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Presidential Medal of Freedom Recipient President Ronald W. Reagan
President Bush presents the Medal of Freedom award to former
President Ronald Reagan at a ceremony in the East Room , 01/13/1993
Remarks on Presenting the Presidential Medal of Freedom to President Ronald Reagan
January 13, 1993
President Reagan, you can see from that welcome how we all feel about your and Nancy's return to this house that you graced. We're delighted to welcome you back here. And of course, I want to send my special greetings to those who served in the Reagan Cabinet and to the Reagan family. And it's a pleasure to welcome all of you back here to the White House.
Being President has its privileges. And this morning I have the privilege to present America's highest civilian award, the Presidential Medal of Freedom , with distinction, to my predecessor, the 40th President of the United States. Today we honor the American life of an American original. We all remember the movie in which he once said, ``Win one for the Gipper.'' Well, as President, Ronald Reagan helped win one for freedom, both at home and abroad. And I consider him my friend and mentor, and so he is. And he's also a true American hero.
Just think of the whistlestops that ring unsummoned, like a postcard from the past: Dixon, Tampico, Eureka College, WHO radio in Des Moines. Always Ronald Reagan embodied the heart of the American people. And once he described it as ``hopeful, big-hearted, idealistic, daring, decent, and fair.''
Ronald Reagan didn't just make the world believe in America; he made Americans believe in themselves. And I remember Inauguration Day in 1981 and how the clouds -- maybe you remember it -- of a gloomy morning gave way as he began his speech. He turned that winter of discontent into a springtime of possibility.
President Reagan believed in the American people, so he helped the private sector create 19 million new jobs. He knew that Government was too big and spent too much, and so he lowered taxes and spending, cut redtape, and began a peacetime boom, the longest in American history.
Some men reflect their times. Ronald Reagan changed his times. And nowhere was that more true than abroad where he championed the holy grail of liberty. Mr. President, you helped make ours not only a safer but far better world in which to live. And you yourself said it best. In fact, you saw it coming. We recall your stirring words to the British Parliament. Here were the words: ``the march of freedom and democracy . . . will leave Marxist-Leninism on the ashheap of history.''
Few people believe more in liberty's inevitable triumph than Ronald Reagan. None, none was more a prophet in his time. Ronald Reagan rebuilt our military; not only that, he restored its morale. And when I became President, President Reagan passed on to me the most dedicated and best equipped fighting force that the world has ever seen.
He signed also the INF treaty, the first agreement to eliminate a whole category of nuclear weapons. And it was a treaty that lay the foundation then for START I and the historic START II agreement that President Yeltsin and I signed 2 weeks ago.
Ronald Reagan sought a world where nations could talk, not die, over differences and a world of prosperity, peaceful competition, and freedom without war. And he helped achieve it, helped end the cold war.
When Ronald Reagan's favorite President died in 1945, the New York Times wrote, ``Men will thank God on their knees a hundred years from now that Franklin D. Roosevelt was in the White House.'' Well, Mr. President, it will not take a hundred years; millions thank God today that you were in the White House.
You loved America, blessed America, and with your leadership certainly helped make America that shining city on a hill. All this explains why today Ronald Reagan becomes only the third President to receive the Medal of Freedom, the first to receive it in his own lifetime. He's a man whose life embodies freedom, who nurtured freedom as few Presidents ever have.
And so now, Mr. President, let me invite you, sir, to join me as Major Wissler reads the citation for the Medal of Freedom. Please come up.
Note: The President spoke at 10:20 a.m. in the East Room at the White House. Maj. John Wissler, USMC, was Marine Corps Aide to the President.
Video Clip of President Ronald W. Reagan Receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom - 1
Video Clip of President Ronald W. Reagan Receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom - 2
RONALD REAGAN
Awarded by
President George Bush
January 13, 1993
Ronald Reagan symbolizes all that is best in America. His is the story of a lifetime committed to individual freedom and liberty. As President, he enabled the American spirit of hope and optimism, faith and family. At home, he championed free enterprise over big government and presided over the longest peacetime economic boom in our Nation's history. Around the world, he burnished America's lamp of liberty so that those living in tyranny might secure freedom against the darkness. His steadfast belief in peace through strength consigned imperial communism to the ashheap of history. Ronald Reagan's courage and convictions changed America, and helped America change the world.
America honors a man who has brought her great honor, the 40th President of the United States, Ronald Reagan.
Biography
1911 - 2004
At the end of his two terms in office, Ronald Reagan viewed with satisfaction the achievements of his innovative program known as the Reagan Revolution, which aimed to reinvigorate the American people and reduce their reliance upon Government. He felt he had fulfilled his campaign pledge of 1980 to restore "the great, confident roar of American progress and growth and optimism."
On February 6, 1911, Ronald Wilson Reagan was born to Nelle and John Reagan in Tampico, Illinois. He attended high school in nearby Dixon and then worked his way through Eureka College. There, he studied economics and sociology, played on the football team, and acted in school plays. Upon graduation, he became a radio sports announcer. A screen test in 1937 won him a contract in Hollywood. During the next two decades he appeared in 53 films.
He has two children, Maureen and Michael, from his first marriage, to actress Jane Wyman. In 1952 he married Nancy Davis, also an actress; their children are Patricia Ann and Ronald Prescott.
As president of the Screen Actors Guild, Reagan became embroiled in disputes over the issue of Communism in the film industry; his political views shifted from liberal to conservative. He toured the country as a television host, becoming a spokesman for conservatism. In 1966 he was elected Governor of California by a margin of a million votes; he was re-elected in 1970.
Ronald Reagan won the Republican Presidential nomination in 1980 and chose as his running mate former Texas Congressman and United Nations Ambassador George Bush. Voters troubled by inflation and by the year-long confinement of Americans in Iran swept the Republican ticket into office. Reagan won 489 electoral votes to 49 for President Jimmy Carter.
On January 20, 1981, Reagan took office. Only 69 days later he was shot by a would-be assassin, but quickly recovered and returned to duty. His grace and wit during the dangerous incident caused his popularity to soar.
Dealing skillfully with Congress, Reagan obtained legislation to stimulate economic growth, curb inflation, increase employment, and strengthen national defense. He embarked upon a course of cutting taxes and Government expenditures, refusing to deviate from it when the strengthening of defense forces led to a large deficit.
A renewal of national self-confidence by 1984 helped Reagan and Bush win a second term with an unprecedented number of electoral votes. Their victory turned away Democratic challengers Walter F. Mondale and Geraldine Ferraro.
In 1986 Reagan obtained an overhaul of the income tax code, which eliminated many deductions and exempted millions of people with low incomes. At the end of his administration, the Nation was enjoying its longest recorded period of peacetime prosperity without recession or depression.
In foreign policy, Reagan sought to achieve "peace through strength." During his two terms he increased defense spending 35 percent, but sought to improve relations with the Soviet Union. In dramatic meetings with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, he negotiated a treaty that would eliminate intermediate-range nuclear missiles. Reagan declared war against international terrorism, sending American bombers against Libya after evidence came out that Libya was involved in an attack on American soldiers in a West Berlin nightclub.
By ordering naval escorts in the Persian Gulf, he maintained the free flow of oil during the Iran-Iraq war. In keeping with the Reagan Doctrine, he gave support to anti- Communist insurgencies in Central America, Asia, and Africa.
Overall, the Reagan years saw a restoration of prosperity, and the goal of peace through strength seemed to be within grasp.
President Ronald Reagan passed away June 5, 2004
Ronald Reagan's Life in Photos and Words
Timeline of the Life of President Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan Family Man
Some of Ronald Reagan’s most memorable lines
Ronald Reagan's Speech Archive
President Ronald Reagan Funeral Service
Additional President Ronald Reagan Funeral Service
President Ronald Reagan's Simi Valley, California Memorial Service
President George W. Bush's Eulogy
Vice President Richard Cheney's Eulogy
Former President George Herbert Walker Bush's Eulogy
Former British Prime Minister Lady Margaret Thatcher's Eulogy
Former Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney's Eulogy
Ronald Wilson Reagan Photo Archive
The Films of Ronald Reagan
Books about or written by Ronald Reagan
Presidential Medal of Freedom Recipient Ronald Reagan Tribute
More Presidential Medal of Freedom Recipient Ronald Reagan Tributes
Congressional Gold Medal Recipient President Ronald Reagan
For more information about President Reagan, please visit The Ronald Reagan Library
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Medal History
