President Reagan, Our British Friends, and the 4th of July

Ted Bromund / July 04, 2010

In 2001, Kiron Skinner, Annelise Anderson, and Martin Anderson edited a superb book that all friends of freedom, and of President Ronald Reagan, should read.  Titled Reagan in His Own Hand: The Writings of Ronald Reagan that Reveal His Revolutionary Vision for America, it published a selection of Reagan’s daily radio broadcasts between 1975 and 1979.

Reagan composed and wrote these broadcasts himself, and the book reproduces them just as he wrote them.  They provide indisputable proof that Reagan gave lengthy, serious thought to the major issues of the day, that he had a clear and consistent vision for America and the world, and that he was a wide reader and a hard worker.  Anyone who doubts this should try writing over a thousand radio scripts – and much else – in four years.

All of Reagan’s scripts are worth reading.  But this 4^th of July, one is particularly appropriate.  In a broadcast on September 21, 1976, “The Hope of Mankind,” Reagan returned to one of his favorite themes.  As the editors put it, “Reagan believed . . . that America is unique among nations – ‘the hope of mankind.’  He felt we had a duty to protect what we had inherited. . . .   In these essays, . . . the guiding star is always individual liberty, how lucky we are to have it, and how to preserve and protect it.” (more…)