Words to Live By Podcast

It’s the month for celebrating our Moms. As we get older and become parents and grandparents, we realize the great gifts we received from our mothers and President Reagan was no exception. So today’s podcast will focus on the President’s respectful communication on that most wonderful subject: motherhood.

Did you know that Pele visited the White House? Yes, the soccer star Pele was invited to the White House in 1982. Then a year later, President Reagan invited all of the all-star soccer players of Team America in order to promote America’s participation in the World Cup. The US tried to host soccer’s World Cup several times but did not succeed until 1994 when, you might recall, the final was played at the Rose Bowl. Anyway, turns out the White House was a busy place for sporting events in May. So in this podcast, we’ll listen to a few different sets of the President’s remarks while greeting the soccer playing members of Team America, then we’ll catch his remarks observing National Amateur Baseball Month, and finally, at the end of the podcast, we’ll hear when he hosted hockey’s New York Islanders, champs of the National Hockey League.

Today, the subject is the Middle East. And after years of struggling to find peace and end terrorism in that region, Ronald Reagan characterized the challenges by saying, “it was like walking on a tightrope.” From 1982 to 1991, over thirty U.S. and other Western hostages were kidnapped in Lebanon by Hezbollah. Some were killed, some died in captivity, and some were eventually released. Specifically, the year 1983 brought new and complex challenges to President Reagan’s doorstep. In Beirut, Lebanon, our U.S. embassy was destroyed in a suicide car-bomb attack on April 18th when a one-half ton pickup truck laden detonated its load of 2000 pounds of TNT. 63 died, including 17 Americans. Hezbollah and the Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility. It was the deadliest attack on a U.S. diplomatic mission to date, and changed the way the U.S. Department of State secured its resources and executed its missions overseas. Six months later, on October 23rd in Beirut, Shiite suicide bombers exploded a truck near U.S. military barracks at Beirut airport, killing 241 marines. Minutes later, a second bomb killed 58 French paratroopers in their barracks in West Beirut. Then in Kuwait City on December 12, Shiite truck bombers attacked the U.S. embassy and other targets, killing 5 and injuring 80. That’s just the Middle East…the subject of today’s podcast. And we’ll focus on the attack 40 years ago in Beirut.

So, what do you know about Social Security? USA Today reported that President Joe Biden should learn a lesson in leadership from Emmanuel Macron, his counterpart across the pond. The French president has followed through on campaign promises to address pension shortfalls by raising the retirement age to 64 from 62. Guess what? A lot of people don’t like it, and the French have taken to the streets. Yet, Macron isn't deterred by the potential political fallout. He knows it must be done. “One cannot play with the future of the country,” Macron said recently to government ministers. Rather than talk straight with Americans about what must be done to ensure that U.S. entitlement programs such as Social Security and Medicare remain solvent, Biden prefers to play politics. So calling upon Ronald Reagan for wisdom, we’ll listen to two addresses in this podcast on the subject – the first from November 1977 which goes into the history and purpose of Social Security…and in the second half of the podcast, we’ll listen to his speech, six years later, in 1983 after amendments were finally made to save the system.

In today’s podcast, we’re inspired to look back at a speech Reagan delivered in 1987 at the Annual Meeting of the Boards of Governors of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank Group. "Why," you ask? Well due to the recent bank failures of Silvergate Bank, Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank , we thought our listeners would like a closer look. Everyone wants to blame Reagan. Economist Paul Krugman in 2009 claimed that “Reagan Did It.” Yes, he wrote that “the prime villains behind the mess we're in were Reagan and his circle of advisers.” This is perverse thinking by shifting blame from the obvious villains closer at hand. It is disingenuous to ignore the fact that the derivatives scams at the heart of the economic meltdown didn't exist in President Reagan's time. The huge expansion in collateralized mortgage and other debt, the bubble that burst, was the direct result of enabling deregulatory legislation pushed through during the Clinton years. Back in the 1982, 41 years ago, Ronald Reagan's signing off on legislation easing mortgage requirements pales in comparison to the damage wrought fifteen years later by a cabal of powerful Democrats and Republicans who enabled the wave of newfangled financial gimmicks that resulted in the economic collapse. Reagan didn't do it, but Clinton-era Treasury Secretaries Robert Rubin and Lawrence Summers, did. They, along with then-Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan and Republican congressional leaders James Leach and Phil Gramm, blocked any effective regulation of the over-the-counter derivatives that turned into the toxic assets now being paid for with tax dollars. Ok that was one financial crisis…and as another one looms, let’s listen to the President in 1987, who talks about the basics like good management.

As you know, President Reagan was a man of deep faith, and because attending church created a massive security problem for the parishioners and clergy, he chose to stay home. Sometimes he was visited by a local clergyman and occasionally was able to take communion. So at this time of the year when both Easter and Passover are celebrated, we’ll listen to some of the President’s wise words from 1983, 40 years ago. He delivered a radio address on the subject of both Easter and Passover, reflecting on those seeking freedom from oppression across the globe – in East Germany, in Central America…which to our minds, reminds us quite a bit of the current struggle in Ukraine. We think you’ll find this interesting.

A groundbreaking exhibit opened at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library Museum on March 24 entitled Auschwitz: Not long ago. Not far away. No book, or podcast, or history lesson can prepare you for the impact and power this extraordinary collection of artifacts holds. The exhibition brings together more than 700 original objects of great historic and human value; objects which were direct witnesses to the horrors of Auschwitz and the Holocaust. These objects serve as the guiding thread of a rigorous and moving account on the history of the German Nazi camp Auschwitz and its dwellers, both victims and perpetrators. Why such an exhibit at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Museum you ask? In Ronald Reagan’s personal journey, he discovered that life does not proceed by leaps and bounds; rather it unfolds often in the most unlikely ways. His unexpected, eye-opening exposure to top-secret footage during World War II fueled his hatred of oppressive government, antisemitism, and his resolve to protect human freedom.

Let’s look back some 40 years ago when President Reagan spoke to a convention of the National Association of Evangelicals in Florida on March 8, 1983. In that historic speech, he publicly referred to the Soviet Union as an evil empire…actually, for the second time in his career. Do you recall the first time he used the phrase? Answer: the word “evil” in relation to the Soviet Union was first used in a 1982 speech at the British House of Commons.

‘Tis the season of wearin’ the green which means St. Patrick’s day and we just can’t be true representatives of President Reagan’s “Words To Live By” if we don’t celebrate some of his colorful thoughts on this, one of his beloved holidays. Going through our archives, I noticed the wonderful toasts given on various Irish occasions: things like when he would say, “…in the words of our forefathers, may the sun shine warm upon your face, the wind be always at your back, and may God hold you in the hollow of His hand.” Plus of course, he included plenty of jokes about the Irish…as only he could.

Let’s review a bit: recall when Jimmy Carter became President in the late 70s, believing the Soviets were not a threat, he cancelled the B1 Bomber Program and significantly reduced the American defense budget. What that did was to essentially force the US to accept nuclear parity with the Soviet Union. And yes, there was the SALT I Treaty which recognized the Soviet Union as equal in every respect. SALT II was never ratified by Congress; without ratification, both countries, the US and the Soviet Union were still supposed to hold to the terms. Of course, the Soviets ignored them. They invaded Afghanistan and deployed 200 SS20 missiles in East Germany, causing Europe to beg for help. Chancellor of West Germany Helmut Schmidt was frantic because the SS20 was a new kind of missile. All of Europe was within its range which was about 2300 kilometers. The missile had three warheads and it was mobile so it could easily be moved around wherever the Soviets needed. But the president had a better idea, a defensive weapon known as the Strategic Defense Initiative, or SDI, which was rolled out to the American people in a national televised address, 40 years ago this month.

I’ve got a question for you today: what do George Balanchine, Paul “Bear” Bryant and Buckminster Fuller, and Clair Booth Luce have in common? The answer is they were awarded, along with 8 others, the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Ronald Reagan in February 1983. This honor is not to be confused with the Kennedy Center Honors which focuses only on the arts. So what’s special about it? Well, the Presidential Medal of Freedom is the highest civilian award of the United States, along with the Congressional Gold Medal which is, obviously, awarded by Congress. So now…let’s dive in and listen!

CPAC…do you remember what it stands for? It’s an acronym for the Conservative Political Action Conference, kind of a Woodstock for movement conservatives. Always the headliner, Ronald Reagan appeared in January 1974 as Governor of California in CPAC’s inaugural year. To put it in perspective, that’s just a few months before a Richard Nixon would resign in fear of impeachment. That year, in 1974, CPAC attendees heard California Gov. Reagan urge them to remain united, as the Founding Fathers had, and that America’s responsibility as a world leader had been blessed by God. To be honest, this is a consistent theme throughout all his speeches, and today, we’ll focus on 1983.

Everyone loves a good love story, and presidential love stories are no exception. Since we are in the season of Valentine’s Day, the theme of our podcast is the love story between Ronald and Nancy Reagan, specifically his expressive and loving correspondence which began in the 1950 and continued throughout their marriage. Our archives hold an abundance of letters, telegrams and cards from Ronald Reagan to his beloved wife, and a few cards from her. Because, for holidays, birthdays, and anniversaries, he believed that the best gift he could give her was his heartfelt expression of love and appreciation.

So today, let’s talk about cars, Chrysler, Reagan and…a looming recession. 40 years ago this week, President Reagan addressed the Chrysler plant in beautiful downtown Fenton, Missouri to stoke the fires of recovery and encourage the employees to stay the course. Recall that President-elect Ronald Reagan endorsed the government bailout of Chrysler during the campaign, reversing his initial position, but really never changed his fundamental belief that automakers should stand on their own without government backing. Let’s listen to the President in February 1983 when the economy was just starting to turn around. His hosts were Lee Iacocca, Senator Danforth and Governor Kit Bond.

At the time of this writing, the date for President Biden’s 2023 State of the Union address has not been announced, only a general time frame that it will likely be delivered in February or March. In 1983, President Reagan’s State of the Union Address was given on January 25, 1983, at 9:00 p.m. EST, in the chamber of the United States House of Representatives to the 98th United States Congress. So today we’re going back 40 years to 1983. We’ll just listen to a few sections since this is quite a lengthy address. The thing to remember here is that the President has been in office for two years, so he has had a chance to begin rebuilding the military, start establishing ground rules in dealing with the Soviets, and finally, developing policies to strengthen the economy and just beginning to see growth.