Ronald Reagan 1911-2004

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I’d like to take a moment to extend my condolences to the Reagan family and to all Americans upon learning of the passing of President Ronald Reagan. President Reagan exemplified all that is good about America and was a beacon for freedom for all people everywhere. He was respected and admired by all who pursue true dignity for all men. The world has lost a great man.

May God bless Ronald Reagan!

-- Ed (catholic4444@yahoo.ca), June 05, 2004

Answers

May all the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.

-- Ed (catholic4444@yahoo.ca), June 05, 2004.

I woudl also send my regards to this occassion.

-- ZAROVE (ZAROFF3@JUNO.COM), June 05, 2004.

May he rest in peace

-- Sara (sara_catholic_forum@yahoo.co.uk), June 05, 2004.

He was a wonderful president (maybe the greatest in my 50 years of life). He had a wonderful sense of humour and could laugh at himself, and we are told by the leaders of his day that he was probably the most influential in the fall of communism. Pretty impressive legacy. I know he is now is in the 'city on the hill' he talked about so often.

US Citizens should put their flags out this week.

-- Bill Nelson (bnelson45-nospam@hotmail.com), June 05, 2004.


One of this country's greatest leaders. Someone I truly admired. God bless him.

-- Gabo Gaviria (jkcap@hotmail.com), June 06, 2004.


I don't think he was a good president, but now is not the time for that discussion. Don't like to speak ill of the dead. God bless.

-- Anti-bush (Comrade_bleh@hotmail.com), June 06, 2004.

May he rest in peace. I also pray for his widow, the love of his life, Nancy Reagan.

BTW, I thought he was a great President and a great humintarian..

I agree, I do hope that all Americans display the American Flag this week to honor Ronald Reagan and in honor of D-Day. Let us never forget our WWII veterans. They deserve to be honored and remembered always - if it wasn't for their sacrifices who knows where the world would be today? That includes Italy and France - may they always remember!

God Bless America and God Bless all of those who served - especially our former President - Ronald Reagan!

-- MaryLu (mlc327@juno.com), June 06, 2004.


I’ve deleted the five previous posts in this thread. This isn’t a thread to argue the pluses and minuses of the Reagan legacy. A nation mourns the loss of a leader. Let’s be sensitive to the present situation, to the feelings of many Americans right now. Let's save the political science debate for another day and perhaps another forum created for such purposes.

Moderator

-- Ed (catholic4444@yahoo.ca), June 07, 2004.


Ronald Wilson Reagan was our president during the last stage of the Cold War...when he entered office there was high inflation, high unemployment, a sense of national "malaise", loss of a sense of national purpose, guilt and fatalism.

The West looked intellectually and morally inferior to the ascendent East and Communism which was advancing around the globe - Afganistan, Africa, and Central America were all being pulled into Soviet republics and civil wars...Europe was practically begging for unilateral disarmament and surrender to the Soviets as the only "way" to peace.

Economically, militarily, and culturally it looked like we were on the way out. Then Reagan hit the scene and with grace turned things around. Most people don't remember but virtually throughout his presidency Congress wasn't controlled by Republicans! All that he achieved had to be passed over the lively opposition of Tim O'neal and Democrats.

Of course he wasn't perfect. Of course he made mistakes (who doesn't?). Of course he made enemies. But the economy turned around, as did our national pride and sense of purpose.

Most young people today don't understand what it was like living in the cold war - when armageddon was only 30 minutes away. The USSR looked like it would last forever. Intellectuals in the West kept carrying water for Marxism "the historically inevitable" economic/political system that was certainly gaining more followers at the time.

Then Reagan called for an arms build up. Branded a stupid cow-boy war- monger, many people considered him to be the single greatest threat to world peace (understood as the status quo).

From 1981 to 1984 he deployed the Pershing II and Cruise missiles to Europe...but then by 1987 dismantled them all, winning a major concession from the Soviet's who likewise dismantled their INF missiles, thereby actually getting rid of those nuclear weapons! 4 years alter we finally had peace with the USSR which had ceased to exist! Far from actually provoking war, he hastened the onset of peace.

Few people recall that prior to Reagan there was no conservative political party or movement. The pro-life and pro-family groups had hardly begun to recover from their shock of the 1960's and 70's. Many simply didn't exist.

He presided over the rise of American conservativism and re-birth of the Republican party as a party where fundamental human rights were respected. Where formally the GOP was indeed the fat-cat Rockefeller types who were anti-Catholic and anti-labor a fundamental shift occurred during his presidency.

Because of Reagan, classified documents of Nixon's years were revealed showing that PLANNED PARENTHOOD received BILLIONS of US dollars starting in 1972 to promote contraception and abortion abroad and domestically...what the Pro-Life movement only suspected was proven: they were faced with a ideological opponent that was awash in cash and could outspend them 100 to 1.

Reading his speeches it's amazing how little personal animosity or blame mongering he employed. He was capable of hating Communism as "the evil empire" but of be-friending Gorbechev and geuninely reaching out to him in peace.

A man of deep faith, the visits he shared with the Pope are incredible too - reading the texts of his speeches and those of the Pope are reminders that his belief was as close to Catholicism as we've ever gotten from a President, including JFK.

As for popularity...who can forget his land-slide victory in 1984 when he won 49 states and had the highest percentage of electoral and popular votes? Obviously he did something right to get that kind of lop-sided support.

Today and tomorrow most will read his own words and soft sound bites about him. Then next week the barbs will start again. Perhaps that's fair. But on balance the man - though as imperfect as we all are - did more good than bad, believed more truth than error, and sought to be good and true to conscience and creed than not.

I don't know of any other politician of his stature and grace. May he not be the last. God bless Ronald Reagan and God bless America.



-- Joe (joestong@yahoo.com), June 07, 2004.


 

Pope, Vatican Mourn Reagan

Bern, Jun. 07 (CWNews.com) - Joaquin Navarro-Valls, the director of the Vatican press office, told reporters on June 5 that Pope John Paul had learned "with sorrow" about the death of former US President Ronald Reagan.

A statement released by the Vatican after President's death saluted "the contributions of President Reagan, who influenced the lives of millions of people, especially in Europe, but also in his own country." Navarro-Valls added that the Pope was praying for the deceased American-- with whom he had reportedly enjoyed a particularly warm personal rapport. The papal spokesman also reminded reporters that during his exchange of greetings with current US President George W. Bush the previous day, the Holy Father had sent his regards to Mrs. Reagan, recognizing that the former President was gravely ill.

Vatican officials, who were accompanying the Pope on a weekend trip to Switzerland when the news of the President's death arrived, pointed out that it was during the Reagan Administration that the US first established full diplomatic relations with the Holy See. They also pointed to the late President's enormous influence on recent European history, and especially the end of the Cold War. Vatican officials pointed to Reagan's characterization of the Soviet Union as an "evil empire," and his memorable challenge to Russian leader Mikhail Gorbachev, issued in Berlin, to "tear down this wall." Navarro-Valls announced that the Holy See, as well as the US bishops' conference, would send a representative to the state funeral for Reagan in Washington.



-- Bill Nelson (bnelson45-nospam@hotmail.com), June 07, 2004.


In March 30, 1981, I turned on the TV after coming from school. I saw the assassination of President Reagan. I felt sad for him.

For the first time in my life I prayed for someone whose views were not shared by me. I prayed to God to help him get through his surgery.

He did. Interesting article:

God and Reagan He succeeded in breaking the ice with the Soviets after early on calling them the evil empire. By breaking the Ice of the Cold War, it made it possible for M. Gorbachev to implement more policies of openess in the Soviet Union. It that I give credit to Reagan and Gorbachev.

But I credit Bush Sr. with helping Gorbachev get rid of communism in 1991 together with Boris Yeltsin. But in my opinion, the Pope was the first to brak the ice when he visited his homeland in 1979. This created the Solidarity Union in Poland.

A short time later, the Pope also was shot. This moved the two men closer, even though Reagan was a Protestant, originally from the disciples of Christ. He was also divorced. Pope's assassination Attempt-1981

On the economy, I decide to quote a neoconservative, who at least admits some truths about Reagan's economic policies.

I believe most neoconservatives credit Reagan with a lot of economic successes. In my honest opinion, W. J. Clinton, a Democrat, was the first president to actually create not only a robust economy, but the first to balance the budget.

Reaga n VS Clinton Dinesh D'Souza

On a positive note: I liked Reagan's optimism.

Even in bad times he had a joke, like after getting shot: honey, I forgot to duck.

Also, he signed into law the Immigration Law of 1986. I was able to get my immigration card through this Law and be in this country legally.

The Christian Yahwist

The Man of Yahweh

-- Elpidio Gonzalez (egonval@yahoo.com), June 07, 2004.


This thread wasn’t started with the idea it would be a “politics-free” zone. After all Mr. Reagan was the President of the United States. It was started as a tribute to a man who stepped up and contributed what he could to make the world better. Some may disagree with how successful he was, but that is not the issue here. This thread is a tribute to a world leader who has passed on. Today, our friends in the United States are in mourning and compassion and understanding, not criticism, should be the order of the day.

While the lives of public politicians are permitted topics of discussion in this forum normally, in this particular case, debate in this thread is not considered to be in good taste in my opinion. You are correct in your perception that “nothing negative about Reagan is allowed” - but only in this thread, and only for a few weeks until the events of this week have passed. If you feel strongly about debating Mr. Reagan’s Christian values and the mark he left in this regard, I have no objection, but I would ask that you do it in a few weeks or so out of consideration and respect for those who mourn his recent passing.

Moderator

-- Ed (catholic4444@yahoo.ca), June 07, 2004.


Joker,

I also dislike Reagan, but I have the maturity to know the time and the place for that debate. It's not here or now. Like I said before, it's not good to speak ill of the dead.

-- Anti-bush (Comrade_bleh@hotmail.com), June 07, 2004.


Also from me:

May RR rest in peace !!

Salut & Cheers from a NON BELIEVER:

-- Laurent LUG (.@...), June 07, 2004.


Lifted from NRO.com this morning; shame on me.

''This Mother Teresa/Reagan story comes from Dinesh D'Souza:
[An assassination attempt] ''infused Reagan with a sense of mortality and mission. He was convinced when he returned from the hospital that he had a limited amount of time to achieve his ambitious agenda. Yet his goals were not only political but also personal. With Cardinal Cooke, who came to visit him, Reagan struck a spiritual note: "I have decided that whatever time I have left is for Him."

The late Mother Teresa, who visited the White House that June, told Reagan, "You have suffered the passion of the cross and have received grace. There is a purpose to this. Because of your suffering and pain you will now understand the suffering and pain of the world. This has happened to you at this time because your country and the world needs you." Reagan was speechless. Nancy Reagan wept.''

-- eugene c. chavez (loschavez@pacbell.net), June 08, 2004.



The Ronald Reagan Presidential Library has a condolence book online, if you would like to leave some words for prosperity. Your message will be shared with Mrs. Reagan and the Reagan family. (link is at the bottom of their home page):

http://www.ronaldreaganmem orial.com

“Whatever else history may say about me when I’m gone, I hope it will record that I appealed to your best hopes, not your worst fears; to your confidence rather than your doubts. My dream is that you will travel the road ahead with liberty’s lamp guiding your steps and opportunity’s arm steadying your way.”



-- Bill Nelson (bnelson45-nospam@Hotmail.com), June 09, 2004.


''Few remember any more that 1979 and 1980 were the nation’s worst economic years since the Great Depression. Reagan saved America from Jimmy Carter economics: ''He brought inflation down from 13.5 to 4.1 percent; unemployment, from 9.5 to 5.2 percent; the federal discount rate, from 14 to 6.5 percent; Under Reagan, the number of jobs increased by almost 20 million; median family income rose every year from 1982 to 1989. It was the greatest peacetime expansion in American history.'' --Brent Bozell

Bozell (faithful Catholic) speaks the truth; and there's just one fact we ought to realize. Reagan accomplished almost everything during his terms as our President despite large DEMOCRAT majorities in both houses of Congress; he was left with only token help from his own party as he made his marks on the free world and our own society.

And this was during such an era of disgraceful societal ills; the ''sexual revolution'' for liberated women, so-called, to spread Herpes and worst to a willing American public. They were ordinary girls and not just prostitutes. About half of them are still living out of wedlock today, with who knows how many offspring? Not to mention aborted babies? AIDS and gay ''pride'' became household words, and society embraced pornography. Bastard was no longer politically correct. The term ''Love Child'' got foisted on us in soaps, media and movies. Nor was adultress or whore. These became 'Porn Queens, and Sex Kittens.''

Reagan was almost the lone representative of our mainstream values and what Americans really stand for. He gave it all he had; always fighting against the current. By comparison with this, a wall in Berlin shrinks into insignificance, in my opinion at least.

God will surely look upon him soon with mercy. Because we see him from here as a person who LOVED us; loved his neighbor. Jesus has told us, ''Because [he] loved much, much will be forgiven.''

-- eugene c. chavez (loschavez@pacbell.net), June 09, 2004.


From his farewell address:

Finally, there is a great tradition of warnings in presidential farewells, and I've got one that's been on my mind for some time. But oddly enough it starts with one of the things I'm proudest of in the past eight years: the resurgence of national pride that I called the new patriotism. This national feeling is good, but it won't count for much, and it won't last unless it's grounded in thoughtfulness and knowledge.

An informed patriotism is what we want. And are we doing a good enough job teaching our children what America is and what she represents in the long history of the world? Those of us who are over thirty-five or so years of age grew up in a different America. We were taught, very directly, what it means to be an American. And we absorbed, almost in the air, a love of country and an appreciation of its institutions. If you didn't get these things from your family, you got them from the neighborhood, from the father down the street who fought in Korea of the family who lost someone at Anzio. Or you could get a sense of patriotism from school. And if all else failed, you could get a sense of patriotism from the popular culture. The movies celebrated democratic values and implicitly reinforced the idea that America was special. TV was like that, too, through the midsixties.

But now, we're about to enter the nineties, and some things have changed. Younger parents aren't sure that an unambivalent appreciation of America is the right thing to teach modern children. And as for those who create the popular culture, well-grounded patriotism is no longer the style. Our spirit is back, but we haven't reinstitutionalized it. We've got to do a better job of getting across that America is freedom - freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of enterprise. And freedom is special and rate. It's fragile; it needs production [protection].

So, we've got to teach history based not on what's in fashion but what's important: Why the Pilgrims came here, who Jimmy Doolittle was, and what those thirty seconds over Tokyo meant. You know, four years ago on the fortieth anniversary of D day, I read a letter from a young woman writing of her late father, who'd fought on Omaha Beach. Her name was Lisa Zanatta Henn, and she said, "we will always remember, we will never forget what the boys of Normandy did." Well, let's help her keep her word. If we forget what we did, we won't know who we are. I'm warning of an eradication of the American memory that could result, ultimately, in an erosion of the American spirit. Let's start with some basics: more attention to American history and a greater emphasis on civic ritual. And let me offer lesson number one about America: All great change in America begins at the dinner table. So, tomorrow night in the kitchen I hope the talking begins. And children, if your parents haven't been teaching you what it means to be an American, let 'em know and nail 'em on it. That would be a very American thing to do.

And that's about all I have to say tonight. Except for one thing. The past few days when I've been at that window upstairs, I've thought a bit of the "shining city upon a hill." The phrase comes from John Winthrop, who wrote it to describe the America he imagined. What he imagined was important because he was an early Pilgrim, an early freedom man. He journeyed here on what today we'd call a little wooden boat; and like the other Pilgrims, he was looking for a home that would be free.

I've spoken of the shining city all my political life, but I don't know if I ever quite communicated what I saw when I said it. But in my mind it was a tall proud city built on rocks stronger than oceans, wind-swept, God-blessed, and teeming with people of all kinds living in harmony and peace, a city with free ports that hummed with commerce and creativity, and if there had to be city walls, the walls had doors and the doors were open to anyone with the will and the heart to get here. That's how I saw it, and see it still.

And how stand the city on this winter night? More prosperous, more secure, and happier than it was eight years ago. But more than that; after two hundred years, two centuries, she still stands strong and true on the granite ridge, and her glow has held steady no matter what storm. And she's still a beacon, still a magnet for all who must have freedom, for all the pilgrims from all the lost places who are hurtling through the darkness, toward home.

We've done our part. And as I walk off into the city streets, a final word to the men and women of the Reagan revolution, the men and women across America who for eight years did the work that brought America back. My friends: We did it. We weren't just marking time. We made a difference. We made the city stronger. We made the city freer, and we left her in good hands. All in all, not bad, not bad at all.

And so, good-bye, God bless you, and God bless the United States of America.



-- Bill Nelson (bnelson45-nospam@hotmail.com), June 09, 2004.

PAPAL TELEGRAM FOR DEATH OF PRESIDENT RONALD REAGAN

VATICAN CITY, JUN 8, 2004 (VIS) - The following telegram was sent by Pope John Paul II to Nancy Reagan, the widow of the 40th president of the United States, Ronald Reagan, who died June 5 at the age of 93 at his home in California:

"Having learned with sadness of the death of President Reagan, I offer you and your family my heartfelt condolences and the assurance of my prayers for his eternal rest. I recall with deep gratitude the late president's unwavering commitment to the service of the nation and to the cause of freedom as well as his abiding faith in the human and spiritual values which ensure a future of solidarity, justice and peace in our world. Together with your family and the American people I commend his noble soul to the merciful love of God our Heavenly Father and cordially invoke upon all who mourn his passing the divine blessings of consolation, strength and peace."



-- Bill Nelson (bnelson45-nospam@hotmail.com), June 10, 2004.


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