[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 9]
[House]
[Page 11751]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                    HONORING PRESIDENT RONALD REAGAN

  (Mr. SMITH of Michigan asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. SMITH of Michigan. Mr. Speaker, I was farming and in the Michigan 
legislature when Ronald Reagan took office. With President Reagan, he 
not only led the country but restored America's confidence. He renewed 
our sense of America's goodness and America's greatness. And with that 
assurance, the American people achieved great things.
  When Ronald Reagan came into office, we had Watergate, defeat in 
Vietnam, we surrendered control over the Panama Canal. Vietnam fell to 
Communism and Cambodia soon followed. The Sandinistas took control of 
Nicaragua. The Ayatollah Khomenini held 52 American hostages for more 
than a year at our embassy in Tehran.
  Inflation stood at 13.5 percent and interest rates reached 21 
percent. People in America had lost their optimism and pride in our 
country, and it was Ronald Reagan that brought us back. It was Ronald 
Reagan who turned it around. He never lost faith in the American 
people, and he had enough optimism to restore our lost confidence and 
get America back on its feet.
  That is what impressed me so much in those days, that tremendous 
turn-around from so many being down to being proud again of America. He 
believed that we could cut taxes and restore our economy, and we did. 
By the end of his term, the U.S. economy had grown by a third.
  He believed we could stand up proudly for American values around the 
world and stand up to the Soviet Union, and we did. It was President 
Reagan's resolve that halted the march of Communism in Central America 
and Afghanistan. It was Reagan's resolve that nurtured the Solidarity 
movement in Poland, and gave heart to the dissidents of the Soviet 
Bloc.
  Ultimately, it was President Reagan's faith in American ideals and 
his steadfast determination that led to the fall of the Berlin Wall and 
the liberation of Eastern Europe.
  In conclusion, Mr. Speaker, it was that leadership and vision for 
America that made Ronald Reagan special. And now the country mourns and 
the world remembers in the death of a great world leader.

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