Regardless of your own political views, the mourning by many of Ronald Reagan's passing is a reminder of the sustaining characteristics of leaders - the kind of characteristics that remain firmly lodged in one's mind long after the leader themselves.
I was touched by two personal remembrances of Reagan in the NY Times editorial section this past Sunday. And this piece written on Reagan's 90th birthday which turns the stone to attempt to uncover what made Reagan tick as a leader.
Bouncing off the press, Reagan beamed eternal optimism and infected onlookers with contagious positive energy...Setting a utopian vision, he created his now famous image of ‘a shining city on a hill.’ For Reagan, the sky was the limit. “ We are too great a nation to be limited by small dreams,” he frequently reminded audiences, inspiring young and old alike that there was no ceiling on individual success other than unwarranted pessimism. His eternal optimism bridged America’s vast economic and racial divide.
Sometimes optimism can come off as spin, phony (if it's not an authentic conviction), or merely a "narcotic of cheerfulness" but often it is a matter of perception (a glass can really be both half-full and half-empty - but which statement propels one towards action and fullness more readily?). At the moment of half-fullness, one can be either be pulled toward a better vision for the future or unravel at the possible emptying of the glass. Sometimes we need a leader (if we can't remind ourselves) whom already clearly envisions the full glass touching your lips and quenching your thirst.
Bob Dole writes of his personal experiences of Reagan's "grace, charm, wit and indomitable optimism" in this NYT piece.
When he said goodbye to the country during his last public appearance at the 1992 convention, Ronald Reagan said he wanted to be remembered as someone who "appealed to your greatest hopes, not your worst fears, to your confidence rather than your doubts."
I also came across this 1989 piece on Reagan's effect on the U.S.:
Reagan believes the American people are "lumpy with unrealized potentialities." (The phrase comes from another Californian of simple but powerful understandings, the late Eric Hoffer.) The fruits of American talents will be bountiful when Americans are optimistic. When they are optimistic they make the most of freedom.It is no accident that Reagan rose to the pinnacle of power at a moment when there was a rising wave of intellectual pessimism. Numerous theories were being offered as to why the trajectory of the American experiment has passed its apogee. Reagan's greatest gift to his country has been his soaring sense of possibilities.
In May [1989], at Moscow State University, Reagan said that mankind is emerging "like a chrysalis" from the economy of the Industrial Revolution and is entering the information age, the economy of the mind. "The key is freedom -- freedom of thought, freedom of information, freedom of communication."
Reagan seemed to have a knack for appealing to universal values and was able to put himself in other's shoes...the quintessential empathic and universal marketer. “Talk to people like you were in the barber shop", he said.
I was well aware of the buildup in the military might during the Reagan years (I worked in aerospace myself in the last term), but reading more on Reagan now his motivations appear to be to demonstrate military strength as a means in itself to avoid military aggression. I can't say I necessarily agree with his implementation, but 'winning' through confident strength, power versus force, dialogue and empathy does mark Reagan's style.
Reagan did not retaliate for the 1983 terrorist bombing that killed 241 U.S. troops in Beirut. The only country he invaded was tiny Grenada; he never attempted to force regime change in a large, complex country like Iraq. Reagan also appeared to rule out pre-emptive strikes. "The United States does not start fights. We will never be an aggressor," he said in 1983. - USAToday.com
Mikhail Gorbachev writes movingly of his experiences with Reagan in the NYT eulogy here.
I think he understood that it is the peacemakers, above all, who earn a place in history. This was consistent with his convictions based on experience, intuition and love of life.True, Reagan was a man of the right. But, while adhering to his convictions, with which one could agree or disagree, he was not dogmatic; he was looking for negotiations and cooperation.
I think that the main lesson of those years is the need for dialogue, which must not be broken off whatever the challenges and complications we have to face. Meeting with Ronald Reagan in subsequent years I saw that this was how he understood our legacy to the new generation of political leaders.
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