Canales News Briefs

June 6, 2004

"...When Doctor Aaron informed Reagan that he was about

to begin surgery, he (Reagan) replied, ' I hope you're a

Republican.'

The doctor answered earnestly, ' Today, Mr. President,

we're all Republicans..."

-Excerpts from the book "The Reagans,

Portrait of a Marriage", in the emergency

room after being shot by David Hinckley

"...I will not make age an isse of this campaign. I am not going

to exploit, for political purposes, my opponent's youth and

inexperience..."

-Ronald Reagan during a Presidential Debate

with Walter Mondale in 1984

"...The Rangers looked up and saw the enemy soldiers--at the

edges of the cliffs shooting down at them with machine-guns

and throwing grenades. And the American Rangers began to

climb. They shot rope ladders over the face of these cliffs and

began to pull themselves up. When one Ranger fell, another

would take his place. When one rope was cut, a Ranger would

grab another and begin his climb again. They climbed, shot

back, and held their footing. Soon, one by one, the Rangers

pulled themselves over the top, and in seizing the firm land

at the top of these cliffs, they began to seize back the

continent of Europe. Two hundred and twenty-five came here.

After two days of fighting only ninety could still bear arms.

Behind me is a memorial that symbolizes the Ranger daggers

that were thrust into the top of these cliffs. And before me are

the men who put them there.

These are the boys of Pointe du Hoc. These are the men who

took the cliffs. These are the champions who helped free a

continent. These are the heroes who helped end a war.

Gentlemen, I look at you and I think of the words of Stephen

Spender's poem. You are men who in your 'lives fought for

life...and left the vivid air signed with your honor'...

Forty summers have passed since the battle that you fought

here. You were young the day you took these cliffs; some of

you were hardly more than boys, with the deepest joys of life

before you. Yet you risked everything here. Why? Why did

you do it? What impelled you to put aside the instinct for

self preservation and risk your lives to take these cliffs?

What inspired all the men of the armies that met here?

We look at youk, and somehow we know the answer. It was

faith, and belief; it was loyalty and love...

-Ronald Reagan, on June 4, 1984, at

the D-Day ceremonies some 20 years ago

"...On April 20, 1937, I signed a contract with Warner Brothers.

In my film debut, I played a small town radio announcer. How's

that for type casting. But over the years I did play in my share

of westerns and comedies and dramas and mysteries, even a

couple of musicals.

But there are two pictures which stand out in my mind above

all the rest. In Knute Rockne, All American, I played football

great George Gip. Now the gipper only occupied one reel of

the picture, but from an actor's point of view it was a near

perfect part. A great entrance, action in the middle, and a

deathbed scene in the grand tradition of Hollywood. "Rock,

someday when the team's up against it...ask them to go in

with all they've got. Win just one for the Gipper. I don't know

where I'll be then, but I'll know about it and I'll be happy.

But the performance I'm most proud of and the one that

meant the most to my career was in a picture called 'King's

Row'. In this one I played a character who has both his legs

amputated by a doctor. The scene in which I had to wake up

and find my legs gone provided me with the toughest and the

most rewarding assignment of my acting career, and the title

for my first book of memoirs..."

-Ronald Reagan on his early movie

career

"...I've always believed that a lot of problems could be solved by

people talking to each other instead of about each other. Now

I realize that in a way the job of those who report the news is

to talk about the rest of us. And a lot of us who are or have

been in public life do a lot of talking about the press. Usually

we are complaining, sometimes with good reason but maybe

we need to have a little more understanding of the other fellows

job.

Last January I climbed on one of two chartered busses and

began campaigning in New Hampshire. For the next few weeks

I alternated between the two busses, riding part of the day in

each bus. This I was told was necessary to the happiness

and contentment of the traveling press. Most of the

passengers on the busses were just that- the traveling press.

The rest of the passenger list was made up of campaign staff,

volunteers and one candidate plus wife. Later as the campaign

swung out into other states the busses became a chartered

727.

There were network news commentators with names and faces

as familiar as those of your next of kin; stars of the print media

both magazine and daily paper whose faces weren't familiar

but whose names were, TV camera crews and photographers.

Most of them were representing the Eastern media. I'll

confess, to me they were the hostile press. But we were even

because to most of them I was that neanderthal reactionary

from out west.

I knew many of them had written pre-campaign com-

mentaries about me questioning my stomach for the battle,

my staying power and whether I was for real. Now we were

on tour together through the snow covered hills of New

Hampshire doing as many as 12 towns a day....

Over the long several months and thousands of miles you

get pretty well acquainted. I saw the rough side of their work,

the long hours when the day was done for me but they were

still filing their stories. In some instances with a special

feature their producers or editors had called for their work

went through the night yet there they were on the bus or plane

the next morning ready for the days work ahead.

I have to say their treatment of me was fair. They were objec-

tive, they did their job and their pain was real when a shot or

a paragraph was cut in the home office which lessened the

objectivity of what they had done. More important we parted

friends and I'm richer for their friendship. I even think they

found the end of the trail not an easy story to write..."

-Ronald Reagan, in a radio speech given

on September 21, 1976, as noted in the

book "Reagan In His Own Hand", by

Kiron Skinner, Annelise Anderson, and

Martin Anderson (excerpt edited for

clarity from shorthand notes and spelling).

To All,

No one is more deserving of a traditional Irish wake, held from sea to shining sea, than Ronald Reagan. On the other hand, it will be interesting to see how many people join with Danny Glover and opt to speak ill of the dearly departed. It may be that by comparing the relative numbers of these two groups that one may establish once and for all how the majority considers the 40th President of the United States.

In Memory- Ronald Wilson Reagan

"...Deep peace of the running waves to you.

Deep peace of the flowing air to you.

Deep peace of the smiling stars to you.

Deep peace of the quiet earth to you.

Deep peace of the watching shepherds to you.

Deep peace of the Son of Peace to you..."

-An old Gaelic prayer

Respectfully,

Anthony Canales

SFVMC-NRA