[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 1]
[House]
[Pages 1328-1335]
[From the U.S. 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

[[Page 1329]]

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 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 his 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.

[[Page 1330]]

  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 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 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

[[Page 1331]]

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 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

[[Page 1332]]

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 
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 major 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

[[Page 1333]]

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 the 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 Schultz 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 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

[[Page 1334]]

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 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

[[Page 1335]]

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.

                          ____________________