In 1981, during his first year in office, Parade magazine asked President Ronald Reagan (1911–2004) to write something for them about what Independence Day meant to him. This submission was written by Reagan himself, and in his own hand. It shows his special finesse in locating himself emotionally among the people while also speaking without embarrassment about human greatness and without irony about high principles.
____
For one who was born and grew up in the small towns of the Midwest, there is a special kind of nostalgia about the Fourth of July.
I remember it as a day almost as long-anticipated as Christmas. This was helped along by the appearance in store windows of all kinds of fireworks and colorful posters advertising them with vivid pictures.
No later than the third of July—sometimes earlier—Dad would bring home what he felt he could afford to see go up in smoke and flame. We’d count and recount the number of firecrackers, display pieces and other things and go to bed determined to be up with the sun so as to offer the first, thunderous notice of the Fourth of July.
I’m afraid we didn’t give too much thought to the meaning of the day. And, yes, there were tragic accidents to mar it, resulting from careless handling of the fireworks. I’m sure we’re better off today with fireworks largely handled by professionals. Yet there was a thrill never to be forgotten in seeing a tin can blown 30 feet in the air by a giant “cracker”—giant meaning it was about 4 inches long.
But enough of nostalgia. Somewhere in our growing up we began to be aware of the meaning of the day, and with that awareness came the birth of patriotism. July Fourth is the birthday of our nation. I believed as a boy, and believe even more today, that it is the birthday of the greatest nation on earth.
There is a legend about the day of our nation’s birth in the little hall in Philadelphia, a day on which debate had raged for hours. The men gathered there were honorable men hard-pressed by a king who had flouted the very laws they were willing to obey. Even so, to sign the Declaration of Independence was such an irretrievable act that the walls resounded with the words “treason, the gallows, the headsman’s ax,” and the issue remained in doubt.
The legend says that at that point a man rose and spoke. He is described as not a young man, but one who had to summon all his energy for an impassioned plea. He cited the grievances that had brought them to this moment and finally, his voice falling, he said, “They may turn every tree into a gallows, every hole into a grave, and yet the words of that parchment can never die. To the mechanic in the workshop, they will speak hope; to the slave in the mines, freedom. Sign that parchment. Sign if the next moment the noose is around your neck, for that parchment will be the textbook of freedom, the Bible of the rights of man forever.”
He fell back exhausted. The 56 delegates, swept up by his eloquence, rushed forward and signed that document destined to be as immortal as a work of man can be. When they turned to thank him for his timely oratory, he was not to be found, nor could any be found who knew who he was or how he had come in or gone out through the locked and guarded doors.
Well, that is the legend—but we do know for certain that 56 men, a little band so unique we have never seen their like since, had pledged their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor.
What manner of men were they? Twenty-four were lawyers and jurists, 11 were merchants and tradesmen, and nine were farmers. They were soft-spoken men of means and education; they were not an unwashed rabble. They had achieved security but valued freedom more. Their stories have not been told nearly enough.
John Hart was driven from the side of his desperately ill wife. For more than a year, he lived in the forest and in caves before he returned to find his wife dead, his children vanished, his property destroyed. He died of exhaustion and a broken heart.
Carter Braxton of Virginia lost all his ships, sold his home to pay his debts, and died in rags. And so it was with Ellery, Clymer, Hall, Walton, Gwinnett, Rutledge, Morris, Livingston, and Middleton.1
Nelson personally urged Washington to fire on his home and destroy it when it became the headquarters for General Cornwallis. Nelson died bankrupt.
But they sired a nation that grew from sea to shining sea. Five million farms, quiet villages, cities that never sleep, 3 million square miles of forest, field, mountain and desert, 227 million people with a pedigree that includes the bloodlines of all the world.
In recent years, however, I’ve come to think of that day as more than just the birthday of a nation. It also commemorates the only true philosophical revolution in all history.
Oh, there have been revolutions before and since ours. But those revolutions simply exchanged one set of rules for another. Ours was a revolution that changed the very concept of government.
Let the Fourth of July always be a reminder that here in this land, for the first time, it was decided that man is born with certain God-given rights; that government is only a convenience created and managed by the people, with no powers of its own except those voluntarily granted to it by the people.
We sometimes forget that great truth, and we never should.
Happy Fourth of July.
__________
The above description says it all: The Fourth of July according to Ronald Reagan.
awax1217 said:
I remember the night as a teacher I spoke to a group of parents about the founders of the country. I mentioned the names in Ronald Reagan’s speech. None of the people there had ever heard of them. They sacrificed so much and are not remembered. I remember in class the next day I asked my students to send letters to the post office for stamps to commemorate them. The post office never answered our call to action. But at least my students got involved. I still think it is a great idea. Maybe you can pick up the cause. If so count me in.
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Jessica said:
Just re-posted this to hiddeninjesus.wordpress.com. Thank you for making me aware of it.
Robert Benjamin said:
What a stud he was!
Sent from my iPad
Invisible Mikey said:
Since this enjoyable fantasy contains at least four different styles within it, I expect Reagan had at least three other ghostwriters. He himself likely wrote the Midwest memory, a hired gun screenwriter-type provided the legend about the apparition urging the delegates to sign the Declaration, and who knows how many speechwriters contributed to the sections about what happened to the men after signing.
In any case, there are historical untruths or inaccuracies in the blurbs about the signers. Thomas Nelson’s home, for example, not only was not destroyed BUT IT STILL STANDS. Apart from a bit of exterior discoloration from cannon fire, it’s intact. You can visit it here: http://www.cr.nps.gov/history/online_books/declaration/site52.htm
He not only did not die bankrupt, but had several estates, having retired after serving as Governor of Virginia. There are even alternate versions of that story about urging others to fire on his home, featuring the Marquis de Lafayette in place of Washington. All the versions are hooey though.
Carter Braxton had a considerable fortune from inheritance and favorable marriages. When he lost his ships, he recouped his losses by selling landholdings. His fortune diminished after the war from his own poor choices of investments, but he certainly didn’t “die in rags”. And John Hart’s wife had died three months before his farm was attacked by the British. He hid out in the Sourland Mountains for a little less than one month, returning then to his home which was damaged but not destroyed.
But who cares about the facts! This piece, in line with Reagan’s legend in general, is about telling a compelling story, no matter what the truth is.
jrbenjamin said:
You’re brilliant. Thank you for this.
I’m not a huge fan of Reagan’s political ideology, career, or the subsequent deification or lionization of him which has occurred. I’ve just read Caspar Weinberger’s testimony about Iran-Contra, and think that alone would perhaps be ground for impeachment of RR.
Nevertheless, the fourth of July gets me a little bit more mushy about these things, as I’m pretty sentimental — and openly so — about the United States and its founding. It’s really the only historical moment that I feel an emotional attachment (for lack of a better phrase) to.
Regardless, thank you very much for reading and for your very, very sharp and cogent analysis. Beautifully done.
Invisible Mikey said:
I really did enjoy reading the piece. You can like a movie even when you know it’s hot air. I can’t help being a bit obsessive about history fact-checking, because like you I also revere the American Revolution as a magnificent event. We are in complete agreement about both the holiday and about Reagan.
Michael Donovan said:
Many People think Ronald Reagan was simplistic and not very bright. The real scholars who followed his years from acting, to SAG president, to Governor, to national speaker and syndicated columnist to presidential candidate in 1968, 1976, and 1980 – and his landslide re-election in 1984, say something completely different.. Reagan talked with Mikail Gorbachev at the Rkyjavic with notes on an index card! The museum has his diary in his own handwriting. It’s amazing! The man was amazing!
Thanks for this post….there was no finer man to serve as President.
Happy Independence Day
dana mentink said:
Ronald Reagan was never ashamed to be proud of his country. That’s what I loved most about him.
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Robert Benjamin said:
Love the conversation between you and Invisible Mikey…very cool
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