W. Alan Beckelheimer "Something To Think About ..." Published June 9, 2004

Let's take a look at who Reagan was

"I have been described as an undying optimist, always seeing a glass half full when some see it as half empty. And, yes, it is true ­ I always see the sunny side of life. And that's not just because I've been blessed by achieving so many of my dreams. My optimism comes not just from my strong faith in God, but from my strong and enduring faith in man." -- Remarks at the dedication of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California, November 4, 1991

"America is too great for small dreams."

"Excellence does not begin in Washington."

"The very key to our success has been our ability, foremost among nations, to preserve our lasting values by making change work for us rather than against us."

Ronald Wilson Reagan, the 40th president of the United States who launched the modern-day conservative political movement with the "Reagan Revolution," died Saturday. He was 93. In honor of the passing of one of our presidents, I have decided to dedicate my column this week to reliving his life. It is not my intention to sum up his life within the words of this column, because I couldn't hope to achieve such a feat, but to give everyone a glimpse of who our 40th president was.

At age 69 and then again at 73, Reagan became the oldest person ever elected as president of the United States. On March 30, 1981, a mere 70 days after taking office, Reagan was shot by John Hinckley Jr. In 1992 Reagan took former Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev for a ride around his California ranch in a vehicle bearing the license plate "GIPPER." Reagan enjoyed feeding the squirrels that lived outside the Oval Office. In 1994, Reagan announced that was suffering from Alzheimer's disease, a neurological disorder that erodes the memory and causes degeneration of the brain.

The man known as the "Great Communicator" spent his final years largely out of public view, unable to carry on conversations even with his children and wife, Nancy.

President Ronald Reagan slipped from the public eye in 1994, just six years after leaving the White House, but his legacy looms large over the American political landscape even today.

America's 40th president fostered the rise of a new generation of conservatives, recast the Republican Party, challenged Democrats to redefine themselves and altered the political realm in the nation's capital.

As the nation marks the death of Reagan, who succumbed to a 10-year battle with Alzheimer's disease on Saturday afternoon, historians, ideological allies and one-time adversaries consider the impact the movie star-turned-president had on the political world.

Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas) said "(Reagan was) the father of the modern Republican conservative movement."

Republican control of Congress can almost entirely be credited to Reagan and his policies. Although Republicans did not gain enough support to win the U.S. House until 1994, quite some time after Reagan left office, that lapse in almost 50-years of Democratic monopoly of Congress came after Reagan inspired a legion of conservative Republicans to run for office with his passionate and creative conservatism.

"All of us who participated in the Contract with America were standing on Ronald Reagan's shoulders," said former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, referring to the document promising a reformed Congress and a balanced budget that Republicans ran on in 1994.

In more ways than one Reagan is responsible for the two Bush presidents. George Bush served as Reagan's vice president before winning the White House for himself, and Republicans see the current President Bush as the political heir to Reagan and his policies.

With his unequaled optimism, modest demeanor and shameless patriotism, Reagan put forth a new image for conservatives when he was elected to the presidency in 1980.

He generated a sense of warmth toward the presidency, a sentiment that had dissipated almost entirely with the Watergate scandal of the Nixon administration.

Reagan's enormous personal appeal held firm for voters, even when his administration was marked by scandal, i.e. the Iran-Contra controversy in his second term.

Time and again, contemporary conservatives have drawn on President Reagan's name in their appeals for smaller government and less taxes, even if they have had a decidedly mixed record in delivering on those goals.

Reagan's conservative progeny include such names as John McCain, Rudy Giuliani and Colin Powell. The 1980 election of Ronald Reagan to the presidency started a revolution in the modern Republican Party. It serves as a watermark year that, in effect, blots out the memories of all Republicans before him. To put it more simply, Ronald Reagan was Mr. Republican and the whole conservative movement came from this one man.

As president, Reagan's priorities were building the U.S. military, lowering taxes and reducing the size and scope of government. Under him, the U.S. deficit also grew at record levels, something the current Congress finds itself struggling with as you well know.

Reagan's impression on politics in this country also extended to two voting patterns that are still prevalent today.

Both the gender gap and the religious gap started under Reagan.

Under Reagan, more men began voting for the Republican Party, even as more women turned to Democrats. That gender distinction remains.

For example in 2000, Bush bested Gore by 10 percentage points among male voters nationwide.

Reagan also enumerated within his constitution a devout faith in God which aided the Republican Party's interaction with religious voters as never before. It can then be said that Reagan brought religious conservatives into the Republican Party, who would have previously preferred to stay out of politics.

Today, religious conservatives are a key base within the GOP.

And Reagan Democrats are another byproduct of his presidency. These voters were blue-collar Democrats that could never handle the harsh, impersonal Nixon but were able to take to Reagan almost naturally.

Reagan had a mastery for rhetoric that allowed him to utilize the bully pulpit with such skill as to rival the originator of the phrase, Teddy Roosevelt.

Thus in this time of national mourning, perhaps it is best to allow the man to speak for himself, as he never hesitated to do throughout his life.

"Whatever else history may say about me when I'm gone, I hope it will record that I appealed to your best hopes, not your worst fears; to your confidence rather than your doubts. My dream is that you will travel the road ahead with liberty's lamp guiding your steps and opportunity's arm steadying your way." -- Remarks in his address to the Republican National Convention, Houston, Texas, August 17, 1992

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W. Alan Beckelheimer is a Crossville Chronicle staffwriter. His column appears each Wednesday in the Chronicle.