Ronald Reagan, My Political Hero

              File, Russell H. 
From: 
Sent: 
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chancellor@liberty.edu 
Friday, August 16, 2002 3:23 PM 
chancellors-motd@listserv.liberty.edu 
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 
FALWELL CONFIDENTIAL 
DATE: August 16, 2002 
FROM: Jerry Falwell 
RONALD REAGAN, MY POLITICAL HERO 
Recent news reports indicate that the health of Ronald Reagan, our nationls 40th president, is worsening. 
According to a New York Daily News article, some of Mr. Reagan's friends reported that he "is steadily slipping 
in his terminal battle with Alzheimer's disease." 
Son Michael Reagan said that his 91 -year-old father is "bedridden and helpless." 
As I read the reports of Mr. Reagan's failing health, my mind took me back to the days of his presidency. Mr. 
Reagan arrived on the national political scene at a critical time. Faith in the Oval Office had deteriorated under 
President Carter. The immorality of our present age was taking a strong social foothold. Our economy was in 
turmoil. 
America needed a hero. 
And Ronald Reagan was such a man. 
Liberals continue to portray him as not much more than a grandfatherly simpleton who yielded control of the 
White House to his aides and his wife, but the Ronald Reagan I knew was a man of great intelligence, grace, 
humor and, most importantly, Christian values. 
He'll be remembered by many for championing a booming economy and conquering the "evil empire" of the 
Soviet Union (even though the mainstream press regularly attempts to credit Mikhail Gorbachevls alleged 
defense of democracy as the reason for the Soviet downfall). Anyone who believes that Ronald Reagan was 
the kindly dunce that the press often made him out to be, needs to read the book "Reagan In His Own Hand" 
to comprehend the aptitude and vision of this man. 
I will remember Mr. Reagan primarily for his relationship with the evangelical Christian community in our 
nation. We had long been shut out of the White House when Mr. Reagan took office. But he realized that this 
community was largely responsible for his election and held the key to stalling our nation's moral collapse. 
Many churches had organized (quite legally) voter registration drives through the help of my Moral Majority 
because we believed Mr. Reagan could make a difference in our nation. 
We brought millions of new voters to the polls in 1980. We reactivated millions of discouraged religious 
conservatives who, though registered to vote, had given up on America. We believed we were electing the 
man who could return America to moral sanity. 
And he did not let us down. 
He was pro-life. He affirmed the Judeo-Christian values of our Founders. And he respected the presidency 
(unlike our 42nd president). 
I shall never forget a private conversation I had with Mr. Reagan in New Orleans in 1980. He was on the 
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