[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 19 (Tuesday, February 8, 2011)]
[House]
[Pages H530-H536]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
THE 100TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE BIRTH OF PRESIDENT RONALD WILSON REAGAN
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Cravaack). Under the Speaker's announced
policy of January 5, 2011, the gentleman from California (Mr. Dreier)
is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader.
Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, I have taken this time out this evening so
that my colleagues and I might have the opportunity to talk about what
took place the day before yesterday and the century that led up to it.
I am referring, as did my friend from Fullerton, Mr. Royce, to the
100th anniversary of the birth of Ronald Wilson Reagan.
We know that Ronald Reagan is an individual who has provided
inspiration to Democrats and Republicans alike, and there is a reason
for that. The reason is that, while not everyone agreed with Ronald
Reagan's policies, he was an individual who was able to provide
encouragement; he was an individual who was able to provide
inspiration; and I think most importantly, Mr. Speaker, he was an
individual who was able to provide hope to so many people all over this
country as well as across the globe.
Mrs. Reagan did an interview this past week leading up to February 6
in which she was asked the question: What do you most want your husband
to be remembered for?
What she said was that she wanted him to be remembered for the fact
that he instilled a sense of optimism for the American people. That
great sense of optimism, which was not Pollyanna-like, because he was
clearly very realistic, direct, had a great strength of character, an
unwavering commitment to his principles, but at the same time, he was
always able to encourage people to have hope for the future.
In fact, one of the great things that the Ronald Reagan Foundation
has done, as we all know, Mr. Speaker--and we see it on a regular basis
right down this hallway into the great rotunda of the Capitol--is
there, due in large part, to the now distinguished chair of the
Committee on Administration, Mr. Lungren, who worked on this statue,
and I was honored that he consulted me on a few occasions as he was
working on it. To me, the thing that is the most important part of the
statue is inscribed at the base. Unfortunately, it's on the back, so
you have to go through a little effort to see it, Mr. Speaker. But at
the base of that statue, it has three of the great statements that
Ronald Reagan was known for.
What were they?
They were, of course: ``America's best days are yet to come.'' ``Our
proudest moments are yet to be.'' ``Our most glorious achievements are
just ahead.''
Now, if that doesn't instill optimism and encouragement, I don't know
what does. Those three statements, I believe, define Ronald Reagan.
He obviously was someone who enjoyed having a good time. In fact,
Nancy said on Sunday, at the party, that her husband always enjoyed
celebrating his birthday and that he would have loved the party that
took place. And for those who may not have been there or seen it, you
should know that the celebration continues.
It actually began at the end of last year. I was privileged to give
an address up at the library, during which I was talking about the
challenges that exist today and the way that Ronald Reagan dealt with
many of the similar problems that we face today. Then on New Year's
Day, the Rose Parade featured a float marking the 100th anniversary of
Ronald Reagan's birth. Then again this past weekend, on February 5 and
6, there were great activities that took place at the library.
I should say, the weekend before, there was a wonderful opportunity
for us to have the Members of Congress who were elected in 1980, with
Ronald Reagan, three decades ago, to convene for a class reunion that
the Ronald Reagan Foundation helped us put together. At the same time,
the Heritage Foundation hosted its meeting, which included many of the
newly elected Members of Congress. It was basically a 2\1/2\-day
gathering.
Several Members have told me about the opportunity to have Members of
that 97th class, the class of 1980 which came in with Ronald Reagan,
share their experiences with the newly elected Members--87 strong, the
largest turnover in three-quarters of a century. We were able to share
those experiences, and Members have said that it was probably the
highlight of that 2\1/2\-day gathering that we had at the Ronald Reagan
Library.
I also have to say, Mr. Speaker, that just yesterday we saw the
opening of the new Ronald Reagan Museum, and that museum is an amazing
facility. Now, remember, Air Force One, which is the aircraft that
Ronald Reagan flew, including Marine One, are both there at the
library. This museum, which has been renovated over the past year or
so, was reopened. I said at one of the gatherings that anyone who had
the opportunity to know Ronald Reagan, to work with Ronald Reagan would
have had, clearly, at least one occasion as they went through the
library to have a wonderful memory come back to the forefront--and even
new experiences. In fact, I had a very moving experience when I went
through the museum and saw something that I had not seen before.
The father of one of my closest family friends passed away just
before he was born--in fact, 4 months before he was born. He was an
only son, and obviously never knew his father. As I walked through the
Reagan Museum, I was struck because I saw on the wall the discharge
papers that were signed by Captain Ronald Reagan.
When I saw them, I took out my telephone, and called my friend, and
said, Did you know that Ronald Reagan had signed your father's
discharge papers? He said, no, he didn't know it, and was, needless to
say, very emotional having just learned that at that moment as I went
in.
Well, this man is on March 20 going to mark his 50th birthday, and
his name is John Clark Gable. His father was the legendary actor Clark
Gable, who had had his discharge papers signed by Captain Ronald
Reagan.
As you look, there is the good and the bad, which are outlined in
this museum, including the very tragic day in March of 1981 when an
assassination attempt was launched against President Reagan, to lots of
exciting and fun times that took place during that period of time. Of
course we all know of Ronald Reagan's legendary, legendary sense of
humor.
One of my stories--and I'm happy my friend from Huntington Beach,
whom I met when he was working for Ronald Reagan shortly after we came
to Washington together in the early 1980s, my friend Mr. Rohrabacher,
likes to take credit for many of President Reagan's funny lines. You
know, there is a raging debate that he and I have on that on a regular
basis. One story I know Ronald Reagan enjoyed but did not, in fact, get
from Dana Rohrabacher, I should say for the record, Mr. Speaker, was
when we were dealing with one of the most challenging economic times
that the United States of America has gone through. It was in the early
1980s.
{time} 1930
I was invited on a Saturday afternoon to a small party in Los
Angeles. There were about 20 people gathered, and the people gathered
were commiserating over the fact that we had at that point an
unemployment rate that was well into double digits. We had an inflation
rate that was sky high, and
[[Page H531]]
interest rates were in excess of 15 percent, and so naturally everyone
was focused on this.
President Reagan stood up after lunch and said, The other day,
somebody asked me how I was doing, and he said, I've never been better.
Well, needless to say, everyone at that lunch looked around like how in
the world could he say that. He said the reason I say that is I'm
reminded of this huge caravan of farm animals being driven through a
countryside, and there is a terrible accident, these animals strewn all
over the highway. And the sheriff came roaring up, and he looked to the
side of the road and saw a horse with two broken legs, frothing at the
mouth. So the sheriff pulled out his gun, put it to the horse's head,
and put him out of the misery. And then he looked over and saw a dog,
just about the same thing. This dog was shaking like there was no
tomorrow, and so he put his gun to the dog's head and put him out of
his misery. And then he looked over and saw the driver of one of the
vehicles. This driver had at least one leg broken, badly bloodied and
banged up, and the sheriff looked at the driver and said, And how are
you feeling? And the driver responded by saying, I've never been
better. And that, in fact, Mr. Speaker, demonstrated that great sense
of optimism and hope that was always there for Ronald Reagan.
Now, his policies are something that are desperately needed today,
and I'm so happy to see that as we have now won what would be a Reagan-
like majority here in the House, that working together in a bipartisan
way, which was a message that former Secretary of the Treasury, former
Chief of Staff, former Secretary of State James Baker provided Sunday
morning at the Reagan Library, working together in a bipartisan way to
deal with our Nation's problems and the problems that we're dealing
with around the globe is a very important thing.
And that's why as we look at the economic challenges, it seems to me
that following what I like to describe as the Kennedy-Reagan economic
model would be a great prescription for us to create jobs and get our
economy back on track.
It seems to me, Mr. Speaker, that as we look at where it is that
we're going, making sure that we have tax rates that encourage job
creation and economic growth are important. Thanks to the fact that
Japan has just reduced its top rate on job creators, the United States
of America today has the highest tax rate on job creators of any
country in the world. We have the highest tax rate of any country in
the world when it comes to those businesses that are trying to create
jobs. We continue to hear and decry the flight of jobs outside of the
United States to other parts of the world, and people get into so many
other issues. We need to look at our policies that encourage the flight
of those jobs outside of the country.
I will tell you that if Ronald Reagan were President of the United
States, I have no doubt that he would be championing the notion of
reducing that top corporate tax rate, and I have to say, Mr. Speaker,
that I was very gratified right behind me just 10 days ago President
Obama stood here and advocated a reduction of that top rate on those
job creators. We know that he has recently, President Obama, read Lou
Cannon's book on Ronald Reagan and understands how successful Ronald
Reagan was.
Now, I have lots of things that I want to say, but I'm privileged to
be joined by four great Californians who are here right now, and so I
think that the most appropriate thing for me to do would be to go by
both age and seniority. And so I think that my friend Dan Lungren, who
has been an inspiration to me as Ronald Reagan was, has joined us, and
I mentioned him earlier. He's the distinguished chair of the Committee
on House Administration, something that we were never able to do during
the Reagan years, that being have the majority, and I know that Ronald
Reagan would be very proud to see his friend Dan Lungren in the
position that he is today.
Mr. Speaker, I'd like to yield to my friend.
Mr. DANIEL E. LUNGREN of California. I thank the gentleman from
California for taking this time and for yielding this time to me and I
know to others as we come about this.
You and I have and the other gentleman from California (Mr.
Rohrabacher) were privileged to be in that crowd on Sunday where we
celebrated Ronald Reagan's 100th birthday.
I was reminded that the last time I spoke with him was 20 years
before on his birthday, his 80th birthday, when I was calling him from
my office in Sacramento, and he was his usual open, affable, and
interested individual who always had an expression of concern for the
person he was speaking with and who didn't take himself too seriously
but obviously took the job that he had very, very seriously.
One of the insights into President Reagan I think is seen in a film
that was done about Ronald Reagan's life that I saw recently, and at
the end of the film or close to the end of the film, they had an
interview with the Secret Service man who continued to be with Ronald
Reagan to the very end, and this Secret Service man was distinguished
by the fact that he was a fellow equestrian. He rode with Ronald
Reagan, and it was the last time Ronald Reagan rode a horse. He went
out riding with him, and when he came back he went to Mrs. Reagan and
said, the President didn't have a very good day on the horse today, and
that was a nice way of saying maybe it's time that he not risk injury
by horse riding. And everybody knew that Ronald Reagan loved to ride
horses. Probably his third greatest passion--his passion for his wife,
his passion for this country, and then his passion for riding horses.
And Mrs. Reagan told the Secret Service man, well, I can't tell him;
you've got to tell him. And it was very uncomfortable. And the agent
went up to the President and said very, very quietly, Mr. President, we
didn't have a good day riding today. And Ronald Reagan sensed exactly
what he was going to say, and instead of protesting, he made every
effort to put the Secret Service agent at ease, knowing that it was a
difficult thing for him.
You have to understand that. He was being told that something that he
loved almost as much as anything else in his life, his avocation, his--
some people play golf; Ronald Reagan rode horses. He was being told he
could no longer do that, and instead of thinking about himself and the
pain it was going to cause him and the lack of opportunity to enjoy
himself, his first concern was for the person who was delivering that
message to him, and he wanted to put him at ease.
And that gives you a bit of an understanding of the character of the
man who thought about what he was doing for others rather than what
they were doing for him, or, excuse me, to put it this way: He thought
more about what gratitude he had for what other people were doing for
him, rather than accepting praise for what he was doing in that
circumstance.
I remember the last great speech that I remember that Ronald Reagan
gave. It was at the 1992 Republican convention in Houston, and some of
you may remember it. You've seen film of it if you weren't there. He
wore a suit or a sport coat and a shirt that, if we wore it, we would
be told you don't wear those sorts of things when you're appearing at a
political event. It was sort of a maroon or almost maroon to brown
jacket, and I remember the shirt had a white collar and it had stripes
that were of the same color as the coat.
And when he started to speak, and I was watching closely because my
son, who at that time was in college, had gotten a pass to the floor of
the convention, and I said, I want you to see the master speak, using
that in quotation marks, because this may be the last great speech he
ever gives. When Ronald Reagan got up, he looked every bit his age. In
fact, he looked a little bit tired. As he started to speak, some young
people in front of him began chanting his name and cheering him, and at
first he couldn't hear very well. And then he realized what they were
saying, and you saw that Ronald Reagan grin begin, and you saw him
start to speak. And at the end of his speech, I guarantee you he was 20
years younger than when he started that speech.
And he gave that vibrancy to the entire assembled crowd there in that
convention hall, and I was so happy that I had my son there to be able
to see this remarkable man give this remarkable performance at the end
of his career. But when you think about that, sometimes you think maybe
we just think
[[Page H532]]
about him as the communicator, and as we know in the final address he
made to the Nation from the Oval Office, he said some people say that
I'm a great communicator. It's not so much that I'm a great
communicator, it's that I was able to communicate great things that
came from this country.
That always remained with me. I always thought Ronald Reagan had
spent his whole life reading, thinking, thinking about this Nation,
thinking about the principles that made this Nation great.
{time} 1940
And in my own mind, whenever I met with him with other Members of
Congress or alone, you had this idea that he had developed this
philosophical or political schematic.
If you were speaking to him about a subject, he would put that
schematic over that discussion. And if, in fact, it fit within those
principles he had developed over a lifetime, he would basically allow
you to go do it. He would basically give you a charge, and he would be
behind you--may not tell you the details, but he would be with you. And
if you didn't, if you had something that was outside that philosophical
political schematic that he had developed over a lifetime, he would in
some ways gently tell you that, No, I don't think we're going to do
that. And you knew at that point in time that he wasn't going to be
with you on it; but he was, again, thinking a little bit about you and
the reaction that you would receive when he would tell you ``no.''
One of the most difficult things I ever had to do was to tell him
``no'' on the phone. I was in my office. He was calling on a vote. And
I can't even recall what the subject was.
Mr. DREIER. If I can reclaim my time, I will tell you exactly what
the vote was because I remember it so vividly. It was the 1982 Tax
Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act. And I further yield to my friend.
Mr. DANIEL E. LUNGREN of California. It may very well have been that.
He called me personally to talk to me about that. And I had the
hardest time saying ``no'' to him, but I did. The remarkable thing
about it was that he didn't pressure me anymore. He didn't make me feel
bad. He didn't say, Well, you'll hear from us again, or if you want
something in your district. All he said was, I understand. I'm sorry I
couldn't convince you. I got off that phone. I thought I was right in
the decision I had made, but I felt badly that I had to tell him
``no,'' and I think that was it.
One of the highlights of my first 10 years in the Congress was going
to my alma mater, the University of Notre Dame, on Air Force One with
Ronald Reagan when he was going to unveil the stamp commemorating the
100th birthday of Knute Rockne--or as he said, ``Ke-Nute'' Rockne
because that's what Knute Rockne's widow had told him was the proper
pronunciation. And we flew there, and it was a great day. A little bit
of rain. We got in the Athletic and Convocation Center, and it was
standing room only. They didn't have enough room for all the students.
The overflow crowd was in another room that had a television.
There were four of us, graduates of the University of Notre Dame, who
were Members of Congress at the time that he had with us and Dick Lyng
who was the Californian who was the Secretary of Agriculture, also a
Notre Dame grad. And in his speech, he said, ``I want to introduce you
to the new Four Horsemen of Notre Dame,'' and then mentioned each one
of our names. I have that on tape, and that is one of my highlights of
my life. And at some point in time, I will make sure I make copies and
give it to my children and my grandchildren.
But he loved the fact that people remembered him for that role and
for the spirit that he had there. And I am proud of the fact that after
his recovery from that assassination attempt, the first public major
address he made away from the Capitol was at the University of Notre
Dame.
Ronald Reagan was a hero to many of us. He was an inspiration to many
of us, but he was a real man. He had his weaknesses as well as his
strengths. He had his shortcomings, and he would be the first one to
admit it. But above all, he was that person who told us, as
Republicans, that we should approach the future not only with
confidence, not only with hope, but with a sense of joy, an idea that
this country is the greatest country in the history of the world and
gives us the greatest opportunity to succeed. And he always felt a
sense of gratitude that he was here, that he was born here, that he was
allowed to raise himself up. And he thought that ought to be the
opportunity given to everybody.
When he came into a room, there was just a feeling there that was not
there at any other time. And it's hard for some of us to realize that
he has been gone for 6\1/2\ years now and that he would be 100 years
old today. All we can say is, we're not looking backwards. We're trying
to take the essence of the man, his commitment to the foundations of
this country, his openness and his optimism, and utilize that at a time
when we desperately need it.
I never thought that he looked at a person and thought, You're
African American, you're Caucasian, you're Hispanic, you're Asian. He
looked at you and said, You're an American; and therefore I'm going to
expect the best out of you, and this country is going to give you the
opportunity to be the very, very best.
So I thank the gentleman from California for this time. And this
weekend was wonderful not only for us to reflect in our memories but
also to bring the Ronald Reagan we know to the present people of
America, particularly those young people who were not born when he was
President of the United States and let them have a sense of what it was
that commanded this country, that led this country, that inspired this
country.
Mr. DREIER. I thank my friend for his very thoughtful comments. And
let me say before yielding to whichever of my colleagues gets to their
feet next, Mr. Speaker, I think that when one thinks of some of the
great, great Reagan stories that are legendary, you can't help but
recall that he had joy in sharing those stories with people. And I
guess that had to have been his Irish blood that was flowing that
brought that out. But all of those stories did provide so much
encouragement.
One of his great lines, to me--and my friend just referred to it--was
when he would look to Americans, regardless of what their background
was, and say, You're an American. And I am reminded of his famous line
where he said, You know, if you immigrate to France, you don't become a
Frenchman. If you immigrate to China, you don't become Chinese. The
United States of America is the only country in the world where if you
immigrate to the United States of America, you become an American
which, again, underscores what a melting pot the United States of
America is and e pluribus unum, ``out of many, one.'' That is what has
made us as great as we are.
Mr. Speaker, I am happy to yield to my friend from Huntington Beach,
California (Mr. Rohrabacher), the famous, legendary speechwriter of
Ronald Reagan. We first met in the decade of the 1980s. We joined with
Democrats and Republicans in both Houses of Congress to play a role in
liberating the people of Afghanistan from the Soviet Union's horrendous
control, and I'm sure he will seize this opportunity to get into that.
Mr. ROHRABACHER. Thank you very much, David. Just to expand a little
bit on the last point you made, when we were writing for Ronald Reagan,
he would insist that we don't talk about people as being--he wouldn't
say Irish Americans or Mexican Americans or German Americans. He always
insisted that we say ``Americans of Irish descent,'' ``Americans of
Mexican descent,'' ``Americans of German descent.'' Americans together,
up front. So that's a little bit of wisdom. Just that little expression
showed the wisdom of that man.
It was my honor to join with my two colleagues at the 100th
celebration. Dan and Dave and I, we have a special place in our lives
for this man, Ronald Reagan. And I think that that birthday and that
gathering that we had at the Reagan Library is one of the most
memorable times that I will have, and I am just so grateful that I was
able to share that with you.
I think the Reagan Library is doing a terrific job, and they will
then be able to carry what we are talking about tonight so that younger
people, people 100 years from now, will get a good picture of this man
who saved America
[[Page H533]]
and saved the world from tyranny. Also, the Young America's Foundation
is doing a great job at restoring the Reagan ranch where Reagan spent
so much of his time and got his inspiration, and is implementing some
great educational activities up there.
I, of course, met Ronald Reagan so many years ago when I volunteered
as a youth organizer for his first campaign for Governor. And I was in
Youth for Reagan. I was the L.A. County High School chairman of Youth
for Reagan, although I was a freshman at a junior college at the time.
There had been so much infighting going on--the Republicans almost
enjoy fighting each other as much as they do fighting Democrats and
everybody else. Well, it was true back then as well. And there was so
much infighting going on in the Youth for Reagan, they were going to
eliminate it. I got wind of this, and I had hundreds of kids out
walking precincts. I thought this would be horrible for them. So I
decided I had to talk to Ronald Reagan personally about this.
{time} 1950
And I found out what his address was, and at 2 o'clock in the morning
I hiked up this long driveway in Pacific Palisades up to his house.
They didn't have a guard. Here's the guy, the candidate for Governor,
and nobody is there guarding the gate. And so I camped out on his back
lawn, and the next morning, about 6:30, 7:00, Nancy sticks her head out
there, What are you doing? Who are you?
And I had a little sign that said, ``Mr. Reagan, please speak to
me.'' And I told her I was in the Youth for Reagan and I just needed 2
minutes, just 2 minutes with him, 120 seconds. And she said, Listen, if
he comes out here, he's going to spend 20 minutes with you. He's either
going to miss his breakfast or be late for the rest of the day. I can't
permit that to happen. If you leave right now, I'll get you an
appointment with the campaign manager.
Well, you know, that's the best I was going to get. So I was walking
real slow down that long driveway dragging my sleeping bag. And behind
me I hear, Wait a minute; wait a minute.
And there was Ronald Reagan chasing after me with shaving cream on
his face; his shirt's wide open.
If you can spend the night on my back lawn, I can certainly spend a
few moments with you. Now what's the problem, young man?
And, you know, he never let me down. I knew him for 40 years after
that. He never let me down. He was the same caring, wonderful person.
And as my life went on and I was active in his campaigns, I was with
him for 8 months from in the morning he got up till the time he went to
bed during the '76 campaign, so I knew everything that was going on in
his life. I never heard him say the ``F'' word. I never heard him say,
as the door slammed behind after someone who had been saying bad things
about him, I never heard him say, ``That SOB,'' or anything like that.
Ronald Reagan was centered. He was confident in himself, and he
didn't feel threatened by people who disliked him. His way of doing
things was always, be very strong for the things you believe, very
principled. Be as strong an advocate as you can, but be very nice to
people. Be very nice to people even if they're on the other side of the
table arguing another case.
Mr. DREIER. If I could reclaim my time and just interject one little
story here as we have a discussion here. I'm reminded that one of his
domestic policy advisors, Professor Roger Porter from Harvard, had told
me that he remembered sitting in the Oval Office with President Reagan,
and a group came in and began just maligning and ripping him up one
side and down the other. And the President just sat there patiently--
and obviously he was on the opposite side of where they were--and they
left.
And Professor Porter looked to him and he said, Gosh. He said, Why in
the world, Mr. President, would you not respond to those people? I
mean, they were so horrible to you.
And President Reagan looked to him and said, Well, you know, I can't
control how other people act. I can only control how I act.
And that was his response to that kind of attack.
And I am happy to further yield to my friend.
Mr. ROHRABACHER. And I think that that kindness and his personality
is what was dictating how he would act.
So I went on after that, and I was a freshman in college when he was
running in '66. By the time his administration was over, I was a
journalist. I was actually a reporter in Los Angeles. I'd graduated
from college.
And anyway, I was someone who was well known as going to the heart of
the matter and asking the toughest question at all the press
conferences, and he was now Governor, finishing up his last couple of
years as Governor of the State. And I remember a press conference that
I covered with Ronald Reagan. Dan Lungren would appreciate this because
it was his commission on crime, and he was going to make this big
announcement as to what his commission on crime was recommending.
And I got up and of course wanted to ask the toughest question, and
the question was: Governor, you suggested, and many times have
suggested in your speeches, that you are a Christian and that this is
an important value to you; you base many of your judgments on your
faith. How can you justify in Christian theology that you are taking
someone, as the commission is suggesting that we expand the use of the
death penalty, and that we take someone who is not at that moment a
threat to another human being and is in custody and take that person's
life? Isn't that contradictory to your Christian beliefs?
And Reagan, you could see that he really took it so seriously, and he
just said, I've prayed about that so many times. I cannot tell you how
much thought and prayer has gone into that very issue, and I sought
religious help from people and guidance from various spiritual leaders,
and I came to the conclusion, well, Dana, I came to the conclusion that
if you're killing someone for vengeance, that is not consistent with
what Jesus Christ has taught us. But if you realize you're taking that
life to save the life of another because other murderers will be
deterred from killing innocent victims, well, that's totally
consistent.
And I tell you, my view of Ronald Reagan and my admiration for that
man went right through the roof.
Well, what happened then, Evelle Younger, who was Attorney General of
the State, grabs the microphone and says, Morality and religion have
nothing to do with this. The people voted for the death penalty and
they're going to get it.
Yeah, my opinion of Reagan was that high. And I would just note
Evelle Younger ran for Governor and lost.
Well, this was the type of Ronald Reagan that I got to know, very
principled person.
In '76, a year after that press conference, he ran for President. And
I was about the only Republican that he could find in the press corps
to hire as Lynn Nofsinger's Assistant Press Secretary, and I traveled
with him, as I say, through '76 and '80 and then went to the White
House with him after that.
And let me just note that when Ronald Reagan went to the White House,
it has been again described so many times that our country was in such
jeopardy. Freedom was in retreat. The Soviet Union was in the
ascendancy. Tyranny, many of us felt in the late '70s that our country
would lose the Cold War and that the world would be dominated by this
Marxist, Leninist, totalitarian ideology. And of course our economy was
near collapse and heading towards disaster.
Ronald Reagan, when he was a young person, was a lifeguard. He saved
77 lives. That was such a part of a self-image of being someone who was
going to save the day. And I saw that at work. I saw that at work in
the tough decisions.
And by the way, let me just note, I disagree with Jim Baker. I didn't
see the bipartisanship that Jim Baker talked about. Maybe he did. But
when I worked in the White House with Ronald Reagan, because I went
with him there after he won the 1980 campaign, and I was one of his
five principal speech writers for 7 years. All I noticed was at that
stand right over there the Democrats, over and over again, from this
body and from the Senate would do everything they could to defile and
[[Page H534]]
to make it sound like Ronald Reagan was a warmonger because he wanted
to make sure that the Soviets were not encouraged to go on further and
expand their weapons by us freezing them into a position of
superiority.
Mr. DREIER. If I could reclaim my time, I would just say to my
friend, obviously that kind of partisan debate takes place regularly.
But I think that what Secretary Baker was talking about was, first, the
issue of Social Security, where President Reagan did work with Tip
O'Neill to try and bring about an effort to save Social Security. In
1986, President Reagan worked with the then chairman of the Ways and
Means Committee, Dan Rostenkowsi, on the 1986 Tax Reform Act.
And so it's true. I mean, in fact, I thank my friend for raising this
issue, because the sense that somehow everyone at the end of the day
loved each other during that period of the 1980s is a
mischaracterization of the way it existed. But President Reagan, as
Secretary Baker pointed out, did at the end of the day, when it came to
these important issues of economic growth dealing with Social Security,
and even on the issue of foreign policy and dealing with both
Afghanistan and Central America, while not all Democrats joined, there
were more than a few who, with his encouragement, did this. Because
remember, were it not for bipartisan support, these policies would not
have been implemented because we had 192 Republicans in the House of
Representatives and were, in fact, in the minority.
So I am happy to further yield to my friend.
{time} 2000
Mr. ROHRABACHER. I will have to admit, even some of the people who
were most guilty of not being bipartisan have suggested that it was
bipartisanship that ended the Cold War. But your examples that you have
given with the Social Security, for example, people don't know that had
we not been working together and had Ronald Reagan not been there to
provide the leadership, Social Security would have been bankrupt by now
easily. But I saw these majors events from inside the White House and
watched him.
One note: I was there probably at the low point of the White House.
That day was the day that 240 marines were blown to hell in Beirut. I
remember my brother's best friend was the first name on that list of
people who were killed.
Ronald Reagan felt that it was his worst mistake that he ever made,
was sending those marines in there. When his advisers suggested to him
that now is the time we've got to prove we're tough. Send in a whole
marine division to make sure we kick those guys' butts who killed our
people to prove they can't do this and get away with it. Ronald Reagan
was wise enough not to go for vengeance, but instead to use his head
and to do what was the right policy that would not put us in jeopardy
and put us in a quagmire.
Ronald Reagan said, ``No. We are going to get our butts out of
there'' and had he not done that and sent in 20,000 American troops, we
would have been on the defensive for the rest of his administration.
Instead, he reached out and found elements around the world who were
fighting communist dictatorship, they called it the Reagan Doctrine,
and he let the enemy of our enemies do the fighting. That was the
Reagan Doctrine. That's what succeeded in Afghanistan and elsewhere. It
drained the budget of the Soviet Union, and it collapsed.
One last story that I would like to tell, and that is, so many people
who have tried to belittle President Reagan have tried to make him
look--how many times have I heard this, Well, he's just an actor and
he's just reading scripts. You guys are great script writers. First of
all, let me note, I never wrote a speech for anybody until Ronald
Reagan taught me how to write a speech.
We had a saying at the White House: If this guy wasn't President,
he's a good enough writer to be the President's speechwriter. That's
number one. But Ronald Reagan was not just reading lines and not just
reading scripts, number one. It was his vision of the world we had to
capture. But, more importantly, he was making very tough policy
statements that would not have been made by other Presidents, and the
best example of this is the Berlin Wall speech. As we noted at the
100th birthday, there is a chunk of the Berlin Wall, and the Soviet
Union has disintegrated. And now in Russia, by the way, the churches
are filled with people in Russia today. Back in those days, Christians
and other people who believed in God were being repressed with all the
other freedoms.
But Ronald Reagan was going to go to Berlin, and the speechwriters
knew that the senior staff would do everything they could not to permit
Ronald Reagan to say what he needed to say, which is, Tear down the
wall. So we had to plan on it, and actually we underhandedly got the
speech to Ronald Reagan. I won't describe the great details it went
through, but it was an avenue that we knew once we used it once would
be closed up to us.
Once Reagan saw the speech, it was, Oh, yes. This is exactly what I
want to say. And then it wasn't the five speechwriters against all
these senior advisers to the President. It was the speechwriters and
the President. And George Schulz came in; and he was with us the other
day, but during that time he was yelling at Ronald Reagan that he was
trying to reignite the Cold War by saying, Tear down the wall. All of
these people who now are very happy with Ronald Reagan and suggest
that, Oh, I was in on it. In this particular case, and many others,
they were telling Reagan not to do these things, especially, Don't say,
Tear down the wall.
I cannot tell you how far it went. Colin Powell actually gave him a
speech and said, All your advisers except for speechwriters want this
speech. And it was the same speech, except ``tear down the wall,'' that
page had been left out. And Reagan was, No. I think I'll use the one
I've got, thank you.
Well, what happens is this: Reagan gets up, and he is courageous. He
is being told not to do this, that this would create new Cold War
animosities on the other side. He knew that this was a message to their
leadership and to the people behind the Iron Curtain that we were
serious about our advocacy of democracy and freedom and peace. He knew
that. And he knew if he didn't say it, it would demoralize all of those
people. It would change history for the worse if he didn't say it. And
he got up there, and he made that strong statement.
The next day, of course, we were all watching to find out exactly
what was going to be the reaction. And I don't know how, but somebody
from the National Security Council had a copy of a verbatim transcript
of Gorbachev's conversation with the senior staff. Now, I have no idea
how we happened to get that into our possession, but Gorbachev was
saying, This guy Reagan, once he gets his teeth into you, he's like a
dog. He'll never let go. And we have got to find a way to bring down
that wall and maintain our dignity. And sure enough, then all those
other guys that we were talking about who fought this speech, and they
did everything they could to get him not to say it, then they started
claiming they had written the speech and they were for it all along of
course.
Well, the one great thing about Ronald Reagan, he had it right on his
desk, and it was, There is no limit to what a person can achieve if he
doesn't care who gets the credit. Reagan wasn't looking for credit for
the end of the war. He was looking to do great things for America. And
I will tell you, he inspired all of us.
Do I have time for one more Reagan story?
Mr. DREIER. One more Reagan story. We want to hear from our two
colleagues.
Mr. ROHRABACHER. Everyone knows Ronald Reagan the politician. We can
go on with all these lists of speeches and the bills and things, but I
think the day I remember the most about Ronald Reagan was in North
Carolina.
In 1976, Reagan was running and I was the assistant press secretary.
And here he had probably 5,000, 10,000 people in this parking lot for a
rally, and this lady comes up to me and says, You're with Governor
Reagan? And I said, Yes, I am. She said, I have seven blind children
here, and they can't get through the crowd. And I wonder if maybe after
the speech we can bring them over here and Governor Reagan could shake
hands with them. And I said, Let me clear it. Let me find out.
So I went behind the podium there with Mike Deaver. I said, Mike,
there's
[[Page H535]]
a lady here; she's got these blind children and they can't get through
the crowd. They would really like to shake hands with Governor Reagan.
And Reagan was two steps behind us. He hears me and he jumps right in
between us and he says, Of course we're going to say hello to those
children. But, Dana, we don't want this to be a press event. And you
get all the reporters in the buses, and I'll come right over here and
spend a couple minutes with those children.
So, sure enough, the reporters head to the buses, and the kids are
brought back there behind the podium. And there's Reagan and he is
talking to them. They are about 7, 8 years old. And this is the sense
of this man. He says, You know, I know that you can't see me. But maybe
you would like to touch my face so you can get a sense about who I am
and what I look like. And of course they did.
Now, imagine this: there's Ronald Reagan, a candidate for President,
with seven of these little kids, beautiful little kids touching his
face. There is not a politician in the world that would not give
millions of dollars to have a picture of that. They would be on the
cover of all the magazines, and Reagan knew that. But he didn't want
anyone, he didn't want those kids or anyone to think that he was
exploiting blind children. And it's like us today. We've got to get a
sense or feel about this man and who he really was. And I hope that the
Reagan Library and what they are doing with the Young America's
Foundation up at the ranch will help future generations get a good feel
for this wonderful person.
Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend very much for his very
thoughtful contributions. And his last two stories remind me very
vividly of the fact that Ronald Reagan was in charge, whether it was
ensuring that he penned the: ``Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall,'' or
whether he jumped forward and said, Of course I'm going to meet with
those young people. And it brought to mind that famous ``Saturday Night
Live'' skit where you may recall where you saw Reagan come out. The
perception of him was, as my friend said earlier, that he wasn't in
charge and that he was scripted by everyone else but himself. What they
did in the skit was he came out and he met with some young children and
he shook hands with them and said, How are you doing? And was perceived
as this guy who was a long way from being in charge. Then the moment
they left, he went back and he said, Okay, fellas, let's get to work
here now. So behind the curtain he was doing that. When, in fact, we do
know that Ronald Reagan was in charge as he dealt with foreign policy
and domestic policy as well.
And I'm very happy that we are joined by my colleague who came to the
Congress during the last 2 years of the Reagan administration. He came
here in 1986 and I know was inspired by President Reagan. He is a very,
very thoughtful, hardworking member of the Ways and Means Committee and
a subcommittee chairman. I am happy to recognize him at this time, my
friend, Mr. Herger.
{time} 2010
Mr. HERGER. I want to thank my good friend from California (Mr.
Dreier). Particularly, I want to thank my good friend for leading us in
this incredibly special, special time to remember an individual who, as
we have heard from the speakers before me, individuals like Mr. Dreier
who actually spent a lot of time with President Reagan, sharing with us
the incredible person, an inspiration, that our 40th President, who we
are celebrating this week the 100th anniversary of his birth, is to
each of us.
As the gentleman mentioned, I did have the privilege of serving for
his last 2 years as President, 1987 and 1988. But I think about what
President Reagan meant to me, and when I think about what he meant to
me, I know as I have listened to these speakers before me what he meant
to so many of us in our Nation and the world today.
My friend Mr. Dreier mentioned in his early remarks what the country
was like in 1980 when Ronald Reagan ran for President. We think what it
is like today. We have over 9 percent unemployment. We have very low
inflation. But in 1980, when President Reagan was running, we had not 9
percent unemployment, but 12 percent unemployment. We had something
that we haven't had since the early days of President Reagan's
administration, and that was inflation, inflation that was running 13
percent.
As a small businessman then, I remember what it was like. You did not
know what to price your products at because you didn't know what you
were going to be buying them for again, and it was an unbelievably
challenging time. Plus, as a small businessperson, we had a prime
interest rate that was 21.5 percent. We had home mortgages that were
hitting 16 percent.
Now, those of us who can remember back at that time, talk about
challenging times, those were challenging times. And to have someone
who was the type of inspiration that Ronald Reagan was, who literally
exemplified everything he believed, and we heard so much from our
speakers before me, but to Ronald Reagan it was morning in America. He
believed. He not only had confidence in himself, he had even more
confidence in our Nation. He had confidence in those of us who were
small business people, who were Americans. As was mentioned, it didn't
matter whether you were immigrants, like my grandparents were from
Switzerland, you were an American. He had not only confidence in this,
but he could emulate this to all of those around us.
It was interesting, because back about 10 years ago in a Republican
Conference of fellow Republicans in Congress, someone asked a question,
who among us, and there were, I don't know, about 150 or so, who among
us were inspired by Ronald Reagan to run originally. And over half of
us raised our hands. As a matter of fact, it was about three-quarters
of us. It was Ronald Reagan who inspired us to leave our positions as a
small businessman, as a family rancher or dairy person to run for
office. So we see it today. We see those who ran this last time, a very
similar time.
But God bless Ronald Reagan. God bless all that he inspired us with.
And, Mr. Dreier, I want to thank you for leading us. This is one of
the greatest times of my life, to be able to participate along with you
and Mr. Lungren and Mr. Rohrabacher and others in remembering someone
who I believe is one of the very greatest Americans ever to live,
Ronald Reagan. Thank you.
Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend very much for his
thoughtful remarks. I want to assure him that it didn't begin or end
this evening, but we are in an entire year's celebration. In fact,
tomorrow evening, our colleague who represents the Ronald Reagan
Library, Elton Gallegly, is going to be taking an hour out and talking
about him as well.
To close out this evening, we are very pleased to have the newest
Member who is here on the House floor, who has already become a
veteran, one of the great champions of the conservative cause in our
State of California, my good friend, Mr. McClintock.
Mr. McCLINTOCK. I thank my friend for yielding, and I want to
continue where my friend from California (Mr. Herger) left off, talking
about what kind of times brought Ronald Reagan here to Washington.
We are told today that we face the worst economy since the Great
Depression. There are a lot of us that remember an even worse time,
when we did have double-digit unemployment and double-digit inflation
and mile-long lines around gas stations and interest rates that
exceeded 20 percent. And, by the way, when we hear that our world is
growing more dangerous by the day, I remember when an American Embassy
could be seized with impunity, when an aggressive and expanding Soviet
Union daily challenged American interests around the world, when
communism went unchallenged in the Western Hemisphere, when the
American military had been so badly weakened it couldn't even launch a
successful rescue mission.
Perhaps we don't remember those days as vividly because they didn't
last very long. At that dark hour in our Nation's history, the American
people turned to Ronald Reagan, who diagnosed our country's problems
very accurately. In this crisis, he said, government is not the
solution to our problems; government is the problem. He said the Soviet
Union is indeed an evil empire, and it was time, he said, that
[[Page H536]]
America stopped apologizing for its interests and started asserting
them.
At the time, the American left excoriated Reagan. They warned his
policies would lead the Nation to starvation and the world to
conflagration. Instead, we enjoyed a period of American prosperity and
world influence that was best described with the words ``morning again
in America.'' He reduced the tax and regulatory burdens that were
crushing America's economy. He reduced government spending as a
percentage of GDP. He restored America's military strength and
reasserted American interests around the world. He stopped apologizing
for America's greatness and started celebrating it.
It was recalled earlier that in his farewell address Reagan
attributed his success not to being a great communicator, but to the
fact he was communicating great ideas, the self-evident truths of the
American founding. He did one other thing. He restored those self-
evident truths as the foundation of our domestic and foreign policy,
and as a result our Nation prospered and the world enjoyed a rebirth of
freedom.
Unfortunately, Reagan's successors gradually abandoned his policies
and Americans gradually let loose of those self-evident truths that
inspired and animated those policies. But now as our Nation endures
prolonged economic distress at home and increasing strife abroad,
Americans are beginning to realize that our Nation hasn't been struck
down by some mysterious act of God. What has happened to our country is
because of specific acts of government, and, as Reagan knew, acts of
government are fully within our power to change.
Reagan charted the road back. Our Nation followed him down that road
and we discovered that, yes, it does indeed lead to a shining city on a
hill. As we remember Ronald Reagan, all that he was and all that he
stood for, let's also remember what he did and where he led us. It
isn't too late to return to those policies and get back on that road.
Mr. Speaker, I want my children to know what morning again in America
actually feels like. I want them to know the optimism that America's
best days are yet ahead, and to know the pride and confidence of
American exceptionalism. On this centennial of Ronald Reagan's birth,
let's not just remember him; let's follow his example and get our
Nation back on the road to freedom. And let those looking back on our
generation say that just when it began to appear that our Nation had
forgotten Ronald Reagan and squandered its wealth and abandoned its
destiny and forsaken its founding principles, that this generation of
Americans rediscovered, restored and revived the memory of Ronald
Reagan and the promise of the American founding, and that from that
moment in time, America began her next great era of expansion,
prosperity and influence.
{time} 2020
Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend for his very thoughtful
contribution and his dedication to the Reagan cause. As we think about
where we are today, I said at the library the other night that I was
privileged to be part of the Reagan revolution, having been elected
with President Reagan in 1980. But thanks to the 87 newly elected
Members who have joined us, I said what a privilege it is to be a part
of the Reagan revolution, because I think that it does continue.
If we look at just foreign policy, again, the fact is that Ronald
Reagan, in a very famous speech that he delivered in the early 1980s at
Westminster talked about the need to develop the infrastructure, foster
the infrastructure of democracy around the world. And he established
the National Endowment for Democracy, which has made great strides in
expanding the rule of law, political pluralism, the development of
self-determination of democratic institutions around the world. And
this is a war of ideas that will continue to this very day. It is a war
of ideas that consists of that struggle. It's peace and prosperity
through freedom and democracy versus oppression and poverty bred of
violence and hatred.
And I believe that we can, in fact, win this war of ideas if we do
get back to the core principles of Ronald Reagan. And, as I said, Mr.
Speaker, the museum has reopened, and I want to encourage our
colleagues to take the opportunity to visit this amazing, amazing
facility, which I know will bring back memories for every single
American who was alive during the Reagan years, and it clearly will be
a model for future generations.
General Leave
Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may
have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from California?
There was no objection.
____________________