Chapter:
Introduction (5:50)
Part one of a biography of Ronald Reagan, the 40th president.
Part one of a biography of Ronald Reagan, the 40th president.
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Transcript: Chapter 01
Title Card: Reagan: Part One
Ronald Reagan: You know, I received an invitation that said please come to Ellis Island July 4th for the hundredth birthday celebration of an American institution. Somebody goofed. My birthday is not until February.
Narrator: On July 4, 1986, as he lit a refurbished Statue of Liberty, Ronald Reagan was at the height of his prestige. Many wondered which American icon was being celebrated.
Reagan: Tonight we pledge ourselves to each other and to the cause of human freedom, the cause that has given light to this land and hope to the world.
Narrator: Ronald Reagan saw America as a special place, a shining city on a hill set by God between two oceans as a beacon of freedom to the rest of the world.
Robert Dallek, Historian: Reagan is brilliant at creating a kind of rapport with the country, appealing to its better angels, appealing to the native optimism which is so much a part of our culture and our tradition.
Lou Cannon, Biographer: When he was asked, on the eve of his election, "What is it, Governor, that people see in you?" And Reagan responds, "Would you laugh if, if I told you that they look at me and they see themselves."
Dr. Helen Caldicott, Physicians for Social Responsibility: I didn't understand why people had this adulation for him. I thought he could possibly press the button. Yeah. I was terrified.
George F. Will, Columnist: If you seek his monument look around at what you don't see. You don't see the Berlin Wall. You don't see the Iron Curtain from Stetin to Trieste.
Narrator: He was America's most ideological president in his rhetoric yet pragmatic in his actions. He believed in balanced budgets but never submitted one. He hated nuclear weapons but built them by the thousands. He would write checks to a poor person as he cut the benefits of many. He united the country with renewed patriotism. But his vision of America alienated millions. He preached family values but presided over a dysfunctional family.
Ronald Prescott Reagan, Son: You're not going to figure him out. That's the first thing you need to know. I don't think he figured himself out. I haven't figured him out. I don't know anybody who has figured him out.
Anthony Lewis, Columnist: There is this mystery about Reagan that pervades everything, which is, how much was he aware of what he was doing?
Narrator: Inattentive to detail and often disengaged, Reagan led a revolution based on a few simple ideals -- to free Americans from big government and the world from Communist oppression.
Herbert E. Meyer, Special Assistant to CIA Director: Before Reagan every western leader had the same strategic objective regarding the Soviet Union which is to not lose. Reagan came in and he said, I don't want to play to not lose. I want to play to win.
Christopher Matthews, Aide to House Speaker O'Neill: He's tough. He braces to talk to you. He's confrontational. Not unpleasant but confrontational.
Martin Anderson, Senior Adviser: I often think of him as a nice soft silky pillow, and you could touch it and feel it, it was very nice. But if you decided, well, let's take a hard punch and you hit it hard, you would find in the middle a solid steel tempered bar. Ah, that was the real Ronald Reagan. That was the essence of Reagan.
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