Speaking My Mind

Rating:
Summary: THE GREAT LIBERATOR SPEAKS
Review:
In the introduction, President Reagan expresses the wish that these speeches would give the listener insight into himself as a president and a person: who he was, where he came from and what he believed. The speeches are not about policies and do not include any state of the union addresses. Almost every speech is introduced by Reagan with his reflections on the times and the issues, with his customary wit and humour.

My only complaint about the CD-set is the absence of a booklet with a proper track listing. The speeches are listed on the 5 discs but in a tiny font size so that one needs a magnifying glass in order to read them.

The first speech, from October 1964, in support of Barry Goldwater's candidacy, is particularly stirring. The sound is a bit crackly here but that only adds to the magic of this momentous speech. All the others are from the White House years. Here are the most memorable ones:

1981
Swearing-in ceremony/Inaugural address/Address to the nation on the state of the economy. Reagan was the first president to use a prop on TV - in this case a coin to demonstrate the effect of inflation/Address on the air traffic controllers strike, quite a powerful one.

1982
Magnificent address to the UK parliament on the values of the West and our historic role in the defence of freedom/Inauguration of the USS New Jersey/The national prayer breakfast, on spiritual renewal/Christmas day radio address.

1983
On the struggle for democracy in Central America/On the massacre of the marines in Lebanon/The magnificent Evil Empire speech/Martin Luther King Day.

1984
Hoboken, New Jersey election speech, to enthusiastic audience.
Republican Convention Acceptance speech, also to enthusiastic audience/40th Anniversary of the Normandy invasion, a very stirring and uplifting one.

1985
On SDI (the Space Shield) to the political action conference.
On the upcoming Geneva summit meeting with Gorbachev.

1986
Memorial service for the Challenger dead/On the Reykjavik summit/Centennial ceremony for the Statue of Liberty/Tax reform act of 1986, a breakthrough for economic growth and prosperity/Washington dinner honouring Tipp O'Neill, showing how gracefully Reagan acted towards his political opponents.

1987
Momentous speech at Brandenburg gate in Berlin on June 12th, 1987: "Tear down this wall!"/Speech honouring the heroism of ordinary people.

1988
Veterans Day Ceremony: Reagan restored the dignity and honour of Vietnam vets/Republican National Convention tribute to Nancy Reagan for her campaign against drug abuse. The last address to White House correspondents' annual dinner/Campaign speech for George H Bush in San Diego.
Farewell speech on January 11th, 1989.

Upon his death in 2004, the most moving tribute to Ronald Reagan appeared on the Belmont Club Blog, in the form of an old poem by Thomas Macaulay:

" When the oldest cask is opened,
And the largest lamp is lit;
When the chestnuts glow in the embers,
And the kid turns on the spit;
When young and old in circle
Around the firebrands close;
When the girls are weaving baskets,
And the lads are shaping bows;
When the goodman mends his armour,
And trims his helmet's plume;
When the goodwife's shuttle merrily
Goes flashing through the loom;
With weeping and with laughter
Still is the story told,
How well Horatius kept the bridge
In the brave days of old."


Rating:
Summary: Haunting words.
Review: Listening to the Great Communicator is like hearing the stories your grandfather used to tell. They held you spellbound and you never grew tired of them. The Goldwater speech rings true today. The most stirring speeches: Reagan's D-Day speech at Normandy, and his inspirational words following the Challenger disaster, are among the best ever delivered. Hearing these speeches gave me goose bumps. Kudos to President Reagan's outstanding speech writers. I recommend that you read David Gergen's excellent book, "Witness to Power." God Bless you President Reagan.

Rating:
Summary: Haunting words.
Review: Listening to the Great Communicator is like hearing the stories your grandfather used to tell. They held you spellbound and you never grew tired of them. The Goldwater speech rings true today. The most stirring speeches: Reagan's D-Day speech at Normandy, and his inspirational words following the Challenger disaster, are among the best ever delivered. Hearing these speeches gave me goose bumps. Kudos to President Reagan's outstanding speech writers. I recommend that you read David Gergen's excellent book, "Witness to Power." God Bless you President Reagan.

Rating:
Summary: Reagan Freed the Slaves of Communist Tyrannies
Review: Reading this in 1990 brought the 1980s into focus.

I will never forget the day after the Berlin Wall came down looking around at all the happy, relieved faces in the diner in downtown Chicago (and that town is a Democrat stronghold!).

And then the rapid, unexpected collapse of Soviet satellite slave states! It was not overnight but I later realized, REAGAN WAS RIGHT, AND I WAS WRONG IN THE 1980s!!!

Through the 1980s I was indifferent to Reagan. I would come home from work, watch the evening network news and believe everything the anchors and reporters suggest about Reagan. What I did not realize is that the dominant media wanted people like me to be hostile to Reagan. I never voted period.

I believed Reagan was a shallow actor who got lucky and just hung around rich Republicans.

The Robert Bork hearings were disturbing but I could not articulate why.

After watching the 1988 Republican convention, seeing that so many people appreciated America and Reagan and that conservatives were not the demons that I had believed, I decided for sure that I would not register as a Democrat, and slowly but surely steered away from liberalism.

The high-tech lynching of Clarence Thomas persuaded me further of the fanaticism of modern liberalism.

And that Democrats nominated Clinton, a McGovernite liberal posing as a centrist and trashing the "trickle-down economics" of Reagan. That was the last straw.

The New York Times had a smug, sneering piece about Rush Limbaugh in 1992. I finally later read and listened to Rush Limbaugh. I thought gradually, essentially RUSH IS RIGHT!

In 1992 I registered Republican for the first time and voted for George H. W. Bush. FREE FROM LIBERALISM AT LAST!!!

Rating:
Summary: One for the history books
Review: Reagan was a great President simply from the perspective of his innate leadership ability and masterful skill as an orator. This collection of speeches is quite compelling and an excellent reference for admirers of the honorable Ronald Reagan. I also recommend Reagan In His Own Hand, which is a little more focused on the pre-Presidential Reagan during his stint as a private citizen and Governor of California.

Rating:
Summary: Remembering The Great Communicator
Review: Reagan was a great President simply from the perspective of his innate leadership ability and masterful skill as an orator. This collection of speeches is quite compelling and an excellent reference for admirers of the honorable Ronald Reagan. I also recommend Reagan In His Own Hand, which is a little more focused on the pre-Presidential Reagan during his stint as a private citizen and Governor of California.

Rating:
Summary: One for the history books
Review: What better way to remember the Reagan legacy than by listening to Reagan's best speeches.