When Character Was King

Until relatively recently, I've had little to no interest in politics. But now that the two men in my life make it a regular topic of conversation at the dinner table (and pretty much anywhere there's a supply of oxygen that makes breathing and talking possible), I don't have much choice. And these are interesting, albeit frustrating, political times. It's easy to become cynical and discouraged, to wonder if there's anyone in Washington--in government anywhere--who believes in principle, who loves America, who really cares about doing what's best for our country and its people.

And that's why I bought Jonathan Peggy Noonan's biography of Ronald Reagan, When Character Was King, for his birthday last November. I wanted him to know that there have been presidents who stand for something, who have accomplished great things, who have earned the nation's and world's respect, who understand what it means to serve their country rather than use the office of president as a platform for demanding their next multimillion-dollar book deal.

I didn't know much about Ronald Reagan. He was actually the first president I voted for back in 1984. (And lest you're doing the math to try to figure out my age, I could have voted for him in 1980 but was a freshman in college, away from home and not interested enough to get an absentee ballot.) I'm not sure why I voted for him; I really didn't know much about him except that he was a Republican, and that's the candidate Christian, small-town Ohio girls vote for. I probably appreciated his anti-abortion stance at that point. At any rate, he won my vote. And in hindsight, I'm glad he did.

A couple of years ago, a friend lent us a documentary about Ronald Reagan. I hadn't realized what an amazing couple of terms he had served until I saw the documentary. Here was a politician who took a stand and wouldn't be swayed from it, who loved his country, who was dignified yet humble, who actually made this country a better place to live, who recognized evil in the world and wasn't afraid to call it that and fight it.

And so I took a big risk when I chose Noonan's biography for our book group to read. While I was voting for Reagan, the other members of my book group were playing Barbies and learning cursive writing. They had no awareness of hostages in Iran, Mr. Gorbachev (or the other Soviet leaders who preceded him),  Reagonomics, or Star Wars missile defense systems.

And yet the book--and Ronald Reagan--was a hit with the book group. Noonan writes with a lovely, flowing, eloquent style that makes you forget that you're reading nonfiction. Her story of Reagan reads like a novel. She begins where his life begins, telling the reader that all presidents come from something. She talks about his alcoholic father and Christian mother, the poverty he grew up in, his conscious choice to live optimistically rather than cynically, the Hollywood years and Reagan's first awareness and fight against the evils of communism.

Noonan, who was a speechwriter for Reagan, is passionate about her subject, and her admiration for this great leader shows as she describes the important events of his presidency. But the thing she wants you to know the most about her former boss is that he was a man of character: he was honest, humble, a man of integrity who kept his promises and served his nation well.

Sadly, there don't seem to be many Ronald Reagans in government today, although candidates in both parties have tried to present themselves as being in his tradition--a tribute to him that he was respected by members of both parties. It's an unfortunate reality that today, presidents aspire to be celebrities unlike in Reagan's time, when a celebrity became a president. One of the interesting points that Noonan makes about Reagan, and true conservatives, is that it's an uncomfortable thing for a conservative to seek power, because in gaining it, he or she will then work to decrease the power of the government. What a striking contrast Reagan makes to the power hungry, self-important, camera-seeking crowd that wants goverment control of every aspect of our lives.

I highly recommend this book, one of the best biographies I have read. It will inspire you to know that America has benefitted from such a great president, but it will sadden you as consider the state of Washington politics today.