We should pause, 40 years later, and thank God that our nation kept this most consequential man in power.
We should pause, 40 years later, and thank God that our nation kept this most consequential man in power.
H e was an aging incumbent president who had just been drubbed in the midterms by the opposing party. The country was combating inflation and facing interest-rate hikes. His popularity, dipping into the 30s the year before his campaign for a second term, made a lot of his political handlers nervous about his reelection. And in his first debate with his opponent, a populist former vice president, he appeared old and unprepared.
Yet, in 1984, Ronald Wilson Reagan not only won reelection but prevailed in the second-biggest landslide in American history, winning 525 electoral votes, 58 percent of the popular vote, and every state of the union except for the home state — Minnesota — of his opponent, Walter Mondale.
Four decades later, we should not underestimate the historical importance of Reagan’s win. Every election year, partisans fire up voters by telling them that it’s the most consequential election of their lifetime. But it is not hyperbole to wonder how history might have turned out differently if the former California governor had been sent back to his Santa Barbara ranch by the voters.
A loss by Reagan would have been a referendum on his pro-growth, small-government economic policies, which ultimately ushered in an area of opportunity and prosperity. It would have sent a message, during the height of the Cold War, that appeasement rather than rhetorical confrontation was the key to confronting the evil of Soviet communism. Perhaps most importantly, a Reagan defeat would have wounded America’s self-confidence. Yet he did prevail, and we can be thankful that he did.
The Gipper came to power in 1980 following a tumultuous decade of scandal, failed wars, economic inflation, racial tension, and energy shortages caused by an Arab oil embargo. Perhaps nothing epitomized American weakness like the 444-day Iranian hostage crisis. There was a real belief, in the leadership class and in the nation, that America’s best days were behind her. Jimmy Carter even delivered a widely panned speech ratifying this pessimistic outlook.
Reagan preached prosperity and less government at home and freedom abroad, confronting two progressive shibboleths: moral ambiguity about the evil of communism and irrational faith in the administrative state. His sunny disposition helped elevate America’s national spirit and his courageous and soaring rhetoric helped clarify what he believed America’s priorities should be.
The son of an alcoholic father and a Christian mother, the former lifeguard, Cubs radio announcer, actor, and governor, Reagan defied the nervous fears of the establishment wing of his own party and the fevered warnings of a hostile media to become one of America’s most consequential presidents.
Together with Margaret Thatcher and Pope John Paul II, Reagan refused to accept a world bent by fear of communism. Instead, through powerful rhetoric, careful negotiation, and strategic build-up of our military capability, Reagan played a big role in the defeat of communism. This culminated in the now-iconic speech he delivered at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, where an ugly wall divided the free West from the occupying Soviets. Top advisers urged him to soften his words, so as not to offend his counterparts in Moscow. But the Great Communicator kept his own counsel and lit the match that would see the Soviet Union crumble a few years later, bringing freedom to millions of people. “Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate. Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!,” he thundered.
Reagan’s words, throughout his term, contrasting the freedom of the West with the tyranny and godlessness of communism, inspired dissidents and activists across Eastern Europe. Today, in Budapest’s Liberty Square, there is a statue of him, a tribute to his steadfast crusade against that moral evil.
Reagan’s leadership reinvigorated the American spirit, revived America’s economy, and made the world safe for the generations that would follow. Unlike many of his predecessors and a few of his successors, Reagan understood the power of the presidential bully pulpit. The former actor not only knew how to deliver a speech, he had the intellectual and moral resources to craft words that inspired a nation. His reelection theme of “morning in America” now looks less like campaign spin and more like prescience. Content to disagree with rather than demonize his political opponents, Reagan’s rhetoric was a far cry from the crass appeals to Americans’ baser instincts that characterize our contemporary politics. His tenure, of course, was imperfect: His second term was beset by the Iran–Contra scandal, and his efforts to limit the size of government were mostly thwarted by a Democratic Congress.
As America confronts the challenges of the 21st century, it won’t do us any good to solve them with solutions from the 20th. Still, we need leaders of character like the 40th president who understand how to lead and communicate in this digital, divided, distracted age. As Christians who believe God ordains government for human flourishing (Romans 13), we should pray earnestly (1 Timothy 2) for public servants like Ronald Reagan who unflinchingly champion America’s founding ideals.
Most importantly, we should pause, 40 years later, and thank God that our nation kept this most consequential man in power.