Whereas, on February 6, 1911, Ronald Wilson Reagan was
born to Nelle and John Reagan in Tampico, Illinois;
Whereas Ronald Reagan's childhood years laid the
foundation for his becoming a man of unfettered principle, who was not afraid
to do what was right, and who was tenaciously committed to doing only that
which he believed was right in his own heart, regardless of any political
cost;
Whereas his small-town values of hard work and commitment
to God and family were deeply rooted in his early childhood experiences;
Whereas as a young man in Illinois, Ronald Reagan saved 77
people from drowning through his courage, physical strength, and vigilance as a
lifeguard;
Whereas he attended high school in nearby Dixon, Illinois,
and then worked his way through Eureka College, where he studied economics and
sociology, played on the football team, and acted in school plays;
Whereas in 1937, a screen test won him a contract in
Hollywood, leading to his appearance in over 53 films over the next 2
decades;
Whereas beginning in 1947, Ronald Reagan served as
President of the Screen Actors Guild for 13 years;
Whereas, on March 4, 1952, Ronald Reagan married Nancy
Davis, who remained his best friend and lifelong companion and confidant for
more than 5 decades;
Whereas in 1966, Ronald Reagan was elected as the 33rd
Governor of California, and won reelection 4 years later;
Whereas Ronald Reagan believed in United States
exceptionalism and asserted that the Nation has a unique role to play in the
world;
Whereas in 1980, Ronald Reagan won the Republican
presidential nomination and was subsequently elected the 40th President of the
United States, winning reelection again in 1984 and becoming the first
president in 3 decades to serve 2 full terms;
Whereas Ronald Reagan declared in 1981 in a speech at the
University of Notre Dame that, the West will not contain communism, it
will transcend communism
, and stated that For the West, for
America, the time has come to dare to show to the world that our civilized
ideas, our traditions, our values, are not—like the ideology and war machine of
totalitarian societies—just a facade of strength. It is time for the world to
know our intellectual and spiritual values are rooted in the source of all
strength, a belief in a Supreme Being, and a law higher than our own
,
thereby recognizing that the source of the Nation’s strength and ultimately its
victory over communism would come from God, the source of all
strength
;
Whereas in June 1982, Ronald Reagan lifted up the flagging
morale of the democracies and gave hope to millions living under communist rule
with an address to the British Parliament at Westminster Hall in which he
proclaimed an imminent free world victory in the Cold War that would leave
communist totalitarianism, like Nazi totalitarianism before it, on the
ash heap of history
;
Whereas, on March 8, 1983, President Reagan warned all
people in the Nation to beware of the temptation to draw a moral equivalence
between the United States and the Soviet Union, and the tendency to ignore the
facts of history and the aggressive impulses of an evil empire, to
simply call the arms race a giant misunderstanding and thereby remove ourselves
from the struggle between right and wrong, good and evil
, thereby
educating people in the United States about the moral bankruptcy of Soviet
communism and reminding them that the real crisis that we face is a
spiritual one; at root, it is a test of moral will and faith
;
Whereas, on March 23, 1983, President Reagan gave a
landmark speech at the zenith of the Cold War, in which he proposed what became
known as the Strategic Defense Initiative, to protect the United States, its
allies, and its vital interests from ballistic missile attack, thereby putting
the United States on a path to ending its vulnerability to missile attack and
harnessing the Nation’s scientific and technological advantages in support of a
military effort that the Soviet Union ultimately could not match;
Whereas less than 6 years later, the world watched the
Revolutions of 1989 which culminated in the fall of the Berlin Wall, the
disintegration of communism, and the dissolution of the once unshakeable Soviet
Union;
Whereas Ronald Reagan made millions of people believe
again that the United States was still capable of being victorious, of rising
out of and above difficult circumstances, and of facing devastating
challenges;
Whereas Ronald Reagan believed in the sanctity of all
human life, saying [w]e cannot diminish the value of one category of
human life—the unborn—without diminishing the value of all human
life
;
Whereas Ronald Reagan stated that the future does
not belong to the fainthearted; it belongs to the brave
, and desired
for people of the United States to continue to make the Nation great by
preserving its goodness, by persevering in the struggle between right and wrong
and good and evil;
Whereas the policies of the Reagan Administration led to
an enduring economic recovery, the defeat of Soviet communism, and a renewal of
United States patriotism and self-confidence;
Whereas in his Farewell Address, President Reagan warned
of the need to develop an informed patriotism
so that we can
teach our children what America is and what she represents in the long
history of the world
, thereby warning that if we forget our history, we
won’t know who we are;
Whereas Ronald Reagan's life was a transformed one, one
that reflected a light from within, and one that he willingly shared in the
brightness and warmth of his smile and in his grace and good humor;
Whereas Ronald Reagan's faith in God, and his love of
family and country were evident and strong even to the end of his life;
Whereas Ronald Reagan was a patriotic, humble leader and
noble American for 93 years;
Whereas hundreds of millions of people now live in freedom
because of Ronald Reagan's conviction and courage; and
Whereas Ronald Reagan stated that freedom is never
more than one generation away from extinction
and called upon all the
people of the United States to remember their rendezvous with
destiny
: Now, therefore, be it
That the House of
Representatives—
(1)celebrates the extraordinary life of
President Ronald Wilson Reagan on the anniversary of the 100th year of his
birth and expresses its deepest appreciation for his profound public service;
and
(2)recognizes the
significance of the presidency of Ronald Wilson Reagan, and its enduring legacy
for the United States and the rest of the world, and expresses its commitment
to protect, affirm, and defend the heritage of human freedom left by President
Ronald Wilson Reagan.