I only remember the terribleness of what happened. I remember watching in disbelief. I am not sure if I watched the President speak about this. I wish I had. Perhaps it would have helped. I really like what he said to the kids. This was a good find. Thanks for posting it.

The guy is an experienced actor giving a speech someone else wrote.

Doesn't minimize the content but we should place some of the credit where it belongs.

Yeah...but actor or not, atleast this guy could frickin' read the speeches. IMO the president serves 2 purposes..
1. Control the military
2. Look good in public so we don't look like morons to the rest of the world.

Clinton blew the second..Bush Blew BOTH..Ronnie was SMOOTH! :)

Reagan was more than a talking head. He knew what he wanted to say, and he was rarely deterred. See Here and here

And before this turns into a big political debate, I know Reagan wasn't perfect, but he came along at a time when this country was a joke to the rest of the world, and restored our stature as a superpower and our pride. Oh yeah, and he goaded the Soviet Union into trying to keep up in the arms race, thereby bankrupting themselves. If Ronnie were President today, terrorists would be afraid, very afraid. Look what he did to Quadafi.

For some odd reason I was looking at the pics from the explosion the other day- It was horrific, especially when you see the pics with the crew capsule pointed out, with wires trailing out behind it like a kite tail- Keeping it from tumbling so that it dropped nose first the whole way down, the crew still very much alive.
Ugh.

Why do I quote myself every time I try to edit something I did wrong? Argh!

Ronnie was obviously very eloquent and represented himself and the nation well when he was on TV. As for him being the most eloquent president we've ever had...I'd probably put my vote in for Lincoln. A lot of his writings are really amazing.

ND

It's funny you say that... Peggy Noonan, I believe, said last year that when they looked for inspiration when writing speeches for Reagan, they often went to Lincoln

I do that too! UGH! For me it is two things:

1. Distraction
2. Just in too big a hurry.

Back to the topic at hand. ;)

I totally agree. the president is just a figure head. the people he surrounds himself with( his cabinet members, secretary of whatever) are the ones who really call the shots. congress and the house of reps can always overrule the Pres. with exception of very few things. one being the 60 day declaration of war. yes folks we can blame George Dub on initally going to war( when his approval rating was at like 92%) but everyone can thank congress for not getting the troops home.

Ronnie certainly could read a mean speech.

I think history will show that he was somewhat overrated as President. there are still people who believe his "Take Down That Wall" speech did the job.

Nancy kept him informed with the latest astrology info and in his last few years God knows who was making the decisions, he was out of it with alzheimers.

Apparently one hell of a nice guy though.

Yeah. I kicked ass back then.

With reference to John Gillespie Magee's "High Flight"

1st line -
Oh I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth
last line -
Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.