Ronald Reagan Make America Great Again Ronald Reagan Make America Great Again Speech Transcript
Transcript of Reagan'southward Farewell Address to American People
See the article in its original context from
January 12, 1989
,
Section ZZZZZZ , Page
0Purchase Reprints
TimesMachine is an exclusive benefit for domicile delivery and digital subscribers.
About the Archive
This is a digitized version of an commodity from The Times's print archive, before the start of online publication in 1996. To preserve these manufactures as they originally appeared, The Times does not alter, edit or update them.
Occasionally the digitization procedure introduces transcription errors or other problems; nosotros are standing to work to improve these archived versions.
Following is a transcript of President Reagan's speech to the nation final night from the White Firm, as recorded by The New York Times:
My fellow Americans, this is the 34th time I'll speak to you from the Oval Office, and the final. Nosotros've been together eight years at present, and soon it'll be time for me to become. Simply before I do, I wanted to share some thoughts, some of which I have been saving for a long fourth dimension.
Information technology's been the honour of my life to exist your President. So many of you take written the by few weeks to say cheers, but I could say every bit much to you. Nancy and I are grateful for the opportunity you gave u.s.a. to serve.
One of the things virtually the Presidency is that you're always somewhat autonomously. You lot spend a lot of time going by as well fast in a motorcar someone else is driving, and seeing the people through tinted glass - the parents property up a kid, and the wave you saw besides late and couldn't render. And then many times I wanted to end, and attain out from behind the glass, and connect. Well, maybe I can do a lilliputian of that tonight.
People ask how I experience about leaving, and the fact is departing is "such sweet sorrow." The sweet part is California, and the ranch, and freedom. The sorrow? The goodbyes, of course, and leaving this beautiful identify.
Y'all know, downward the hall and upwards the stairs from this function is the office of the White House where the President and his family unit alive. There are a few favorite windows I take up there that I like to stand up and look out of early on in the morning. The view is over the grounds hither to the Washington Monument, and then the Mall, and the Jefferson Memorial. But on mornings when the humidity is low, you can see by the Jefferson to the river, the Potomac, and the Virginia shore. Someone said that'southward the view Lincoln had when he saw the smoke rising from the battle of Bull Run. Well, I come across more prosaic things: the grass on the banks, the morning traffic as people brand their way to piece of work, now so a sailboat on the river. Reflections at a Window
I've been thinking a bit at that window. I've been reflecting on what the past viii years have meant, and mean. And the paradigm that comes to listen like a refrain is a nautical one - a small story about a big send, and a refugee, and a crewman.
Information technology was back in the early on Eighties, at the acme of the boat people, and the sailor was hard at work on the carrier Midway, which was patrolling the South China Body of water. The sailor, like most American servicemen, was young, smart and fiercely observant. The coiffure spied on the horizon a leaky trivial boat - and crammed inside were refugees from Indochina hoping to get to America. The Midway sent a pocket-sized launch to bring them to the transport, and safety. Every bit the refugees fabricated their style through the choppy seas, one spied the sailor on deck, and stood up and called out to him. He yelled, "Hi, American sailor - Hello, Freedom Man."
A small-scale moment with a big meaning, a moment the crewman, who wrote information technology in a letter, couldn't get out of his listen. And, when I saw it, neither could I.
Because that's what it has to - it was to be an American in the 1980'south; We stood, again, for freedom. I know we always have simply in the past few years the world - again, and in a manner, we ourselves - rediscovered it.
Information technology'south been quite a journey this decade, and we held together through some stormy seas. And at the end, together, we are reaching our destination.
The fact is, from Grenada to the Washington and Moscow summits, from the recession of '81 to '82 to the expansion that began in belatedly '82 and continues to this solar day, we've fabricated a difference. Two Dandy Triumphs
The style I see it, there were ii swell triumphs, two things that I'm proudest of. 1 is the economic recovery, in which the people of America created - and filled - 19 million new jobs. The other is the recovery of our morale: America is respected again in the world, and looked to for leadership.
Something that happened to me a few years agone reflects some of this. Information technology was back in 1981, and I was attending my beginning big economic summit, which was held that year in Canada. The coming together place rotates amongst the fellow member countries. The opening coming together was a formal dinner for the heads of authorities of the seven industrialized nations. Well, I sabbatum there similar the new kid in school and listened, and information technology was all Francois this and Helmut that. They dropped titles and spoke to i another on a start-name basis. Well, at one point I sort of leaned in and said, "My name's Ron."
Well, in that same year, nosotros began the deportment we felt would ignite an economical comeback: cut taxes and regulation, started to cut spending. Soon the recovery began.
Ii years afterward, some other economic summit, with pretty much the same cast. At the big opening coming together, we all got together, and all suddenly just for a moment I saw that anybody was just sitting in that location looking at me. And then 1 of them broke the silence. "Tell us about the American phenomenon," he said.
Well, back in 1980, when I was running for President, it was all so different. Some pundits said our programs would result in catastrophe. Our views on foreign diplomacy would crusade state of war, our plans for the economic system would crusade aggrandizement to soar and bring nigh economic collapse. I even remember one highly respected economist maxim, dorsum in 1982, that "The engines of economic growth have shut down here and they're likely to stay that way for years to come."
Well, he - and the other "opinion leaders" - were wrong. The fact is, what they called "radical" was really "right"; what they called "unsafe" was just "desperately needed." 'The Groovy Communicator'
And in all that time I won a nickname - "The Great Communicator." But I never thought it was my style or the words I used that made a difference - information technology was the content. I wasn't a great communicator, but I communicated groovy things, and they didn't spring full flower from my brow, they came from the heart of a great nation - from our feel, our wisdom, and our belief in the principles that have guided us for two centuries.
They called it the Reagan Revolution, and I'll accept that, but for me it e'er seemed more like the Great Rediscovery: a rediscovery of our values and our common sense.
Common sense told united states that when y'all put a big tax on something, the people will produce less of it. So we cut the people's revenue enhancement rates, and the people produced more than ever earlier. The economic system bloomed like a constitute that had been cut back and could now grow quicker and stronger. Our economic plan brought about the longest peacetime expansion in our history: real family income up, the poverty charge per unit down, entrepreneurship booming and an explosion in research and new technology. Nosotros're exporting more now than ever because American industry became more competitive, and at the aforementioned time nosotros summoned the national will to knock downward protectionist walls abroad instead of erecting them at abode.
Common sense also told us that to preserve the peace we'd take to become strong again afterwards years of weakness and defoliation. And then we rebuilt our defenses - and this New Yr nosotros toasted the new peacefulness around the globe. Non only have the superpowers actually begun to reduce their stockpiles of nuclear weapons - and hope for even more than progress is bright - but the regional conflicts that rack the world are also beginning to stop. The Persian Gulf is no longer a war zone, the Soviets are leaving Transitional islamic state of afghanistan, the Vietnamese are preparing to pull out of Kingdom of cambodia and an American-mediated accord will soon transport 50,000 Cuban troops dwelling from Republic of angola. 'We Changed a World'
The lesson of all this was, of class, that considering we're a corking nation, our challenges seem complex. It will always be this way. But as long as we remember our first principles and believe in ourselves, the futurity will always be ours.
And something else we learned: once you begin a smashing movement, there's no telling where it'll cease. Nosotros meant to change a nation, and instead, nosotros changed a world.
Countries across the globe are turning to complimentary markets and free speech - and turning away from the ideologies of the past. For them, the Great Rediscovery of the 1980's has been that, lo and behold, the moral way of regime is the practical way of government. Democracy, the profoundly skilful, is also the profoundly productive.
When y'all've got to the indicate where you can celebrate the anniversaries of your 39th altogether y'all can sit back sometimes, review your life and see it flowing before you. For me, in that location was a fork in the river, and it was right in the middle of my life.
I never meant to go into politics: information technology wasn't my intention when I was immature. Just I was raised to believe you had to pay your fashion for the blessings bestowed on you. I was happy with my career in the amusement globe, but I ultimately went into politics because I wanted to protect something precious. 'We the People'
Ours was the start revolution in the history of mankind that truly reversed the grade of government, and with three piffling words: "We the People."
"Nosotros the People" tell the Government what to do, it doesn't tell us. "We the people" are the driver - the Government is the car. And we determine where it should go, and by what route, and how fast. Nigh all the world's constitutions are documents in which governments tell the people what their privileges are. Our Constitution is a document in which "We the People" tell the Authorities what it is allowed to do. "We the people" are gratis.
This belief has been the underlying basis for everything I tried to do these past 8 years.
But dorsum in the 1960's when I began, it seemed to me that we'd begun reversing the order of things - that through more and more rules and regulations and confiscatory taxes, the Government was taking more of our liberty. I went into politics in part to put up my hand and say, "Stop!" I was a citizen-politician, and it seemed the right affair for a citizen to do.
I think we have stopped a lot of what needed stopping. And I hope we accept over again reminded people that man is non free unless regime is limited. At that place's a clear cause and effect here that is equally not bad and predictable equally a law of physics: equally government expands, liberty contracts. Actions Based on Deeds
Nothing is less free than pure communism, and yet we have, the by few years, forged a satisfying new closeness with the Soviet Marriage. I've been asked if this isn't a adventure, and my answer is no, because we're basing our actions not on words simply deeds.
The detente of the 1970's was based not on actions but promises. They'd promise to care for their own people and the people of the world better, just the gulag was however the gulag, and the country was however expansionist, and they still waged proxy wars in Africa, Asia and Latin America.
Well, this time, so far, it'southward dissimilar: President Gorbachev has brought virtually some internal autonomous reforms and begun the withdrawal from Afghanistan. He has also freed prisoners whose names I've given him every time we've met.
Just life has a way of reminding you of large things through small-scale incidents. Once, during the heady days of the Moscow Summit, Nancy and I decided to break off from the entourage ane afternoon to visit the shops on Arbat Street - that's a little street just off Moscow's principal shopping surface area.
Even though our visit was a surprise, every Russian there immediately recognized us, and chosen out our names and reached for our hands. We were but nigh swept away by the warmth - you could almost feel the possibilities in all that joy. But inside seconds, a One thousand.G.B. detail pushed their fashion toward usa and began pushing and shoving the people in the crowd. It was an interesting moment. It reminded me that while the man on the street in the Soviet Union yearns for peace, the Government is Communist - and those who run information technology are Communists - and that means we and they view such issues as freedom and homo rights very differently. 'Keep Up Our Guard'
Nosotros must go on upwardly our guard - merely nosotros must also continue to work together to lessen and eliminate tension and mistrust.
My view is that President Gorbachev is different from previous Soviet leaders. I think he knows some of the things wrong with his society and is trying to ready them. We wish him well. And we'll continue to work to brand sure that the Soviet Wedlock that eventually emerges from this process is a less threatening ane.
What it all boils down to is this: I want the new closeness to keep. And it will every bit long as nosotros arrive clear that we will go along to act in a certain way as long as they continue to human action in a helpful fashion. If and when they don't - at kickoff pull your punches. If they persist, pull the plug.
It's nevertheless trust - merely verify.
It'south still play - but cut the cards.
Information technology's still watch closely - and don't be afraid to see what you lot run into.
I've been asked if I have any regrets. Well, I practice.
The deficit is one. I've been talking a corking deal near that lately, but this evening isn't for arguments, and I'm going to hold my tongue.
But an ascertainment: I've had my share of victories in the Congress, but what few people noticed is that I never won annihilation you didn't win for me. They never saw my troops; they never saw Reagan's Regiments, the American people. You won every battle with every call you made and letter you wrote demanding action. Much to Be Washed
Well, action is still needed. If we're to finish the job, of Reagan'southward Regiments, we'll have to become the Bush Brigades. Shortly he'll be the principal, and he'll need you every bit as much as I did.
Finally, there is a great tradition of warnings in Presidential farewells, and I've got one that'southward been on my mind for some time.
But oddly enough information technology starts with i of the things I'm proudest of in the past eight years; the resurgence of national pride that I called "the new patriotism." This national feeling is good, but it won't count for much, and it won't last unless it'south grounded in thoughtfulness and noesis.
An informed patriotism is what nosotros want. And are we doing a expert enough job teaching our children what America is and what she represents in the long history of the globe?
Those of us who are over 35 or then years of age grew up in a different America. We were taught, very directly, what information technology means to be an American, and we absorbed nearly in the air a honey of country and an appreciation of its institutions. If yous didn't get these things from your family you got them from the neighborhood, from the male parent downwardly the street who fought in Korea or the family who lost someone at Anzio. Or you could get a sense of patriotism from school. And if all else failed, you lot could go a sense of patriotism from the popular culture. The movies celebrated autonomous values and implicitly reinforced the idea that America was special. Tv set was like that, likewise, through the mid-Sixties. Ahead, to the Nineties
But now we're about to enter the Nineties, and some things accept changed. Younger parents aren't sure that an unambivalent appreciation of America is the right thing to teach modern children. And as for those who create the popular civilization, well-grounded patriotism is no longer the style.
Our spirit is back, but we haven't reinstitutionalized it. We've got to do a better job of getting across that America is freedom - freedom of speech communication, freedom of religion, freedom of enterprise - and liberty is special and rare. It's fragile; it needs protection.
We've got to teach history based non on what's in style but what'south important: Why the pilgrims came here, who Jimmy Doolittle was, and what those thirty seconds over Tokyo meant. You know, four years ago, on the 40th anniversary of D-Twenty-four hour period. I read a letter from a young woman writing to her late father, who'd fought on Omaha Beach. Her name was Lisa Zanatta Henn, and she said, we will ever remember, we will never forget what the boys of Normandy did. Well, let'southward assist her keep her word.
If nosotros forget what we did, we won't know who we are. I am warning of an eradication of that - of the American retentiveness that could issue, ultimately, in an erosion of the American spirit.
Allow's showtime with some basics - more attending to American history and a greater accent of civic ritual. And let me offering lesson No. 1 nigh America : All great change in America begins at the dinner table. So tomorrow dark in the kitchen I hope the talking begins. And children, if your parents haven't been teaching you what it means to exist an American - allow 'em know and nail 'em on information technology. That would exist a very American thing to do.
And that'southward nigh all I have to say this evening. Except for ane thing.
The past few days when I've been at that window upstairs, I've thought a bit of the shining "metropolis upon a hill." The phrase comes from John Winthrop, who wrote it to describe the America he imagined. What he imagined was of import, because he was an early Pilgrim - an early "Freedom Man." He journeyed hither on what today we'd call a little wooden boat, and, similar the other pilgrims, he was looking for a home that would be free.
I've spoken of the shining city all my political life, but I don't know if I e'er quite communicated what I saw when I said information technology. Just in my mind, it was a tall proud city congenital on rocks stronger than oceans, current of air swept, God blest, and teeming with people of all kinds living in harmony and peace - a city with gratis ports that hummed with commerce and creativity, and if in that location had to exist city walls, the walls had doors, and the doors were open up to anyone with the volition and the heart to become hither.
That'due south how I saw information technology, and see it withal. How Stands the City?
And how stands the city on this winter nighttime? More prosperous, more secure and happier than information technology was 8 years ago. But more than than that: subsequently 200 years, two centuries, she even so stands potent and true on the granite ridge, and her glow has held steady no matter what storm.
And she's nonetheless a beacon, still a magnet for all who must accept liberty, for all the Pilgrims from all the lost places who are hurtling through the darkness, toward home.
We've done our role. And as I "walk off into the urban center streets," a final word to the men and women of the Reagan Revolution - the men and women across America who for viii years did the work that brought America dorsum:
My friends, we did it. Nosotros weren't just mark time, nosotros made a difference. We made the urban center stronger - we made the urban center freer - and we left her in good easily.
All in all, not bad. Not bad at all.
And so, cheerio.
God bless y'all. And God bless the The states.
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/1989/01/12/news/transcript-of-reagan-s-farewell-address-to-american-people.html
0 Response to "Ronald Reagan Make America Great Again Ronald Reagan Make America Great Again Speech Transcript"
Post a Comment