Today on the homepage, I have a piece about symbols — “Symbols and ‘Mere Symbols,’” actually. This piece was sparked by a couple of symbols that arose out of the recent Paris attacks: the hashtag “#PrayForParis” and the peace sign with the Eiffel Tower in it.
In my piece today, I have a little section on Reagan:
Ronald Reagan was not averse to symbolism, of the right kind. The old actor was certainly not averse to a little theater.
In the second week of December 1981, the Communist dictatorship in Poland declared martial law. In Washington, the Polish ambassador defected to us. He asked President Reagan to light a candle in a White House window on Christmas Eve. This would show solidarity with the beleaguered Poles.
Reagan agreed to do so, and, in a typically stirring address, he asked all Americans to place their own candles in their own windows.
Of course, Reagan was not a mere symbolist. He was working night and day to bring down the Soviet empire, by all means at his disposal — which included the symbolic and theatrical, as well as the military, economic, and so on.
Here in the Corner, I thought I would quote some of Reagan’s “typically stirring address.” He gave it on December 23, 1981. My guess is, you’ll want to read the whole thing: here. But let me paste just a couple of excerpts.
Reagan said,
Tonight, in millions of American homes, the glow of the Christmas tree is a reflection of the love Jesus taught us. Like the shepherds and wise men of that first Christmas, we Americans have always tried to follow a higher light, a star, if you will. At lonely campfire vigils along the frontier, in the darkest days of the Great Depression, through war and peace, the twin beacons of faith and freedom have brightened the American sky. At times our footsteps may have faltered, but trusting in God’s help, we’ve never lost our way.
Before we get to Poland, I can’t help quoting this paragraph as well:
Even as we rejoice, however, let us remember that for some Americans, this will not be as happy a Christmas as it should be. I know a little of what they feel. I remember one Christmas Eve during the Great Depression, my father opening what he thought was a Christmas greeting. It was a notice that he no longer had a job.
And now to Poland:
When 19th-century Polish patriots rose against foreign oppressors, their rallying cry was, “For our freedom and yours.” Well, that motto still rings true in our time. There is a spirit of solidarity abroad in the world tonight that no physical force can crush. It crosses national boundaries and enters into the hearts of men and women everywhere. In factories, farms, and schools, in cities and towns around the globe, we the people of the Free World stand as one with our Polish brothers and sisters. Their cause is ours, and our prayers and hopes go out to them this Christmas.
Yesterday, I met in this very room with Romuald Spasowski, the distinguished former Polish ambassador who has sought asylum in our country in protest of the suppression of his native land. He told me that one of the ways the Polish people have demonstrated their solidarity in the face of martial law is by placing lighted candles in their windows to show that the light of liberty still glows in their hearts.
Ambassador Spasowski requested that on Christmas Eve a lighted candle will burn in the White House window as a small but certain beacon of our solidarity with the Polish people. I urge all of you to do the same tomorrow night, on Christmas Eve, as a personal statement of your commitment to the steps we’re taking to support the brave people of Poland in their time of troubles.
Once, earlier in this century, an evil influence threatened that the lights were going out all over the world. Let the light of millions of candles in American homes give notice that the light of freedom is not going to be extinguished. We are blessed with a freedom and abundance denied to so many. Let those candles remind us that these blessings bring with them a solid obligation, an obligation to the God who guides us, an obligation to the heritage of liberty and dignity handed down to us by our forefathers, and an obligation to the children of the world, whose future will be shaped by the way we live our lives today.
Amazing that a president once talked like this. Right?