Remembering Ronald Reagan

June 2004

Dear Friends:

By now, the whole world must know that former President of the United States, Ronald Wilson Reagan, died on June 5, 2004, of pneumonia following a 10 year battle with Alzheimer’s disease. His death was very nostalgic and sad for me personally, as it was for millions of other Americans who loved and admired the man known affectionately as “the Gipper.”

Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher credited Mr. Reagan with “ending the Cold War and tearing down the Berlin Wall without firing a shot.” It was not an exaggeration. His belief in this country and in the cause of freedom led him to stare down the old Soviet Union and bring the international scourge of Communism to a crashing conclusion. There were many accomplishments of this great leader during his eight-year term of office, but we honor his memory and legacy today for another reason.

Ronald Reagan will always be one of my heroes because he had the courage to defend the unborn child and openly support the institution of the family at a time when it was considered politically suicidal to even utter such things. Prior to his coming on the scene, President and Mrs. Gerald Ford, and President and Mrs. Jimmy Carter, had been outspoken defenders of abortion for any reason, or for no reason, throughout nine months of pregnancy. Betty Ford and Rosalynn Carter were also tireless promoters of the Equal Rights Amendment, which would have added language to the U.S. Constitution that, in the hands of liberal judges, promised to codify the entire radical feminist agenda into law.

In 1977, the Carter Administration sponsored the International Women’s Conference in Houston, Texas, at a cost to the taxpayers of three million dollars. It became a forum for every radical idea put forth by the likes of Gloria Steinem, Bella Abzug, Betty Friedan, and all their left-wing buddies. Phyllis Schlafly, perhaps the only well-known conservative woman in the country at the time, was not even allowed to participate. She had to hold her own privately funded event down the street. What came from the Women’s Conference was a litany of crazy proposals for changing the family and promoting lesbianism and abortion.

I’m sure you can understand why, given the liberal environment of the day, the candidacy of Ronald Reagan was so exciting in 1980. I had observed him as the governor of California and knew that he was a man of conviction and principle. Focus on the Family was less than three years old at the time, but we saw in Reagan a champion who would support the things in which we passionately believed. Of course, I could not reveal that support as the leader of a non-profit organization, but you can guess whom Shirley and I voted for.

We were ecstatic when Reagan won the election in November and prepared to take office. Then one day in December, an official-looking letter arrived at my office, inviting me and several guests to attend the inaugural events in Washington, D.C. We accepted enthusiastically and were there with eight friends on what turned out to be one of the most exciting days of my life, January 20, 1981. Banners everywhere proclaimed “A New Beginning” as Ronald Wilson Reagan prepared to take the Oath of Office. We were in the crowd on the west side of the Capitol Building that day as the new President gave his first Inaugural Address. Almost on cue, Iran released the 52 American hostages at the precise moment the President strode to the microphone. He then rode down Pennsylvania Avenue toward the White House, waving to the throngs of supporters that lined the street.

That evening, the Reagans attended nine “inaugural balls” located in various parts of the city. The President greeted well wishers at each event and then he and Nancy danced, to the delight of the crowds. Shirley and I, along with our friends, were invited to attend the ball held in the Smithsonian American Museum building, along with a crush of perhaps 1000 people. We stood shoulder to shoulder in a very noisy and smoky room, hoping merely to catch a glimpse of the first family sometime during the evening. The chances of our getting within 50 yards of Mr. Reagan were remote.

Hours passed and it became clear that our inaugural ball would be last on the President’s itinerary. About 10 minutes to midnight, it dawned on my friend, Jim Davis, and me that a massive human traffic jam would occur after Mr. Reagan’s brief visit. A thousand people would suddenly attempt to get their wraps from a small checkroom. To avoid the chaos, the two of us decided to get our overcoats before the honored guests arrived. It proved to be a fortuitous decision. As we were returning from the checkroom with out coats over our arms, we saw eight or 10 men running into a stairwell.

“Something’s going on,” we said, and decided to follow. Jim and I quickly caught up with the men — who turned out to be Secret Service agents on a mission. Because we were all dressed in tuxedos, the agents failed to notice that Jim and I had infiltrated their group. We exited the stairwell on the second floor and there, standing three feet from us, was the new President of the United States and his First Lady. We were dumbfounded to have stumbled onto “the prize” that everyone in Washington would have coveted.

It was a breathless moment — and a scary one too. We knew at any moment that the brawny security officers would gang tackle us for being so close to the President. Amazingly, however, they still failed to notice our presence. I am 6’ 2“ and Jim is 6’ 5”, both of us were in our early 40s, so we must have looked like members of the Secret Service. Before we could figure out how to slip away gracefully, the First Family was announced from the platform by the emcee, Pat Boone. The great mass of humanity had been waiting for hours in the hot, crowded room and responded with a deafening roar. That was the signal. President and Mrs. Reagan began making their way down a “corridor” created by two lines of blue uniformed police officers and on toward the platform. So what were we to do? Yep, that’s what we did. Jim and I followed the President and his First Lady to the platform, walking not more than three feet behind them. It was one of the dumbest things I had ever done, but we couldn’t resist the opportunity that had presented itself. My heart was jumping out of my chest — knowing that I shouldn’t be there — and that I could be shot for my intrusion. But I was also incredibly jazzed to be within inches of the man of the hour.

Jim and I did have the sense, fortunately, not to follow the new President up the stairs to the platform. We waited below while Mr. Reagan greeted his supporters and began dancing with Nancy. Immediately above us stood a scowling Secret Service agent looking furtively at the crowd for any sign of suspicion or danger. Suddenly, he realized that Jim and I were not his friends. Panic gripped him. I’m sure a dozen questions burned through his brain simultaneously, including, “Who are these big dudes, why do they have coats over their arms? What is hidden beneath them, and why are they trailing the President? He raced down from the platform and pushed me angrily.

“Get out of here!” he screamed.

Jim and I accepted his suggestion.

When we reached the end of the path that had been cordoned off, we opened our jackets, showed the agents our overcoats and made our motives abundantly clear.

“We just want to greet the President,” we explained.

The agent saw that we posed no threat and agreed to let us stand there until President and Mrs. Reagan came down from the platform. He stopped to shake a few hands and we got another close look at the man whom I later came to love and admire greatly.

Just a little more than two months later, Ronald Reagan exited the Washington Hilton after giving a speech. He was shot by a deranged young man named John Hinckley. When I heard of the attack, I thought of the porous security that allowed Jim and me, almost accidentally, to get within three feet of the most powerful man on earth. From this perspective, it was not surprising that someone had actually gotten close enough to wound and nearly kill Mr. Reagan.

I went to Washington sometime later to interview Dr. Benjamin Aaron, the surgeon who operated on the President after the assassination attempt. (We still have that tape in our library.) The doctor told me that Mr. Reagan very nearly bled to death that day. If the Secret Service had taken him to the White House instead of the hospital as initially suggested, he wouldn’t have pulled through.

The following January, I attended the Presidential Prayer Breakfast in Washington and heard Mr. Reagan tell about his brush with death. He was overcome with emotion as he told how the Lord had carried him during that time of crisis.

Well, each of these encounters with Ronald Reagan occurred from a position of anonymity. He didn’t yet know me and I didn’t seek to meet him. Then a call came one day from the White House, saying the President wanted to appoint me to the Commission on Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. I accepted and served on that National Advisory Commission for three years until Congressional liberals learned that our views and recommendations were more conservative than theirs. Then they promptly de-funded our commission.

In 1983, I was invited to come to the White House to meet the President personally and to consult with him about the preservation of the family. It was a heady experience, I assure you, to walk that first time into the Oval Office where Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill dealt with the weighty issues of war, and where other momentous affairs of state were discussed. More importantly, I had an opportunity in that era to make a series of recommendations that were implemented broadly within the Reagan Administration. Among them was a policy that required every department in the executive branch of government to conduct a “family impact study” before initiating new programs. Years later, President Bill Clinton would cancel that Executive Order without explanation.

After that I was invited to serve as co-chairman of the President’s “Committee for Tax-Reform,” for the purpose of promoting tax relief for families. We were successful in enticing Congress to raise the deduction for each dependent from $600 to $2,000. As on so many other occasions through the years, a massive outpouring of telephone calls and letters from our friends was instrumental in driving that tax relief through Congress. I interviewed the President in the Oval Office for our radio program, inviting him to make the case for lower taxes for families. To my knowledge, it is the only interview of that type that he granted from that historic spot.

Then came a delightful experience at the White House. Shirley and I were invited to an official “State Dinner” hosted by the Reagans. It was truly a Cinderella evening for both of us, but it was not without its amusing moments. On the afternoon before the gala event, we realized that people do not go to formal White House events in taxicabs. We needed to obtain a limousine to take us up the White House driveway. I called my secretary, Dee Otte, and asked her to charter something appropriate for me. Not being used to such luxury, neither Dee nor I knew what to ask for. When the chauffeur came to get us at the hotel, he was driving the largest automobile I had ever seen. It appeared to be 100 feet long. We were embarrassed even to get in the vehicle but had no choice.

A member of the Secret Service at the White House and a good friend, Jack Woodward, said he was looking out the front portico when we drove up. He couldn’t believe the vehicle that was going by.

“It just kept coming,” he said later. “I wondered what dignitary or national sovereign was coming to the dinner in that thing.” Then, Jim and Shirley Dobson stepped out — and Jack laughed. I was hoping no one knew I was from Focus on the Family.

A white-gloved Marine offered his arm to Shirley and began leading us toward the East Room. We came to a corner where guests are announced, providing members of the press with a “photo-op” of glamorous people. In front of us was Raquel Welch. She was introduced to the media and the whole world seemed to light up. Click! click! click! went the cameras like miniature machine guns. Michael J. Fox made a grand entry as did Natalie Cole. Click! Click! Click! Then came Sylvester Stallone, who also set off another frantic scramble. Perspiring photographers aimed and fired at one celebrity after another. Finally, it was our turn.

The Marine quietly asked our names and then boomed, “Announcing Dr. and Mrs. James Dobson.” Absolute silence prevailed as we walked past the press. Obviously, we were not whom they had in mind! Fortunately, the President was very gracious to us, and we had an enjoyable evening. We sat at Vice President George Bush’s table, not knowing he would be the next President.

In the fall of that year I was appointed by Attorney General Edwin Meese at the request of Mr. Reagan to serve on the Attorney General’s Commission on Pornography — my most unpleasant assignment in government. It will never be forgotten. Then I served on a Board on Missing and Exploited Children, and another on Teen Pregnancy Prevention. I resigned from that latter responsibility in protest. Twelve of the 15 panel members were safe-sex gurus who wanted to put condoms in every teen’s pocket or purse and amoral values in their heads. Among them was Marion Wright Edelman of the radical Children’s Defense Fund. Even in the Reagan Administration, Planned Parenthood controlled nearly everything dealing with teen sexuality. That was before abstinence was given a chance, and federal funding, by the present Bush Administration.

It was a very busy decade, to say the least. I continued to consult with the President and his appointees, which is where I met Gary Bauer, who became my great friend and colleague.

So very quickly, the Reagan years burned into history and the moment came for “The People’s President” to step down. What was called “The New Beginning” in 1981 soon came down to a few very emotional goodbyes. I was at the White House for Reagan’s last formal bill signing ceremony, including the anti-pornography bill we had worked so hard to pass. Nancy came in for that historic meeting and the media were there in mass. It was disappointing that the news services ignored that obscenity legislation and never told the public what had been accomplished. That was the last time I saw the President in the White House, as he and Nancy stood teary-eyed as they greeted advisors and friends with whom they had worked for eight years.

A few nights later, I had a very intense and symbolic dream. I thought I was entering the White House compound through the Pennsylvania Avenue entrance and was surprised to find the gate unguarded. No security guards were in sight. I walked across the front lawn where flowers and a fountain usually grace the historic structure. In my dream, however, there was no sign of life. The front doors to the White House stood wide open as though someone had left in a hurry. I went into the foyer and up the stairs to the official residence. All the furniture was gone and no sign of the President or his effects remained. The White House and its residents were gone. It was over. Then I awoke.

As I reflected on the dream, its meaning became clear to me. A man I had learned to respect and appreciate — a confident President who knew where he wanted to lead us — had quietly passed from the scene. The end of his era had obviously bothered me more than I had anticipated. No, I wasn’t naive about Ronald Reagan’s shortcomings or the failures of his Administration. He never did get around to protecting unborn children legislatively, knowing he lacked support for life in the Congress. He struggled mightily managing some of the relationships within his own family, enduring some highly publicized rifts with a couple of his children. (They would later reconcile, though, and were by his side on the day he died.) There were other disappointments with which most of us are familiar. But I believe he was a good man who understood the importance of families and the moral values on which they are based. Those who know him best say he had a deep, personal relationship with Jesus Christ, and read the Bible regularly.

Gary Bauer shares a story that occurred during one of his regular lunch meetings with the President. Each senior staff member was given an opportunity to raise an issue or two with “the boss,” after gaining prior approval from the Chief of Staff. Without asking anyone, Gary discussed a problem that he knew would make his superiors uncomfortable. He told the President about a little girl in Bloomington, Indiana, who was suffering from severe life- threatening complications associated with Downs Syndrome. Apparently, the child’s parents had received terrible medical advice and instead of seeking treatment, had the baby rolled into the corner of the hospital nursery where a sign was hung on the crib that said, “Do not feed.” A Christian nurse observed this barbaric situation and called the White House, wondering if there was any legal recourse available. As Gary spoke, he noticed that his colleagues flinched because this story was not the kind of topic that is worthy of the President’s time. Then he looked at Mr. Reagan and saw that he had tears in his eyes. He had been deeply moved by Gary’s account of the hurting child. He ordered that the Justice Department seek to protect her from those who would allow her to die. Incredibly, the judges who are able to find legal justification for killing unborn babies could not figure out how to preserve the life of “Baby Doe.”

Well, those days have now slid into history and three other Presidents have occupied the House on Pennsylvania Avenue. Mr. Reagan has gone on to meet his reward. Many millions of us mourn his passing and are thankful for the impact he made on this nation.

That brings me back to my dream and its application to the entire human family. Not only did Ronald Reagan’s day in the sun quickly come to an end, but so must yours and mine. Even for the highest and mightiest among us — those who achieve every honor and accomplishment — there will come a time when the books will close on our brief journey on this earth. My lifelong prayer has been that when that moment comes for me, I will hear those words from Jesus Christ, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant. Thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things. Enter the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundations of the world.” I believe Ronald Wilson Reagan was greeted by the Savior with those words of welcome when he reached the portals of heaven. I hope to meet him again someday in that bright land that will know no night.

Sincerely,

James C. Dobson, Ph.D.
Founder and Chairman