Posted on 06/05/2004 7:37:43 PM PDT by wagglebee
Former White House Chief of Staff, and Secretary of State James A. Baker gave Fox News his memories of Ronald Reagan.
"The first thing I want to say is that our hearts go out to the family," but he added that "It's a blessing, given the difficulties of the last seven or eight years."
He told Brit Hume, "My thoughts go back to a lot of happy days and a lot getting accomplished."
He said that Reagan, "restored America's pride in itself" when he became president.
And, as many have also said, Reagan "had the ability to make everybody feel good ... Hard to find anybody who didn't like Ronald Reagan as a person."
"He was completely without guile, and what you saw was what you got." Whoever was on the losing side of an argument with Reagan never felt bad because of Reagan's good nature and optimism.
"He was a 'big picture' president, and that was one of the keys to his success." He wrote in his own hand "yellow, legal pad letters to people all the time, and he held his principles very strongly, and as a consequence he was able to change the world."
Baker then related a story on President Reagan's quick wit, and the way he disarmed those who wanted to go after him with criticism.
Baker said that one of the first times the Congress overrode one of Reagan's vetoes was on a sanctions bill against South Africa.
Many in Reagan's cabinet thought he should meet with some of the moderate black leaders in South Africa, like Bishop Desmond Tutu.
Reagan wasn't too keen on the idea, since Tutu had been critical of the administration, but Baker got Reagan to agree to meet the Bishop.
When the press and reagan and Tutu sat down for the oval office picture session, the press were all over Reagan with questions about Tutu and his critical comments, and Reagan told them it was a photo op, and that he didn't want to answer such questions.
So, the press turned to Tutu and asked him about Reagan and his policies, and Tutu proceeded to rip Reagan and his administration, and went on and on with his criticism, and then criticized Reagan further in the parking lot on his way out of the White House.
The press couldn't wait for the next day, when Reagan held a press conference, to question him about Tutu's criticism.
When they did, the President said: "Tutu? So-so."
My favorite?
When Reagan tested the mike in the WH press room, be did so by saying:
"The bombing begins in five minutes."
The press went ape-sh*t for weeks over that one.
Love the man for that kind of demeanor alone.
I think what frightened the leftists the most was the notion that we were really about to start bombing their beloved comrades in the USSR.
Then came Reagan, and hope was restored. He conjured up memories of the America that was at its peak, strong, optimistic, hopeful, a land of opportunity. We began to believe in ourselves again, because he believed in all that was America. He made tough choices, and delivered a strategy and course of action that restored the American Dream, and Americans belief in that dream.
He crushed inflation and crushed Communism. He lifted spirits, and fought for his beliefs. He was everything that America could hope for in a leader, at a time when America needed a leader the most.
God bless, Ronald Reagan, his family, and God bless America.
I just saw on the local newscast Marlin Fitzwater saying former Soviet insiders revealed Soviet leaders were very impressed when Reagan fired the illegally striking air traffic controllers. They knew he meant business.
Oh yeah! That was a real blast for my members! Do you know that three quarters of us are still working at Denny's? Air traffic controllers have feelings too, ya' know?(!)
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