The Great Communicator Vol 3: Reagan on Government & the American Dream
The Great Communicator Vol 3: Reagan on Government & the American Dream
Edited compilation of speeches made by Ronald Reagan during his Presidency
The Great Communicator Vol 3: Reagan on Government & the American Dream
May 28, 1985. Excerpt from Ronald Reagan Address to the Nation on Tax Reform. "Remember, there are no limits to growth and human progress when men and women are free to follow their dreams. The American dream belongs to you; it lives in millions of different hearts; it can be fulfilled in millions of different ways. And with you by our side, we're not going to stop moving and shaking this town until that dream is real for every American, from the sidewalks of Harlem to the mountaintops of Hawaii."
The Great Communicator Vol 3: Reagan on Government & the American Dream
Jan 15, 1986. Excerpt from Ronald Reagan Remarks to the Students and Faculty at Martin Luther King, Jr. Elementary School. President Reagan for a permanent end to bigotry, prejudice and hatred; tells a sentimental story about his youth, when he played college football with a black man named Frank Burkhart (story of an opponent's overcoming of hate and prejudice). "Ultimately, the great lesson of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s, life was this: He was a great man who wrested justice from the heart of a great country, and he succeeded because that great country had a heart to be seized. Martin Luther King, Jr., really helped make our nation freer. It's not a perfect place; we still have a long way to go. There's unfinished business, and we can't rest until all prejudice is gone forever." edit "And now, if you don't mind, I'm just going to take a second - I have to tell you a story, an experience of mine in my youth. I was playing football in a little college in Illinois, and this was back in the days before any Martin Luther Kings. He had just barely been born. But there were people with prejudice and hatred. In our school, we had a young black man who came to school and who I remember - he's departed this world now - but he's probably the closest friend I ever had. And down on the line together, he played center, and I played right guard. And in those days, you didn't have an offense and a defense; you played both ways. You stayed in the game till it was over. And he and I became, as I say, the closest of friends down there in the middle of the line, where things got rough and tough. And one day we played a team that didn't have any mix in its lineup. And playing opposite Burgie - his name was Franklin Burghardt, but my nickname for him was Burgie - playing opposite Burgie was a fellow that was filled with hatred and prejudice, and it was very obvious. And he was very vocal about it when we would line up against each other. He also played dirty against Burgie. In the huddle I looked across once and saw Burgie, and his lip was bleeding where he was biting it. He had already an injured knee before the game, and this fellow had found out about it - evidently he groaned at the wrong time - and he was using his dirty tactics to further hurt that knee. And Burgie was biting his lip to not show the pain. And in the huddle, we were so mad - and all of his teammates - we wanted to go after the fellow. And Burgie said, ``No, this is my problem; this is my fight.'' And no one knew anything about it. Well, Burgie played him all that game. And he didn't play dirty; he played clean. He just played the hit-'em-hard kind of football that we're taught and that's within the rules. And by the middle of the fourth quarter his opponent, playing dirty with all of his dirty tricks, was literally staggering. And his coach had to send in a substitute for him. And he started off the field. He was wobbling as he started off. And halfway to the sideline he stopped, stood there for a minute, then he turned around. And he came staggering back, elbowed his way through the two teams as we stood there in the timeout waiting for play to resume, and up to Burgie and faced him. And then I saw he was crying; the tears were running down his face. And he stuck out his hand, and Burgie took it. And he grabbed it with his other hand, and then crying he said, ``I just want you to know you're the greatest human being I've ever met,'' and turned and left the field. You see, just one individual with principles like that, like Dr. King and like Franklin Burghardt - a conversion right there from hatred to respect and even liking on the part of another man."
The Great Communicator Vol 3: Reagan on Government & the American Dream
Oct 22, 1986. Excerpt from Ronald Reagan Remarks on Signing the Tax Reform Act of 1986. "It's in our families that America's most important work gets done: raising our next generation. But over the last 40 years, as inflation has shrunk the personal exemption, families with children have had to shoulder more and more of the tax burden. With inflation and bracket-creep also eroding incomes, many spouses who would rather stay home with their children have been forced to go looking for jobs. And what of America's promise of hope and opportunity, that with hard work even the poorest among us can gain the security and happiness that is the due of all Americans? You can't put a pricetag on the American dream."
The Great Communicator Vol 3: Reagan on Government & the American Dream
May 28, 1985 Excerpt from Ronald Reagan Address to the Nation on Tax Reform. "I believe the worth of any economic policy must be measured by the strength of its commitment to American families, the bedrock of our society. There is no instrument of hard work, savings, and job creation as effective as the family. There is no cultural institution as ennobling as family life. And there is no superior, indeed no equal, means to rear the young, protect the weak, or attend the elderly. None."
The Great Communicator Vol 3: Reagan on Government & the American Dream
Jan 25, 1985 Excerpt from Ronald Reagan Remarks at the 1985 Reagan Administration Executive Forum. "We support the family and oppose anything that would take from it its power and its moral authority. We recognize that the family is the center of our society, and as the family goes, so goes civilization."
The Great Communicator Vol 3: Reagan on Government & the American Dream
Sept 14, 1986 Excerpt from Ronald Reagan Address to the Nation on the Campaign Against Drug Abuse. "As we mobilize for this national crusade, I'm mindful that drugs are a constant temptation for millions. Please remember this when your courage is tested: You are Americans. You're the product of the freest society mankind has ever known. No one, ever, has the right to destroy your dreams and shatter your life. Right down the end of this hall is the Lincoln Bedroom. But in the Civil War that room was the one President Lincoln used as his office. Memory fills that room, and more than anything that memory drives us to see vividly what President Lincoln sought to save. Above all, it is that America must stand for something and that our heritage lets us stand with a strength of character made more steely by each layer of challenge pressed upon the Nation. We Americans have never been morally neutral against any form of tyranny."
The Great Communicator Vol 3: Reagan on Government & the American Dream
May 11, 1988 Excerpt from Ronald Reagan Remarks at the Annual Republican Congressional Fundraising Dinner. "The story of America is one of people who've made their dreams come true by realizing that the time for action is always now. It began with 13 Colonies in their battle for independence; and then westward expansion, an Industrial Revolution, the building of a great nation, and finally America's ascendance on the world stage. At every point, the time was now. It is history's greater story, and its greater chapters have not yet been written."
The Great Communicator Vol 3: Reagan on Government & the American Dream
Mar 9, 1988. Excerpt from Ronald Reagan Remarks at the Unveiling of the Knute Rockne Commemorative Stamp at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana. "And don't let all the gloom and doomers tell you any different. There's a will to succeed evident in our land. I happen to have always believed in the American people. Don't ever sell them short. Given the proper tools and a level playing ground, our workers can outproduce and outcompete anyone, anywhere."
The Great Communicator Vol 3: Reagan on Government & the American Dream
Aug 15, 1988 Excerpt from Ronald Reagan Remarks at the Republican National Convention in New Orleans, Louisiana. "So, if there's any salute deserved tonight, it's to the heroes everywhere in this land who make up the doers, the dreamers, and the lifebuilders without which our glorious experiment in democracy would have failed." edit "I know I've said this before, but I believe that God put this land between the two great oceans to be found by special people from every corner of the world who had that extra love for freedom that prompted them to leave their homeland and come to this land to make it a brilliant light beam of freedom to the world."