By Jackie Gingrich Cushman, Townhall.com
This Sunday will mark the 100th birthday of Ronald Reagan. Many will be celebrating his birth, his life, and the legacy he left our country and the conservative movement. To celebrate, take a few minutes to watch two of his speeches — his 1964 speech in support of Barry Goldwater and his 1987 speech at the Brandenburg Gate — and you will remember why Reagan was called the Great Communicator, and will notice how his message still resonates with us today.
Both of these Reagan speeches can be found on the Reagan Foundation’s YouTube Channel and watched in less than an hour.
He closed his speech supporting Barry Goldwater for president with, “You and I have a rendezvous with destiny.” Speaking as president 23 years later at the Brandenburg Gate, he challenged Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev to “tear down this wall!”
His messages provided both inspiration and clarity.
Reagan rose to national prominence on Oct. 27, 1964, by delivering “The Speech,” as it became known, in support of the Republican Party’s presidential candidate. It was a big risk for the Goldwater campaign to have a little-known spokesman deliver the paid-for half-hour political speech.
The speech, which started with Reagan noting that he had spent most of his life as a Democrat, cited core conservative values: less government, more involvement by the people, less regulation, more personal responsibility. The foundation for Reagan’s address had formed while he was a spokesman for General Electric’s initiative to promote citizenship among employees.
Reagan clearly delineated who should be included and what was at stake:
“I believe that the issues confronting us cross party lines,” he said. “There is no such thing as a left or right. There’s only an up or down– (up) man’s age-old dream, the ultimate in individual freedom consistent with law and order, or down to the ant heap of totalitarianism.”
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