[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 8]
[House]
[Page 11370]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                            THE REAGAN MYTH

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Illinois (Mr. Quigley) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. QUIGLEY. Mr. Speaker, an American President once wrote a letter 
to the Senate majority leader, urging him to raise the debt ceiling.
  The President wrote: ``The full consequences of a default or even the 
serious prospect of default by the United States are impossible to 
predict and awesome to contemplate.
  ``Denigration of the full faith and credit of the United States would 
have substantial effects on the domestic financial markets and on the 
value of the dollar in exchange markets.''
  That President's name was Ronald Reagan, and the year was 1983.
  He closes his letter to Senate Majority Leader Howard Baker, saying: 
``The risks, the costs, the disruptions, and the incalculable damage 
lead me to but one conclusion: The Senate must pass this legislation 
before the Congress adjourns.''
  Watching the House floor 28 years later, you could be forgiven for 
being surprised Reagan would ever say such a thing. That's because the 
Reagan who gets referenced on the floor here is a myth while the Reagan 
who wrote to Howard Baker urging pragmatism was a man.
  The real Ronald Reagan once said: ``All of us have grown up 
accepting, with little question, certain images as accurate portraits 
of public figures--some living, some dead. Seldom, if ever, do we ask 
if the images are true to the original.''
  In the year of his 100th birthday, the Great Communicator might be 
amazed at how far his own image has shifted from the original.
  He'd see his most dedicated followers using his name as justification 
for saying ``no'' to honoring our debts. He'd see his legacy used to 
play chicken with the world's greatest economic engine; but as Reagan 
often quoted John Adams, ``facts are stubborn things.''
  The facts are these: President Reagan raised the debt ceiling 18 
times. He recognized the danger of economic brinkmanship. President 
Reagan took responsibility when the deep tax cuts of 1981 didn't 
produce the promised revenue. He worked with both sides of the aisle to 
find a more sustainable balance. He worked with Tip O'Neill to shore up 
Social Security. He worked with my predecessor Dan Rostenkowski to 
reform the Tax Code and eliminate tax loopholes.
  All of these actions would be condemned as tax increases by the 
purists who follow the image instead of the man. Image worship is a 
bipartisan disease, but we all do ourselves and our Nation a disservice 
by distorting past images to justify present policies.
  As another American President, John F. Kennedy, once put it: ``The 
greatest enemy of the truth is very often not the lie--deliberate, 
contrived and dishonest--but the myth--persistent, persuasive and 
unrealistic.''
  To say I disagreed with President Reagan on a number of issues is an 
understatement, but the more I get to know the myth, the more I like 
the man. President Reagan was not a picture on the wall. He was 
President of the United States for two terms in office, and he did his 
best to fulfill his sworn obligations.
  We in Congress would do well to follow his lead and focus on what we 
can do during our short time in office. Let's truly follow President 
Reagan's example and govern for the future, not a past that never 
existed. Instead of talking to portraits, let's talk to each other.

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