Meeting Ronald Reagan B y
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Students and supporters line up to meet with Senator DeMint and receive copies of his book, Saving Freedom, at a Foundation event at the Reagan Ranch Center.
Senator Jim DeMint motivates students and supporters at a special breakfast at the Reagan Ranch Center.
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n my mind, Ronald Reagan was always a great President, but after visiting the Reagan Ranch, I know he would have been a great friend, too. I never had the chance to meet Ronald Reagan in person. I came to Washington years after he left the White House. By that time, he was more of an icon than a real person. I knew him as the man who won the Cold War and defeated communism. His photo was in homes, offices, and museums all around the country. He was a legend. It wasn’t until I walked the same dusty paths he walked and stepped inside his home that I realized he was also a regular guy. Even though he was the leader of the most powerful nation in the world, he preferred to do chores himself rather than calling on a handyman to do it for him. He laid the stone patio, piece by piece, outside his home. He chopped up used telephone poles to build fences around the property. Rather than purchasing a king-sized bed for his and Nancy’s bedroom, he pushed two small, twin-sized beds together and bound them with plastic ties. If you walk down a horse trail that provides a striking view of the distant Pacific Ocean, you’ll see an old rock where the President carved his and Nancy’s initials inside a heart.
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Young America’s Foundation • Libertas
Senator DeMint is inspired by his journey to Ronald Reagan’s Rancho del Cielo.
The most striking thing about visiting the Reagan Ranch, however, is the sense one gets with how comfortable Ronald Reagan was with himself. For many people, especially those who achieve great recognition and fame, it’s a very hard thing to be alone. They’re constantly seeking approval, praise, and consultation from others. Not Ronald Reagan. When he had to make a tough decision, he often retreated to his Rancho del Cielo—“The Ranch in the Heavens”—to think. It’s where he talked to God. He once said, “Riding on one of the tree-lined trails, or gazing up at the western skies, well, there’s no better way I know of to sort out a problem.” The Ranch is where Ronald Reagan became real to me. Before I came to Santa Barbara, I knew many things about Reagan’s political life but little about how much he loved God, his family, and this beautiful nation. Ronald Reagan was always a man I wanted to know. After visiting his ranch—now protected and preserved by Young America’s Foundation—I feel like I do.