On July 21, 1989, former President Ronald Reagan was inducted into the National Cowboy Hall of Fame in Oklahoma.
Though he was not born a cowboy, let alone a westerner, like so many other great Americans, he adopted the spirit of the American West epitomized by the cowboy. A man’s man, willing to work hard all day on the ranch. But fond of puppies and pretty girls. As a movie actor, Reagan played the part of a cowboy several times:
Some of his political opponents tried to attach the moniker of “cowboy,” in a disparaging way, implying he was too quick to act and would prefer the six-gun to reasoned discussion. But Reagan had a deep love of this country and led the United States out of the “malaise” of the Jimmy Carter years and on to victory in the Cold War. A letter to Dr. Kenneth Wells, the President of the Freedom Foundation at Valley Forge summed up his vision of the American purpose:
A number of Americans from time to time have suggested the need for a national purpose as if somehow we are drifting aimlessly without purpose.
Perhaps this very suggestion is a measure of how far we’ve drifted from what has been our national purpose for 200 years. Their suggestion creates an image of a determined people marching in ranks dedicated to the completion of some program or project. But wasn’t and isn’t our national purpose the original cause which created us a nation? We brought forth a social structure to guarantee for the first time to each individual his right to control his own destiny. Our nation exists for one purpose only – to assure each one of us the ultimate in individual freedom consistent with law and order. God meant America to be free because God intended each man to have the dignity of freedom.
Wise words – we need to remind ourselves daily of this purpose and protect our freedom.
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