A River and a Church: The Making of a Leader ––––––––––––––—————–––––—––––––––––––––––– Speech by Paul Kengor –––––––––––––––––––——————–––––––––––––––––
to the pursuit of his goals vis-à-vis the USSR. uncommon fortitude in his vision but also in the boldness to It took someone of this immense confidence to predict pursue the provocative policies that he felt were necessary to and believe that he could win the Cold War, that he could achieve that vision. The steps he authorized were extremely defeat the USSR, an Evil Empire that by the late 1970s, daring, but Reagan was unwavering in his belief that he prior to Reagan arriving at the White House, was not losing could lead America to victory in the Cold War. the Cold War—quite the contrary. Reagan believed he could In the face of boisterous criticism, he never shied away win, at a time when no one else believed he or his country from his inner voice. It was the voice of Ben Cleaver, and could win, and certainly not so fast. Nelle Reagan, and Harold Bell Wright Reagan, however, was dead certain. from the pages of That Printer of The steps he authorized As Presidential candidate Reagan told Udell’s, telling him to be a practical Richard V. Allen (his future national Christian, to bring his faith into his were extremely daring, but security adviser) one January 1977 work, to stand up to evil, to not Reagan was unwavering day in California: “Dick, my idea of compromise or accommodate an American policy toward the Soviet aggressive, expansionary, atheistic, in his belief that he could Union is simple, and some would say murderous ideology and empire. It simplistic. It is this: We win and they was the voice that led him to James lead America to victory lose. What do you think of that?” Raider’s rescue in the murky depths in the Cold War. Once he secured the Presidency, he of the Rock River. It was the voice pursued that course, and nothing that led him to seek another save—to could deter him from that route— pursue Cold War victory when few there was evil out there, and he, as put stock in the possibility, and amid Christian was enjoined to oppose it with all his might. One naysayers all around him. evening in March 1983, at dinner, his wife, Nancy, and her Indeed, a rescuer rescues. And America and much of friend, Stuart Spencer, were chiding him for his bellicose the world—certainly Captive Peoples behind the Iron language, for having called the Soviet Union an Evil Curtain—needed to be rescued from the scourge of Soviet Empire. Reagan waved them off: “It is an Evil Empire,” he communism, from an ideology that took the lives of more instructed them. “And it’s time to close it down.” than 100 million people in the 20th century, twice the total of those who died in the century’s two world wars. And it Such self-certainty, amid defeatists and ridiculers was that grandest of rescues that awaited Ronald Reagan who insisted Reagan was not only a naïve dreamer but a off the banks of the Rock River. dummy, Ronald Reagan persevered. This required not only
About Paul Kengor, PhD Dr. Paul Kengor is professor of political science at Grove City College in Grove City, Pennsylvania, and a regular speaker for Young America’s Foundation. He is also executive director of the Center for Vision & Values, a Grove City College think-tank/policy center and a visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution. Dr. Kengor has authored numerous books including God and Ronald Reagan, The Crusader: Ronald Reagan & the Fall of Communism, God and Hillary Clinton, The
Photos courtesy of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library
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Young America’s Foundation • Libertas
Judge: William P. Clark, Ronald Reagan’s Top Hand (with coauthor Patricia Clark Doerner), among other works. His latest book is Dupes: How America’s Adversaries Have Manipulated Progressives for a Century (ISI Books, 2010). Dr. Kengor is also a regular columnist for Townhall and the American Spectator. To bring Dr. Kengor to your campus, contact Young America’s Foundation Vice President Patrick X. Coyle at pcoyle@yaf.org or 800-USA-1776.