Advanced Search
The Great Communicator, Vol 1: The Reagan Presidency 1981-1989
Jan 20, 1981, Ronald Reagan Toast at the Inaugural Luncheon. Speaking to small group of Republicans, announces that the Iranian hostages have been freed and are en route to the US. "With thanks to Almighty God, I have been given a tag line, the get off line that everyone wants, for the end of a toast or speech or anything else. Some thirty minutes ago the planes bearing our prisoners, left Iranian air space and are now free of Iran. "
The Great Communicator, Vol 1: The Reagan Presidency 1981-1989
Mar 30, 1981, Washington Hilton Hotel: newsreel of RONALD REAGAN and JAMES (JIM) BRADY being hit by John Hinckley's bullets.
The Great Communicator, Vol 1: The Reagan Presidency 1981-1989
DO NOT USE CU NY Times headline announcing assassination attempt.
The Great Communicator, Vol 1: The Reagan Presidency 1981-1989
Ronald Reagan remarks at a White House Luncheon for Elected Republican Women Officials. "One of my proudest days in this office came when I appointed Sandra Day O'Connor to be the first woman in history on the United States Supreme Court."
The Great Communicator, Vol 1: The Reagan Presidency 1981-1989
July 7, 1981 Ronald Reagan Remarks Announcing the Intention To Nominate Sandra Day O'Connor To Be an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. "She is truly a person for all seasons, possessing those unique qualities of temperament, fairness, intellectual capacity and devotion to the public good which have characterized the 101 brethren who have preceded her. I commend her to you, and I urge you to send a swift bi-partisan confirmation, so that as soon as possible, she may take her seat on the Court and her place in history."
The Great Communicator, Vol 1: The Reagan Presidency 1981-1989
Aug 3, 1981 Ronald Reagan Remarks and a Question-and-Answer Session With Reporters on the Air Traffic Controllers Strike. Ronald Reagan says that since the strikers fall under the jurisdiction of the FAA, they are in violation of federal contractual law. Reagan fires the striking air controllers. "This morning at 7 AM, the union representing those who man America's air traffic control facilities called a strike." "Let me read the solemn oath taken by each of these employees, the sworn affidavit when they accepted their jobs, 'I am not participating in a strike against the government of the United States or any agency thereof and I will not so participate while an employee of the government of the United States or any agency thereof.' It is for this reason that I must tell those who fail to report for duty this morning, they are in violation of the law and if they do not report for work within 48 hours they have forfeited their jobs and will be terminated."
The Great Communicator, Vol 1: The Reagan Presidency 1981-1989
Dec 23, 1981 Ronald Reagan Address to the Nation About Christmas and the Situation in Poland. He is sympathetic to common religion (Christianity) & politics (Democracy); calls attention to the struggle for freedom in Poland (Lech Walesa and the Solidarity movement); says that the free nations of the world unite in their cause. "Good evening. At Christmas time, every home takes on a special beauty, a special warmth and that's certainly true of the White House, where so many famous Americans have spent their Christmases over the years. This fine old home, the People's House, has seen so much, been so much a part of all our lives and history. We've lived here as your tenants for almost a year now. And what a year its been. As a people, we've been through quite a lot, moments of joy, tragedy and of real achievement. Moments that I believe have brought us all closer together. As I speak to you tonight, the fate of a proud and ancient nation hangs in the balance. For 1000 years, Christmas has been celebrated in Poland, a land of deep religious faith. But this Christmas brings little joy to the courageous Polish people. Lech Walesa and other Solidarity leaders are imprisoned. Their fate unknown. Factories, mines, Universities and homes have been assaulted. there is a spirit of solidarity abroad in the world tonight that no physical force can crush. It crosses national boundaries and enters into the hearts of men and women everywhere. In factories, farms and schools, in cities and towns around the globe, we the people of the Free World, stand as one with our Polish brothers and sisters. Their cause is ours. And our prayers and hopes go out to them this Christmas."
The Great Communicator, Vol 1: The Reagan Presidency 1981-1989
Feb 26, 1982: Ronald Reagan Remarks at a Conservative Political Action Conference Dinner. He says that his economic recovery plan is successful. "At this point last year, much of the smart money in Washington was betting, as it is today, on the failure of our proposals for restoring the economy. That we could never assemble the votes we needed to get our program for economic recovery through the Congress. But assemble the votes we did. For the first time in nearly 25 years, we slowed the spending juggernaut and got the tax payers out from under the Federal steamroller."
The Great Communicator, Vol 1: The Reagan Presidency 1981-1989
Jan 20, 1983 Ronald Reagan Remarks and a Question-and-Answer Session With Reporters on the Second Anniversary of the Inauguration of the President. He opens the third year of his presidency by rehashing his goals. Some of you may know today marks the second anniversary of this administration. Time flies when you re having fun. I remember John Kennedy saying that, when he came into office the thing that surprised him most, was to find that things were just a bad as he been saying they were. My case the biggest surprise was finding out that they were even worse. And it s a real human tragedy that so many of our people today are still suffering for the political mistakes of the past that we ve finely started to correct. Looking back, I guess my greatest satisfaction is the conviction that the country was skidding dangerously in the wrong direction, loosing the respect of friends and foes alike in the world and even worse loosing faith in its own future, has been set on the right course. We begun to undo the damage of the over taxing, over spending, over regulating binge of the 60 s and 70 s has inflected the American way of life and we made America respected in the world again.
The Great Communicator, Vol 1: The Reagan Presidency 1981-1989
Mar 23, 1983 Ronald Reagan Address to the Nation on Defense and National Security. As the Soviets have increased their military power, they have been emboldened to extend that power. They re spreading their military influence in ways that can directly challenge our vital interest and those of our allies. The following aerial photographs, most of them secret until now, illustrate this point in a crucial area very close to home, Central America and the Caribbean Basin. Their not dramatic photographs but I think they ll give you a better understanding what I m talking about. (Photograph - Airfield Under Construction - Point Salines, Grenada) 10,000 Foot Runway, Fuel Storage). On the small island of Grenada, at the southern end of the Caribbean Chain, the Cubans with Soviet financing and backing are in the process in building an airfield with a 10,000 foot runway. Grenada doesn t even have an air force. Whose is it intended for?
The Great Communicator, Vol 1: The Reagan Presidency 1981-1989
Sept 5, 1983 Ronald Reagan TV address regarding the Korean Airliner Flight 007 shot down by the Soviets. Ronald Reagan denounces the heinous act. I m coming before you tonight about the Korean airline massacre. The attack by the Soviet Union against 269 innocent men, women and children aboard an unarmed Korean passenger plane. This crime against humanity must never be forgotten, here or throughout the world. Despite the savagery of their crime, the universal reaction against them, and the evidence of their complicity, the Soviets still refuse to tell the truth. They have persistently refused to admit that their pilot fired on the Korean aircraft. Indeed they have not even told their own people, that a plane was shot down. Let me state as plainly as I can. There was absolutely no justification either legal or moral for what the Soviets did.
The Great Communicator, Vol 1: The Reagan Presidency 1981-1989
Sept 26, 1983, Ronald Reagan Address Before the 38th Session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, New York. He calls USSR's bluff in terms of arms reduction; good wide shots of delegates, delegate hall. I call upon the Soviet Union today to reduce the tensions it has heaped on the world in the past few weeks and to show a firm commitment to peace by coming to the bargaining table with a new understanding of its obligations. I urge it to match our flexibility. If the Soviets sit down at the bargaining table seeking genuine arms reductions, there will be arms reductions. The governments of the West and their people will not be diverted by misinformation and threats. The time has come for the Soviet Union to show proof. That it wants arms control in reality not just in rhetoric.
The Great Communicator, Vol 1: The Reagan Presidency 1981-1989
Oct 27, 1983 Ronald Reagan Address to the Nation on Events in Lebanon and Grenada. TV address regarding the terrorist truck bombing of Marine headquarters in Beirut & the invasion of Grenada. This past Sunday at 22 minutes after 6, Beirut time, with dawn just breaking, a truck looking like a lot of other vehicles in the city approached the airport on a busy main road. There was nothing in its appearance to suggest it was any different than the trucks or cars that were normally seen on and around the airport. But this one was different. At the wheel was a young man on a suicide mission. The truck carried some 2,000 lbs. of explosives. But there was no way our Marine guards could know this. Their first warning that something was wrong came when a truck crashed through a series of barriers including a chain link fence and barbed wire entanglements. The guards opened fire but it was too late. The truck smashed through the doors at the headquarters building at which our Marines were sleeping, and instantly exploded. The four story concrete building collapsed in a pile of rubble. More than 200 of the sleeping men were killed in that one hideous and insane attack. Now I know another part of the world is much in our minds a place much closer to our shores, Grenada. Grenada we were told is a friendly island paradise for tourism. Well it wasn t. It was a Soviet, Cuban colony being readied as a major military bastion to export terror and undermine Democracy. We got there just in time.
The Great Communicator, Vol 1: The Reagan Presidency 1981-1989
May 16, 1984, Ronald Reagan Remarks at the Annual Awards Dinner of the White House News Photographers Association. He is speaking in TV address about the safe return of the American students from Grenada, quantifying the Grenada invasion. Earlier this year one event said it all. It took place at an air base in South Carolina. Shortly after a plane had returned from Grenada carrying the medical students whom been trapped at St. George s Medical School. As one student got off the plane, we all know, he dropped to his knees and kissed the good earth of the United States. And nearby there was a news photographer clicked his camera that caught that moment for all Americans to share.
The Great Communicator, Vol 1: The Reagan Presidency 1981-1989
Mar 23, 1983 Ronald Reagan Address to the Nation on Defense and National Security. Ronald Reagan condones the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), calling the science community to focus their energies upon making this project a reality. What if free people could live secure in the knowledge that their security did not rest upon the treat of instant US retaliation to deter a Soviet attack? That we could intercept and destroy strategic ballistic missiles before they reached our own soil or that of our allies? I know that this is a formidable technical task one that may not be accomplished before the end of this century. Yet current technology has obtained a level of sophistication where it s reasonable to for us to begin this effort. I call upon the scientific community in our country those who gave us nuclear weapons to turn their great talents now to the cause of mankind and world peace, to give us the means of rendering these nuclear weapons impotent and obsolete.
The Great Communicator, Vol 1: The Reagan Presidency 1981-1989
Mar 29, 1985: Ronald Reagan Remarks at the National Space Club Luncheon. He amusingly quotes author Arthur C. Clarke. Arthur C. Clarke, distinguish author of science and fiction says ideas have often three stages of reaction. First, it s crazy, and don t waste my time. Second, it s possible but it s not worth doing. And finally, I always said it was a good idea.
The Great Communicator, Vol 1: The Reagan Presidency 1981-1989
June 22, 1983: Ronald Reagan Remarks at the National Conference of the National Federation of Independent Business. He gives a glowing economic report to a meeting of independent businesssmen. It s clear that recovery is strengthening and spreading throughout the economy. Venture capitol investments have reached record levels. New businesses are being formed at near record rates. The stock market has awakened from a decade of disappointment to surge into new high ground. Sunrise industries are springing up like jackrabbits. Production in autos and steel is regaining strength. Housing starts, in May climb to the highest levels in three and a half years. Factories in May ran in their highest rate in fifteen months. More and more workers are being called back. And as Al Jolson would have said, You aint seen nothing yet. But there s an easier way to tell you that our program works. That recovery is here, and the economy is beginning to sparkle. I ve said this a few times before but I ll say it again. Suddenly our critics are no longer calling the program Reaganomics.
The Great Communicator, Vol 1: The Reagan Presidency 1981-1989
Jan 20, 1984: Ronald Reagan Remarks to the Reagan Administration Executive Forum. Reagan steps onto stage to the strains of "Hail to the Chief" played by a marching band in stage rear, crowd applauds happily. Reagan says that his administration is truly a new beginning, voted and approved by the people of the United States. Thank you all very much. As I stand here I can t help thinking about back to this date three years ago. It was a winter day like this one, only colder because on that day, we held this meeting outdoors. But as I look back to January 20th, three years ago. I can t help thinking; we have made a new beginning. I m convinced that in 1980, America faced one of those historic choices that come to a nation a few times a century. We could continue our decline perhaps comforting ourselves by calling it inevitable, or we could realize that there s no such thing as inevitable and choose instead to make, a new beginning. The American people chose the way of courage. And on this day of January day 3-years ago this administration and all of you began to make a new beginning.
The Great Communicator, Vol 1: The Reagan Presidency 1981-1989
Jan 25, 1984 Ronald Reagan Address Before a Joint Session of the Congress on the State of the Union. Once again in keeping with time honor tradition I come to report to you on the State Of The Union. And I m pleased to report that America is much improved. And there s good reason to believe that improvement will continue, to the days that come. (Audience applause)
The Great Communicator, Vol 1: The Reagan Presidency 1981-1989
1984 Newsreel of Ron and NANCY REAGAN visiting Japan & China: MS/CUs of them being enthusiastically received by populace; MSs crowd eagerly waving Japanese and American flags; MS man in feudal warrior garb (samurai?) riding horse, firing arrow at target, much to the Reagans' delight; MSs Ron and Nancy walking along the Great Wall of China. A trip to Japan, Korea and later the Peoples Republic of China, makes you realize the old line Go West Young Man Go West still fits. There s a new frontier out there. There is a future and the United States is going to be very much a part, of that future. One cannot meet with those people without realizing that they are tremendously capable people. A talented, energetic people and I found with a great longing for peace, among those people. I think we can have a fine relationship, we do already. But we can keep that and build on that relationship. Whether it s with trade cultural exchange we can mutually be beneficial to each other.
The Great Communicator, Vol 1: The Reagan Presidency 1981-1989
DO NOT USE Still photo Reagan shaking hands with Zhao Ziyang
The Great Communicator, Vol 1: The Reagan Presidency 1981-1989
Apr 30, 1984. Remarks at a Signing Ceremony for Four United States-China Agreements. Ronald Reagan speaking at press conference in China. Thank you Premier Zhao. The developing relationship between China and the United States has been one of the principle events of post war diplomacy. Our visit has reinforced our appreciation for Chinese hospitably and for China s ancient and honorable culture. I m delighted that now millions of other Americans will be able to see the artistic and cultural achievements of the Chinese people
The Great Communicator, Vol 1: The Reagan Presidency 1981-1989
EST shots of the Reagan ranch outside of Santa Barbara. MSs RONALD REAGAN grooming and riding horses. MSs sawing wood with a chainsaw, working in the yard while wearing a white t-shirt. VO of Reagan recounting his decision to seek re-election in 1984. Before I reach my decision to run for re-election, some people thought that maybe I d be happy to retire to that beautiful ranch outside of Santa Barbra, and spend the rest of my life enjoying the simple things, riding horses, chopping wood and spending time with Nancy, being outdoors and close to all of God s natural gifts. But they forget, there are so many things that remain to be done, so many challenges that must be met. I would have felt like a quitter if I just walked away from getting federal spending under control, for once and for all. Or reforming or simplifying our tax system.
The Great Communicator, Vol 1: The Reagan Presidency 1981-1989
Aug 23, 1984 Reagan Remarks Accepting the Presidential Nomination at the Republican National Convention in Dallas, Texas. C/As of the happy delegates decked out in their cheapest camapign wares, holding placards showing their support, some waving American flags. C/A of NANCY and RON REAGAN JR. in bleachers; ends w/ delegates chanting for "four more years." (Applause and cheering) Thank you very much. Mr. Chairman, Mr. Vice President, delegates to this convention and fellow citizens, 75 days I hope we enjoy a victory that is the size of the heart of Texas. (Cheering /Applause) Tonight with a full heart and deep gratitude for your trust, I accept your nomination for Presidency of the United States of America. (The crowd is ecstatic with applause. Banners and American are waved back and fourth.) I will campaign on behalf of the principals of our party which lift America confidently into the future. America is presented with the clearest political choice of half a century. The distinction between our two parties and the different philosophy of our political opponents, are at the heart of this campaign and America s future. Crowd is cheering and saying repeatedly. Four more years. Four more years."