Rendezvous with Destiny: Ronald Reagan and the Campaign that Changed America (74 page)

They say that the United States has had its day in the sun, that our nation has passed its zenith. They expect you to tell your children that the American people no longer have the will to cope with their problems, that the future will be one of sacrifice and few opportunities.

My fellow citizens, I utterly reject that view.

The American people, the most generous on earth, who created the highest standard of living, are not going to accept the notion that we can only make a better world for others by moving backward ourselves. And those who believe we can have no business leading this nation.
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Reagan was even more pointed in his indictment of President Carter's administration. “Back in 1976,” he reminded his listeners, “Mr. Carter said, ‘Trust me.’ And a lot of people did. And now, many of those people are out of work. Many
have seen their savings eaten away by inflation. Many others on fixed incomes, especially the elderly, have watched helplessly as the cruel tax of inflation wasted away their purchasing power. And, today, a great many who trusted Mr. Carter wonder if we can survive the Carter policies of national defense.”
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As Reagan built his case against Carter, the crowd joined in. Reagan asked, “Can anyone look at the record of this administration and say, ‘Well done’?”
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The partisan audience roared, “NO!”

“Can anyone compare the state of our economy when the Carter administration took office with where we are today and say, ‘Keep up the good work’?” Reagan issued what only could be called a sarcastic wink to the crowd.
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They cried out, “NO!” to his refrain.

“Can anyone look at our reduced standing in the world today and say, ‘Let's have four more years of this’?”
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“NO!”

Reagan drew energy and strength from the delegates, and only minutes into the speech he had found his stride. “I will not accept,” he thundered, “the excuse that the federal government has grown so big and powerful that it is beyond the control of any president, any administration or Congress. We are going to put an end to the notion that the American taxpayer exists to fund the federal government. The federal government exists to serve the American people. On January 20, we are going to reestablish that truth.”
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He stated his view of the role of governments and the role of people, doing the Founders proud. “My view of government places trust not in one person or one party, but in those values that transcend persons and parties. The trust is where it belongs—in the people. The responsibility to live up to that trust is where it belongs—in their elected leaders. That kind of relationship, between the people and their elected leaders, is a special kind of compact.”
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Reagan's speech was infused with words and phrases such as “unify,” “future,” “dedication,” “commitment,” “clarity of vision,” “forward momentum,” and “courage”—all new idioms to a GOP once obsessed about the past and had been forced onto the defensive over Herbert Hoover, isolationism, anticommunism, traditional values, and the corruption of Richard Nixon and his betrayal of conservatism. Reagan also used the phrase “a new beginning,” as well as “new consensus” and “the time is now,” several times.
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Reagan proposed to take positive action, announcing specific freezes in federal hiring and cuts in federal spending if elected. He also made his case for the Kemp-Roth across-the-board tax cuts:

Work and family are at the center of our lives, the foundation of our dignity as a free people. When we deprive people of what they have earned, or take away their jobs, we destroy their dignity and undermine their families. We can't support families unless there are jobs; and we can't have jobs unless the people have both money to invest and the faith to invest it.…

The American people are carrying the heaviest peacetime tax burden in our nation's history—and it will grow even heavier, under present law, next January. We are taxing ourselves into economic exhaustion and stagnation, crushing our ability and incentive to save, invest and produce. This must stop.…

I've long advocated a 30 percent reduction in income tax rates over a period of three years. This phased tax reduction would begin with a 10 percent “down payment” tax cut in 1981, which the Republicans in Congress and I have already proposed. A phased reduction of tax rates would go a long way toward easing the heavy burden on the American people.
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Reagan did not stop there, proposing new and additional tax cuts for businesses as a means to jump-start the torpid American economy. Some of his heartiest applause came at his tax-cut proposals.

The GOP's nominee also made a direct challenge to minorities to join his cause. “We have to move ahead, but we're not going to leave anyone behind.… That may be the Democratic leadership's message to the minorities, but it won't be our message.… It's time to put America back to work, to make our cities and towns resound with the confident voices of men and women of all races, nationalities and faiths bringing home to their families a paycheck they can cash for honest money.”
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During long applause, the networks' “pool” camera (to save costs, the three networks shared the same camera and broadcast content) cut away to show viewers what the hall looked like and who was there. Frank Sinatra and his wife, Barbara, were in a VIP section. George Bush, wearing the same granny glasses his aides had begged him to get rid of, was wreathed in smiles. So was Barbara Bush and the rest of their family, with the exception of their eldest son, George, who looked bored and not terribly happy. Mostly, though, television viewers saw in Joe Louis Arena people pretty much like themselves.

Reagan turned to foreign policy, his staple issue for many years, especially his opposition to Soviet Communism. In a clear, forceful tone, Reagan said, “When we move from domestic affairs and cast our eyes abroad, we see an equally sorry chapter in the record of the present administration.” He catalogued Carter's abdication of responsibility: “A Soviet combat brigade trains in Cuba, just 90 miles
from our shores. A Soviet army of invasion occupies Afghanistan, further threatening our vital interests in the Middle East. America's defense strength is at its lowest ebb in a generation, while the Soviet Union is vastly outspending us in both strategic and conventional arms. Our European allies, looking nervously at the growing menace from the East, turn to us for leadership and fail to find it.”
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Reagan then took on the sensitive issue of the American hostages long held in Iran. “And incredibly … more than fifty of our fellow Americans have been held captive for over eight months by a dictatorial foreign power that holds us up to ridicule before the world.”
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He turned the snarky comments made about his movie career around on Carter, charging the president with living “in the world of make-believe.… But you and I live in a real world, where disasters are overtaking our nation without any real response from Washington. This is make-believe, self-deceit and, above all, transparent hypocrisy. For example, Mr. Carter says he supports the volunteer army, but he lets military pay and benefits slip so low that many of our enlisted personnel are actually eligible for food stamps.” Reagan elaborated on the poor condition and morale of the U.S. military and then swung yet again at Carter. “There may be a sailor at the helm of the ship of state, but the ship has no rudder.”
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The crowd laughed and Reagan smiled.

The candidate was not finished with Carter, serving up his most powerful bill of particulars against the administration. “Who does not feel a growing sense of unease as our allies … reluctantly conclude that America is unwilling or unable to fulfill its obligations as leader of the free world? Who does not feel rising alarm when the question … is no longer ‘Should we do something?’ but 'do we have the capacity to do anything?' The administration which has brought us to this state is seeking your endorsement for four more years of weakness, indecision, mediocrity, and incompetence. No American should vote until he or she has asked, ‘Is the United States stronger and more respected now than it was three-and-a-half years ago? Is the world today a safer place in which to live?'”
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The delegates responded in unison, “NO!”

Waiting for the applause to die down, Reagan spotted a group of supporters from the Young Americans for Freedom in the crowd, furiously waving signs, and the Gipper gave them a warm wink.
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He was the national chairman of their advisory board. These kids adored Reagan, and he always seemed to find time to attend their conferences and answer their requests.

“It is,” he went on, “the responsibility of the president of the United States, in working for peace, to ensure that the safety of our people cannot successfully be threatened by a hostile foreign power. As president, fulfilling that responsibility
will be my number one priority.”
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Nothing less than the outcome of the Cold War was at stake in this election, many believed, and Reagan picked up the mantle of the anti-Communist John F. Kennedy, who said in 1961, “For only when our arms are sufficient beyond doubt can we be certain beyond doubt that they will never be employed.”
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In 1980 Reagan said:

Four times in my lifetime America has gone to war, bleeding the lives of its young men into the sands of island beachheads, the fields of Europe and the jungles and rice paddies of Asia. We know only too well that war comes not when the forces of freedom are strong, it is when they are weak that tyrants are tempted.…

But let our friends and those who may wish us ill take note: the United States has an obligation to its citizens and to the people of the world never to let those who would destroy freedom dictate the future course of life on this planet. I would regard my election as proof that we have renewed our resolve to preserve world peace and freedom. That this nation will once again be strong enough to do that.
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Nearing the close of his remarks, Reagan became misty, reflective. “This evening marks the last step, save one, of a campaign that has taken Nancy and me from one end of this great nation to the other, over many months and thousands and thousands of miles.” He then gave testament to the person-to-person campaigning on which he thrived. “There are those who question the way we choose a president, who say that our process imposes difficult and exhausting burdens on those who seek the office.” Softly, with his blue eyes flashing, he said, “I have not found it so.”
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Then Reagan spoke of America and the American people with a poignancy that few politicians could match:

It is impossible to capture in words the splendor of this vast continent which God has granted as our portion of His creation. There are no words to express the extraordinary strength and character of this breed of people we call Americans.

Everywhere we've met thousands of Democrats, Independents and Republicans from all economic conditions, walks of life bound together in that community of shared values of family, work, neighborhood, peace and freedom. They are concerned, yes, they're not frightened. They're disturbed, but not dismayed. They are the kind of men and women Tom Paine
had in mind when he wrote, during the darkest days of the American Revolution, “We have it in our power to begin the world over again.”

Nearly 150 years after Tom Paine wrote those words, an American president told the generation of the Great Depression that it had a “rendezvous with destiny.” I believe this generation of Americans today also has a rendezvous with destiny.
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Hannaford knew the speech cold from having worked on it so long with Reagan, but even the favored wordsmith wept when he heard Reagan deliver it.
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Joe Louis Arena was still, the delegates rapt with attention. Helene Von Damm, Reagan's utterly devoted secretary for so many years, was crying tears of joy. She could scarcely believe that this moment had finally come
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As few other American leaders have, Reagan made Americans weepingly happy and proud. Men and women were snuffling, crying unabashedly, not only in Detroit but across the country, in saloons and firehouses, on farms and in fishing villages, in American Legion halls and college dormitories. Reagan spoke to all of them, reaching into their homes, their minds, and their hearts. Concluding, the Gipper said:

The time is now, my fellow Americans, to recapture our destiny, to take it into our own hands. And to do this it will take many of us, working together. I ask you tonight, all over this land, to volunteer your help in this cause so that we can carry our message throughout the land …

Can we doubt that only a Divine Providence placed this land, this island of freedom, here as a refuge for all those people in the world who yearn to breathe free? Jews and Christians enduring persecution behind the Iron Curtain; the boat people of Southeast Asia, Cuba and of Haiti; the victims of drought and famine in Africa, the freedom fighters in Afghanistan, and our own countrymen held in savage captivity.

Reagan's voice began to crack slightly as he revealed the depth of his feelings about America.

“I'll confess that I've been a little afraid to suggest what I'm going to suggest. I'm more afraid not to. Can we begin our crusade joined together in a moment of silent prayer?”
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He bowed his head and more than twenty thousand people fell silent. Except the low hum of the air conditioning, nary a sound was heard. As he lifted his head, Reagan's eyes misted over and he struggled to keep his composure. He gained it and ended simply, elegantly, and fervently.