[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 18 (Monday, February 7, 2011)]
[Senate]
[Page S611]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  REMEMBERING PRESIDENT RONALD REAGAN

  Mr. CHAMBLISS. Mr. President, I rise to join my colleagues from both 
sides of the aisle today to mark the 100th birthday of former President 
Ronald Reagan.
  It is fitting that this is a bipartisan tribute. After all, Reagan 
had been a Democrat, then a Republican, in his political career, and he 
transformed the political landscape for both parties by appealing to a 
broad cross-section of Americans.
  Much has been written about President Reagan's life. His story is 
well-known, and is a classic tale of the American dream--a boy from the 
Nation's heartland makes good.
  And Ronald Reagan was a surprising man, a man of paradoxes: An actor 
affectionately remembered by a generation of Americans for his 
authenticity, a former union leader who fired striking union members, 
and the oldest president who was most popular among young Americans, 
many of whom are in leadership positions today, and some of whom are in 
this very Chamber.
  But what I would like to focus on in my time here today is the part 
of Reagan that is still with us today: his legacy.
  One of the most frequently cited achievements of Ronald Reagan is 
ending the Cold War.
  Behind his eloquence and warmth was a steeliness that sent a clear 
message to Moscow: You cannot hope to compete with us. We will beat 
you.
  And so we did. Thanks to Reagan's steadfastness and the rise of a 
Soviet leader who recognized America's toughness under Reagan's 
leadership, the Iron Curtain ultimately clanged into a pile of rubble.
  Reagan also gave birth to the Republican Party that those of us on 
this side of the aisle belong to today.
  Thanks to Reagan's efforts to broaden the tent of the Republican 
Party, for the first time in many years, scores of religious, socially 
conservative Americans finally found a political home.
  His became a party of pro-military, pro-business, pro-small-
government, anti-tax, anti-Communist Americans. And while communism 
worldwide has been largely designated to oblivion, Reagan's legacy of 
tax-cutting, smaller government, personal responsibility and fewer 
onerous regulations from Washington have stood the test of time and 
approval from the American people.
  Reagan's most lasting legacy, however, may be his innate optimism.
  When he took office, America had suffered the indignity of Watergate, 
high gas prices and long lines at the pumps, a 21-percent inflation 
rate and the taking of 52 of our citizens from America's own embassy in 
Tehran, Iran. We were a deflated Nation.
  But Reagan, in many ways through the sheer force of his personality, 
gave Americans hope, gave us the urge to dare to dream, and the 
confidence to be great again. When he told us it was morning again in 
America, we believed him. And it was.
  When Reagan was born on February 6, 1911, the airplane had only been 
invented 8 years earlier. The horrors of World War I, the Great War 
that helped spawn the modern Soviet Union, were still several years 
away and Teddy Roosevelt had been out of the White House for just 2 
years.
  How fitting that Reagan's lifetime and legacy would book-end such 
advances in technology, foreign policy and even his own Republican 
Party.
  That includes the space flight that helped America surpass its Soviet 
rivals and his words of consolation to a grieving Nation when the Space 
Shuttle Challenger disintegrated. And outlasting the Soviet Union after 
a lifetime of opposition. And becoming a worthy successor to Roosevelt 
as an optimistic Republican leader who left a lasting imprint on a 
changing Nation.
  As usual, Reagan put it best when he told us, ``America's best days 
lie ahead. You ain't seen nothing yet.''

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