Saturday Bonus Podcast- Reagan Speech Veterans Day 1985

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
When I think of the great speakers of my time
during my lifetime, Ronald Reagan is very high on that list.
His delivery was so measured without feeling stuffy. His voice,

(00:22):
his timing, his pacing, his voice had a warmth to it,
creating a sort of grandfatherly figure out of Ronald Reagan.
For all the people who make fun of Donald Trump's hair,
Ronald Reagan's hair never moved. It was a helmet, It
was plastered down, and it was dyed. He didn't have

(00:48):
jet black hair at his age. He had a very,
very charming smile which he used to disarm. He used
to as almost a weapon. It was hard not to
like Ronald Reagan. He had such a smooth, genuine delivery

(01:11):
that it was hard not to listen to what he
said and come away feeling proud of our country. In
this podcast, you will hear his Veterans' Day ceremony at
Arlington National Cemetery on November eleventh, nineteen eighty five. Did
we play this earlier in the week I feel like
we did on one of the shows. I can't remember
which one, but Kunda chose it for this weekend, and

(01:33):
I'm glad he did because for anybody who didn't hear
that you're going to really enjoy this. I know I do.

Speaker 2 (01:39):
The President of the United States, thank you, thank youry,

(02:04):
thank you very much, thank you, thank you all very much.

(02:28):
Secretary Wineberger, Harry Walters, Robert Madero's Reverend, Clergy, Ladies, and gentlemen.
A few moments ago, I placed a wreath at the
tomb of the Unknown Soldier, and as I stepped back
and stood during the moment of silence that followed, I

(02:50):
said a small prayer. And it occurred to me that
each of my predecessors has had a similar moment, and
I wondered if our prayers weren't very much.

Speaker 3 (03:00):
The same, if not identical.

Speaker 4 (03:04):
We celebrate Veterans Day on the anniversary of the armistice
that ended World War One, the armistice that began on
the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month.
And I wonder, in fact, if all Americans' prayers aren't
the same as those I mentioned a moment ago. The

(03:25):
timing of this holiday is quite deliberate in terms of
historical fact, but somehow it always seems quite fitting to
me that this day comes deep in autumn, when the
colors are muted, and the days seem to invite contemplation.
We are gathered at the National Cemetery, which provides a
final resting place for the heroes who have defended our

(03:47):
country since the Civil War. This amphitheater, this place for speeches,
is more central to the Cemetery than it first might
seem apparent, for all we can ever do for our
heroes is remember them and remember what they did, and
memories are transmitted through words. Sometime back I received, in

(04:12):
the name of our country the bodies of four Marines
who had died while on active duty. I said then
that there is a special sadness that accompanies the death
of a serviceman, for we're never quite good enough to them.
Not really, we can't be, because what they gave us

(04:34):
is beyond our powers to repay. And so when a
service man dies, it's a tear in the fabric, a
break in the hole, and all we can do is remember.
It is, in a way an odd thing to honor
those who died in defense of our country, in defense
of us in wars far away. The imagination plays a trick.

(05:00):
We see these soldiers in our mind as old and wise.
We see them as something like the Founding Fathers, grave
and gray haired. But most of them were boys when
they died, and they gave up two lives, the one
they were living and the one they would have lived
when they died. They gave up their chance to be

(05:21):
husbands and fathers and grandfathers. They gave up their chance
to be revered old men. They gave up everything for
our country, for us, and all we can do is remember,
there's always someone who is remembering for us. No matter

(05:43):
what time of year it is or what time of day,
there are always people who come to this cemetery leave
a flag or a flower or a little rock on
a headstone, and they stop and bow their heads and
communicate what they wished to communicate. They say, Hello Johnny,
or hello Bob. We still think of you, You're still

(06:07):
with us. We never got over you, and we pray
for you still, and we'll see you again. We'll all
meet again. In a way, they represent us, these relatives
and friends, and they speak for us as they walk
among the headstones, and remember.

Speaker 3 (06:28):
It's not so.

Speaker 4 (06:28):
Hard to summon memory, but it's hard to recapture meaning.
And the living have a responsibility to remember the conditions
that led to the wars in which our heroes died.
Perhaps we can start by remembering this, that all of
those who died for us and our country were, in

(06:50):
one way or another, victims of a peace process that failed,
victims of a decision to forget certain things to forget yet,
for instance, that the surest way to keep a peace
going is to stay strong. Weakness, after all, is a temptation.
It tempts the pugnacious to assert themselves. But strength is

(07:12):
a declaration that cannot be misunderstood. Strength is a condition
that declares actions have consequences. Strength is a prudent warning

(07:33):
to the belligerent that aggression need not go unanswered. Peace
fails when we forget what we stand for. It fails
when we forget that our republic is based on firm principles,
principles that have real meaning, that with them we.

Speaker 3 (07:49):
Are the last best hope of man on earth.

Speaker 4 (07:52):
Without them, we are little more than the crust of
a continent. Peace also fails when we forget to bring
to the bar bargaining table. God's first intellectual gift to
man common sense. Common sense gives us a realistic knowledge
of human beings and how they think, how they live
in the world, what motivates them. Common Sense tells us

(08:15):
that man has magic in him, but also clay. Common
sense can tell the difference between right and wrong. Common
Sense forgives error, but it always recognizes it to be error.

Speaker 3 (08:29):
First.

Speaker 4 (08:31):
We endanger the peace and confuse all issues when we
obscure the truth, when we refuse to name an act
for what it is, when we refuse to see the
obvious and seek safety in Almighty. Peace is only maintained
and one by those who have clear eyes and brave minds.

(08:52):
Peace is imperiled when we forget to try for agreements
and settlements and treaties, when we forget to hold out
our hands and strive, when we forget that God gave
us talents to use in securing the ends he desires.
Peace fails when we forget that agreements, once made, cannot
be broken without a price. Each new day carries within

(09:15):
it the potential for breakthroughs, for progress. Each new day
bursts with possibilities, and so hope is realistic and despair
a pointless little sin. And peace fails when we forget
to pray to the source of all peace and life
and happiness. I think sometimes of General Matthew Ridgeway, who

(09:38):
the night before d Day tossed sleepless on his cot
and talked to the Lord and listened for the promise
that God made to Joshua, I will not fail THEE
nor forsake THEE. We are surrounded to day by the
dead of our wars. We owe them a debt we
can never repay. All we can do is remember them

(10:01):
and what they did, and why they had to be
brave for us. All we can do is try to
see that other young men never have to join them.

Speaker 3 (10:14):
Today is today as never before.

Speaker 4 (10:27):
We must pledge to remember the things that will continue
the peace. Today as never before, we must pray for
God's help in broadening and deepening the peace we enjoy.
Let us pray for freedom and justice and a more
stable world. And let us make a compact today with
the dead, a promise in the words for which General

(10:48):
Ridgway listened, I will not fail THEE nor forsake THEE.
In memory of those who gave the last full measure
of devotion. May our efforts to achieve lasting peace gain strength,
and through whatever coincidence or accident of timing. I tell
you that a week from now, when I am some
thousands of miles away, Believe me, the memory and the

(11:12):
importance of this day will be in the forefront of
my mind and in my heart. Thank you, God bless

(11:33):
you all, and God bless America.

Speaker 1 (11:42):
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(12:03):
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(12:28):
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Director of Research is Sandy Peterson. Emily Bull is our
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into our production. Where possible, we give credit, where not,

(12:51):
we take all the credit for ourselves. God bless the
memory of Rush Limbaugh. Long live Elvis. Be a simple
man like Leonard Skinnard told you, and God bless America. Finally,
if you know a veteran suffering from PTSD, call Camp
Hope at eight seven seven seven one seven PTSD and

(13:16):
a combat veteran will answer the phone to provide free
counseling