Sons of the Middle Border: Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton

Sons of the Middle Border: Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton
by Diane Alden

I don't usually watch PBS but they are showing an excellent Ronald Reagan biography. This one includes observations by everyone from his dippy daughter Patty to his more serious daughter Maureen and, of course, Nancy and Ron Jr. Along with his cabinet and advisors and old acquaintances from his days in Illinois and Hollywood a pretty clear picture of Reagan is emerging. Given PBS's usual proclivity for trashing conservatives or making their life hell I was pleasantly surprised.

The first part was called The Lifeguard and it was obvious why that was the title. This segment deals with the most profound episodes in his life especially his experience as a lifeguard on the Rock River in Illinois. As a young man he was responsible for saving 77 people from drowning. According to his family and his biographers even in the throes of the devastating mental illness due to Alzheimer's disease, his time as a lifeguard is the one he recalls most vividly.

Ronald Reagan grew up the son of a doting religious mother and a self absorbed alcoholic father. The Reagan family traveled from place to place as his father attempted to find himself. When they finally settled in Dixon, Illinois, Ronald Reagan had become a self contained rather introverted child who even in later life had difficulty making close friends. With the exception of his wife Nancy a life pattern had been set wherein Ronald Reagan became his own best friend. Reagan as it turns out was much affected by his life experiences which included the transition from liberal Democrat to a rock solid conservative Republican.

During the 40s and 50s as president of the screen actor's guild Ronald Reagan dealt with the ideological drift of Hollywood's writers, actors and directors towards the Communist Party. He fought the take-over of the union by the communists. For his trouble he was subjected to and saw the anarchy and violence inflicted against those who dared to defy the party line of the Hollywood left. Other Hollywood stars such as Barbara Stanwyck and Betty Davis were approached by the Communists but they refused and were subjected to another kind of Hollywood blacklist -- one you won't hear about when Hollywood tells the story of the dark years of McCarthyism.

In any event as Governor of California Reagan was faced with some of the same Communist agitators during the days of student protest at Berkeley. Reagan called in the National Guard to restore order so that those who wanted to go to college in order to get an education would be allowed to do so. The left never forgave him. Additionally, he did what almost every other state in the union had done he sought tuition payments from those who would avail themselves of a college education. What a concept -- paying your own way.

The Reagan years were a steady climb from a state governor to the Presidency of the United States. What is fascinating is how his life experiences profoundly colored his rise to power and his presidency. What is even more amazing is that he had to fight against the establishment of his own party, plus the media, plus the left in order to realize his dream for America. The same party establishment which nominated Ford in 76 and looked at the Reagan revolution as an abberation from the status quo. If it had been up to the establishment Reagan's America would never have occured. The Republican establishment never believed the Soviet Union could be defeated. In a speech given in 1976 Reagan relates the establishment viewpoint:

Now we must ask if someone is giving away our own freedom. Dr. Kissinger is quoted as saying that he thinks of the United States as Athens and the Soviet Union as Sparta. "The day of the U.S. is past and today is the day of the Soviet Union." And he added, . . . "My job as Secretary of State is to negotiate the most acceptable second-best position available." Well, I believe in the peace of which Mr. Ford spoke-as much as any man. But peace does not come from weakness or from retreat. It comes from the restoration of American military superiority.

The genius of Reagan was that he never listened to the nay sayers. He listened to his own heart's belief based on his experiences in small town America -- the one the establishment says never existed -- even today. He succeeded because he didn't listen to the sophisticated east coast crowd who maintained that building this "shining city on a hill" couldn't be done. He never accepted the fact that conservatives couldn't win because they had the wrong message and the media was unfair. Well, Reagan went around the media. He called conferences and got his message out -- and he succeeded inspite of his own party and the media.

After his near death experience with the assassination attempt by John Hinckley, those closest to Reagan say he became more thoughtful and slower in manner and speech. As might be expected those closest to him also tended to shield him from the public with whom he had once enjoyed "pressing the flesh."

Nancy Reagan had decided her guy wasn't going to die at the hands of an assassin. Undoubtedly she was one of the most devoted spouses of a President the last hundred years. The press made her out to be cold and unfeeling yet there probably has not been a closer a duo in the White House since Teddy Roosevelt and Edith. Nancy was more than just a mindless "stand by your man" type of woman, she adored him and he her and would protect him regardless of the name calling and ridiculous attacks by the press at their mutual devotion.

One incident that stands out in the biographical sketch was the visit Mother Theresa made to Reagan shortly after the assassination attempt. She advised Reagan that "he would have much to suffer." Whereas it was pretty obvious that he had already suffered much.

What suffering he would have endured if he fully understood what has become of his "shining city on a hill." He didn't have to witness the optimism he placed in the American people go down hill so rapidly. He didn't have to witness another son of the middle border, also from an alcoholic family background, trash the office and the institution of the presidency.

The comparisons between Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton are stark. Both flawed men to be sure, both from difficult family backgrounds, but one used his flaws and his experience to try and build a "shining city on a hill." The other did everything in his power to torch that city. Both men used power, one used it for the benefit of the country and one for his own aggrandizement. One built a legacy using the tools of idealism and respect for the institutions and LIMITATIONS of government and the rule of law. The other used a charming personality and a warped personal code to show the country how decadent it had become.

The mirror held up to America by these two men shows our two sides. One side is the face which JFK and Ronald Reagan portrayed for us with its high standard of accountability and decency. The other is the face of self-serving anything for a buck, and destroy your "enemies" while you are at it outlook. Both JFK and Reagan were flawed but both understood as Lincoln phrased it "the better angels of our nature." Neither had perfect family lives nor did they always do the right thing but at least they had the common decency not to make corruption and decadence and selfishness appear like noble sounding goals. Neither of them depended on spin to cover the face of corruption with platitudes and selfserving justifications. Both JFK and Ronald Reagan gave Americans hope. Bill Clinton has given us a song and dance as he pursues a dream he doesn't understand -- a dream that may have begun in hope but which got lost to his ambition.

Midwesterners are known for their openness and straight talk. Perhaps that comes from life experiences in the prairie country. Cold winters and small towns and simplicity that the cynical will tell us never really existed.

Excuse me, it did and does exist. Ronald Reagan knew that but the sophisticated and oh so precious Republican establishment didn't, neither did the Democrats. Even now I doubt that either party understands their own country. The thinking is that all American needs is more government or new government programs with a twist. When actually what it needs from its leaders is the freedom to reach the stars unencumbered by government. Reagan understood that no government program will give America hope.

It is in fly over country that people still make an effort to live according to the "better angels of our nature." There are millions, and Reagan knew this, millions who are flawed but who nevertheless strive to attain the "shining city on a hill." Ronald Reagan understood what the better angels were. He understood the shining city. Bill Clinton doesn't. Bill Clinton and those who believe in more government as the solution to our problems rather than in American self reliance and ingenuity and faith in people -- haven't got a clue. Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton are the two faces of America. Only it is up to America to decide which one it wants to reflect the "better angels of our natures."

In November we have one more chance. Maybe the last chance we have to pull ourselves away from the brink. Ronald "Dutch" Reagan -- the American lifeguard once said, "You and I are told we must choose between a left and right, but I suggest there is no such thing as a left or right. There is only an up or down. Up to man's age-old dream-the maximum of individual freedom consistent with order or down to the ant heap of totalitarianism. Regardless of their sincerity, their humanitarian motives, those who would sacrifice freedom for security have embarked on this downward path. Plutarch warned, "The real destroyer of the liberties of the people is he who spreads among them bounties, donations and benefits."

You and I have a rendezvous with destiny. We will preserve for our children this, the last best hope of man on earth, or we will sentence them to take the first step into a thousand years of darkness. If we fail, at least let our children and our children's children say of us we justified our brief moment here. We did all that could be done."

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