Leadership Reconsidered

John A. Howard

John A. Howard is a senior fellow with the Howard Center of Family, Religion, and Society.

Following the death of Ronald Reagan there was a spontaneous truce in the continuous media barrage of angry criticism hurled at President Bush and his Administration. For a week the news was dominated by fond memories and praise of another president. Although it was a time of mourning, the relief from the rancor of the political campaign, combined with the numerous stories of Ronald Reagan’s courage, optimism, kindness and good humor made it a welcome period of national amity, and, for many, of renewed pride in their country.

There is an eternal human hunger for leaders who proclaim and champion ideals, who embody the principles under-girding those ideals, and who provide hope and inspiration to the people. During the two decades prior to the Reagan election, the sour cynicism about, and criticism of, America that prevailed in the media, academia and the entertainment industry cast a pall over patriotism and other idealistic sentiments. It became a modern Dark Age, which James Reston, in 1969, perceived as “a new pessimism,” Arthur Burns as “a loss of faith in our institutions,” and Archibald MacLeish as “an anesthesia of the soul.”

Suddenly America had a leader who reversed the engines. As Margaret Thatcher said:

Others prophesied the decline of the West; he inspired America and its allies with renewed faith in its mission of freedom. Others saw only limits to growth; he transformed a stagnant economy into an engine of opportunity. His politics had a freshness and optimism that won converts from every class and nation—and ultimately from the very heart of the evil empire.

One startling aspect of that freshness was the fact that he did not seek the presidency for fame or power or personal advancement. As he said in his speech to the nation when leaving office,

I never meant to go into politics . . . but I was raised to believe you had to pay your way for the blessings bestowed on you. I was happy with my career in the entertainment world, but I ultimately went into politics because I wanted to protect something precious.

Serving his country was a natural and genuine motive and gave him the freedom to follow whatever course he judged best for the nation. Self-seeking moneyed pressure groups had no claim on him.

The something precious he wanted to protect was, naturally, the first point he made in his Farewell Speech. He spoke of an incident involving the Midway aircraft carrier in the China Sea. They spotted a small craft filled with “Boat People,” trying to escape from Communist tyranny. As the launch from the Midway brought them back to the Carrier, a refugee shouted to a seaman way up on the deck, “Hello, American sailor. Hello, Freedom Man.” What more poignant illustration could there be to illustrate the preciousness of freedom to all human beings?

The religious up-bringing, which instilled in him the duty to be of service to the community, also taught him to serve and love other people. Vice President Cheney in his eulogy stated, “If Ronald Reagan ever uttered a cynical, or cruel, or selfish word, the moment went unrecorded.” President Bush said,

Ronald Reagan carried himself, even in the most powerful office, with a decency and attention to small kindnesses that define a good life. He was a courtly, gentle and considerate man, never known to slight or embarrass others.

Ronald Reagan reawakened in our nation an appreciation of the depth and beneficent power of the basic ideals of our free society and labored to help other nations adopt and benefit from them.

He was a gifted and admirable leader.     Ω

“Once you begin a great movement, there’s no telling where it will end. We meant to change a nation, and instead we changed a world.”—Ronald Reagan