President Ronald Reagan's Farewell Address to the Nation. January 11, 1989

my fellow Americans this is the 34th time I'll speak to you from the Oval Office and the last we've been together eight years now and soon it'll be time for me to go but before I do I wanted to share some thoughts some of which I've been saving for a long time it's been the honor of my life to be your president so many of you have written the past few weeks to say thanks but I could say as much to you Nancy and I are grateful for the opportunity you gave us to serve one of the things about the presidency is that you're always somewhat apart you spend a lot of time going by too fast in a car someone else is driving and seeing the people through tinted glass the parents holding up a child and the wave you saw too late and couldn't return and so many times I wanted to stop and reach out from behind the glass and connect well maybe I can do a little of that tonight people ask how I feel about leaving and the fact is parting is such sweet sorrow the sweet part is California and the ranch and freedom the sorrow the goodbyes of course and leaving this beautiful place you know down the hall and up the stairs from this office is the part of the White House where the president and his family live there are a few favorite windows I have up there that I like to stand and look out of early in the morning the view is over the grounds here to the Washington Monument and then the mall and the Jefferson Memorial but on mornings when the humidity is low you can see past the Jefferson to the river the Potomac and the Virginia Shore someone said that's the view Lincoln had when he saw the smoke rising from the Battle of Bull Run but I see more prosaic things the grass on the banks the morning traffic as people make their way to work now and then a sailboat on the river I've been thinking a bit at that window I've been reflecting on what the past eight years have meant and mean and the image that comes to mind like a refrain is a nautical one a small story about a big ship at a refugee and a sailor it was back in the early 80s at the height of the boat people and the Sailor was hard at work on the carrier Midway which was patrolling the South China Sea the Sailor like most American servicemen was young smart and fiercely observant the crew spied on the horizon a leaky little boat and crammed inside were refugees from Indochina hoping to get to America the Midway sent a small launch to bring them to the ship and safety if the refugees made their way through the choppy seas one spied the Sailor on deck and stood up and called out to him he yelled hello American sailor hello freedom man a small moment with a big meaning a moment the Sailor who wrote it in a letter couldn't get out of his mind and when I saw it neither could I because that's what it has to it was to be an American in the end 1980s we stood again for freedom I know we always have but in the past few years the world again and in a way we ourselves rediscovered it it's been quite a journey this decade and we held together through some stormy seas and at the end together we're reaching our destination the fact is from Grenada to the Washington and Moscow summits from the recession of 81 to 82 to the expansion that began in late 82 and continues to this day we've made a difference the way I see it there were two great triumphs two things that I'm proudest of one is the economic recovery in which the people of America created and filled 19 million new jobs the other is the recovery of our morale America is respected again in the world and looked to for leadership something that happened to me a few years ago reflects some of this it was back in 1981 and I was attending my first big economic summit which was held that year in Canada the meeting place rotates among the member countries the opening meeting was a formal dinner for the Heads of Government of the seven industrialized nations well I sat there like the new kid in school and listened and it was all Francois this and Helmut that they dropped titles and spoke to know one another on a first-name basis well at one point I sort of leaned in and said my name is Ron but in that same year we began the actions we felt would ignite an economic comeback cut taxes and regulation started to cut spending soon the recovery began two years later another economic summit with pretty much the same cast at the big opening meeting we all got together and all of a sudden just for a moment I saw that everyone was just sitting there looking at me and then one of them broke the silence tell us about the American miracle he said well back in 1980 when I was running for president it was all so different some pundits said our programs would result in catastrophe our views on foreign affairs would cause war our plans for the economy would cause inflation to soar and bring about economic collapse I even remember one highly respected economist saying back in 1982 that the engines of economic growth have shut down here and they're likely to stay that way for years to come well he and the other opinion leaders were wrong the fact is what they called radical was really right what they called dangerous was just desperately needed and in all of that time I want a nickname the Great Communicator but I never thought it was my style of the words I used that made a difference it was the content I wasn't a great communicator but I communicated great things and they didn't spring full-bloom from my brow they came from the heart of a great nation from our experience our wisdom and our belief in the principles that have guided us for two centuries they called it the Reagan Revolution well I'll accept that but for me it always seemed more like the great rediscovery a rediscovery of our values and our common sense common sense told us that when you put a big tax on something the people will produce less of it so we cut the people's tax rates and the people produced more than ever before the economy bloomed like a plant that had been cut back and could now grow quicker and stronger our economic program brought about the longest peacetime expansion in our history real family income up the poverty rate down entrepreneurship booming and an explosion and research and new technology we're exporting more now than ever because American industry became more competitive and at the same time we summon the national will to knock down protectionist walls abroad instead of erecting them at home commonsense also told us that to preserve the peace we'd have to become strong again after years of weakness and confusion so we rebuild our defenses in this new year we toasted the new peacefulness around the globe not only of the superpowers actually begun to reduce their stockpiles of nuclear weapons and hope for even more progress is bright but the regional conflicts that rack the globe are also beginning to cease the Persian Gulf is no longer a war zone the Soviets are leaving Afghanistan the Vietnamese are preparing to pull out of Cambodia and an American mediated Accord will soon send 50,000 Cuban troops home from Angola the lesson of all this was of course that because we're a great nation our challenges seem complex it will always be this way but as long as we remember our first principles and believe in ourselves the future will always be ours and something else we learned once should begin a great movement there's no telling where it'll end we meant to change a nation and instead we changed a world countries across the globe are turning to free markets and free speech and turning away from the ideologies of the past for them the great rediscovery of the 1980s has been that low and behold morale way of government is the practical way of government democracy the profoundly good is also the profoundly productive when you've got to the point where you can celebrate the anniversaries of your 39th birthday you can sit back sometimes review your life and see it flowing before you for me there was a fork in the river and it was right in the middle of my life I never meant to go into politics wasn't my intention when I was young but I was raised to believe you had to pay your way for the blessings bestowed on you I was happy with my career in the entertainment world but I ultimately went into politics because I wanted to protect something precious ours was the first revolution in the history of mankind that truly reversed the course of government and with three little words we the people we the people tell the government what to do it doesn't tell us we the people are the driver the government is the car and we decide where it should go and by what route and how fast almost all the world's constitutions are documents in which governments tell the people what their privileges are our Constitution is a document in which we the people tell the government what it is allowed to do we the people are free this belief has been the underlying basis for everything I've tried to do these past eight years but back in the 1960s when I began it seemed to me that we'd begun reversing the order of things that through more and more rules and regulations and confiscatory taxes the government was taking more of our money more of our options and more of our freedom I went into politics in part to put up my hand and say stop I was a citizen politician and it seemed the right thing for a citizen to do I think we have stopped a lot of what needed stopping and I hope we have once again reminded people that man is not free unless government is limited there's a clear cause and effect here that is as neat and predictable as a law of physics as government expands liberty contracts nothing is less free than pure communism and yet we have the past few years forged a satisfying new closeness with the Soviet Union I've been asked if this isn't a gamble and my answer is no because we're basing our actions not on words but deeds the day tada this 1970s was based not on actions but promises they'd promised to treat their own people in the people of the world better but the gulag was still the gulag and the state was still expansionist and they still waged proxy wars in Africa Asia and Latin America well this time so far it's different President Gorbachev has brought about some internal democratic reforms and begun the withdrawal from Afghanistan he has also freed prisoners whose names I've given him every time we've met but life has a way of reminding you were big things through small incidents once during the heady days of the Moscow summit Nancy and I decided to break off from the entourage one afternoon to visit the shops on our bad Street that's a little Street just off Moscow's main shopping area even though our visit was a surprise every Russian there immediately recognized us and called out our names and reached for our hands we were just about swept away by the warmth you could almost feel the possibilities and all that joy but within seconds a KGB detail pushed their way toward us and began pushing and shoving the people in the crowd it was an interesting moment it reminded me that while a man on the street in the Soviet Union urines for peace the government is communist and those who run it are communists and that means we and they view such issues as freedom and human rights very differently we must keep up our guard but we must also continue to work together to lessen and eliminate tension and mistrust my view is that President Gorbachev is different from previous Soviet leaders I think he knows some of the things wrong with his society and is trying to fix them we wish him well and we'll continue to work to make sure that the Soviet Union that eventually emerges from this process is a less threatening one what it all boils down to is this I want the new closeness to continue and it will as long as we make it clear that we will continue to act in a certain way as long as they continue to act in a helpful manner if and when they don't at first pull your punches if they persist pull the plug it's still trust but verify it still play but cut the cards it's still watch closely and don't be afraid to see what you see I've been asked if I have any regrets I do the deficit is one I've been talking a great deal about that lately but tonight isn't for arguments and I'm going to hold my tongue but an observation I've had my share of victories in the Congress but what few people noticed is that I never won anything you didn't win for me they never saw my troops they never saw Reagan's regiments the American people you won every battle with every call you made and letter you wrote demanding action well action is still needed if we're to finish the job of Reagan's regiments will have to become the bush brigades soon he'll be the chief and he'll need you every bit as much as I did finally there is a great tradition of warnings in presidential farewells and I've got one that's been on my mind for some time but hardly enough it starts with one of the things I'm proudest of in the past eight years the resurgence of national pride that I called the new patriotism this national feeling is good but it won't count for much and it won't last unless it's grounded in thoughtfulness and knowledge and informed patriotism is what we want and are we doing a good enough job teaching our children what America is and what she represents in the long history of the world those of us who are over 35 or so years of age grew up in a different America we were taught very directly what it means to be an American and we absorbed almost in the air a love of country and an appreciation of its institutions if you didn't get these things from your family you got them from the neighborhood from the father down the street who fought in Korea or the family who lost someone at Anzio or you can get a sense of patriotism from school and if all else failed you could get a sense of patriotism from the popular culture the movies celebrated democratic values and implicitly reinforced the idea that America was special TV was like that too through the mid 60s but now we're about to enter the 90s and some things have changed younger parents aren't sure that an unambivalent appreciation of America is the right thing to teach modern children and as for those who create the popular culture well grounded patriotism is no longer the style our spirit is back but we haven't reinstitution alized it we've got to do a better job of getting across that America is freedom freedom of speech freedom of religion freedom of enterprise and freedom is special and rare it's fragile it needs production so we've got to teach history based not on what's in fashion but what's important why the pilgrims came here who Jimmy Doolittle was and what those 30 seconds over Tokyo meant you know four years ago on the 40th anniversary of d-day I read a letter from a young woman writing to her late father who had fought on Omaha Beach her name was Lisa sonata N and she said we will always remember we will never forget what the boys of Normandy did well let's help her keep her word if we forget what we did we won't know who we are I'm warning of an eradication of that of the American memory that could result ultimately in an erosion of the American spirit let's start with some basics more attention to American history and a greater emphasis on civic ritual and let me offer lesson number one about America all great change in America begins at the dinner table so tomorrow night in the kitchen I hope the talking begins and children if your parents haven't been teaching you what it means to be an American let him know and nail him on it that would be a very American thing to do and that's about all I have to say tonight except for one thing the past few days when I've been at that window upstairs I've thought a bit of The Shining City upon a hill the phrase comes from John Winthrop who wrote it to describe the America he imagined what he imagined was important because he was an early pilgrim and early freedom man he journeyed here on what today we call a little wooden boat and like the other pilgrims he was looking for a home that would be free I've spoken to the shining city all my political life but I don't know if I ever quite communicated what I saw when I said it but in my mind it was a tall proud City built on rocks stronger than oceans windswept God blessed and teeming with people of all kinds living in harmony and peace a city with pre ports that hummed with Commerce and creativity and if there had to be city walls the walls had doors and the doors were open to anyone with the will and the heart to get here that's how I saw it and see it still and how stands the city on this winter night more prosperous more secure and happier than it was eight years ago but more than that after two hundred years two centuries she still stands strong and true on the granite ridge and her glow is held steady no matter what storm and she's still a beacon still a magnet for all who must have freedom for all the pilgrims from all the lost places who are hurtling through the darkness toward home we've done our part and as I walk off into the city streets a final word to the men and women of the Reagan Revolution the men and women across America who for eight years did the work that brought America back my friends we did it we weren't just marking time we made a difference we made the city stronger we made the city freer and we left her in good hands all in all not bad not bad at all and so goodbye god bless you and God bless the United States of America

Channel: Reagan Library

Views: 3,013,018

Keywords: Ronald Reagan, U.S. National Archives, Ronald Reagan Presidential Library

Id: FjECSv8KFN4

Length: 21min 30sec (1290 seconds)

Published: Mon Apr 25 2016