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Challenge
- Strategic Defense Initiative
Ronald
Reagan
January
28, 1986
Oval
Office of the White House
Nineteen years ago, almost
to the day, we lost three astronauts in a terrible
accident on the ground. But, we've never lost an
astronaut in flight; we've never had a tragedy like
this. And perhaps we've forgotten the courage it took
for the crew of the shuttle; but they, the Challenger
Seven, were aware of the dangers, but overcame them
and did their jobs brilliantly. We mourn seven
heroes: Michael Smith, Dick Scobee, Judith Resnik,
Ronald McNair, Ellison Onizuka, Gregory Jarvis, and
Christa McAuliffe. We mourn their loss as a nation
together.
For the families of the
seven, we cannot bear, as you do, the full impact of
this tragedy. But we feel the loss, and we're
thinking about you so very much. Your loved ones were
daring and brave, and they had that special grace,
that special spirit that says, 'Give me a challenge
and I'll meet it with joy.' They had a hunger to
explore the universe and discover its truths. They
wished to serve, and they did. They served all of us.
We've grown used to wonders
in this century. It's hard to dazzle us. But for
twenty-five years the United States space program has
been doing just that. We've grown used to the idea of
space, and perhaps we forget that we've only just
begun. We're still pioneers. They, the members of the
Challenger crew, were pioneers.
And I want to say something
to the schoolchildren of America who were watching
the live coverage of the shuttle's takeoff. I know it
is hard to understand, but sometimes painful things
like this happen. It's all part of the process of
exploration and discovery. It's all part of taking a
chance and expanding man's horizons. The future
doesn't belong to the fainthearted; it belongs to the
brave. The Challenger crew was pulling us into the
future, and we'll continue to follow them...
There's a coincidence today.
On this day 390 years ago, the great explorer Sir
Francis Drake died aboard ship off the coast of
Panama. In his lifetime the great frontiers were the
oceans, and a historian later said, 'He lived by the
sea, died on it, and was buried in it.' Well, today
we can say of the Challenger crew: Their dedication
was, like Drake's, complete.
The crew of the space
shuttle Challenger honored us by the manner in which
they lived their lives. We will never forget them,
nor the last time we saw them, this morning, as they
prepared for the journey and waved goodbye and
'slipped the surly bonds of earth' to 'touch the face
of God.'
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Dinesh
D'Souza rates America's 40th president as one of its
greatest, right below Washington and Lincoln. He
makes a forceful case for this rank, probably the
best yet and perhaps the best possible. In the
process, he analyzes Reagan's leadership style with
remarkable clarity and subtlety. Reagan seemed
ordinary in so many ways, still, millions of people
believed in him and followed him. Moreover, he is the
patron saint of the modern conservative
movement--something that he did not create, yet
nonetheless came to embody. Ronald Reagan: How an
Ordinary Man Became an Extraordinary Leader is
for readers already well-disposed toward the former
California governor. It may not change minds, but it
will deepen the appreciation felt by Reagan's many
admirers, who seem to miss the leader more with each
passing day.
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| Published
to coincide with its subject's ninetieth birthday,
Spada's black-and-white photo biography of the
fortieth president forcibly recalls his enormous
popularity when in office. Photogenic as well as
handsome, physically robust (hence his longevity,
perhaps, despite the ravages of Alzheimer's),
radiating the same "talent for happiness"
that he attributed to his mother, epitomizing the
all-American boy who made good, Reagan charmed even
many who loathed his "conservative"
politics (most notably, many in the
"liberal" media), convincing them that he
was "presidential." Spada's selection spans
Reagan's life from nine months to 89 years of age,
and he looks good, if not always beaming, in every
well-reproduced picture. |
