What I would really like to do is to go down in history as the President who made Americans believe in themselves again. (Ronald Reagan)
The ‘80s was a long time ago. The events, the circumstances, the micro-dramas that unfolded in my life during that incredible decade are tidbits of visions from the past blurred by time, the memories of which sometimes require juggling - YouTube clips of popular 80’s bands, rare clips of events and movies from that era. Recently I was watching ‘Top Gun” on YouTube, the 1986 blockbuster movie and the one single movie that I have seen more times in a theater than any other.
We are drawn to experiences, to people and to things that make us feel good about ourselves. Sometimes we forget what exactly happened at a given moment, but somehow we could still recall how we felt even many years after. President Reagan is one such person - a leader of the highest magnitude gifted with the amazing ability to connect with people like no other politician. So much so that on both presidential contests in the 80’s that he participated in he won by a landslide. In the 1980 election he captured the electoral votes of all except six states (GA, HI, MD, MN, RI and WV) plus DC. In the 1984 re-election bid, he captured the electoral votes of all states except one state (MN) plus DC. His presidency (1981-1989) spanned 8 years and occurred during some of the most exciting and formative years of my life. I came to America first in 1981, returned again in 1983 and spent the rest of the decade trying to blend in with the locals of Southern California. It was, shall we say, my decade of Americanization.
Had he been alive, the Gipper would have celebrated his 100th birthday today, the 6th of February. He left the White House almost 22 years ago, yet in every corner of Washington DC a new generation of leaders still trumpet his revolution of fiscal conservatism - of small, smart and responsible government. Any potential candidate aspiring to be on the GOP ticket must include in his or her agenda the semblance of a Reaganesque economic policy if support from the party is to be expected. The bargain is simple: Leaving the government less money to spend gives politicians less of an opportunity to engage in wasteful spending. In his inaugural speech he criticized the Washington establishment and loudly proclaimed, “The Government is not the solution to our problem. The Government is the problem.”
Often I am asked why President Reagan is my favorite US President. His record of accomplishments while in office is extraordinary. But to pick something that mattered to me personally is actually a no-brainer. He kept me and my family safe. He won the Third World War without firing a single shot. He kept our nation safe and averted a thermo-nuclear conflagration with the former Soviet Union that seemed at the time, all but imminent. Through a combination of diplomacy and “economic black mail” beginning with an arms race, he drove the “Evil Empire” into bankruptcy and eventual collapse. Under that umbrella of safety, I got to play and experience in full living colors my first few years in America.
I was 16 years old when I arrived the second time in this country in 1983. Within a year I was able to purchase a car - a 1984 Mazda GLC - an achievement virtually impossible in my country of origin. I had a car payment of $103.00 per month, a hefty sum when you’re working close to the minimum wage which at the time was about $3.25/hr. For a while I had two jobs. I used to work for a place once called Ben Brown’s Aliso Creek Inn during the day and then I would pick up a shift in the evening at Kentucky Fried Chicken in Laguna Beach. Those two jobs essentially fed my economic engine for about a year or two. I had two of the most important credentials for a young man in those days. I had a car and just enough money for a little bit of fun.
There was a shift in the way the new generation of Americans started enjoying music. The experience was quite electric. MTV was in its infancy and was slowly beginning to take hold in America and the world. That was how I was introduced to some of the talented musicians of that era - with synthesizers and their boisterous fashion. Vinyl records where still the medium of choice. What little money I had left was spent on records, mostly jazz and promptly made into selections recorded on tape for playback in my Blaupunkt and JBL car sound-system. That status symbol of high-fidelity car audio cost me a fortune. One morning I woke up and discovered that my sound system was stolen from my car, to my disbelief and annoyance. It was later replaced but it was never quite the same. Realizing a sound-system could easily be stolen from my car, I skimped on the equipment.
The economics and politics of the time was an abstraction. In the first place I couldn’t even vote as I was not an American citizen - merely a tourist and finally an immigrant. I also had a means to make a living and worried not about unemployment and the GNP. It wasn’t until several years later that I came to realize how remarkable that decade was. Under his tutelage, the country experienced the longest peacetime economic expansion in history. Even the politics was civil than anytime since. President Reagan boasted about the battles he used to have with the Democrats and the House Speaker Tip O’Neill. But at the end of the day he had no hesitations having a drink and trading jokes with any of them. I’m not sure that was the product of the time or something that could be attributed to President Reagan’s personality. I suspect it’s the latter.
The storms that politicians have to weather in their careers are atrocious and quite revolting. The higher the office being sought the more ferocious the onslaught. The spears and arrows and the mean-spirited attacks are all par with the course. Ever at his side and equal to the battles was his fiercely loyal and supportive wife, Nancy. I am fascinated by successful marriages and view their partnership as one of the reasons he was able to achieve such heights. At his funeral in 2004, Former Canadian President Brian Mulroney spoke of a moment they shared while waiting for their wives at the Ottawa Airport:
President Reagan's visit had been important, demanding and successful. Our discussions reflected the international agenda of the times: the nuclear threat posed by the Soviet Union and the missile deployment by NATO; pressures in the Warsaw Pact; challenges resulting from the Berlin wall and the ongoing separation of Germany; and bi-lateral and hemispheric free trade. President Reagan had spoken to Parliament handling complex files with skill and good humor, strongly impressing his Canadian hosts. And here we were, waiting for our wives. When their car drove in a moment later, out stepped Nancy and Mila looking like a million bucks. And as they headed towards us, President Reagan beamed, he threw his arm around my shoulder and he said with a grin, "You know Brian, for two Irishmen we sure married up."President Reagan will always stand as one of the greatest presidents this country has ever produced. Any great leader leaves for his country and his countrymen a gift of a brighter future. His gift to me will take a whole lifetime to unwrap. It is personal, profound and deeply consequential, bequeathing me with an opportunity to alter the velocity and trajectory of my personal achievements. In 1986 he signed into law an “Immigration Amnesty Act” that allowed me to stay in America, forever altering the course of my future and my descendant's. As a tribute to the man who I deeply respect and admire, I’d like to share with our readers the story of my trip to the US that became the very first chapter of my life here in America - my piece of the Reagan Revolution.
CLICK TO READ MY PLYMOUTH ROCK
