On this episode of Our American Stories, On July 4, 1986, moments before the largest fireworks display in American history, President Ronald Reagan gave a rousing speech from the deck of the USS John F. Kennedy in New York Harbor. Standing beneath the Statue of Liberty, he reminded the country and the world what freedom really means.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:10):
And we continue here with our American stories. On July fourth,
nineteen eighty six, President Ronald Reagan gave one of the
best speeches of his presidency and one of his least
well known. It was a special day in New York
City for those of you old enough to remember, or
for anybody who was there, and I was. I was
(00:31):
twenty five at the time. Operations sale was in full display,
as battleships and sailing ships of all kinds made their
way along the Hudson River, including the largest flotilla of
tall ships to appear in one place at one time
in modern history. It was also special because the restoration
of the Statue of Liberty was celebrated, and the Great
(00:54):
Ladies Torch, which had been extinguished on July fourth, nineteen
eighty four, was re lit two years later to the day.
That evening, aboard the USS John F. Kennedy, President Ronald
Reagan gave an address just moments before the largest public
fireworks display in American history was to begin. Here is
(01:16):
how President Reagan started things.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
It's recorded that shortly after the Declaration of Independence was
signed in Philadelphia, celebrations took place throughout the land, and
many of the former colonists. They were just starting to
call themselves Americans. Set off cannons and marched in fife
and drum parades. What a contrast with the sober scene
(01:39):
that has taken place a short time earlier. In Independence Hall,
fifty six men came forward to sign the parchment. It
was noted at the time that they pledged their lives,
their fortunes, and their sacred honors. And that was more
than rhetoric. Each of those men knew the penalty for
high treason to the crown. We must all hang together,
(02:03):
Benjamin Franklin said, or surely we will all hang separately.
And John Hancock, it is said, wrote his signature in
large script so King George could see it without his spectacles.
They were brave. They stayed brave through all the bloodshed
of the coming years. Their courage created a nation built
(02:24):
on a universal claim to human dignity, on the proposition
that every man, woman and child had a right to
a future of freedom.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
Reagan then read what was and still is the boldest
political declaration ever written in human history.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
Last night, when we read Rededicated miss Liberty and ReLit
her torch, we reflected on all the millions who came
here in search of the dream of freedom. Inaugurated in
Independence Hall, we reflected too on their courage, coming great
distances and settling in a foreign land, and then passing
(03:03):
on to their children and their children's children the hope
symbolized in this statue here just behind us, the hope
that is America. It is a hope that some day
every people and every nation of the world will know
the blessings of liberty, and it's the hope of millions
all around the world. In the last few years, I've
(03:25):
spoken at Westminster, to the Mother of Parliaments, at Versailles,
where French kings and world leaders have made war and peace.
I've been to the Vatican in Rome, the Imperial Palace
in Japan, and the ancient city of Beijing. I've seen
the beaches of Normandy and stood again with those boys
(03:46):
of puant' hoc who long ago scaled the heights, and
with at that time Liza Zanetta Hen, who was at
Omaha Beach for the father she loved, the father who
had once dreamed of seeing again the place where he
and so many brave others had landed on d Day,
but he had died before he could make that trip,
(04:08):
and she made it for him and Dad. She'd said,
I'll always be proud. And I've seen the successors to
these brave men, the young Americans in uniform all over
the world, young Americans like you here tonight, who manned
the mighty US S. Kennedy and the Iowa and the
(04:28):
other ships of the line. I can assure you, you
out there who are listening, that these these young people
are like their fathers and their grandfathers, just as willing,
just as brave, and we can be just as proud.
But our prayer tonight is that the call for their
(04:50):
courage will never come, and that it's important for us
too to be brave. Not so much the bravery of
the battlefield, I mean the brave of brotherhood.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
Bragan then gave a brief history lesson about national unity
and times of disunity too, and the story of two
founders who lived out both.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
All through our history, our presidents and leaders have spoken
of national unity and warned us that the real obstacle
to moving forward the boundaries of freedom, the only permanent
danger to the hope that is America, comes from within.
It's easy enough to dismiss this as a kind of
familiar exhortation. Yet the truth is that even two of
(05:35):
our greatest founding fathers, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, once
learned this lesson late in life. They'd worked so closely
together in Philadelphia for independence, but once that was gained
and a government was formed, something called partisan politics began
(05:56):
to get in the way. After a bitter and divisive
Campaignjefferson defeated Adams for the presidency in eighteen hundred, and
the night before Jefferson's inauguration, Adams slipped away to Boston, disappointed,
broken hearted, and bitter. For years, their estrangement lasted, But
(06:17):
when when both had retired, Jefferson at sixty eight to
Monticello and Adams at seventy six to Quincy, they began,
through their letters to speak again to each other. Letters
that discussed almost every conceivable subject, gardening, horseback riding, even
sneezing as a cure for hiccops, but other subjects as well,
(06:40):
the loss of loved ones, the mystery of grief and sorrow,
the importance of religion, and of course the last thoughts,
the final hopes of two old men, two great patriarchs
for the country that they had helped to found and
loved so deeply it carries me back. Jefferson wrote about
(07:02):
correspondence with his cosigner of the Declaration of Independence, to
the times when beset with difficulties and dangers, we were
fellow laborers in the same cause, struggling for what is
most valuable to man, his right to self government, laboring
always at the same oar, with some wave ever ahead,
(07:23):
threatening to overwhelm us, and yet passing harmless. We rode
through the storm with heart and hand. It was their
last gift to us, this lesson in brotherhood, intolerance for
each other, this insight into America's strength as a nation.
And when both died on the same day, within hours
(07:47):
of each other, that date was July fourth, fifty years
exactly after that first gift to us, the Declaration of Independence.
Speaker 1 (07:59):
And here is how Reagan close things out.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
My fellow Americans, it falls to us to keep faith
with them and all the great Americans of our past.
Believe me, if there's one impression I carry with me
after the privilege of holding for five and a half
years the office held by Adams, Jefferson and Lincoln, it
is this that the things that unite us, America's past
(08:25):
of which we're so proud, our hopes and aspirations for
the future of the world, and it is much loved country.
These things far out weigh what little divides us. And
so to night we are for reaffirm that Joe and
Jamtile we are one nation under God, That black and white,
(08:49):
we are one nation indivisible, That Republican and Democrat, we
are all Americans to night, with heart and hand, through
whatever trial and travail, we pledge ourselves to each other
and to the cause of human freedom, the cause that
has given light to this land and hope to the world.
(09:13):
My fellow Americans, we're known around the world as a
confident and a happy people. Tonight there's much to celebrate
and many blessings to be grateful for. So while it's
good to talk about serious things, it's just as important
and just as American to have some fun. Now, let's
(09:34):
have some fun. Let the celebration begin.
Speaker 1 (09:40):
And you've been listening to Ronald Reagan aboard the USS
John F. Kennedy on July fourth, nineteen eighty six, the
Statue of Liberty in the backdrop, giving one of his
best and least known speeches here on our American stories,
And we continue here with our American stories. On July fourth,
nineteen eighty six, President Ronald Reagan gave one of the
best speeches of his presidency and one of his least
well known. It was a special day in New York
City for those of you old enough to remember, or
for anybody who was there, and I was. I was
(00:31):
twenty five at the time. Operations sale was in full display,
as battleships and sailing ships of all kinds made their
way along the Hudson River, including the largest flotilla of
tall ships to appear in one place at one time
in modern history. It was also special because the restoration
of the Statue of Liberty was celebrated, and the Great
(00:54):
Ladies Torch, which had been extinguished on July fourth, nineteen
eighty four, was re lit two years later to the day.
That evening, aboard the USS John F. Kennedy, President Ronald
Reagan gave an address just moments before the largest public
fireworks display in American history was to begin. Here is
(01:16):
how President Reagan started things.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
It's recorded that shortly after the Declaration of Independence was
signed in Philadelphia, celebrations took place throughout the land, and
many of the former colonists. They were just starting to
call themselves Americans. Set off cannons and marched in fife
and drum parades. What a contrast with the sober scene
(01:39):
that has taken place a short time earlier. In Independence Hall,
fifty six men came forward to sign the parchment. It
was noted at the time that they pledged their lives,
their fortunes, and their sacred honors. And that was more
than rhetoric. Each of those men knew the penalty for
high treason to the crown. We must all hang together,
(02:03):
Benjamin Franklin said, or surely we will all hang separately.
And John Hancock, it is said, wrote his signature in
large script so King George could see it without his spectacles.
They were brave. They stayed brave through all the bloodshed
of the coming years. Their courage created a nation built
(02:24):
on a universal claim to human dignity, on the proposition
that every man, woman and child had a right to
a future of freedom.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
Reagan then read what was and still is the boldest
political declaration ever written in human history.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
Last night, when we read Rededicated miss Liberty and ReLit
her torch, we reflected on all the millions who came
here in search of the dream of freedom. Inaugurated in
Independence Hall, we reflected too on their courage, coming great
distances and settling in a foreign land, and then passing
(03:03):
on to their children and their children's children the hope
symbolized in this statue here just behind us, the hope
that is America. It is a hope that some day
every people and every nation of the world will know
the blessings of liberty, and it's the hope of millions
all around the world. In the last few years, I've
(03:25):
spoken at Westminster, to the Mother of Parliaments, at Versailles,
where French kings and world leaders have made war and peace.
I've been to the Vatican in Rome, the Imperial Palace
in Japan, and the ancient city of Beijing. I've seen
the beaches of Normandy and stood again with those boys
(03:46):
of puant' hoc who long ago scaled the heights, and
with at that time Liza Zanetta Hen, who was at
Omaha Beach for the father she loved, the father who
had once dreamed of seeing again the place where he
and so many brave others had landed on d Day,
but he had died before he could make that trip,
(04:08):
and she made it for him and Dad. She'd said,
I'll always be proud. And I've seen the successors to
these brave men, the young Americans in uniform all over
the world, young Americans like you here tonight, who manned
the mighty US S. Kennedy and the Iowa and the
(04:28):
other ships of the line. I can assure you, you
out there who are listening, that these these young people
are like their fathers and their grandfathers, just as willing,
just as brave, and we can be just as proud.
But our prayer tonight is that the call for their
(04:50):
courage will never come, and that it's important for us
too to be brave. Not so much the bravery of
the battlefield, I mean the brave of brotherhood.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
Bragan then gave a brief history lesson about national unity
and times of disunity too, and the story of two
founders who lived out both.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
All through our history, our presidents and leaders have spoken
of national unity and warned us that the real obstacle
to moving forward the boundaries of freedom, the only permanent
danger to the hope that is America, comes from within.
It's easy enough to dismiss this as a kind of
familiar exhortation. Yet the truth is that even two of
(05:35):
our greatest founding fathers, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, once
learned this lesson late in life. They'd worked so closely
together in Philadelphia for independence, but once that was gained
and a government was formed, something called partisan politics began
(05:56):
to get in the way. After a bitter and divisive
Campaignjefferson defeated Adams for the presidency in eighteen hundred, and
the night before Jefferson's inauguration, Adams slipped away to Boston, disappointed,
broken hearted, and bitter. For years, their estrangement lasted, But
(06:17):
when when both had retired, Jefferson at sixty eight to
Monticello and Adams at seventy six to Quincy, they began,
through their letters to speak again to each other. Letters
that discussed almost every conceivable subject, gardening, horseback riding, even
sneezing as a cure for hiccops, but other subjects as well,
(06:40):
the loss of loved ones, the mystery of grief and sorrow,
the importance of religion, and of course the last thoughts,
the final hopes of two old men, two great patriarchs
for the country that they had helped to found and
loved so deeply it carries me back. Jefferson wrote about
(07:02):
correspondence with his cosigner of the Declaration of Independence, to
the times when beset with difficulties and dangers, we were
fellow laborers in the same cause, struggling for what is
most valuable to man, his right to self government, laboring
always at the same oar, with some wave ever ahead,
(07:23):
threatening to overwhelm us, and yet passing harmless. We rode
through the storm with heart and hand. It was their
last gift to us, this lesson in brotherhood, intolerance for
each other, this insight into America's strength as a nation.
And when both died on the same day, within hours
(07:47):
of each other, that date was July fourth, fifty years
exactly after that first gift to us, the Declaration of Independence.
Speaker 1 (07:59):
And here is how Reagan close things out.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
My fellow Americans, it falls to us to keep faith
with them and all the great Americans of our past.
Believe me, if there's one impression I carry with me
after the privilege of holding for five and a half
years the office held by Adams, Jefferson and Lincoln, it
is this that the things that unite us, America's past
(08:25):
of which we're so proud, our hopes and aspirations for
the future of the world, and it is much loved country.
These things far out weigh what little divides us. And
so to night we are for reaffirm that Joe and
Jamtile we are one nation under God, That black and white,
(08:49):
we are one nation indivisible, That Republican and Democrat, we
are all Americans to night, with heart and hand, through
whatever trial and travail, we pledge ourselves to each other
and to the cause of human freedom, the cause that
has given light to this land and hope to the world.
(09:13):
My fellow Americans, we're known around the world as a
confident and a happy people. Tonight there's much to celebrate
and many blessings to be grateful for. So while it's
good to talk about serious things, it's just as important
and just as American to have some fun. Now, let's
(09:34):
have some fun. Let the celebration begin.
Speaker 1 (09:40):
And you've been listening to Ronald Reagan aboard the USS
John F. Kennedy on July fourth, nineteen eighty six, the
Statue of Liberty in the backdrop, giving one of his
best and least known speeches here on our American stories,
Host
Lee Habeeb
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