Marine’s Gallantry Earns Highest Military Honor

‏Marine Corps Cpl. Dakota Meyer

By Marine Corps Cpl. Reece Lodder Marine Corps Base Hawaii MARINE CORPS BASE HAWAII, Aug. 13, 2011 – Removed from an ambushed platoon of Marines and soldiers in a remote Afghan village on Sept. 8, 2009, his reality viciously shaken by an onslaught of enemy fighters, Marine Corps Cpl. Dakota Meyer simply reacted as he knew best - tackling what he called "extraordinary circumstances" by "doing the right thing -- whatever it takes." Then-Marine Corps Cpl. Dakota Meyer poses for a photo while deployed in support of Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan’s Kunar province. Meyer will receive the Medal of Honor from President Barack Obama on Sept. 15, 2011, making him the first living Marine recipient of the nation’s highest award for valor in combat since the Vietnam War. Meyer was assigned to Embedded Training Team 2-8 advising the Afghan army in Afghanistan’s eastern provinces bordering Pakistan. Courtesy photo (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Nearly two years later, the White House announced yesterday that the 23-year-old Marine scout sniper from Columbia, Ky., who has since left the Marine Corps, will become the first living Marine to be awarded the Medal of Honor in 38 years. Retired Sgt. Maj. Allan Kellogg Jr. received the medal in 1973 for gallantry in Vietnam three years earlier. Meyer is the second Marine to receive the medal for actions in Iraq or Afghanistan. Cpl. Jason Dunham was awarded the medal posthumously for covering a grenade with his body to save two Marines in Iraq in 2004. President Barack Obama will present the award to Meyer at the White House on Sept. 15. "The award honors the men who gave their lives that day, and the men who were in that fight," Meyer said. "I didn't do anything more than any other Marine would. I was put in an extraordinary circumstance, and I just did my job." Though bleeding from shrapnel wounds in his right arm, Meyer, aided by fellow Marines and Army advisors from Embedded Training Team 2-8, braved a vicious hail of enemy machine-gun and rocket-propelled grenade fire in the village of Ganjgal to help rescue and evacuate more than 15 wounded Afghan soldiers and recover the bodies of four fallen fighters - 1st Lt. Michael Johnson, Gunnery Sgts. Aaron Kenefick and Edwin Johnson Jr., and Navy Petty Officer 3rd Class James Layton. ETT advisor Army Sgt. 1st Class Kenneth Westbrook died at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., Oct. 7, 2009, from wounds suffered in the firefight. Meyer charged through the battle zone five times to recover the dead Marines and injured Afghan soldiers, risking his life even when a medical evacuation helicopter wouldn't land because of the blazing gunfire. "There's not a day - not a second that goes by where I don't think about what happened that day," Meyer said. "I didn't just lose four Marines that day; I lost four brothers." Author Bing West, a retired Marine infantry officer and combat veteran of Vietnam, detailed Meyer's actions in the battle in "The Wrong War," and praised Meyer for taking command of the battle as a corporal - the most junior advisor in this firefight. West said Meyer should have been killed, but he dominated the battlefield by fearlessly exposing himself to danger and pumping rifle and machine gun rounds into the enemy fighters. "When you leave the perimeter, you don't know what's going to happen, regardless of what war you're fighting in," Kellogg, who lives in Kailua, Hawaii, said. "Once you get to a point where you make the decision - 'I'm probably going to die, so let the party begin' - once you say in your mind you aren't getting out of there, you fight harder and harder." Beginning his career with the same regiment from which Kellogg retired in 1990, Meyer deployed with 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, to Fallujah, Iraq, in 2007, and earned a meritorious promotion to corporal in late 2008 after returning from the deployment. Before leaving for Iraq, Meyer completed the Marine Corps' 10-week Scout Sniper Basic Course, and committed himself to preparing himself and his snipers for combat. They attended lifesaving classes taught by Navy corpsmen and honed their skills with myriad weapons systems, such as light machine guns. Meyer also spent time in his battalion's communications section learning how to call for mortar and artillery fire. "I devoted my whole life to making the best snipers in the Marine Corps," Meyer said. "They're a direct reflection of your leadership. If you fail them in training, it could get them killed on the battlefield." In February 2009, Meyer volunteered to deploy to Afghanistan's dangerous Kunar province and mentor Afghan soldiers as part of an embedded training team, the type of role usually filled by U.S. Special Forces. "A Marine who seeks the challenge of joining his unit's scout sniper platoon has to have a lot of drive and determination," said Col. Nathan Nastase, commanding officer of 3rd Marine Regiment and formerly Meyer's battalion commander at 3/3. "Being assigned to the ETT was a huge vote of confidence in his abilities." Meyer deployed to Afghanistan on the ETT in July 2009. "Our mission was to help prepare the Afghans to take over their own country and provide security for themselves," Meyer said. "ETTs make a huge impact on the outcome of the war." In Kunar province, Meyer and another ETT advisor would lead squads of 15 Afghan soldiers on patrols. Since he could speak Pashto, the local language, so well, Meyer often separated from the element with his Afghan trainees. When his patrol fought to rescue another from an ambush Sept. 8, 2009, Meyer's focus on advising gave way to surviving, and on what he had to do to keep himself and his men alive. "I lost a lot of Afghans that day," Meyer said. "And I'll tell you right now, they were just as close to me as those Marines were. At the end of the day, I don't care if they're Afghans, Iraqis, Marines or Army; it didn't matter. They're in the same [stuff] you are, and they want to go home and see their family just as bad as you do." Thrown into unimaginable circumstances, Meyer said the Afghan soldiers and his sniper training saved his life during the battle. Jacody Downey is a close friend of Meyer's from Kentucky. He's seen his friend grow from a fun-loving "jokester" in high school to a driven Marine who deeply respected both elders and subordinates. "Dakota has always cared more about others than he does himself," Downey said. "Even if he's not with his Marines now, he's still constantly thinking about them, worrying about them and calling to check on them. He still considers them brothers." Cpl. David Hawkins grew as a Marine under Meyer's leadership in 3/3's Scout Sniper Platoon. "Meyer was an ideal leader," Hawkins, from Parker, Colo., said. "He knew everything about the Marines underneath him - how they'd respond to every situation, not only on a Marine Corps level but also on a personal level." Hawkins said he was deeply humbled by Meyer's concern as a friend, especially after being injured in Afghanistan last year. Hawkins was severely wounded by an improvised explosive device in Afghanistan Sept. 24, 2010. Four days later, he lay static in a stark hospital room, riddled with shrapnel. After groggily emerging from anesthesia into a blurry reality, Hawkins' phone rang - the first call from a friend. Without fail, Meyer's jovial drawl broke through the speaker. "In the Marine Corps, you always hear that if something's broke, you've got to work to fix it, but you never really see the Marine who does it," Hawkins said. "Meyer is that Marine. If he had something to say, he'd say it, and he wasn't really afraid of repercussions for what he said. If it needed to be changed, he changed it." Hearing his friend would receive the Medal of Honor didn't surprise Hawkins. In light of the "character" and "country boy" Hawkins knows, Meyer's actions were simply the manifestation of how he lived and led. "Meyer was destined for the Medal of Honor," Hawkins said. "If you got to work with him, you'd see it." Meyer completed his tour on active duty in June 2010. He went home to Kentucky, where he's found purpose working with his hands in a family business. "Pouring concrete is kind of like the Marine Corps," Meyer said. "When you wake up in the morning, you've got a job … like a mission. There's no set standard on how to do things, but you just have to go out there, make decisions and get it done - and that's like the challenge of the Marine Corps. Once you're satisfied with what you've done, you stop getting better." Meyer is the 86th living Medal of Honor recipient, and he joins a small, elite group of heroes, a reality that will often require him to conjure up haunting reminders of the battles he has fought, the friends he has lost and the painful regret he bears. "I'm not a hero, by any means - I'm a Marine, that's what I am," he said. "The heroes are the men and women still serving, and the guys who gave their lives for their country. At the end of the day, I went in there to do the right thing, … and it all boils down to doing the right thing, … whatever it takes. All those things we learn stick in your head, and when you live by it, that's the Marine way." Though Meyer will receive the Medal of Honor for what he did in Ganjgal, he insists he will wear the five-pointed medallion and blue silk ribbon to honor his fallen brothers, their families and his fellow Marines. "Being a Marine is a way of life," Meyer said. "It isn't just a word, and it's not just about the uniform - it's about brotherhood. Brotherhood means that when you turn around, they're there, through thick and thin. If you can't take care of your brothers, what can you do in life?"

Related Sites: Special Report: Medal of Honor – Heroes of Iraq and Afghanistan Related Articles: Former Marine to Receive Medal of Honor

Marine’s Gallantry Earns Highest Military Honor

‏Marine Corps Cpl. Dakota Meyer

By Marine Corps Cpl. Reece Lodder Marine Corps Base Hawaii MARINE CORPS BASE HAWAII, Aug. 13, 2011 – Removed from an ambushed platoon of Marines and soldiers in a remote Afghan village on Sept. 8, 2009, his reality viciously shaken by an onslaught of enemy fighters, Marine Corps Cpl. Dakota Meyer simply reacted as he knew best - tackling what he called "extraordinary circumstances" by "doing the right thing -- whatever it takes." Then-Marine Corps Cpl. Dakota Meyer poses for a photo while deployed in support of Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan’s Kunar province. Meyer will receive the Medal of Honor from President Barack Obama on Sept. 15, 2011, making him the first living Marine recipient of the nation’s highest award for valor in combat since the Vietnam War. Meyer was assigned to Embedded Training Team 2-8 advising the Afghan army in Afghanistan’s eastern provinces bordering Pakistan. Courtesy photo (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Nearly two years later, the White House announced yesterday that the 23-year-old Marine scout sniper from Columbia, Ky., who has since left the Marine Corps, will become the first living Marine to be awarded the Medal of Honor in 38 years. Retired Sgt. Maj. Allan Kellogg Jr. received the medal in 1973 for gallantry in Vietnam three years earlier. Meyer is the second Marine to receive the medal for actions in Iraq or Afghanistan. Cpl. Jason Dunham was awarded the medal posthumously for covering a grenade with his body to save two Marines in Iraq in 2004. President Barack Obama will present the award to Meyer at the White House on Sept. 15. "The award honors the men who gave their lives that day, and the men who were in that fight," Meyer said. "I didn't do anything more than any other Marine would. I was put in an extraordinary circumstance, and I just did my job." Though bleeding from shrapnel wounds in his right arm, Meyer, aided by fellow Marines and Army advisors from Embedded Training Team 2-8, braved a vicious hail of enemy machine-gun and rocket-propelled grenade fire in the village of Ganjgal to help rescue and evacuate more than 15 wounded Afghan soldiers and recover the bodies of four fallen fighters - 1st Lt. Michael Johnson, Gunnery Sgts. Aaron Kenefick and Edwin Johnson Jr., and Navy Petty Officer 3rd Class James Layton. ETT advisor Army Sgt. 1st Class Kenneth Westbrook died at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., Oct. 7, 2009, from wounds suffered in the firefight. Meyer charged through the battle zone five times to recover the dead Marines and injured Afghan soldiers, risking his life even when a medical evacuation helicopter wouldn't land because of the blazing gunfire. "There's not a day - not a second that goes by where I don't think about what happened that day," Meyer said. "I didn't just lose four Marines that day; I lost four brothers." Author Bing West, a retired Marine infantry officer and combat veteran of Vietnam, detailed Meyer's actions in the battle in "The Wrong War," and praised Meyer for taking command of the battle as a corporal - the most junior advisor in this firefight. West said Meyer should have been killed, but he dominated the battlefield by fearlessly exposing himself to danger and pumping rifle and machine gun rounds into the enemy fighters. "When you leave the perimeter, you don't know what's going to happen, regardless of what war you're fighting in," Kellogg, who lives in Kailua, Hawaii, said. "Once you get to a point where you make the decision - 'I'm probably going to die, so let the party begin' - once you say in your mind you aren't getting out of there, you fight harder and harder." Beginning his career with the same regiment from which Kellogg retired in 1990, Meyer deployed with 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, to Fallujah, Iraq, in 2007, and earned a meritorious promotion to corporal in late 2008 after returning from the deployment. Before leaving for Iraq, Meyer completed the Marine Corps' 10-week Scout Sniper Basic Course, and committed himself to preparing himself and his snipers for combat. They attended lifesaving classes taught by Navy corpsmen and honed their skills with myriad weapons systems, such as light machine guns. Meyer also spent time in his battalion's communications section learning how to call for mortar and artillery fire. "I devoted my whole life to making the best snipers in the Marine Corps," Meyer said. "They're a direct reflection of your leadership. If you fail them in training, it could get them killed on the battlefield." In February 2009, Meyer volunteered to deploy to Afghanistan's dangerous Kunar province and mentor Afghan soldiers as part of an embedded training team, the type of role usually filled by U.S. Special Forces. "A Marine who seeks the challenge of joining his unit's scout sniper platoon has to have a lot of drive and determination," said Col. Nathan Nastase, commanding officer of 3rd Marine Regiment and formerly Meyer's battalion commander at 3/3. "Being assigned to the ETT was a huge vote of confidence in his abilities." Meyer deployed to Afghanistan on the ETT in July 2009. "Our mission was to help prepare the Afghans to take over their own country and provide security for themselves," Meyer said. "ETTs make a huge impact on the outcome of the war." In Kunar province, Meyer and another ETT advisor would lead squads of 15 Afghan soldiers on patrols. Since he could speak Pashto, the local language, so well, Meyer often separated from the element with his Afghan trainees. When his patrol fought to rescue another from an ambush Sept. 8, 2009, Meyer's focus on advising gave way to surviving, and on what he had to do to keep himself and his men alive. "I lost a lot of Afghans that day," Meyer said. "And I'll tell you right now, they were just as close to me as those Marines were. At the end of the day, I don't care if they're Afghans, Iraqis, Marines or Army; it didn't matter. They're in the same [stuff] you are, and they want to go home and see their family just as bad as you do." Thrown into unimaginable circumstances, Meyer said the Afghan soldiers and his sniper training saved his life during the battle. Jacody Downey is a close friend of Meyer's from Kentucky. He's seen his friend grow from a fun-loving "jokester" in high school to a driven Marine who deeply respected both elders and subordinates. "Dakota has always cared more about others than he does himself," Downey said. "Even if he's not with his Marines now, he's still constantly thinking about them, worrying about them and calling to check on them. He still considers them brothers." Cpl. David Hawkins grew as a Marine under Meyer's leadership in 3/3's Scout Sniper Platoon. "Meyer was an ideal leader," Hawkins, from Parker, Colo., said. "He knew everything about the Marines underneath him - how they'd respond to every situation, not only on a Marine Corps level but also on a personal level." Hawkins said he was deeply humbled by Meyer's concern as a friend, especially after being injured in Afghanistan last year. Hawkins was severely wounded by an improvised explosive device in Afghanistan Sept. 24, 2010. Four days later, he lay static in a stark hospital room, riddled with shrapnel. After groggily emerging from anesthesia into a blurry reality, Hawkins' phone rang - the first call from a friend. Without fail, Meyer's jovial drawl broke through the speaker. "In the Marine Corps, you always hear that if something's broke, you've got to work to fix it, but you never really see the Marine who does it," Hawkins said. "Meyer is that Marine. If he had something to say, he'd say it, and he wasn't really afraid of repercussions for what he said. If it needed to be changed, he changed it." Hearing his friend would receive the Medal of Honor didn't surprise Hawkins. In light of the "character" and "country boy" Hawkins knows, Meyer's actions were simply the manifestation of how he lived and led. "Meyer was destined for the Medal of Honor," Hawkins said. "If you got to work with him, you'd see it." Meyer completed his tour on active duty in June 2010. He went home to Kentucky, where he's found purpose working with his hands in a family business. "Pouring concrete is kind of like the Marine Corps," Meyer said. "When you wake up in the morning, you've got a job … like a mission. There's no set standard on how to do things, but you just have to go out there, make decisions and get it done - and that's like the challenge of the Marine Corps. Once you're satisfied with what you've done, you stop getting better." Meyer is the 86th living Medal of Honor recipient, and he joins a small, elite group of heroes, a reality that will often require him to conjure up haunting reminders of the battles he has fought, the friends he has lost and the painful regret he bears. "I'm not a hero, by any means - I'm a Marine, that's what I am," he said. "The heroes are the men and women still serving, and the guys who gave their lives for their country. At the end of the day, I went in there to do the right thing, … and it all boils down to doing the right thing, … whatever it takes. All those things we learn stick in your head, and when you live by it, that's the Marine way." Though Meyer will receive the Medal of Honor for what he did in Ganjgal, he insists he will wear the five-pointed medallion and blue silk ribbon to honor his fallen brothers, their families and his fellow Marines. "Being a Marine is a way of life," Meyer said. "It isn't just a word, and it's not just about the uniform - it's about brotherhood. Brotherhood means that when you turn around, they're there, through thick and thin. If you can't take care of your brothers, what can you do in life?"

Related Sites: Special Report: Medal of Honor – Heroes of Iraq and Afghanistan Related Articles: Former Marine to Receive Medal of Honor

  Leon Panetta

Secretary of Defense

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

 Leon Edward Panetta (born June 28, 1938) is the 23rd and current United States Secretary of Defense, serving in the administration of President Barack Obama since 2011. Prior to taking office, he served as Director of the Central Intelligence Agency. An Italian-American Democratic politician, lawyer, and professor, Panetta served as President Bill Clinton's White House Chief of Staff from 1994 to 1997 and was a member of the United States House of Representatives from 1977 to 1993. He is the founder and director of the Panetta Institute, served as Distinguished Scholar to Chancellor Charles B. Reed of the California State University System and professor of public policy at Santa Clara University. In January 2009, President Barack Obama nominated Panetta for the post of CIA Director; he was confirmed by the full Senate on February 12, 2009 and assumed the office the next day. On April 28, 2011, President Obama announced the nomination of Panetta as United States Secretary of Defense when Robert Gates retires. David Petraeus will take over as Director of the Central Intelligence Agency. As director of the CIA, Panetta presided over the operations that led to Osama bin Laden's death.

On June 21, 2011, the United States Senate confirmed Panetta unanimously as the next United States Secretary of Defense and he assumed the office on July 1.

23rd United States Secretary of Defense
Incumbent
Assumed office July 1, 2011
President	Barack Obama
Deputy	William Lynn
Preceded by	Robert Gates
19th Director of the Central Intelligence Agency
In office February 13, 2009 – June 30, 2011
President	Barack Obama
Deputy	Stephen Kappes Michael Morell
Preceded by	Michael Hayden
Succeeded by	Michael Morell (Acting)
18th White House Chief of Staff
In office July 17, 1994 – January 20, 1997
President	Bill Clinton
Preceded by	Mack McLarty
Succeeded by	Erskine Bowles
29th Director of the Office of Management and Budget
In office January 21, 1993 – July 17, 1994
President	Bill Clinton
Preceded by	Richard Darman
Succeeded by	Alice Rivlin
Chairperson of the House Budget Committee
In office January 3, 1989 – January 21, 1993
Preceded by	William Gray
Succeeded by	Martin Sabo
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from California's 17th district
In office January 3, 1993 – January 21, 1993
Preceded by	Cal Dooley
Succeeded by	Sam Farr
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from California's 16th district
In office January 3, 1977 – January 3, 1993
Preceded by	Burt Talcott
Succeeded by	Don Edwards
Personal details
Born	June 28, 1938 (1938-06-28) (age 73) Monterey, California, U.S.
Political party	Democratic Party (1971–present)
Other political affiliations	Republican Party (Before 1971)
Alma mater	Santa Clara University
Profession	Lawyer Professor Politician Statesman
Religion	Roman Catholicism
Military service
Service/branch	United States Army
Years of service	1964–1966
Rank	First Lieutenant
Awards	Army Commendation Medal

  Leon Panetta

Secretary of Defense

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

 Leon Edward Panetta (born June 28, 1938) is the 23rd and current United States Secretary of Defense, serving in the administration of President Barack Obama since 2011. Prior to taking office, he served as Director of the Central Intelligence Agency. An Italian-American Democratic politician, lawyer, and professor, Panetta served as President Bill Clinton's White House Chief of Staff from 1994 to 1997 and was a member of the United States House of Representatives from 1977 to 1993. He is the founder and director of the Panetta Institute, served as Distinguished Scholar to Chancellor Charles B. Reed of the California State University System and professor of public policy at Santa Clara University. In January 2009, President Barack Obama nominated Panetta for the post of CIA Director; he was confirmed by the full Senate on February 12, 2009 and assumed the office the next day. On April 28, 2011, President Obama announced the nomination of Panetta as United States Secretary of Defense when Robert Gates retires. David Petraeus will take over as Director of the Central Intelligence Agency. As director of the CIA, Panetta presided over the operations that led to Osama bin Laden's death.

On June 21, 2011, the United States Senate confirmed Panetta unanimously as the next United States Secretary of Defense and he assumed the office on July 1.

23rd United States Secretary of Defense
Incumbent
Assumed office July 1, 2011
President	Barack Obama
Deputy	William Lynn
Preceded by	Robert Gates
19th Director of the Central Intelligence Agency
In office February 13, 2009 – June 30, 2011
President	Barack Obama
Deputy	Stephen Kappes Michael Morell
Preceded by	Michael Hayden
Succeeded by	Michael Morell (Acting)
18th White House Chief of Staff
In office July 17, 1994 – January 20, 1997
President	Bill Clinton
Preceded by	Mack McLarty
Succeeded by	Erskine Bowles
29th Director of the Office of Management and Budget
In office January 21, 1993 – July 17, 1994
President	Bill Clinton
Preceded by	Richard Darman
Succeeded by	Alice Rivlin
Chairperson of the House Budget Committee
In office January 3, 1989 – January 21, 1993
Preceded by	William Gray
Succeeded by	Martin Sabo
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from California's 17th district
In office January 3, 1993 – January 21, 1993
Preceded by	Cal Dooley
Succeeded by	Sam Farr
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from California's 16th district
In office January 3, 1977 – January 3, 1993
Preceded by	Burt Talcott
Succeeded by	Don Edwards
Personal details
Born	June 28, 1938 (1938-06-28) (age 73) Monterey, California, U.S.
Political party	Democratic Party (1971–present)
Other political affiliations	Republican Party (Before 1971)
Alma mater	Santa Clara University
Profession	Lawyer Professor Politician Statesman
Religion	Roman Catholicism
Military service
Service/branch	United States Army
Years of service	1964–1966
Rank	First Lieutenant
Awards	Army Commendation Medal

Mullen Accepts Award on Behalf of Armed Forces By Terri Moon Cronk American Forces Press Service WASHINGTON, March 25, 2011 – Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Navy Adm. Mike Mullen accepted the Dwight D. Eisenhower Award from the Center for the Study of the Presidency and Congress last night on behalf of all members of the U.S. armed forces. Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and his wife, Deborah, greet retired Sen. John W. Warner of Virginia at the Center for the Study of the Presidency and Congress awards dinner in Washington, D.C., March 24, 2011. Mullen accepted the Dwight D. Eisenhower Award for excellence on behalf of the U.S. Armed Forces at the dinner. DOD photo by U.S. Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Chad J. McNeeley    (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. “Tonight, there are thousands upon thousands of young men and women answering our nation’s call in Afghanistan, Iraq, Japan and around the world,” the chairman said. “Off the shores of Libya, where they are flying and fighting to protect innocent people from their own government, they are doing a magnificent job.” When the center selected Mullen for the award, the chairman agreed to accept it -– but only on behalf of the nation’s uniformed men and women. Former Virginia Sen. John Warner, past chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, presented the award. President Barack Obama extended his congratulations to Mullen and U.S. service members in a letter. “Throughout his extraordinary military career, Admiral Mullen has set an example for men and women across all branches of government,” the president’s letter read. “His outstanding leadership of our armed forces will be studied for generations to come, and as he accepts this award on behalf of our service members, I hope he takes pride in his enormous contributions to strengthening our nation.” Mullen is a longstanding advocate of supporting U.S. troops and families during and after their service for the “needs they deserve,” ranging from medical care to education and jobs. “You, your families, and all of the veterans you represent have my unyielding support and my deepest gratitude for all that you have done in service to our nation,” Mullen told veterans in the audience from the Disabled American Veterans and the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America. Their actions and dedication to duty, Mullen told the veterans, “stand as stark testament to President Eisenhower’s words that ‘We cannot build peace on desire alone.’ I will take that one step further and say that while desire alone won’t build a better future for our nation or our world, you have.” The center chose Mullen for the Eisenhower Award because “he is a forward-thinking, servant leader and grand strategist who, by looking through a long-term lens, has provided unparalleled leadership in navigating our men and women of the armed forces successfully during America’s longest war,” said Jonathan P. Murphy, the center’s communications director. The chairman’s vision for the future includes jobs for veterans. Mullen said veterans are ready and willing to continue serving their communities, and when communities help veterans transition to civilian life, he foresees a “win-win” relationship. “[That partnership] makes a positive and lasting impact on our nation and the young men and women who have served, for decades to come,” the admiral said. Mullen challenged the Eisenhower Center’s fellows to find new, creative ways to “reach out to the great resources resident in our veterans.” Then, he challenged veterans to grab hold of the opportunities that are offered, “and bring your shipmates, battle buddies and wingmen along with you.” Mullen also encouraged older veterans to mentor the younger ones. “Mentorship knows no rank or age limit,” he said. Quoting Eisenhower, Mullen told the audience, “Our heart summons our strength, our wisdom must direct it.” With that thought, the admiral said, he hopes the leaders of today and the future see the wisdom in keeping faith with those “who have bravely served the nation, as many more do so around the world tonight.” “So when that time comes,” Mullen added, “our nation will have the heart to summon the strength needed to serve our nation and world.”

Biographies: Navy Adm. Mike Mullen Related Sites: Center for the Study of the Presidency and Congress Video

Mullen Accepts Award on Behalf of Armed Forces By Terri Moon Cronk American Forces Press Service WASHINGTON, March 25, 2011 – Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Navy Adm. Mike Mullen accepted the Dwight D. Eisenhower Award from the Center for the Study of the Presidency and Congress last night on behalf of all members of the U.S. armed forces. Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and his wife, Deborah, greet retired Sen. John W. Warner of Virginia at the Center for the Study of the Presidency and Congress awards dinner in Washington, D.C., March 24, 2011. Mullen accepted the Dwight D. Eisenhower Award for excellence on behalf of the U.S. Armed Forces at the dinner. DOD photo by U.S. Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Chad J. McNeeley    (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. “Tonight, there are thousands upon thousands of young men and women answering our nation’s call in Afghanistan, Iraq, Japan and around the world,” the chairman said. “Off the shores of Libya, where they are flying and fighting to protect innocent people from their own government, they are doing a magnificent job.” When the center selected Mullen for the award, the chairman agreed to accept it -– but only on behalf of the nation’s uniformed men and women. Former Virginia Sen. John Warner, past chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, presented the award. President Barack Obama extended his congratulations to Mullen and U.S. service members in a letter. “Throughout his extraordinary military career, Admiral Mullen has set an example for men and women across all branches of government,” the president’s letter read. “His outstanding leadership of our armed forces will be studied for generations to come, and as he accepts this award on behalf of our service members, I hope he takes pride in his enormous contributions to strengthening our nation.” Mullen is a longstanding advocate of supporting U.S. troops and families during and after their service for the “needs they deserve,” ranging from medical care to education and jobs. “You, your families, and all of the veterans you represent have my unyielding support and my deepest gratitude for all that you have done in service to our nation,” Mullen told veterans in the audience from the Disabled American Veterans and the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America. Their actions and dedication to duty, Mullen told the veterans, “stand as stark testament to President Eisenhower’s words that ‘We cannot build peace on desire alone.’ I will take that one step further and say that while desire alone won’t build a better future for our nation or our world, you have.” The center chose Mullen for the Eisenhower Award because “he is a forward-thinking, servant leader and grand strategist who, by looking through a long-term lens, has provided unparalleled leadership in navigating our men and women of the armed forces successfully during America’s longest war,” said Jonathan P. Murphy, the center’s communications director. The chairman’s vision for the future includes jobs for veterans. Mullen said veterans are ready and willing to continue serving their communities, and when communities help veterans transition to civilian life, he foresees a “win-win” relationship. “[That partnership] makes a positive and lasting impact on our nation and the young men and women who have served, for decades to come,” the admiral said. Mullen challenged the Eisenhower Center’s fellows to find new, creative ways to “reach out to the great resources resident in our veterans.” Then, he challenged veterans to grab hold of the opportunities that are offered, “and bring your shipmates, battle buddies and wingmen along with you.” Mullen also encouraged older veterans to mentor the younger ones. “Mentorship knows no rank or age limit,” he said. Quoting Eisenhower, Mullen told the audience, “Our heart summons our strength, our wisdom must direct it.” With that thought, the admiral said, he hopes the leaders of today and the future see the wisdom in keeping faith with those “who have bravely served the nation, as many more do so around the world tonight.” “So when that time comes,” Mullen added, “our nation will have the heart to summon the strength needed to serve our nation and world.”

Biographies: Navy Adm. Mike Mullen Related Sites: Center for the Study of the Presidency and Congress Video

FDR 

Franklin Delano Roosevelt‏

On March 4, 1933, at the height of the Great Depression, Franklin Delano Roosevelt was inaugurated as our 32nd president of the United States. In his famous inaugural address, delivered outside the east wing of the U.S. Capitol, Roosevelt outlined his "New Deal"--an expansion of the federal government as an instrument of employment opportunity and welfare--and told Americans that "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself."  

Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882 – April 12, 1945; pronounced /ˈroʊzəvəlt/ ROH-zə-vəlt;^[1] also known by his initials, FDR) was the 32nd President of the United States and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war. The only American president elected to more than two terms, he forged a durable coalition that realigned American politics for decades. FDR defeated incumbent Republican Herbert Hoover in November 1932, at the depths of the Great Depression. FDR's combination of optimism and activism contributed to reviving the national spirit.^[2] Working closely with Winston Churchill and Joseph Stalin in leading the Allies against Germany and Japan in World War II, he died just as victory was in sight.

Starting in his "first hundred days" in office, which began March 4, 1933, Roosevelt launched major legislation and a profusion of executive orders that gave form to the New Deal—a complex, interlocking set of programs designed to produce relief (especially government jobs for the unemployed), recovery (of the economy), and reform (through regulation of Wall Street, banks and transportation). The economy improved rapidly from 1933 to 1937, but then went into a deep recession. The bipartisan Conservative Coalition that formed in 1937 prevented his packing the Supreme Court or passing much new legislation; it abolished many of the relief programs when unemployment practically ended during World War II. Most of the regulations on business were ended about 1975–85, except for the regulation of Wall Street by the Securities and Exchange Commission, which still exists. Along with several smaller programs, major surviving programs include the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, which was created in 1933, and Social Security, which Congress passed in 1935.

As World War II loomed after 1938, with the Japanese invasion of China and the aggressions of Nazi Germany, FDR gave strong diplomatic and financial support to China and Britain, while remaining officially neutral. His goal was to make America the "Arsenal of Democracy" which would supply munitions to the Allies. In March 1941, Roosevelt, with Congressional approval, provided Lend-Lease aid to the countries fighting against Nazi Germany with Great Britain. He secured a near-unanimous declaration of war against Japan after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, calling it a "date which will live in infamy". He supervised the mobilization of the US economy to support the Allied war effort. Unemployment dropped to 2%, relief programs largely ended, and the industrial economy grew rapidly to new heights as millions of people moved to new jobs in war centers, and 16 million men (and 300,000 women) were drafted or volunteered for military service.

Roosevelt dominated the American political scene, not only during the twelve years of his presidency, but for decades afterward. He orchestrated the realignment of voters that created the Fifth Party System. FDR's New Deal Coalition united labor unions, big city machines, white ethnics, African Americans and rural white Southerners. Roosevelt's diplomatic impact also resonated on the world stage long after his death, with the United Nations and Bretton Woods as examples of his administration's wide-ranging impact. Roosevelt is consistently rated by scholars as one of the greatest U.S. Presidents.^[3

In August 1921, while the Roosevelts were vacationing at Campobello Island, New Brunswick, Canada, Roosevelt contracted an illness diagnosed at the time as polio, but since then the subject of considerable debate,^[33] which resulted in permanent paralysis from the waist down. For the rest of his life, Roosevelt refused to accept that he was permanently paralyzed. He tried a wide range of therapies, including hydrotherapy, and, in 1926, he purchased a resort at Warm Springs, Georgia, where he founded a hydrotherapy center for the treatment of polio patients which still operates as the Roosevelt Warm Springs Institute for Rehabilitation. After he became President, he helped to found the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis (now known as the March of Dimes). His leadership in this organization is one reason he is commemorated on the American dime.^[34][35]

At the time, Roosevelt was able to convince many people that he was getting better, which he believed was essential if he was to run for public office again. Fitting his hips and legs with iron braces, he laboriously taught himself to walk a short distance by swiveling his torso while supporting himself with a cane. In private, he used a wheelchair, but he was careful never to be seen in it in public. He usually appeared in public standing upright, supported on one side by an aide or one of his sons. FDR used a car with specially designed hand controls, which provided him further mobility.^[36]

In the public mind, Roosevelt has been by far the most famous polio survivor. However, his age at onset (39 years) and the majority of symptoms of his illness are more consistent with a diagnosis of Guillain–Barré syndrome.^[37] Since Roosevelt's cerebrospinal fluid was not examined, the cause may never be known for certain.

32nd President of the United States
In office March 4, 1933 – April 12, 1945
Vice President	John N. Garner (1933–1941) Henry A. Wallace (1941–1945) Harry S. Truman (1945)
Preceded by	Herbert Hoover
Succeeded by	Harry S. Truman
44th Governor of New York
In office January 1, 1929 – December 31, 1932
Lieutenant	Herbert H. Lehman
Preceded by	Alfred E. Smith
Succeeded by	Herbert H. Lehman
Assistant Secretary of the Navy
In office March 17, 1913 – August 26, 1920
President	Woodrow Wilson
Preceded by	Beekman Winthrop
Succeeded by	Gordon Woodbury
Born	January 30, 1882(1882-01-30) Hyde Park, New York
Died	April 12, 1945(1945-04-12) (aged 63) Warm Springs, Georgia
Resting place	Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum, Hyde Park, New York
Birth name	Franklin Delano Roosevelt
Political party	Democratic
Spouse(s)	Eleanor Roosevelt
Children	Anna Roosevelt Halsted James Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Jr. (III) Elliott Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Jr. John Aspinwall Roosevelt
Alma mater	Harvard College Columbia Law School
Occupation	Lawyer (Corporate)
Religion	Episcopal
Signature

FDR 

Franklin Delano Roosevelt‏

On March 4, 1933, at the height of the Great Depression, Franklin Delano Roosevelt was inaugurated as our 32nd president of the United States. In his famous inaugural address, delivered outside the east wing of the U.S. Capitol, Roosevelt outlined his "New Deal"--an expansion of the federal government as an instrument of employment opportunity and welfare--and told Americans that "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself."  

Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882 – April 12, 1945; pronounced /ˈroʊzəvəlt/ ROH-zə-vəlt;^[1] also known by his initials, FDR) was the 32nd President of the United States and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war. The only American president elected to more than two terms, he forged a durable coalition that realigned American politics for decades. FDR defeated incumbent Republican Herbert Hoover in November 1932, at the depths of the Great Depression. FDR's combination of optimism and activism contributed to reviving the national spirit.^[2] Working closely with Winston Churchill and Joseph Stalin in leading the Allies against Germany and Japan in World War II, he died just as victory was in sight.

Starting in his "first hundred days" in office, which began March 4, 1933, Roosevelt launched major legislation and a profusion of executive orders that gave form to the New Deal—a complex, interlocking set of programs designed to produce relief (especially government jobs for the unemployed), recovery (of the economy), and reform (through regulation of Wall Street, banks and transportation). The economy improved rapidly from 1933 to 1937, but then went into a deep recession. The bipartisan Conservative Coalition that formed in 1937 prevented his packing the Supreme Court or passing much new legislation; it abolished many of the relief programs when unemployment practically ended during World War II. Most of the regulations on business were ended about 1975–85, except for the regulation of Wall Street by the Securities and Exchange Commission, which still exists. Along with several smaller programs, major surviving programs include the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, which was created in 1933, and Social Security, which Congress passed in 1935.

As World War II loomed after 1938, with the Japanese invasion of China and the aggressions of Nazi Germany, FDR gave strong diplomatic and financial support to China and Britain, while remaining officially neutral. His goal was to make America the "Arsenal of Democracy" which would supply munitions to the Allies. In March 1941, Roosevelt, with Congressional approval, provided Lend-Lease aid to the countries fighting against Nazi Germany with Great Britain. He secured a near-unanimous declaration of war against Japan after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, calling it a "date which will live in infamy". He supervised the mobilization of the US economy to support the Allied war effort. Unemployment dropped to 2%, relief programs largely ended, and the industrial economy grew rapidly to new heights as millions of people moved to new jobs in war centers, and 16 million men (and 300,000 women) were drafted or volunteered for military service.

Roosevelt dominated the American political scene, not only during the twelve years of his presidency, but for decades afterward. He orchestrated the realignment of voters that created the Fifth Party System. FDR's New Deal Coalition united labor unions, big city machines, white ethnics, African Americans and rural white Southerners. Roosevelt's diplomatic impact also resonated on the world stage long after his death, with the United Nations and Bretton Woods as examples of his administration's wide-ranging impact. Roosevelt is consistently rated by scholars as one of the greatest U.S. Presidents.^[3

In August 1921, while the Roosevelts were vacationing at Campobello Island, New Brunswick, Canada, Roosevelt contracted an illness diagnosed at the time as polio, but since then the subject of considerable debate,^[33] which resulted in permanent paralysis from the waist down. For the rest of his life, Roosevelt refused to accept that he was permanently paralyzed. He tried a wide range of therapies, including hydrotherapy, and, in 1926, he purchased a resort at Warm Springs, Georgia, where he founded a hydrotherapy center for the treatment of polio patients which still operates as the Roosevelt Warm Springs Institute for Rehabilitation. After he became President, he helped to found the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis (now known as the March of Dimes). His leadership in this organization is one reason he is commemorated on the American dime.^[34][35]

At the time, Roosevelt was able to convince many people that he was getting better, which he believed was essential if he was to run for public office again. Fitting his hips and legs with iron braces, he laboriously taught himself to walk a short distance by swiveling his torso while supporting himself with a cane. In private, he used a wheelchair, but he was careful never to be seen in it in public. He usually appeared in public standing upright, supported on one side by an aide or one of his sons. FDR used a car with specially designed hand controls, which provided him further mobility.^[36]

In the public mind, Roosevelt has been by far the most famous polio survivor. However, his age at onset (39 years) and the majority of symptoms of his illness are more consistent with a diagnosis of Guillain–Barré syndrome.^[37] Since Roosevelt's cerebrospinal fluid was not examined, the cause may never be known for certain.

32nd President of the United States
In office March 4, 1933 – April 12, 1945
Vice President	John N. Garner (1933–1941) Henry A. Wallace (1941–1945) Harry S. Truman (1945)
Preceded by	Herbert Hoover
Succeeded by	Harry S. Truman
44th Governor of New York
In office January 1, 1929 – December 31, 1932
Lieutenant	Herbert H. Lehman
Preceded by	Alfred E. Smith
Succeeded by	Herbert H. Lehman
Assistant Secretary of the Navy
In office March 17, 1913 – August 26, 1920
President	Woodrow Wilson
Preceded by	Beekman Winthrop
Succeeded by	Gordon Woodbury
Born	January 30, 1882(1882-01-30) Hyde Park, New York
Died	April 12, 1945(1945-04-12) (aged 63) Warm Springs, Georgia
Resting place	Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum, Hyde Park, New York
Birth name	Franklin Delano Roosevelt
Political party	Democratic
Spouse(s)	Eleanor Roosevelt
Children	Anna Roosevelt Halsted James Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Jr. (III) Elliott Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Jr. John Aspinwall Roosevelt
Alma mater	Harvard College Columbia Law School
Occupation	Lawyer (Corporate)
Religion	Episcopal
Signature

CONGRESSMAN RON PAUL

CPAC: RON PAUL WINS 

Republican Summit Straw Poll

Mr Paul, who won last year, came ahead of former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, who finished second.

The Texas lawmaker received 30% of votes cast by those attending, compared to Mr Romney's 23%. Others were grouped far behind.

CPAC is the Republican party's biggest annual convention.

The summit is an opportunity for possible candidates in the 2012 presidential election to test the waters and attract funding and support.

Although it is less than a year before the first voting in primaries for the 2012 race, no Republican has formally announced their candidacy. Correspondents say it is an unusually slow start to the campaign.

Mr Paul, a libertarian Republican with a loyal following, ran in GOP primaries in 2008.

The next highest contenders were former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, who both received 6%, while former House Speaker Newt Gingrich won 5%.

Straw polls are an indicator of the political temperature of those at the conference, but do not always match the outcome of presidential primaries.

In the 2010 straw poll, Mr Paul won 31% and Mr Romney 22%.

RON PAUL

Congressman Ron Paul is the leading advocate for freedom in our nation’s capital. As a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, Dr. Paul tirelessly works for limited, constitutional government, low taxes, free markets, and a return to sound monetary policies. He is known among his congressional colleagues and his constituents for his consistent voting record. Dr. Paul never votes for legislation unless the proposed measure is expressly authorized by the Constitution.In the words of former Treasury Secretary William Simon, Dr. Paul is the “one exception to the Gang of 535″ on Capitol Hill.

Ron Paul was born and raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He graduated from Gettysburg College and the Duke University School of Medicine, before proudly serving as a flight surgeon in the U.S. Air Force during the 1960s. He and his wife Carol moved to Texas in 1968, where he began his medical practice in Brazoria County. As a specialist in obstetrics/gynecology, Dr. Paul has delivered more than 4,000 babies. He and Carol, who reside in Lake Jackson, Texas, are the proud parents of five children and have 17 grandchildren.

While serving in Congress during the late 1970s and early 1980s, Dr. Paul’s limited-government ideals were not popular in Washington. In 1976, he was one of only four Republican congressmen to endorse Ronald Reagan for president.

During that time, Congressman Paul served on the House Banking committee, where he was a strong advocate for sound monetary policy and an outspoken critic of the Federal Reserve’s inflationary measures. He was an unwavering advocate of pro-life and pro-family values. Dr. Paul consistently voted to lower or abolish federal taxes, spending and regulation, and used his House seat to actively promote the return of government to its proper constitutional levels. In 1984, he voluntarily relinquished his House seat and returned to his medical practice.

Dr. Paul returned to Congress in 1997 to represent the 14th congressional district of Texas. He presently serves on the House Committee on Financial Services and the House Committee on Foreign Affairs. He continues to advocate a dramatic reduction in the size of the federal government and a return to constitutional principles.

Congressman Paul’s consistent voting record prompted one of his congressional colleagues to say, “Ron Paul personifies the Founding Fathers’ ideal of the citizen-statesman. He makes it clear that his principles will never be compromised, and they never are.” Another colleague observed, “There are few people in public life who, through thick and thin, rain or shine, stick to their principles. Ron Paul is one of those few.”

Brief Overview of Congressman Paul’s Record:

• He has never voted to raise taxes.
• He has never voted for an unbalanced budget.
• He has never voted for a federal restriction on gun ownership.
• He has never voted to raise congressional pay.
• He has never taken a government-paid junket.
• He has never voted to increase the power of the executive branch.
• He voted against the Patriot Act.
• He voted against regulating the Internet.
• He voted against the Iraq war.
• He does not participate in the lucrative congressional pension program.
• He returns a portion of his annual congressional office budget to the U.S. treasury every year.

On the Issues: Audit the Federal Reserve, Our Money, Taxes, National Defense, Border Security, Civil Liberties, Health Care, Abortion, Education, War on Drugs, Global Warming

RON PAUL:  WHAT IF?

CONGRESSMAN RON PAUL

CPAC: RON PAUL WINS 

Republican Summit Straw Poll

Mr Paul, who won last year, came ahead of former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, who finished second.

The Texas lawmaker received 30% of votes cast by those attending, compared to Mr Romney's 23%. Others were grouped far behind.

CPAC is the Republican party's biggest annual convention.

The summit is an opportunity for possible candidates in the 2012 presidential election to test the waters and attract funding and support.

Although it is less than a year before the first voting in primaries for the 2012 race, no Republican has formally announced their candidacy. Correspondents say it is an unusually slow start to the campaign.

Mr Paul, a libertarian Republican with a loyal following, ran in GOP primaries in 2008.

The next highest contenders were former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, who both received 6%, while former House Speaker Newt Gingrich won 5%.

Straw polls are an indicator of the political temperature of those at the conference, but do not always match the outcome of presidential primaries.

In the 2010 straw poll, Mr Paul won 31% and Mr Romney 22%.

RON PAUL

Congressman Ron Paul is the leading advocate for freedom in our nation’s capital. As a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, Dr. Paul tirelessly works for limited, constitutional government, low taxes, free markets, and a return to sound monetary policies. He is known among his congressional colleagues and his constituents for his consistent voting record. Dr. Paul never votes for legislation unless the proposed measure is expressly authorized by the Constitution.In the words of former Treasury Secretary William Simon, Dr. Paul is the “one exception to the Gang of 535″ on Capitol Hill.

Ron Paul was born and raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He graduated from Gettysburg College and the Duke University School of Medicine, before proudly serving as a flight surgeon in the U.S. Air Force during the 1960s. He and his wife Carol moved to Texas in 1968, where he began his medical practice in Brazoria County. As a specialist in obstetrics/gynecology, Dr. Paul has delivered more than 4,000 babies. He and Carol, who reside in Lake Jackson, Texas, are the proud parents of five children and have 17 grandchildren.

While serving in Congress during the late 1970s and early 1980s, Dr. Paul’s limited-government ideals were not popular in Washington. In 1976, he was one of only four Republican congressmen to endorse Ronald Reagan for president.

During that time, Congressman Paul served on the House Banking committee, where he was a strong advocate for sound monetary policy and an outspoken critic of the Federal Reserve’s inflationary measures. He was an unwavering advocate of pro-life and pro-family values. Dr. Paul consistently voted to lower or abolish federal taxes, spending and regulation, and used his House seat to actively promote the return of government to its proper constitutional levels. In 1984, he voluntarily relinquished his House seat and returned to his medical practice.

Dr. Paul returned to Congress in 1997 to represent the 14th congressional district of Texas. He presently serves on the House Committee on Financial Services and the House Committee on Foreign Affairs. He continues to advocate a dramatic reduction in the size of the federal government and a return to constitutional principles.

Congressman Paul’s consistent voting record prompted one of his congressional colleagues to say, “Ron Paul personifies the Founding Fathers’ ideal of the citizen-statesman. He makes it clear that his principles will never be compromised, and they never are.” Another colleague observed, “There are few people in public life who, through thick and thin, rain or shine, stick to their principles. Ron Paul is one of those few.”

Brief Overview of Congressman Paul’s Record:

• He has never voted to raise taxes.
• He has never voted for an unbalanced budget.
• He has never voted for a federal restriction on gun ownership.
• He has never voted to raise congressional pay.
• He has never taken a government-paid junket.
• He has never voted to increase the power of the executive branch.
• He voted against the Patriot Act.
• He voted against regulating the Internet.
• He voted against the Iraq war.
• He does not participate in the lucrative congressional pension program.
• He returns a portion of his annual congressional office budget to the U.S. treasury every year.

On the Issues: Audit the Federal Reserve, Our Money, Taxes, National Defense, Border Security, Civil Liberties, Health Care, Abortion, Education, War on Drugs, Global Warming

RON PAUL:  WHAT IF?

R E A G A N O M I C S:

What We Learned

From December 1982 to June 1990, Reaganomics created over 21 million jobs.

The right policies can do it again.

By ARTHUR B. LAFFER

For 16 years prior to Ronald Reagan's presidency, the U.S. economy was in a tailspin—a result of bipartisan ignorance that resulted in tax increases, dollar devaluations, wage and price controls, minimum-wage hikes, misguided spending, pandering to unions, protectionist measures and other policy mistakes.

In the late 1970s and early '80s, 10-year bond yields and inflation both were in the low double digits. The "misery index"—the sum of consumer price inflation plus the unemployment rate—peaked at well over 20%. The real value of the S&P 500 stock price index had declined at an average annual rate of 6% from early 1966 to August 1982.

For anyone old enough today, memories of the Arab oil embargo and price shocks—followed by price controls and rationing and long lines at gas stations—are traumatic. The U.S. share of world output was on a steady course downward.

Then Reagan entered center stage. His first tax bill was enacted in August 1981. It included a sweeping cut in marginal income tax rates, reducing the top rate to 50% from 70% and the lowest rate to 11% from 14%. The House vote was 238 to 195, with 48 Democrats on the winning side and only one Republican with the losers. The Senate vote was 89 to 11, with 37 Democrats voting aye and only one Republican voting nay. Reaganomics had officially begun.

President Reagan was not alone in changing America's domestic economic agenda. Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker, first appointed by Jimmy Carter, deserves enormous credit for bringing inflation down to 3.2% in 1983 from 13.5% in 1981 with a tight-money policy. There were other heroes of the tax-cutting movement, such as Wisconsin Republican Rep. Bill Steiger and Wyoming Republican Sen. Clifford Hansen, the two main sponsors of an important capital gains tax cut in 1978.

What the Reagan Revolution did was to move America toward lower, flatter tax rates, sound money, freer trade and less regulation. The key to Reaganomics was to change people's behavior with respect to working, investing and producing. To do this, personal income tax rates not only decreased significantly, but they were also indexed for inflation in 1985. The highest tax rate on "unearned" (i.e., non-wage) income dropped to 28% from 70%. The corporate tax rate also fell to 34% from 46%. And tax brackets were pushed out, so that taxpayers wouldn't cross the threshold until their incomes were far higher.

Changing tax rates changed behavior, and changed behavior affected tax revenues. Reagan understood that lowering tax rates led to static revenue losses. But he also understood that lowering tax rates also increased taxable income, whether by increasing output or by causing less use of tax shelters and less tax cheating.

Moreover, Reagan knew from personal experience in making movies that once he was in the highest tax bracket, he'd stop making movies for the rest of the year. In other words, a lower tax rate could increase revenues. And so it was with his tax cuts. The highest 1% of income earners paid more in taxes as a share of GDP in 1988 at lower tax rates than they had in 1980 at higher tax rates. To Reagan, what's been called the "Laffer Curve" (a concept that originated centuries ago and which I had been using without the name in my classes at the University of Chicago) was pure common sense.

There was also, in Reagan's first year, his response to an illegal strike by federal air traffic controllers. The president fired and replaced them with military personnel until permanent replacements could be found. Given union power in the economy, this was a dramatic act—especially considering the well-known fact that the air traffic controllers union, Patco, had backed Reagan in the 1980 presidential election.

On the regulatory front, the number of pages in the Federal Register dropped to less than 48,000 in 1986 from over 80,000 in 1980. With no increase in the minimum wage over his full eight years in office, the negative impact of this price floor on employment was lessened.

And, of course, there was the decontrol of oil markets. Price controls at gas stations were lifted in January 1981, as were well-head price controls for domestic oil producers. Domestic output increased and prices fell. President Carter's excess profits tax on oil companies was repealed in 1988.

The results of the Reagan era? From December 1982 to June 1990, Reaganomics created over 21 million jobs—more jobs than have been added since. Union membership and man-hours lost due to strikes tumbled. The stock market went through the roof. From July 1982 through August 2000, the S&P 500 stock price index grew at an average annual real rate of over 12%. The unfunded liabilities of the Social Security system declined as a share of GDP, and the "misery index" fell to under 10%.

Even Reagan's first Democratic successor, Bill Clinton, followed in his footsteps. The negotiations for what would become the North American Free Trade Agreement began in Reagan's second term, but it was President Clinton who pushed the agreement through Congress in 1993 over the objections of the unions and many in his own party.

President Clinton also signed into law the biggest capital gains tax cut in our nation's history in 1997. It effectively eliminated any capital gains tax on owner-occupied homes. Mr. Clinton reduced government spending as a share of GDP by 3.5 percentage points, more than the next four best presidents combined. Where Presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton slipped up was on personal income tax rates—allowing the highest personal income tax rate to eventually rise to 39.6% from 28%.

The true lesson to be learned from the Reagan presidency is that good economics isn't Republican or Democrat, right-wing or left-wing, liberal or conservative. It's simply good economics. President Barack Obama should take heed and not limit his vision while seeking a workable solution to America's tragically high unemployment rate.

Mr. Laffer is the chairman of Laffer Associates and co-author of "Return to Prosperity: How America Can Regain Its Economic Superpower Status" (Threshold, 2010).

R E A G A N O M I C S:

What We Learned

From December 1982 to June 1990, Reaganomics created over 21 million jobs.

The right policies can do it again.

By ARTHUR B. LAFFER

For 16 years prior to Ronald Reagan's presidency, the U.S. economy was in a tailspin—a result of bipartisan ignorance that resulted in tax increases, dollar devaluations, wage and price controls, minimum-wage hikes, misguided spending, pandering to unions, protectionist measures and other policy mistakes.

In the late 1970s and early '80s, 10-year bond yields and inflation both were in the low double digits. The "misery index"—the sum of consumer price inflation plus the unemployment rate—peaked at well over 20%. The real value of the S&P 500 stock price index had declined at an average annual rate of 6% from early 1966 to August 1982.

For anyone old enough today, memories of the Arab oil embargo and price shocks—followed by price controls and rationing and long lines at gas stations—are traumatic. The U.S. share of world output was on a steady course downward.

Then Reagan entered center stage. His first tax bill was enacted in August 1981. It included a sweeping cut in marginal income tax rates, reducing the top rate to 50% from 70% and the lowest rate to 11% from 14%. The House vote was 238 to 195, with 48 Democrats on the winning side and only one Republican with the losers. The Senate vote was 89 to 11, with 37 Democrats voting aye and only one Republican voting nay. Reaganomics had officially begun.

President Reagan was not alone in changing America's domestic economic agenda. Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker, first appointed by Jimmy Carter, deserves enormous credit for bringing inflation down to 3.2% in 1983 from 13.5% in 1981 with a tight-money policy. There were other heroes of the tax-cutting movement, such as Wisconsin Republican Rep. Bill Steiger and Wyoming Republican Sen. Clifford Hansen, the two main sponsors of an important capital gains tax cut in 1978.

What the Reagan Revolution did was to move America toward lower, flatter tax rates, sound money, freer trade and less regulation. The key to Reaganomics was to change people's behavior with respect to working, investing and producing. To do this, personal income tax rates not only decreased significantly, but they were also indexed for inflation in 1985. The highest tax rate on "unearned" (i.e., non-wage) income dropped to 28% from 70%. The corporate tax rate also fell to 34% from 46%. And tax brackets were pushed out, so that taxpayers wouldn't cross the threshold until their incomes were far higher.

Changing tax rates changed behavior, and changed behavior affected tax revenues. Reagan understood that lowering tax rates led to static revenue losses. But he also understood that lowering tax rates also increased taxable income, whether by increasing output or by causing less use of tax shelters and less tax cheating.

Moreover, Reagan knew from personal experience in making movies that once he was in the highest tax bracket, he'd stop making movies for the rest of the year. In other words, a lower tax rate could increase revenues. And so it was with his tax cuts. The highest 1% of income earners paid more in taxes as a share of GDP in 1988 at lower tax rates than they had in 1980 at higher tax rates. To Reagan, what's been called the "Laffer Curve" (a concept that originated centuries ago and which I had been using without the name in my classes at the University of Chicago) was pure common sense.

There was also, in Reagan's first year, his response to an illegal strike by federal air traffic controllers. The president fired and replaced them with military personnel until permanent replacements could be found. Given union power in the economy, this was a dramatic act—especially considering the well-known fact that the air traffic controllers union, Patco, had backed Reagan in the 1980 presidential election.

On the regulatory front, the number of pages in the Federal Register dropped to less than 48,000 in 1986 from over 80,000 in 1980. With no increase in the minimum wage over his full eight years in office, the negative impact of this price floor on employment was lessened.

And, of course, there was the decontrol of oil markets. Price controls at gas stations were lifted in January 1981, as were well-head price controls for domestic oil producers. Domestic output increased and prices fell. President Carter's excess profits tax on oil companies was repealed in 1988.

The results of the Reagan era? From December 1982 to June 1990, Reaganomics created over 21 million jobs—more jobs than have been added since. Union membership and man-hours lost due to strikes tumbled. The stock market went through the roof. From July 1982 through August 2000, the S&P 500 stock price index grew at an average annual real rate of over 12%. The unfunded liabilities of the Social Security system declined as a share of GDP, and the "misery index" fell to under 10%.

Even Reagan's first Democratic successor, Bill Clinton, followed in his footsteps. The negotiations for what would become the North American Free Trade Agreement began in Reagan's second term, but it was President Clinton who pushed the agreement through Congress in 1993 over the objections of the unions and many in his own party.

President Clinton also signed into law the biggest capital gains tax cut in our nation's history in 1997. It effectively eliminated any capital gains tax on owner-occupied homes. Mr. Clinton reduced government spending as a share of GDP by 3.5 percentage points, more than the next four best presidents combined. Where Presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton slipped up was on personal income tax rates—allowing the highest personal income tax rate to eventually rise to 39.6% from 28%.

The true lesson to be learned from the Reagan presidency is that good economics isn't Republican or Democrat, right-wing or left-wing, liberal or conservative. It's simply good economics. President Barack Obama should take heed and not limit his vision while seeking a workable solution to America's tragically high unemployment rate.

Mr. Laffer is the chairman of Laffer Associates and co-author of "Return to Prosperity: How America Can Regain Its Economic Superpower Status" (Threshold, 2010).

THE TRUTH ALWAYS HURTS

Ronald Reagan:

Killer, Coward, Con-man

By Greg Palast

The Observer London
Monday, February 7, 2011 
 

You're not going to like this. 

You shouldn't speak ill of the dead. But in this case, someone's got to.

On the 100th Anniversary of Ronald Reagan's birth, as we suffer a week of Reagan-kitcheria and pukey peons, let us remember: 

Reagan was a con-man. Reagan was a coward. Reagan was a killer.

 
In 1987, I found myself stuck in a crappy little town in Nicaragua named Chaguitillo. The people were kind enough, though hungry, except for one surly young man. His wife had just died of tuberculosis.

People don't die of TB if they get some antibiotics. But Ronald Reagan, big-hearted guy that he was, had put a lock-down embargo on medicine to Nicaragua because he didn't like the government that the people there had elected.

Ronnie grinned and cracked jokes while the young woman's lungs filled up and she stopped breathing. Reagan flashed that B-movie grin while they buried the mother of three.

And when Hezbollah terrorists struck and murdered hundreds of American marines in their sleep in Lebanon, the TV warrior ran away like a whipped dog - then turned around and invaded Grenada. That little Club Med war was a murderous PR stunt so Ronnie could hold parades for gunning down Cubans building an airport.

I remember Nancy, a skull and crossbones prancing around in designer dresses, some of the "gifts" that flowed to the Reagans - from hats to million-dollar homes - from cronies well compensated with government loot. It used to be called bribery.

And all the while, Grandpa grinned, the grandfather who bleated on about "family values" but didn't bother to see his own grandchildren.

The New York Times, in its canned obit, wrote that Reagan projected, "faith in small town America" and "old-time values."

"Values" my ass. It was union-busting and a declaration of war on the poor and anyone who couldn't buy designer dresses. It was the New Meanness, bringing starvation back to America so that every millionaire could get another million.

"Small town" values? From the movie star of the Pacific Palisades, the Malibu mogul? I want to throw up.

And all the while, in the White House basement, as his brain boiled away, Reagan's last conscious act was to condone a coup d'état against our elected Congress. Reagan's Defense Secretary Casper the Ghost Weinberger with the crazed Colonel, Ollie North, plotted to give guns to the Monster of the Mideast, Ayatolla Khomeini.

Reagan's boys called Jimmy Carter a weanie and a wuss although Carter wouldn't give an inch to the Ayatollah. Reagan, with that film-fantasy tough-guy con in front of cameras, went begging like a coward cockroach to Khomeini, pleading on bended knee for the release of our hostages.

Ollie North flew into Iran with a birthday cake for the maniac mullah - no kidding - in the shape of a key. The key to Ronnie's heart.

Then the Reagan roaches mixed their cowardice with crime: taking cash from the hostage-takers to buy guns for the "contras" - the drug-runners of Nicaragua posing as freedom fighters.

I remember as a student in Berkeley the words screeching out of the bullhorn, "The Governor of the State of California, Ronald Reagan, hereby orders this demonstration to disperse" - and then came the teargas and the truncheons. And all the while, that fang-hiding grin from the Gipper.

In Chaguitillo, all night long, the farmers stayed awake to guard their kids from attack from Reagan's Contra terrorists. The farmers weren't even Sandinistas, those 'Commies' that our cracked-brained President told us were 'only a 48-hour drive from Texas.' What the hell would they want with Texas, anyway?

Nevertheless, the farmers, and their families, were Ronnie's targets.

In the deserted darkness of Chaguitillo, a TV blared. Weirdly, it was that third-rate gangster movie, "Brother Rat." Starring Ronald Reagan.

Well, mis amigos, your kids can sleep easy tonight.  The Rat is dead.

All week you're going to hear about how Reagan restored America's sense of patriotism - as if heartless slaughter, Club Med wars and making racism respectable are patriotic . (When they said "small town values" you know the color of the town, don't you?).

I wonder if the Reaganauts can recognize any of the weapons they sold the mullahs when they see students gunned down in Teheran.

I do plan a memorial, for the victims, not the victimizer.

Please join me in commemorating the ill star that brought us a celluloid cowboy on his movie-set horsey by lighting a candle for a mom from Chaguitillo.

This obituary was originally published in The London Observer on Reagan's death in 2004.

The author received close to 150 death threats and suggestions for acrobatic acts of intercourse with beasts and relatives.

Therefore, we have reserved a special email, deaththreat@gregpalast.com just for your next threats.

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Conservatives and Republicans are such paragons of virtue and truth that they tried to pin Ronald Reagam's "most corrupt administration in American history" medal on Bill Clinton! Despite the fact that the President and first lady, and many members of the Clinton administration were deluged with charges of criminal behavior on the street and in the media, their accusers fell flat on their faces when they had to prove their trumped up charges in court, where it's evidence and proof that matter – not claims that a good lawyer can show to be devoid of serious credibility. –
        Contrast that to the great numbers of the Republican administration of Ronald Reagan who were not just charged, but were found guilty, in court! How can it be that most Americans don't remember the Reagan administration for its corruption? It couldn't possible because the so-called "Liberal media" rarely, if ever, shines its powerful spotlights on that part of U.S. history? My spotlight is nowhere as strong as theirs, but if enough of us help to spread the word, mayhe we can make up for that deficiency.
        The contenders for the title of "the most corrupt administration in American history" are all Republican administrations.  It may be hard to order them exactly, but the contenders for the first, second, third & fourth "most corrupt administrations in American history" are the Republican administrations of Grant, Harding, Nixon and Reagan.

Before any conservative dismisses what we have to say about Reagan on this site, after taking a good hard look at the record, the very conservative site Jesus-is-Savior.com/Wolves/reagan.htm came to many of the very same conclusions that we reached, i.e. ( in their own words) :         "Let us remember Reagan as he really was : Liar Thief Mass murderer Supporter of abortion War criminal Destroyer of freedom Traitor of the American people Corporate whore Destroyer of the environment Supporter of Satanists & child murderers "

Two types of problems typified the ethical misconduct cases of the Reagan years, and both had heavy consequences to citizens everywhere.  One stemmed from ideology and deregulatory impulses run amok; the other, from classic corruption on a grand scale. 

• The Pentagon procurement scandal, which resulted from the Republicans' enormous infusion of money too quickly into the Defense Department after the lean Carter years.
• Massive fraud and mismanagement in the Department of Housing and Urban Development throughout Reagan's eight years.  These were finally documented in congressional hearings in spring 1989, after Reagan left office.  Cost the taxpayers billions of dollars in losses.  What made this scandal most shameful was that Reagan's' friends and fixers profited at the expense of the poor, the very people HUD and the federal government were pledged to assist through low-income housing. . .
• Despite their many public lies about the matter, it was eventually proven that the Sales of weapons to Iran, followed by illegal financial support of the Central American Contras were carried out with the knowledge of, among others, President Ronald Reagan, Vice President George Bush, Secretary of State George P. Shultz, Secretary of Defense Caspar W. Weinberger, Director of Central Intelligence William J. Casey, and national security advisers Robert C. McFarlane and John M. Poindexter.  Of these officials, only Weinberger and Shultz dissented from the policy decision.  Weinberger eventually acquiesced and ordered the Department of Defense to provide the necessary arms.  Large volumes of highly relevant, contemporaneously created documents were systematically and willfully withheld from investigators by several Reagan Administration officials in an attempt to cover up the administration's extensive corruption.

The views of some of his peers and associates:   * Jim Cannon (an aide to Howard Baker) reported that Reagan's underlings told him, "They told stories about how inattentive and inept the President was.... They said he wouldn't come to work – all he wanted to do was to watch movies and television at the residence." ( Landslide: The Unmaking of the President: 1984-88) * Lee Hamilton (Representative from Indiana) in an interview with Haynes Johnson, told him: "Reagan's only contribution [to the subject of the MX missile] throughout the entire hour and a half was to interrupt somewhere at midpoint to tell us he'd watched a movie the night before, and he gave us the plot from WarGames, the movie. That was his only contribution." ( Sleepwalking Through History: America in the Reagan Years) * Columnist Richard Cohen said, "This President is treated by both the press and foreign leaders as if he were a child.... It is major news when he honors a political or economic discussion with a germane remark and not an anecdote about his Hollywood days." * President Mitterand of France asked Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau about Reagan: "What planet is he living on?" * Mark Hertsgaard, wrote that "During Mr. Reagan's trip to Europe...members of the traveling press corps watched him doze off so many times – during speeches by French President Francois Mitterrand and Italian President Alessandro Pertini, as well as during a one-on-one audience with the Pope – that they privately christened the trip 'The Big Sleep.'" (On Bended Knee: The Press and the Reagan Presidency * David Nyhan, Boston Globe columnist wrote "He demonstrated for all to see how far you can go in this life with a smile, a shoeshine and the nerve to put your own spin on the facts." * Reagan's good friend, British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, "Poor dear, there's nothing between his ears." * Columnist David Broder "The task of watering the arid desert between Reagan's ears is a challenging one for his aides." * Patti Davis (formerly Patricia Ann Reagan) talking about her father, "He has the ability to make statements that are so far outside the parameters of logic that they leave you speechless." ( The Way I See It * Larry Speakes (Reagan's former press secretary) describing what it was like preparing the President for a press conference: "...like reinventing the wheel." (Speaking Out: The Reagan Presidency from Inside the White House) * Mark Green, "This loathing for government, this eagerness to prove that any program to aid the disadvantaged is nothing but a boondoggle and a money gobbler, leads him to contrive statistics and stories with unmatched vigor." (Reagan's Reign of Error) * former president Jimmy Carter, March 6, 1984 "President Reagan doesn't always check the facts before he makes statements, and the press accepts this as kind of amusing." * James David Barber, presidential scholar, "Ronald Reagan is the first modern President whose contempt for the facts is treated as a charming idiosyncrasy." ( On Bended Knee: The Press and the Reagan Presidency, Mark Hertsgaard) * Simon Hoggart :"His errors glide past unchallenged. At one point...he alleged that almost half the population gets a free meal from the government each day. No one told him he was crazy. The general message of the American press is that, yes, while it is perfectly true that the emperor has no clothes, nudity is actually very acceptable this year." in The Observer (London), 1986.

Instead of exposing him for his constant colossal misrepresentation of the facts, the news media have perpetuated the myth of Ronald Reagan as,
 

        Here are examples of what he "communicated":
Ronald Reagan's Record "Firsts"

1. First to serve as Governor on a "conservative" platform and increase spending by 112%.
    
2. First Governor to increase personal income taxes by 60%, increase the cigarette tax by 200%, and increase state tax collections by 152%.
    
3. First to have a popularity rating of only 35% after his first two years in office.
    
4. First to have had a shotgun wedding.
    
5. First president to have been divorced.
    
6. First to increase spending by 80% – in only 8 years.
    
7. First to spend more in eight years than was spent in prior 50 years.
    
8. First to cut taxes by 60% for his rich pals.
    
9. First to have increased the national debt faster than growth of national income.
    
10. First to "almost": triple the national debt.
     
11. First to increase the national debt faster than growth of GDP.
     
12. First to double the deficit.
     
13. First to turn America into a debtor nation.
     
14. First to set a record for the largest one day percentage decline in the DOW in history.  10-19-87.
     
15. First to have "real" interest rates of 8% after averaging 1% over 35 years.
     
16. First to keep prime interest rates at 20%.
     
17. First to have home loan interest rates as high as 16%.
     
18. First to allow the savings and loan industry to be raided after signing a deregulatory bill and proclaiming "I think we have hit the jackpot".  Come and get it the vaults are unguarded.
     
19. First to send an autographed Bible to a man he called "The Satan of Terrorists".
     
20. First to have an admiral plead the Fifth Amendment.
     
21. First to have a stealing, lying, gutless wife abusing Marine LT. Colonel plead the Fifth Amendment.
     
22. First to have a sitting cabinet member indicted.
     
23. First to have an Assistant Secretary of State indicted.
     
24. First to have an Asistant Secretary of Defense sent to prison.
     
25. First to have over 100 members of an administration charged with crimes.
     
26. First to have more members of his administration charged with crimes than the cumulative total of all other presidents in the twentieth century.
     
27. First to testify "under oath" 130 times that "I don't remember".
     
28. First to have an Admiral with a photographic memory testify 128 times " I don't remember".
     
29. First to repeatedly falsify his wife's age,  as though anyone cared.
     
30. First to promote his religious faith and while never having an active membership in any church.
     
31. First to never use the term Jesus Christ in speeches.
     
32. First to have unemployment at 10.8% since great depression.
     
33. First to attack a small unprotected nation with 88,000 inhabitants and 10,000 bb guns, and then proclaim "America stands tall again".  "we have whipped the Vietnam Syndrome.  We have defeated communism".
     
34. #1-in farm foreclosures.
     
35. #1-In bank failures.
     
36. #1-In Savings and Loan failures.
     
37. #1-In percent increase in personal bankruptcies.
     
38. #1-In having servicemen killed during peacetime.
     
39. #1-In largest drop in popularity in one week.
     
40. #1-In being first to honor Nazi Storm Troopers by calling them" Innocent Victims".
     
41. First to lie - over and over- to reporters "I do not dye my hair;  my barber uses a special shampoo."
     
42. First to have a wife who "forced" him to wear three suits in one day.
     
43. First to boast "Not bad for a dumb guy who worked only 20 hours per week".
     
44. First to have his wife sit nearby and whisper answers to questions.
     
45. First to have his press secretary remove him from the microphone when he could not answer questions.  (When the reporter shouted out "answer my question", the president replied "my handlers won't let me speak").
     
46. First to have a Special Assistant say on national TV "sometimes you had to hit him on the head with a 2 x 4 to get his attention".
     
47. #1-In needing a staff person standby during press conferences to tell the press "what he really meant".
     
48. #1-In recorded misstatements.
     
49. #1-In never having a single press conference in which he did not make incorrect statements.
     
50. First to invite the Pope to visit the White House and "bring the wife and kids".
     
51. First to fall asleep while the Pope spoke.
     
52. First 20th Century president to have historians rate him below every president of the 20th except for Richard Nixon.  1994 Poll.
     
53. First to have been openly alienated from his children.
     
54. First to suggest his eldest son undergo psychiatric examination.
     
55. First to have been voted in British polls (twice) as the "most feared leader in the world" sic em Rambo.
     
56. First to have his official biographer state on national TV:  'After he was shot in 1981, he got slower and slower each year.  His speech got slower.  He deliberated more and he hesitated more when he spoke.  He lost his physical quickness and would not make decisions on the spot.  It was a very, very slow and steady mental and physical decline".
     
57. First president to have the Geriatrics Department of a major university study his behavior and conclude that after three years in office he had Alzheimer's. 
58. First to have over $10,000,000 increase in wealth from serving for 8 years as president.

    ---

    The Real Reagan Legacy Debunking Myths About Reagan by Mike Hersh March 19, 2002 (Political Sanity/APJP) – Let's begin our examination of the real Reagan Legacy by taking a look at myth number one: Democrats dominated Congress all through Reagan's terms, and called all his budgets Dead On Arrival.         That's numerically and historically false.  Reagan's people shoved his program through the Congress during the early Reagan years.  James A. Baker, David Stockman and other Reaganites ran roughshod over Tip O'Neill and the divided Democrats in the House and Senate, and won every critical vote.  This is because of the GOP majority in the Senate and the GOP-"Boll Weevil" (or "Dixiecrat") coalition in the House.  Phil Gramm was a House Democrat at the time, and he even sponsored the most important Reagan budgets.         Only after the huge Reagan recession – made worse by utterly failed Reagan "Voodoo Economics" - did Democrats regain some control in Congress.  They halted some Reagan initiatives, but couldn't do much on their own.  That was a time of gridlock.         Six years into Reagan's presidency, Democrats took back the Senate, and began to reverse some of Reagan's horrendous policies.  By that time, Reaganomics had "accomplished" quite a bit: doubled the national debt, caused the S&L crisis, and nearly wrecked the financial system.         Which brings us to myth number two: Jimmy Carter (Reagan's predecessor) wrecked the economy, and Reagan's bold tax cuts saved it.         This is utterly absurd.  Economic growth indices – GDP, jobs, revenues – were all positive when Carter left office.  All plunged after Reagan policies took effect. . . .         Another major myth: Reagan cut taxes on all Americans, and that led to a great expansion.         Here's the truth: the total federal tax burden increased during the Reagan years, and most Americans paid more in taxes after Reagan than before.  The "Reagan Recovery" was unremarkable.  It looks great only contrasted against the dismal Reagan Recession – but it had nothing to do with Supply Side voodoo.         With a red ink explosion – $300 BILLION deficits looming as far as the eye could see – GOP Senators, notably including Bob Dole, led the way on tax hikes.  The economy enjoyed its recovery only after total tax increases larger than the total tax cuts were implemented.  Most importantly, average annual GDP growth during the Reagan 80s was lower than during the Clinton 90s or the JFK-LBJ 60s!         Enough about the economy.  Here's the biggest myth of them all: Ronald Reagan won the "Cold War".         In reality, Reagan did nothing to bring down the Soviet Union.         By 1980, the Soviet Union was trying to cut its own defense spending.  Reagan made it harder for them to do so.  In fact, Reagan increased the possibility of a nuclear war because he was – frankly, and sadly – senile.  He thought we could actually recall submarine-launched nuclear missiles (talk about a Reagan myth), and bullied the Soviets to highest alert several times.         Critically, Reagan never even tried to bring down the Soviet Union.         Wasteful overspending on defense didn't end the Soviet Union.  In fact, it played into the hands of authoritarian "Communist" hard-liners in the Kremlin.  Reagan thought the Soviet Union was more powerful than we were.  He was trying to close what he called "the window of vulnerability."         This was sheer idiocy.         No general in our military would trade our armed forces for theirs.  If it were to happen, none of the Soviet military command would turn down that deal.  We had better systems, better troops, and better morale.         Here's the truth: we'd already won the Cold War before Reagan took office.  All Reagan needed to do was continue the tried-and-true containment policies Harry S. Truman began and all subsequent presidents employed.  The Soviet Union was collapsing from within.  The CIA actually told this to Reagan as he took office.         Here's an example: the Soviet Union military couldn't deal with a weak state on its own border, the poor, undermanned Afghanistan.  Most of the Soviets' military might had to make sure its "allies" in the Warsaw Pact and subjects along the South Asian front didn't revolt.  Even Richard Nixon told Reagan he could balance the budget with big defense cuts.         Reagan ignored this, and wrecked our budget.         We didn't have to increase weapons spending, but Reagan didn't care.  He ran away from summits with the dying old-guard Soviets, and the new-style "glasnost" leadership of Mikhail Gorbachev baffled the witless Reagan and his closed-minded extremist advisors.         Maggie Thatcher finally cajoled the Gipper into meeting Gorby, and Gorby cleaned Reagan's clock.  Reagan's hard-right "handlers" nearly had to drag Reagan out of the room before he signed away our entire nuclear deterrent.  Reagan – and the planet – was lucky Gorbachev sought genuine and stable peace.  Had Yuri Andropov's health held, Reagan's "jokes" and gaffes might have caused World War III.         Eventually Reagan even gave Gorbachev his seal of approval.  Visiting Moscow before the August Coup, Reagan said the Soviet Union was no longer the "Evil Empire." He predicted his friend Gorbachev would lead the Soviet Union for many years to come.         As usual, Reagan was wrong.  A few months later, disgruntled military officers kidnapped Gorbachev, throwing him out of power forever.  Reagan remained disengaged: nothing he did caused the coup, and nothing he did made the Soviet military support Boris Yeltsin over their superiors.         We're all fortunate things happened as they did – but once again, Reagan did nothing to make this fluke more likely.         All this is vintage Reagan.  Reagan took credit for others' hard word and hard choices, and blamed them for his failures.  Reagan even blamed Jimmy Carter for Reagan's foolish, fatal, and reckless decision to leave 243 Marines stationed in Beirut, helpless and unguarded.         Reagan hired over 100 crooks to run our government, and broke several laws himself.  His policies were almost uniformly self-defeating, wrong-headed, immoral and unfair.         Reagan was an actor playing the part of the president.  He was style over substance; lucky, not good.         And once the myths are stripped from the "legacy", the truth becomes obvious:         Reagan was by far the most overrated man in American history.

    Collective Amnesia or Collective Alzheimer's:  America 'Remembers' Ronald Reagan
    by Paul Douglas Newman

            To remember Ronald Reagan as one of the greatest Presidents of the twentieth century, to replace FDR on the dime with Reagan's profile as Republicans wish to do, we are being asked to forget too much.

    • We are asked to forget Lebanon, where Reagan decided to "cut and run" after hundreds of Marines perished when a suicide bomber invaded their compound.
    • We are asked to forget El Salvador, where the right wing FMLN, armed with Reagan money, Reagan weapons, and Reagan military training from the School of the America's at Fort Benning, Georgia slaughtered more than 80,000 civilians in the "War on Communism."
              We are asked to forget the Iran-Contra Scandal, an event that he evidently "could not recall" in response to more than one hundred questions during the Congressional hearings.
    • We are asked to forget the groundwork laid for nuclear disarmament by Presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy, and Nixon.
    • We are asked to forget the Strategic Arms Limitations Treaties I and II.
    • We are asked to forget the re-freezing of the Cold War following the Nixon thaw, when Reagan bellicosely denounced the Soviets as the "Evil Empire," and then joked on his weekly radio address that our missiles were ready to launch.
    • We are asked to forget the silly invasion of Grenada following the Lebanon disaster, and the reversal of goodwill gestures made to the Caribbean made by previous administrations, including the return of the Panama Canal.
    • We are asked to forget the Soviet Union's internal move to Perestroika, a groundswell that occurred over decades resulting in a generation of new Communists by 1985 who were not manufactured by Reagan's bravado, but were products of the "Evil Empire."
    • We are asked to forget that Reagan presided over the worst recession since the Great Depression.
    • We are asked to forget the enormous cuts to social welfare programs and the Veterans Administration, moves that led to such an enormous rise in the homeless population, especially evident on the streets of Washington, D.C., that even comedians felt that they had to do something to stop the bleeding with "Comic Relief."
    • We are asked to forget the policies that enriched agri-business at the expense of small farmers, continuing the decline of the family farm to the point that recording artists were the only ones left to uphold the Populists' mantle with "Farm-Aid."
    • We are asked to forget that he slashed taxes for the wealthiest, raised taxes on the poor, and then bailed out the corrupt Savings and Loan industry at taxpayer expense.
    • We are asked to forget that his SEC presided over such a corrupt and over-inflated stock market that the Dow saw the largest one-day crash in its history, greater than in 1929.
    • We are asked to forget that Reagan's economic policies effected a reversal in the trend toward greater distribution of wealth begun by Progressive Republican, Democratic, and Socialist politicians in the early twentieth centuries, and have led us to the greatest concentration of wealth today since the days of Andrew Carnegie and James Pierpont Morgan.
    • We are asked to forget the enormous and outrageous military contracts, for which American taxpayers paid hundreds of dollars for nuts, bolts, and toilet seats, and the nation saw defense-spending rise to astronomical heights.
    • We are asked to forget the Reagan Administration's opposition to the Civil Rights movement, their blocking of busing programs and cuts to Head Start, programs designed to bring educational equality of opportunity to all Americans .
    • We are asked to forget that Reagan considered ketchup to be a vegetable in federal school lunch programs.
    • We are asked to forget "government cheese." (the program to buy surplus cheese from U.S. farmers to give away to the poor)
    • We are asked to forget jelly beans, splitting wood, bad B-movies, McCarthy-ite participation in Hollywood blacklisting.
    • We are asked to forget our history.
              We are asked to forget, and forget, and forget.
              And by the looks of the New York Times and Washington Post's memorials to the "Great Communicator,"  it appears that what historian Studs Terkel has referred to as "America's collective amnesia" is still acute.
    • Perhaps it is more serious than that.
    • Perhaps we have a national case of Alzheimer's Disease.
    • Perhaps our ability to remember relatively recent events has eroded, and our capacity for rational thought has diminished as well.
    • Perhaps we are becoming a danger to ourselves and others.
    • Perhaps we need admittance into a managed care facility for nations.
    • Perhaps we are "riding off into the sunset." How else do we explain our descent into Bushism?: our quick repetition of past economic and foreign policy blunders, our re-visitation of failed policies to solve current problems, our persistent dementia that results in trying the same things and expecting different results? As of now, there is no cure for Alzheimer's Disease, only management of the symptoms and provision of comfort until death.
              Hopefully Studs Terkel is right, and we've just suffered another blow to the head from which the American people will recover, and remember, and remember, and remember.
              Paul Douglas Newman  (paulnewman52868@hotmail.com)  is Associate Professor of American History at the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown, PA .
      

      ---

      An "Unbiased Reporter" wrote the following :

      "For anyone who was there (the Reagan Years) and paying attention, :
            

    •   . . .  "However, I don't want to be all negative, Reagan did conquer Grenada.  A proud moment in American Military history.  Well, actually, the invasion of Grenada was meant to distract the simple-minded Americans who just watched Reagan bungle his invasion of Beirut, Lebanon, where over 200 marines were murdered by Reagan's trading partners, Hezbollah.  
             

    • To the horror of the Republican Party, some of us remember.  The Joint Chiefs wanted our marines to be housed on our ships at sea, where they'd be safe.  But the Reagan White House thought it would "look better" if those brave men slept on land, instead.  This disastrous decision, made by political hacks at the White House and approved by the senile and confused president, over the objections of the Joint Chiefs, cost hundreds of brave men their lives.
             

    • Can you imagine the years of endless hearings that Congressmen Dan Burton, Henry Hyde and the rest would have held if Bill Clinton had personally overruled the Joint Chiefs and gotten 220 marines killed because Sandy Berger thought it might "look better?"

      ---

      for much more on the horrendous policies of the Reagan administration, see
      thirdworldtraveler.com/Stockwell/ReaganRevolution_Stockwell.html &
      this outstanding statistical analysis of
      Reagan policies, claims and results &
      this other great Reagan web site .

     

  Here's a very insightful article comparing Ronald Reagan to George W. Bush :

DON'T CRY FOR REAGAN
by Paul Krugman
The New York Times
March 19, 2007
        

        AS the Bush administration sinks deeper into its multiple quagmires, the personality cult the G.O.P. once built around President Bush has given way to nostalgia for the good old days. The current cover of Time magazine shows a weeping Ronald Reagan, and declares that Republicans "need to reclaim the Reagan legacy."
        

        But Republicans shouldn't cry for Ronald Reagan; the truth is, he never left them. There's no need to reclaim the Reagan legacy: Mr. Bush is what Mr. Reagan would have been given the opportunity.
        

       In 1993 Jonathan Cohn – the author, by the way, of a terrific new book on our dysfunctional health care system – published an article in The American Prospect describing the dire state of the federal government. Changing just a few words in that article makes it read as if it were written in 2007.
        

       Thus, Mr. Cohn described how the Interior Department had been packed with opponents of environmental protection, who "presided over a massive sell-off of federal lands to industry and developers" that "deprived the department of several billion dollars in annual revenue." Oil leases, anyone?
        

        Meanwhile, privatization had run amok, because "the ranks of public officials necessary to supervise contractors have been so thinned that the putative gains of contracting out have evaporated. Agencies have been left with the worst of both worlds – demoralized and disorganized public officials and unaccountable private contractors." Holy Halliburton!
       

       Not mentioned in Mr. Cohn's article, but equally reminiscent of current events, was the state of the Justice Department under Ed Meese, a man who gives Alberto Gonzales and John Mitchell serious competition for the title of worst attorney general ever. The politicization of Justice got so bad that in 1988 six senior officials, all Republicans, including the deputy attorney general and the chief of the criminal division, resigned in protest.
       

      Why is there such a strong family resemblance between the Reagan years and recent events? Mr. Reagan's administration, like Mr. Bush's, was run by movement conservatives – people who built their careers by serving the alliance of wealthy individuals, corporate interests and the religious right that took shape in the 1960s and 1970s. And both cronyism and abuse of power are part of the movement conservative package.
        

      In part this is because people whose ideology says that government is always the problem, never the solution, see no point in governing well. So they use political power to reward their friends, rather than find people who will actually do their jobs.
       

       If expertise is irrelevant, who gets the jobs? No problem: the interlocking, lavishly financed institutions of movement conservatism, which range from K Street to Fox News, create a vast class of apparatchiks who can be counted on to be "loyal Bushies."
        

        The movement's apparatchik culture, in turn, explains much of its contempt for the rule of law. Someone who has risen through the ranks of a movement that prizes political loyalty above all isn't likely to balk at, say, using bogus claims of voter fraud to disenfranchise Democrats, or suppressing potentially damaging investigations of Republicans. As Franklin Foer of The New Republic has pointed out, in College Republican elections, dirty tricks and double crosses are considered acceptable, even praiseworthy.
       

        Still, Mr. Reagan's misgovernment never went as far as Mr. Bush's. As a result, he managed to leave office with an approval rating about as high as that of Bill Clinton, who, as we now realize with the benefit of hindsight, governed very well. But the key to Reagan's relative success, I believe, is that he was lucky in his limitations.
       

        Unlike Mr. Bush, Mr. Reagan never controlled both houses of Congress – and the pre-Gingrich Republican Party still contained moderates who imposed limits on his ability to govern badly. Also, there was no Reagan-era equivalent of the rush, after 9/11, to give the Bush administration whatever it wanted in the name of fighting terrorism.
       

        Mr. Reagan may even have been helped, perversely, by the fact that in the 1980s there were still two superpowers. This helped prevent the hubris, the delusions of grandeur, that led the Bush administration to believe that a splendid little war in Iraq was just the thing to secure its position.
       

        But what this tells us is that Mr. Bush, not Mr.Reagan, is the true representative of what modern conservatism is all about. And it's the movement, not just one man, that has failed." 

   Reagan's betrayal of the Air Traffic Controllers :

 [ Ronald Reagan’s letter to Robert Poli, president of PATCO, Oct. 20, 1980 ]
        Subsequently, PATCO was one of the very few labor unions that endorsed his candidacy (the others being the Teamsters and the Air Line Pilots Association).
        When candidate Reagan became President Reagan, however, that letter's tone of cooperation and concern of only months before turned into dark threats and stern ultimatums.
[ http://www.massnurses.org/labor/education/2006/sept/patco.htm ]

        Most people who have any memory of the Reagan years remember that he caused almost 11,350 of the Air Traffic Controllers' union (approximately 70 percent) to be fired and barred from ever working in their profession again. What most never knew is that in October 1980, candidate Reagan had met with the leaders of that same union and in response to their explaining their issues and concerns to him, he wrote them a letter putting in writing his promise to support them and address their concerns if elected.
 

        “You can rest assured that if I am elected president, I will take whatever steps are necessary to provide our air-traffic controllers with the most modern equipment available and to adjust staff levels and work days so that they are commensurate with achieving a maximum degree of public safety. I pledge to you that my administration will work very closely with you to bring about a spirit of cooperation between the air-traffic controllers. Such harmony can and must exist if we are to restore the people’s confidence in their government.”

        "The media love celebrity politicians, and Reagan got the sort of media reverence now on display with Arnold Schwarzenegger.  This adoration of the B-movie actor-turned Governor-turned President enabled him to engage in conduct – -the illegal sending of weapons to the Nicaraguan contras-that should have brought his impeachment.
        Reagan's legacy was the massive redistribution of wealth from the poor and middle-class to the rich, which he accomplished through massive tax cuts for the wealthy.
        Reagan all but killed off federal housing funding, paving the way for homelessness to remain a persistent problem in America two decades later
        Reagan refused to mention the word "AIDS," and his delayed response to the epidemic caused tens of thousands of avoidable deaths.
        Reagan sent American weapons to thugs seeking to over the democratically-elected Sandinista Government in Nicaragua, despite a congressional ban of such weapon transfers.  He was directly responsible for the murder of thousands of Nicaraguans, and that nation's continued poverty is a legacy of the Reagan.- backed wars.  Reagan sent weapons to prop up El Salvador's phony "democratic" government, and indirectly supported the death squads that preyed on human rights activists and workers seeking to impose real democracy in that land.
        Reagan pushed for the destruction of federally-funded legal services, arts and humanities, and volunteer programs such as the then activist-oriented VISTA program.  What programs Reagan could not kill, he weakened.
        Reagan's environmental record may actually have been worse than George W. Bush's – -impossible as that seems.
        Reagan threw billions down the tubes in a failed attempt to create a Star Wars Missile Defense System.
        Reagan's 1981 tax cut plan was the major force for gentrification and displacement in urban America during the 1980's, as it provided unprecedented tax incentives for real estate speculation. In a not unrelated impact of the measure, saving and loan institutions faced collapse around America, resulting in a multi-billion dollar taxpayer bailout of the S & L industry.
        The list of Reagan wrongs could go on and on.  This is a man who held a press conference eating grapes during the UFW grape boycott-Reagan called the farmworkers "outside agitators."
        This is a man who held his campaign kickoff for the Presidency in 1980 in Philadelphia, Mississippi, the site where three civil rights workers were murdered in the 1960's.  Reagan chose the site not to highlight the abuses of racism, but to send a message that he would do his best to bring the return of the old ways to the South.
        Ronald Reagan was responsible for more evil and destruction than any American of his generation.  May he rest in peace."

Prior to his Presidency :

 

1. Reagan, in 1965, describing Medicaid recipients. "...a faceless mass, waiting for handouts." –
2. Reagan, in 1966 : "Today a newcomer to the state is automatically eligible for our many aid programs the moment he crosses the border." –   (In fact, immigrants to California had to wait five years before becoming eligible for benefits.  Reagan later acknowledged his error, but repeated the same thing nine months later.)
3. Reagan, in 1971 : "For the first time ever, everything is in place for the battle of Armageddon and the Second Coming of Christ.  It can't be too long now.  Ezekiel says that fire and brimstone will be rained upon the enemies of God's people.  That must mean that they will be destroyed by nuclear weapons." –
4. Reagan, opposing the expansion of Redwood National Park in 1966 : "A tree is a tree.  How many more do you have to look at?" -
5. Reagan, in 1960 : "Hollywood has no blacklist." –   ( FBI records have since shown that this was a lie, and that Reagan personally informed on several actors, later shown to be innocent, destroying their careers in the process.)
6. Reagan, in 1966 : "I would have voted against the Civil Rights Act of 1964." –
7. Reagan, complaining about student protests against Vietnam on the Berkeley campus in 1966 : "A small minority of beatniks, radicals, and filthy speech advocates . . .  brought such shame to a great university." –
8. Reagan, prior to having national guard soldiers break up a peaceful protest on the UC Berkeley campus in 1969 : "If there has to be a bloodbath, then let's get it over with." –   ( The protesters were tear-gassed and fired upon with buckshot. One protester was killed and at least 128 others wounded. )
9. Reagan, in 1967, describing homosexuality.  ". . . a tragic illness." – (When two of his aides were found to be gay that year, he asked for their resignations.)
10. Reagan, in 1976 "Fascism was really the basis for the New Deal.." –
11. Reagan, in a speech he gave to a crowd in Atlanta, GA. "Jefferson Davis is a hero of mine." –
12. Reagan, describing the Voting Rights Act of 1965, arguably the primary legislative victory for blacks during the Civil Rights movement in 1980 : "...humiliating to the South..." –
     
13. Reagan, in a 1980 speech in Philadelphia, MS, a town famous for the murder of three civil rights workers in 1964.  "I believe in states' rights..." – ("States rights" is used in the South as a code word indicating support of Jim Crow laws.)
14. Reagan, in 1979 : "80 percent of air pollution comes not from chimneys and auto exhaust pipes, but from plants and trees." –   (This is still a personal favorite.)
    As President :
15. Reagan,in 1980 : "I have flown twice over Mt St Helens out on our west coast.  I'm not a scientist and I don't know the figures, but I have a suspicion that that one little mountain has probably released more sulphur dioxide into the atmosphere of the world than has been released in the last ten years of automobile driving or things of that kind that people are so concerned about." – (At its peak, Mt. St. Helens released 1/40th as much sulfur dioxide as cars do every day.)
16. Reagan, in 1983 : "There is today in the United States as much forest as there was when Washington was at Valley Forge." –
17. Reagan, in 1980 : "I've said it before and I'll say it again.  The U.S. Geological Survey has told me that the proven potential for oil in Alaska alone is greater than the proven reserves in Saudi Arabia." – .  (Saudi Arabia's oil reserves are approximately 17 times those of Alaska.)
18. Reagan, in 1981: "All the waste in a year from a nuclear power plant can be stored under a desk."   (In fact, a single nuclear power plant can produce up to 22,000 cubic feet of of radioactive waste per year.)
19. Reagan, in 1980:
            "Why should we subsidize intellectual curiosity?" –
20. Reagan, referring to a supposed blind person who wrote him a letter in 1981 : "He wrote in Braille to tell me that if cutting his pension would help get this country back on its feet, he'd like to have me cut his pension." –   (After reporter inquiries, no such letter was ever shown to have existed.)
21. the Killer Trees   After opining in August 1980 that "trees cause more pollution than automobiles do," Reagan arrived at a campaign rally to find a tree decorated with this sign: "Chop me down before I kill again."
22. Reagan, in 1980 : "Because Vietnam was not a declared war, the veterans are not even eligible for the G. I. Bill of Rights with respect to education or anything."
23. Reagan, in 1981 : "I never knew anything above C's." –   (describing his academic record.)
24. Reagan, in 1982.  (Later admitted by White House Spokesman Larry Speakes to be untrue.) "I never wear (makeup).  I didn't wear it when I was in pictures." –
25. Ronald Reagan claimed in April 1982  "In England, if a criminal carried a gun, even though he didn't use it, he was tried for first-degree murder and hung if he was found guilty".  When informed that the story was "just not true,"  White House spokesman Larry Speakes said,  "Well, it's a good story, though.  It made the point, didn't it?"  Reagan repeated the story again on March 21, 1986 during an interview with The New York Times. 
26. The Liberator. In November 1983, Reagan told visiting Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir that he had served as a photographer in a U.S. Army unit assigned to film Nazi death camps.  He repeated the story to Simon Wiesenthal the following February.  Reagan never visited or filmed a concentration camp; he spent World War II in Hollywood, making training films with the First Motion Picture Unit of the Army Air Corps.
27. Reagan, in 1983 : "We think there is a parallel between federal involvement in education and the decline in profit over recent years." –
28. Reagan, in 1984.  (This laughable statement was promptly disputed and soundly proven false the very next day by G.E. Theater makeup man Howard Smith, Death Valley Days makeup man Del Acevedo, and debate panelist James Weighart, as well as Mayor Edward Bergin, recalling a recent presidential visit to Connecticut.)
            "My fellow Americans, I'm pleased to tell you today that I've signed legislation that will outlaw Russia forever.  We begin bombing in five minutes." –
29. Reagan, in 1984 : "I cannot recall anything whatsoever about whether I approved an Israeli sale in advance or whether I approved replenishment of Israeli stocks around August of 1985.  My answer therefore and the simple truth is, 'I don't remember, period'." –
30. Reagan, dodging reporters questions in 1985 : "They turned out the lights.  That tells me I can't talk anymore." –
31. Reagan, explaining how a five cent a gallon tax on gasoline isn't actually a tax in 1982 : "It would be a user fee..." -
32. Reagan, in 1985,   ( responding to a reporter's question, "Mr. President, why don't we openly support those 7,000 guerrillas that are in rebellion rather than giving aid through covert activity?" referring to the brutal Contra rebels in Nicaragua, who indiscriminately attacked civilians.) "Well, because we want to keep on obeying the laws of our country, which we are now obeying." "Doesn't the United States want that government replaced?" "No, because that would be a violation of the law." -
33. Reagan, justifying laying a wreath at a Nazi cemetery in Bitburg in 1985 :   "I know all the bad things that happened in that war.  I was in uniform for four years myself." – (He spent WWII in Hollywood, making films.)
34. Reagan, justifying his policies on Nicaragua, in 1985 : "They haven't been there.  I have."   (Ronald Reagan had never visited Nicaragua.) "They have eliminated the segregation that we once had in our own country..."
35. Reagan, in 1985,   (praising the government of P.W. Botha in South Africa, during the height of apartheid.) "They've done away with those committees.  That shows the success of what the Soviets were able to do in this country." –
36. Reagan, in 1985, praising the Afghan Mujahaddin.  "These gentlemen are the moral equivalent of America's founding fathers." – {These "freedom fighters" included prominent leaders of Al Qaeda, such as Osama Bin Laden, as well as many of the leaders for the Taliban.)
37. Reagan, in 19'87.  ( At the time of the press conference, the U.S. was giving the indiscriminately murderous Contra guerrillas covert aid, in direct violation of the law.  Reagan's lie was so obvious that members of the press corps laughed loudly and openly at his statements.) "If the question comes up at the Tower Board meeting, you might want to say that you were surprised." –
38. Reagan, in 1987 : "A few months ago, I told the American people I did not trade arms for hostages.  My heart and my best intentions still tell me that's true, but the facts and evidence tell me it is not." –
39. Reagan, in 1988 : "Facts are stupid things." –
     
40. Reagan,   (during the latter years of his administration) : "I am not worried about the deficit.  It is big enough to take care of itself." –
     
41. Reagan, in 1989 : "Maybe the Lord brought down this plague [because] illicit sex is against the Ten Commandments." -(Reagan didn't even mention AIDS until 1987, by which time it had spread into the heterosexual population and over 25,000 Americans had died.) "What we have found in this country, and maybe we're more aware of it now, is one problem that we've had, even in the best of times, and that is the people who are sleeping on the grates, the homeless who are homeless, you might say, by choice" –
42. Cadillac Queens.: Over a period of about five years, Reagan told the story of the "Chicago welfare queen" who had 80 names, 30 addresses, 12 Social Security cards, and collected benefits for "four nonexistent deceased husbands," bilking the government out of "over $150,000".  The real welfare recipient to whom Reagan referred was actually convicted for using two different aliases to collect $8,000.  Reagan continued to use his version of the story even after the press pointed out the actual facts of the case to him.
43. Arms for Hostages.: "We did not – repeat, did not – trade weapons or anything else for hostages, nor will we," Reagan proclaimed in November 1986.  Four months later, on March 4, 1987, Reagan admitted in a televised national address, "A few months ago, I told the American people I did not trade arms for hostages.  My heart and my best intentions still tell me that's true, but the facts and the evidence tell me it is not."
    Remembering the Gipper in his own words.

    ---

            At the nationally broadcast state funeral for President Ronald Reagan, his son Ronald, Jr. said of Reagan that while he was "deeply and unabashedly religious, he never made the fatal mistake of so many politicians – wearing his faith on his sleeve to gain political advantage."  He made it clear later that he was speaking of people like President George W. Bush.

    ---

"Divine Guidance"         Geocities.com/thereaganyears/divineguidance.htm shows that the Reagans' idea of "Divine Guidance" was fortune-tellers:         "Virtually every major move and decision the Reagans made during my time as White House Chief of Staff was cleared in advance with a woman in San Francisco who drew up horoscopes to make certain that the planets were in a favorable alignment for the enterprise." Donald Regan (Reagan's former chief of staff), For the Record: From Wall Street to Washington         "It wasn't widely circulated until the publication of Donald Regan's memoir, For the Record in 1988, that President Reagan and his influential wife sought the advice of an astrologer.  Time magazine would later identify Ron and Nancy's chart reader as being San Francisco astrologist Joan Quigley.  Quigley was not the first astrologer the Reagans had consulted.  Ronald and Nancy Reagan had a long history of involvement with astrologers and psychics.  During the 1950's and 1960's, Ron and Nancy enlisted the services of Hollywood astrologer Carroll Righter, and later Jeane Dixon.  In his 1965 autobiography, Where's the Rest of Me?, Reagan said that he and Righter were friends, and that he and Nancy read Righter's column "regularly." (It was on Righter's advice that Reagan postponed his inauguration as governor of California for 9 minutes until the auspicious moment of 12:10 a.m.)"         "For fundamentalist preachers like Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell – who proclaimed Reagan a standard-bearer of Christian righteousness – the astrology matter should have been of particular concern.  Astrology is a branch of the occult and is inimical to Christianity.  However, if the fundamentalist leaders were concerned or embarrassed by the astrology revelations, they didn't show it.  (They also ignored the fact that Reagan rarely attended church.)"

 Ronald Reagan's Criminal Administration:

        "By the end of his term, 138 Reagan administration officials had been convicted, had been indicted, or had been the subject of official investigations for official misconduct and/or criminal violations.  In terms of number of officials involved, the record of his administration was the worst ever."

 
from p. 184,Sleep-Walking Through History: America in the Reagan Years, by Haynes Johnson, (1991, Doubleday), as are the examples below:

1. James Watt, Reagan's Secretary of the Interior was indicted on 41 felony counts for using connections at the Department of Housing and Urban Development to help his private clients seek federal funds for housing projects in Maryland, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.  Watt conceded that he had received $500,000 from clients who were granted very favorable housing contracts after he had intervened on their behalf.  In testifying before a House committee Watt said: "That's what they offered and it sounded like a lot of money to me, and we settled on it." Watt was eventually sentenced to five years in prison and 500 hours of community service.
2. Although not convicted, Edwin Meese III, resigned as Reagan's Attorney General after having been the subject of investigations by the United States Office of the Independent Counsel on two occasions (Wedtech and Iran-Contra), during the 3 short years he was in office.
    
3. E. Bob Wallach, close friend and law classmate of Attorney General Edwin Meese, was sentenced to six years in prison and fined $250,000 in connection with the Wedtech influence-peddling scandal.
4. Lyn Nofziger – Convicted on charges of illegal lobbying of White House in Wedtech scandal.
5. Michael Deaver received three years' probation and was fined one hundred thousand dollars after being convicted for lying to a congressional subcommittee and a federal grand jury about his lobbying activities after leaving the White House.
6. The Iran-Contra scandal. In June, 1984, at a National Security Council meeting, CIA Director Casey urged President Reagan to seek third-party aid for the Nicaraguan contras.  Secretary of State Schultz warned that it would be an "impeachable offense" if the U.S. government acted as conduit for such secret funding.  But that didn't stop them.  That same day, Oliver North was seeking third-party aid for the contras.  But Reagan, the "teflon President" avoided serious charges or impeachment.
7. Casper Weinberger was Secretary of Defense during Iran-Contra.  In June 1992 he was indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of concealing from congressional investigators and prosecutors thousands of pages of his handwritten notes.  The personal memoirs taken during high level meetings, detailed events in 1985 and 1986 involving the Iran-Contra affair.  Weinberger claimed he was being unfairly prosecuted because he would not provide information incriminating Ronald Reagan.  Weinberger was scheduled to go on trial January 5, 1993, where the contents of his notes would have come to light and may have implicated other, unindicted conspirators.  While Weinberger was never directly linked to the covert operations phase of the Iran-Contra affair, he is believed to have been involved in the cover-up of the ensuing scandal. According to Special Prosecutor Lawrence Walsh, Weinberger's notes contain evidence of a conspiracy among the highest ranking Reagan Administration officials to lie to congress and the American public.  Some of the notes are believed to have evidence against then Vice-President George Bush who pardoned Weinberger to keep him from going to trial.
8. Raymond Donovan, Secretary of Labor indicted for defrauding the New York City Transit Authority of $7.4. million.
   { Republicans will point out that Donovan was acquitted.  And that really matters in Donovan's case, because he was a Republican.  But it didn't matter for Clinton or any of his cabinet, most all of whom were acquitted, because they were Democrats!}
9. Elliott Abrams was appointed by President Reagan in 1985 to head the State Department's Latin American Bureau.  He was closely linked with ex-White House aide Lt. Col. Oliver North's covert movement to aid the Contras.  Working for North, Abrams coordinated inter-agency support for the contras and helped solicit illegal funding from foreign powers as well as domestic contributors.  Abrams agreed to cooperate with Iran-Contra investigators and pled guilty to two charges reduced to misdemeanors.  He was sentenced in 1991 to two years probation and 100 hours of community service but was pardoned by President George Bush.
10. Robert C. McFarlane was appointed Ronald Reagan's National Security Advisor in October 1983 and become well-known as a champion of the MX missile program in his role as White House liaison to congress.  In 1984, Mc Farlane initiated the review of U.S. policy towards Iran that led directly to the arms for hostages deal.  He also supervised early National Security Council efforts to support the Contras. Shortly after the Iran-Contra scandal was revealed in early 1987, McFarlane took an overdose of the tranquilizer Valium in an attempt to end his life.  In his own words: "What really drove me to despair was a sense of having failed the country." McFarlane pled guilty to four misdemeanors and was sentenced to two years probation and 200 hours of community service.  He was also fined $20,000.  He received a blanket pardon from President George Bush.
11. Oliver North – Convicted of falsifying and destroying documents, accepting an illegal gratuity, and aiding and abetting the obstruction of Congress.  Conviction overturned on appeal due to legal technicalities.
12. John Poindexter, Reagan's national security advisor, – guilty of five criminal counts involving conspiracy to mislead Congress, obstructing congressional inquiries, lying to lawmakers, used "high national security" to mask deceit and wrong-doing.
13. Richard Secord pleaded guilty to a felony charge of lying to Congress over Iran-Contra.
14. Alan D. Fiers was the Chief of the Central Intelligence Agency's Central American Task Force.  Fiers pled guilty in 1991 to two counts of withholding information from congress about Oliver North's activities and the diversion of Iran arms sale money to aid the Contras.  He was sentenced to one year of probation and 100 hours of community service.  Fiers agreed to cooperate with prosecutors in exchange for having his felonies reduced to misdemeanors and his testimony gave a boost to the long standing criminal investigation of Lawrence Walsh, Special Prosecutor.  Fiers testified that he and three CIA colleagues knew by mid-1986 that profits from the TOW and HAWK missile sales to Iran were being diverted to the Contras months before it became public knowledge.  Alan Fiers received a blanket pardon for his crimes from President Bush.
15. Clair George was Chief of the CIA's Division of Covert Operations under President Reagan.  In August 1992 a hung jury led U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth to declare a mistrial in the case of Clair George who was accused of concealing from Congress his knowledge of the Iran-Contra affair.  George had been named by Alan Fiers when Fiers turned state's evidence for Lawrence Walsh's investigation. In a second trial on charges of perjury, false statements and obstruction of justice, George was convicted of lying to two congressional committees in 1986.  George faced a maximum five year federal prison sentence and a $20,000 fine for each of the two convictions.  Jurors cleared George of five other charges including two counts of lying to a federal grand jury.  Those charges would have carried a mandatory 10 months in prison upon conviction.  Clair George received a blanket pardon for his crimes from President George Bush.
16. Duane R. (Dewey) Clarridge was head of the CIA's Western European Division under President Reagan.  He was indicted on November 29, 1991 for lying to congress and to the Tower Commission that investigated Iran- Contra.  Clarridge was charged with five counts of perjury and two counts of making false statements for covering up his knowledge of a November 25, 1985 shipment of HAWK missiles to Iran. Clarridge was also suspected of diverting to the Contras weapons that were originally intended for the Afghan mujahaddeen guerrillas.  Clarridge received a blanket pardon for his crimes on Christmas Eve 1992 from President George Bush.
17. Environmental Protection Agency's favoritism toward polluter.  Assistant administrator unduly influenced by chemical industry lobbyists.  Another administrator resigned after pressuring employees to tone down a critical report on a chemical company accused of illegal pollution in Michigan.  The deputy chief of federal activities was accused of compiling an interagency "hit" or "enemies" list, like those kept in the Nixon Watergate period, singling out career employees to be hired, fired or promoted according to political beliefs.
18. Anne Gorscuh Burford resigned amid accusations she politically manipulated the Superfund money.
19. Rita Lavelle was fired after accusing a senior EPA official of "systematically alienating the business community." She was later indicted, tried and convicted of lying to Congress and served three months of a six-month prison sentence.  After an extensive investigation, in August 1984, a House of Representatives subcommittee concluded that top-level EPA appointees by Reagan for three years "violated their public trust by disregarding the public health and the environment, manipulating the Superfund program for political purposes, engaging in unethical conduct and participating in other abuses.".
20. Neglected nuclear safety. A critical situation involving nuclear safety had been allowed to develop during the Reagan era.  Immense sums, estimated at 200 billion or more, would be required in the 1990s to replace and make safe America's neglected, aging, deteriorating, and dangerous nuclear facilities.
21. Savings & Loan Bail-out. Hundreds of billions of dollars were needed to bail out savings and loan institutions that either had failed during the deregulation frenzy of the eighties or were in danger of bankruptcy.
22. Reckless airline deregulation. Deregulation of airline industry took too broad a sweep, endangering public safety.
        Additionally:
     
23. Richard Allen, National Security adviser resigned amid controversy over an honorarium he received for arranging an interview with Nancy Reagan.
24. Richard Beggs, chief administrator at NASA was indicted for defrauding the government while an executive at General Dynamics.
25. Guy Flake, Deputy Secretary of Commerce, resigned after allegations of a conflict of interest in contract negotiations.
26. Louis Glutfrida, Director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency resigned amid allegations of misuses of government property.
27. Edwin Gray, Chairman of the Federal Home Loan Bank was charged with illegally repaying himself and his wife $26,000 in travel costs.
28. Max Hugel, CIA chief of covert operations who resigned after allegations of fraudulent financial dealings.
29. Carlos Campbell, Assistant Secretary of Commerce resigned over charges of awarding federal grants to his personal friends' firms.
30. John Fedders, chief of enforcement for the Securities and Exchange Commission resigned over charges of beating his wife.
31. Arthur Hayes, Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration resigned over illegal travel reimbursements.
32. J. Lynn Helms, chief of the Federal Aviation Administration resigned over a grand jury investigation of illegal business activities.
33. Marjory Mecklenburg, Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Resources resigned over irregularities on her travel vouchers.
34. Robert Nimmo, head of the Veterans Administration resigned when a report criticized him for improper use of government funds.
35. J. William Petro, U.S. Attorney fired and fined for tipping off an acquaintance about a forthcoming Grand Jury investigation.
36. Thomas C. Reed, White House counselor and National Security Council adviser resigned and paid a $427,000 fine for stock market insider trading.
37. Emanuel Savas, Assistant Secretary of HUD resigned over assigning staff members to work on government time on a book that guilty to expense account fraud and accepting kickbacks on government contracts.
38. Charles Wick, Director of the U.S. Information Agency investigated for taping conversations with public officials without their approval.
            As of March 27, 2007, it was only an indictment, but Bloomberg News was reporting that David Stockman, President Reagan's budget director, was indicted on charges of defrauding investors and banks of $1.6 billion while chairman of Collins & Aikman Corp., an auto parts maker that collapsed days after he quit.

THE TRUTH ALWAYS HURTS

Ronald Reagan:

Killer, Coward, Con-man

By Greg Palast

The Observer London
Monday, February 7, 2011 
 

You're not going to like this. 

You shouldn't speak ill of the dead. But in this case, someone's got to.

On the 100th Anniversary of Ronald Reagan's birth, as we suffer a week of Reagan-kitcheria and pukey peons, let us remember: 

Reagan was a con-man. Reagan was a coward. Reagan was a killer.

 
In 1987, I found myself stuck in a crappy little town in Nicaragua named Chaguitillo. The people were kind enough, though hungry, except for one surly young man. His wife had just died of tuberculosis.

People don't die of TB if they get some antibiotics. But Ronald Reagan, big-hearted guy that he was, had put a lock-down embargo on medicine to Nicaragua because he didn't like the government that the people there had elected.

Ronnie grinned and cracked jokes while the young woman's lungs filled up and she stopped breathing. Reagan flashed that B-movie grin while they buried the mother of three.

And when Hezbollah terrorists struck and murdered hundreds of American marines in their sleep in Lebanon, the TV warrior ran away like a whipped dog - then turned around and invaded Grenada. That little Club Med war was a murderous PR stunt so Ronnie could hold parades for gunning down Cubans building an airport.

I remember Nancy, a skull and crossbones prancing around in designer dresses, some of the "gifts" that flowed to the Reagans - from hats to million-dollar homes - from cronies well compensated with government loot. It used to be called bribery.

And all the while, Grandpa grinned, the grandfather who bleated on about "family values" but didn't bother to see his own grandchildren.

The New York Times, in its canned obit, wrote that Reagan projected, "faith in small town America" and "old-time values."

"Values" my ass. It was union-busting and a declaration of war on the poor and anyone who couldn't buy designer dresses. It was the New Meanness, bringing starvation back to America so that every millionaire could get another million.

"Small town" values? From the movie star of the Pacific Palisades, the Malibu mogul? I want to throw up.

And all the while, in the White House basement, as his brain boiled away, Reagan's last conscious act was to condone a coup d'état against our elected Congress. Reagan's Defense Secretary Casper the Ghost Weinberger with the crazed Colonel, Ollie North, plotted to give guns to the Monster of the Mideast, Ayatolla Khomeini.

Reagan's boys called Jimmy Carter a weanie and a wuss although Carter wouldn't give an inch to the Ayatollah. Reagan, with that film-fantasy tough-guy con in front of cameras, went begging like a coward cockroach to Khomeini, pleading on bended knee for the release of our hostages.

Ollie North flew into Iran with a birthday cake for the maniac mullah - no kidding - in the shape of a key. The key to Ronnie's heart.

Then the Reagan roaches mixed their cowardice with crime: taking cash from the hostage-takers to buy guns for the "contras" - the drug-runners of Nicaragua posing as freedom fighters.

I remember as a student in Berkeley the words screeching out of the bullhorn, "The Governor of the State of California, Ronald Reagan, hereby orders this demonstration to disperse" - and then came the teargas and the truncheons. And all the while, that fang-hiding grin from the Gipper.

In Chaguitillo, all night long, the farmers stayed awake to guard their kids from attack from Reagan's Contra terrorists. The farmers weren't even Sandinistas, those 'Commies' that our cracked-brained President told us were 'only a 48-hour drive from Texas.' What the hell would they want with Texas, anyway?

Nevertheless, the farmers, and their families, were Ronnie's targets.

In the deserted darkness of Chaguitillo, a TV blared. Weirdly, it was that third-rate gangster movie, "Brother Rat." Starring Ronald Reagan.

Well, mis amigos, your kids can sleep easy tonight.  The Rat is dead.

All week you're going to hear about how Reagan restored America's sense of patriotism - as if heartless slaughter, Club Med wars and making racism respectable are patriotic . (When they said "small town values" you know the color of the town, don't you?).

I wonder if the Reaganauts can recognize any of the weapons they sold the mullahs when they see students gunned down in Teheran.

I do plan a memorial, for the victims, not the victimizer.

Please join me in commemorating the ill star that brought us a celluloid cowboy on his movie-set horsey by lighting a candle for a mom from Chaguitillo.

This obituary was originally published in The London Observer on Reagan's death in 2004.

The author received close to 150 death threats and suggestions for acrobatic acts of intercourse with beasts and relatives.

Therefore, we have reserved a special email, deaththreat@gregpalast.com just for your next threats.

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Conservatives and Republicans are such paragons of virtue and truth that they tried to pin Ronald Reagam's "most corrupt administration in American history" medal on Bill Clinton! Despite the fact that the President and first lady, and many members of the Clinton administration were deluged with charges of criminal behavior on the street and in the media, their accusers fell flat on their faces when they had to prove their trumped up charges in court, where it's evidence and proof that matter – not claims that a good lawyer can show to be devoid of serious credibility. –
        Contrast that to the great numbers of the Republican administration of Ronald Reagan who were not just charged, but were found guilty, in court! How can it be that most Americans don't remember the Reagan administration for its corruption? It couldn't possible because the so-called "Liberal media" rarely, if ever, shines its powerful spotlights on that part of U.S. history? My spotlight is nowhere as strong as theirs, but if enough of us help to spread the word, mayhe we can make up for that deficiency.
        The contenders for the title of "the most corrupt administration in American history" are all Republican administrations.  It may be hard to order them exactly, but the contenders for the first, second, third & fourth "most corrupt administrations in American history" are the Republican administrations of Grant, Harding, Nixon and Reagan.

Before any conservative dismisses what we have to say about Reagan on this site, after taking a good hard look at the record, the very conservative site Jesus-is-Savior.com/Wolves/reagan.htm came to many of the very same conclusions that we reached, i.e. ( in their own words) :         "Let us remember Reagan as he really was : Liar Thief Mass murderer Supporter of abortion War criminal Destroyer of freedom Traitor of the American people Corporate whore Destroyer of the environment Supporter of Satanists & child murderers "

Two types of problems typified the ethical misconduct cases of the Reagan years, and both had heavy consequences to citizens everywhere.  One stemmed from ideology and deregulatory impulses run amok; the other, from classic corruption on a grand scale. 

• The Pentagon procurement scandal, which resulted from the Republicans' enormous infusion of money too quickly into the Defense Department after the lean Carter years.
• Massive fraud and mismanagement in the Department of Housing and Urban Development throughout Reagan's eight years.  These were finally documented in congressional hearings in spring 1989, after Reagan left office.  Cost the taxpayers billions of dollars in losses.  What made this scandal most shameful was that Reagan's' friends and fixers profited at the expense of the poor, the very people HUD and the federal government were pledged to assist through low-income housing. . .
• Despite their many public lies about the matter, it was eventually proven that the Sales of weapons to Iran, followed by illegal financial support of the Central American Contras were carried out with the knowledge of, among others, President Ronald Reagan, Vice President George Bush, Secretary of State George P. Shultz, Secretary of Defense Caspar W. Weinberger, Director of Central Intelligence William J. Casey, and national security advisers Robert C. McFarlane and John M. Poindexter.  Of these officials, only Weinberger and Shultz dissented from the policy decision.  Weinberger eventually acquiesced and ordered the Department of Defense to provide the necessary arms.  Large volumes of highly relevant, contemporaneously created documents were systematically and willfully withheld from investigators by several Reagan Administration officials in an attempt to cover up the administration's extensive corruption.

The views of some of his peers and associates:   * Jim Cannon (an aide to Howard Baker) reported that Reagan's underlings told him, "They told stories about how inattentive and inept the President was.... They said he wouldn't come to work – all he wanted to do was to watch movies and television at the residence." ( Landslide: The Unmaking of the President: 1984-88) * Lee Hamilton (Representative from Indiana) in an interview with Haynes Johnson, told him: "Reagan's only contribution [to the subject of the MX missile] throughout the entire hour and a half was to interrupt somewhere at midpoint to tell us he'd watched a movie the night before, and he gave us the plot from WarGames, the movie. That was his only contribution." ( Sleepwalking Through History: America in the Reagan Years) * Columnist Richard Cohen said, "This President is treated by both the press and foreign leaders as if he were a child.... It is major news when he honors a political or economic discussion with a germane remark and not an anecdote about his Hollywood days." * President Mitterand of France asked Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau about Reagan: "What planet is he living on?" * Mark Hertsgaard, wrote that "During Mr. Reagan's trip to Europe...members of the traveling press corps watched him doze off so many times – during speeches by French President Francois Mitterrand and Italian President Alessandro Pertini, as well as during a one-on-one audience with the Pope – that they privately christened the trip 'The Big Sleep.'" (On Bended Knee: The Press and the Reagan Presidency * David Nyhan, Boston Globe columnist wrote "He demonstrated for all to see how far you can go in this life with a smile, a shoeshine and the nerve to put your own spin on the facts." * Reagan's good friend, British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, "Poor dear, there's nothing between his ears." * Columnist David Broder "The task of watering the arid desert between Reagan's ears is a challenging one for his aides." * Patti Davis (formerly Patricia Ann Reagan) talking about her father, "He has the ability to make statements that are so far outside the parameters of logic that they leave you speechless." ( The Way I See It * Larry Speakes (Reagan's former press secretary) describing what it was like preparing the President for a press conference: "...like reinventing the wheel." (Speaking Out: The Reagan Presidency from Inside the White House) * Mark Green, "This loathing for government, this eagerness to prove that any program to aid the disadvantaged is nothing but a boondoggle and a money gobbler, leads him to contrive statistics and stories with unmatched vigor." (Reagan's Reign of Error) * former president Jimmy Carter, March 6, 1984 "President Reagan doesn't always check the facts before he makes statements, and the press accepts this as kind of amusing." * James David Barber, presidential scholar, "Ronald Reagan is the first modern President whose contempt for the facts is treated as a charming idiosyncrasy." ( On Bended Knee: The Press and the Reagan Presidency, Mark Hertsgaard) * Simon Hoggart :"His errors glide past unchallenged. At one point...he alleged that almost half the population gets a free meal from the government each day. No one told him he was crazy. The general message of the American press is that, yes, while it is perfectly true that the emperor has no clothes, nudity is actually very acceptable this year." in The Observer (London), 1986.

Instead of exposing him for his constant colossal misrepresentation of the facts, the news media have perpetuated the myth of Ronald Reagan as,
 

        Here are examples of what he "communicated":
Ronald Reagan's Record "Firsts"

1. First to serve as Governor on a "conservative" platform and increase spending by 112%.
    
2. First Governor to increase personal income taxes by 60%, increase the cigarette tax by 200%, and increase state tax collections by 152%.
    
3. First to have a popularity rating of only 35% after his first two years in office.
    
4. First to have had a shotgun wedding.
    
5. First president to have been divorced.
    
6. First to increase spending by 80% – in only 8 years.
    
7. First to spend more in eight years than was spent in prior 50 years.
    
8. First to cut taxes by 60% for his rich pals.
    
9. First to have increased the national debt faster than growth of national income.
    
10. First to "almost": triple the national debt.
     
11. First to increase the national debt faster than growth of GDP.
     
12. First to double the deficit.
     
13. First to turn America into a debtor nation.
     
14. First to set a record for the largest one day percentage decline in the DOW in history.  10-19-87.
     
15. First to have "real" interest rates of 8% after averaging 1% over 35 years.
     
16. First to keep prime interest rates at 20%.
     
17. First to have home loan interest rates as high as 16%.
     
18. First to allow the savings and loan industry to be raided after signing a deregulatory bill and proclaiming "I think we have hit the jackpot".  Come and get it the vaults are unguarded.
     
19. First to send an autographed Bible to a man he called "The Satan of Terrorists".
     
20. First to have an admiral plead the Fifth Amendment.
     
21. First to have a stealing, lying, gutless wife abusing Marine LT. Colonel plead the Fifth Amendment.
     
22. First to have a sitting cabinet member indicted.
     
23. First to have an Assistant Secretary of State indicted.
     
24. First to have an Asistant Secretary of Defense sent to prison.
     
25. First to have over 100 members of an administration charged with crimes.
     
26. First to have more members of his administration charged with crimes than the cumulative total of all other presidents in the twentieth century.
     
27. First to testify "under oath" 130 times that "I don't remember".
     
28. First to have an Admiral with a photographic memory testify 128 times " I don't remember".
     
29. First to repeatedly falsify his wife's age,  as though anyone cared.
     
30. First to promote his religious faith and while never having an active membership in any church.
     
31. First to never use the term Jesus Christ in speeches.
     
32. First to have unemployment at 10.8% since great