid memory of his address to the nation after the space shuttle Challenger disaster:
The crew of the space shuttle Challenger honored us by the manner in which they lived their lives. We will never forget them, nor the last time we saw them, this morning, as they prepared for their journey and waved good-bye and "slipped the surly bonds of earth" to "touch the face of God."[Reagan was quoting from the poem High Flight by John Gillespie Magee, Jr., an American pilot serving in the Royal Canadian Air Force during World War II. Magee died in a plane crash in England just a few days after the attack on Pearl Harbor.]
Here's a list of highlights from the Reagan presidency which I will use to teach my sons about President Reagan (modified from 66 Things to Think About When Flying Into Reagan National Airport by David Corn, [The Nation, March 2, 1998]):
the firing of the air traffic controllers
winnable nuclear war
recallable nuclear missiles
trees that cause pollution
Elliott Abrams lying to Congress
ketchup as a vegetable
colluding with Guatemalan thugs
pardons for F.B.I. lawbreakers
voodoo economics
budget deficits
toasts to Ferdinand Marcos
public housing cutbacks
redbaiting the nuclear freeze movement
James Watt
Getting cozy with Argentine fascist generals
tax credits for segregated schools
disinformation campaigns
"homeless by choice"
Manuel Noriega
falling wages
the HUD scandal
air raids on Libya
"constructive engagement" with apartheid South Africa
United States Information Agency blacklists of liberal speakers
attacks on OSHA and workplace safety
the invasion of Grenada
assassination manuals
Nancy's astrologer
Drug tests
lie detector tests
Fawn Hall
female appointees (8 percent)
mining harbors
the S&L scandal [remember that President Reagan said "All in all, I think we hit the jackpot" when signing legislation that directly led to the failure of the S&Ls.
239 dead U.S. troops in Beirut
Al Haig "in control"
silence on AIDS
food-stamp reductions
Debategate
White House shredding
Jonas Savimbi
tax cuts for the rich
"mistakes were made"
Michael Deaver's conviction for influence peddling
Lyn Nofziger's conviction for influence peddling
Caspar Weinberger's five-count indictment
Ed Meese ("You don't have many suspects who are innocent of a crime")
Donald Regan (women don't "understand throw-weights")
education cuts
massacres in El Salvador
"The bombing begins in five minutes"
$640 Pentagon toilet seats
African- American judicial appointees (1.9 percent)
Reader's Digest [this entry stumps me. what is this about?-GTO]
C.I.A.-sponsored car-bombing in Lebanon (more than eighty civilians killed)
200 officials accused of wrongdoing
William Casey
Iran/contra
"Facts are stupid things"
three-by-five cards
the MX missile
Bitburg
S.D.I.
Robert Bork
naps
Teflon
I say to the LORD, "You are my Lord;
I have no good apart from you."
The LORD is my chosen portion and my cup;
you hold my lot.
I bless the LORD who gives me counsel;
in the night also my heart instructs me.
I keep the LORD always before me;
because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.
You show me the path of life.
In your presence there is fullness of joy;
in your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
--Psalm 16: 1-2,5,7-8,11
