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On June 6, 1984, President Ronald Reagan visited France to mark the 40th anniversary of D-Day. The speech he delivered at the windswept Normandy promontory looking out over the English Channel--known now in history as the Boys of Pointe du Hoc address--was the opening salvo to a new American indebtedness to World War II veterans. By honoring the daring action of the 2nd Ranger Battalion--225 young Army volunteers whose mission was to climb the treacherous 100-foot-high Pointe du Hoc cliff while being shot at by entrenched German soldiers--he was paying tribute to an entire generation. (Out of those 225 "boys,"...

NEW YORK - Ronald Reagan’s handwritten personal diaries covering his eight years as president from 1981 will be published next year after an agreement with his presidential library. Publisher HarperCollins called Reagan’s private journal ”the most detailed presidential diaries in America’s history,” and said it had been seen only by a few people. “When Ronnie became president, he wanted to write it all down so we could remember these special times,” Nancy Reagan said in the publishing house statement released Tuesday. Reagan, the 40th president of the United States, died last year at the age of 93. He had lived...

Ronald Reagan's handwritten diaries of his eight years in the White House will be published as a book to be released next year, the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library Foundation and HarperCollins Publishers announced Tuesday. Reagan, who died at 93 last June following a 10-year battle with Alzheimer's disease, wrote in his diaries every day of his presidency, recording his thoughts on events both routine and historic, officials said. While the volumes "were not initially intended for publication, we feel that these volumes offer an unprecedented insight into the Reagan Presidency," said Frederick Ryan Jr., chairman of the foundation's board of...

FROM the Cuban Missile Crisis to President Reagan's resounding "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!" there were plenty of supposed turning points in the Cold War. Personally, I believe the tide turned on Oct, 16, 1978, when a Polish cardinal, Karol Jozef Wojtyla, became Pope John Paul II. It was a pivotal moment for humankind, but a dark day for the Kremlin — the geriatric Politburo must have clutched the remains of their shriveled hearts. It was a glorious day for the Catholic Church, as the Vatican took an unmistakable stand against the godless religion of Communism. It was also...

The subjects this week concern the War in Iraq, saving Social Security, and the death of Terri Schiavo. To examine the logic of all three, we begin with poker. For about four decades I’ve played low-stakes poker. I understand the game well, but at best just break even. Why? Casual poker players are doomed by the fatal attraction of the inside straight. Two cards can win when you draw to an outside straight, one chance in six. But drawing to an inside straight, where only one card can complete it, has one in twelve odds. The first is a good...

I'm getting a bunch for next year's xmas cards. My freinds on the left will enjoy that extra touch of holiday cheer. And I'll be putting them on my tax returns. Maybe draw a little voice bubble above the stamp with a good Reagan tax quote.

Simi Valley -- Friends and former colleagues celebrated the 94th birthday of the late President Reagan Sunday with a wreath-laying at his grave site. President Bush sent a wreath that was placed at Reagan's grave site at his presidential library by Marines from Camp Pendleton. The Marines then honored the nation's 40th president with a 21-gun salute. "We're celebrating the 94th anniversary of the birth of one of America's truly great presidents whose legacy will live on and on. God bless his memory," said former Gov. Pete Wilson, who spoke at the ceremony. Reagan died last June at his Bel-Air...

In The Greatest Communicator: What Ronald Reagan Taught Me About Politics, Leadership and Life, a book laced with insights and revealing personal experiences, Dick Wirthlin, for more than two decades Ronald Reagan's pollster and political strategist, gives us in six words the essence of the 40th president's success as a communicator: "Persuade through reason; motivate through emotion."

How the Man Who Won the Cold War Inspired Such Intense Loyalty

Mr. Reagan as a man of enormous long-range view, and with very strong views on the big issues, able to dig in his heels when pushed. He also saw him explode once at an outsider's suggestion that he might be a racist.

<p>In the last 30 days I have experienced an extraordinary outpouring of sympathy and love from old friends — and new — across the country and around the world. So much has happened to warm the hearts of everyone in my family. It is not easy to find a way to express our appreciation. Ronnie would have said, "Just tell them." So, although it has been the saddest and most difficult of times, I want you to know that we are comforted by the prayers, the support and all the love.</p>

Reagan's 4th of July Address 1981: What July Fourth Means to Me Constitution/Conservatism Editorial Keywords: INDEPENDENCE, DECLARATAION OF , RONALD W. REAGANSource: Pres. Ronald W. ReaganPublished: July 4, 1981 Author: Pres. Ronald W. ReaganPosted on 07/05/2001 19:13:18 PDT by FReethesheeples What July Fourth Means to Me By Ronald Reagan Editor's note: When he was president, Ronald Reagan wrote the following piece for Independence Day in 1981. Aide Michael Deaver later wrote: "This 4th of July message is the President's own words and written initially in his own hand." Contrary to media fiction, many of Reagan's speeches, commentaries, and other...

Admirers and opponents alike agree on at least one thing concerning the late President Ronald Reagan -- he was a happy man. Having written a book on happiness ("Happiness Is a Serious Problem," HarperCollins) and lectured on the subject on every continent (yes, including Antarctica), I would like to offer six explanations for the late president's happiness. First, he was a religious man. By this I mean two things: He had a deep connection to God, and a faith in a specific religion, in his case Christianity. Both are very helpful to most people's happiness. There are, of course, people...

The atmosphere was cheerful, almost festive, among those arriving early for Ronald Reagan's memorial service at the National Cathedral, just as it was on the lines of those waiting to view his flag-draped casket at the Reagan Library and the Capitol. Then, 40 minutes before the ceremony, when the achingly beautiful music began, people sat quietly and somberly, some with tears in their eyes. With his interment on the opposite coast, on a gentle hill overlooking the Pacific, the question now is: How will history judge his stewardship? Perhaps more than any moment in last week's long goodbye, the service...

National NFRA: THE WORLD ACCORDING TO REAGAN "Recession is when your neighbor loses his job. Depression is when you lose yours. And recovery is when Jimmy Carter loses his. The most terrifying words in the English language are: I'm from the government and I'm here to help. Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it. Government is like a baby: An alimentary canal with a big appetite at one end and no sense of responsibility...

WHITE HOUSE LETTERTrying on Reagan's Mantle, but It Doesn't Exactly FitBy ELISABETH BUMILLERPublished: June 14, 2004 ashingtonGeorge Bush begins today to try to refocus the nation on his presidency after a week when it seemed, at least from the constant replays of 1980's-era videotape on CNN, that Ronald and Nancy Reagan were fox-trotting in the White House again. At times it also seemed as if Mr. Reagan were running for president one more time. This past weekend, the White House Web site prominently featured a collection of Reagan remembrances and a photo essay of Mr. Bush at the funeral for...

PRESIDENTIAL TRADITION I never ceased to enjoy reviewing our men and women in uniform and hope I started a new tradition for presidents. As commander in chief, I discovered it was customary for our uniformed men and women to salute whenever they saw me. When I'd walk down the steps of a helicopter, for example, there was always a marine waiting there to salute me. I was told presidents weren't supposed to return salutes, so I didn't, but this made me feel a little uncomfortable. Normally, a person offering a salute waits until it is returned, then brings down his...

REMEMBERING REAGAN In Solidarity The Polish people, hungry for justice, preferred "cowboys" over Communists. GDANSK, Poland--When talking about Ronald Reagan, I have to be personal. We in Poland took him so personally. Why? Because we owe him our liberty. This can't be said often enough by people who lived under oppression for half a century, until communism fell in 1989. Poles fought for their freedom for so many years that they hold in special esteem those who backed them in their struggle. Support was the test of friendship. President Reagan was such a friend. His policy of aiding democratic movements...

When Ronald Reagan emerged on the California political scene in the mid-1960s, the conservative movement was a collection of ineffective, naysaying right-wingers huddling in Orange County and San Gabriel Valley backyards, feverishly parsing school books for signs of communist or pornographic influence and flirting with the oddball extremists of the John Birch Society. Reagan taught manners to these misfits and, in the process, gave them respectability. He shared their intense patriotism, their economic and social conservatism and their militant anti-communism, but he was likable, more genial than fierce. Most important, Reagan understood that a successful political movement had to be...

Expedition 9 crew honors President Reagan from space (Jun 11, 2004) The International Space Station Expedition 9 crew paid tribute to former President Ronald Reagan June 10. Astronaut Mike Fincke, KE5AIT, and cosmonaut Gennady Padalka, RN3DT, rang the ISS ship's bell 40 times to commemorate the nation's 40th chief executive. Reagan died June 5 at the age of 93 of complications resulting from Alzheimer's disease. "We, the crew of the International Space Station, join millions of others in mourning the passing of President Reagan, who worked tirelessly to bring the world closer together," said Padalka, the Expedition 9 crew commander....