Ronald Reagan 40th President

SUMMARY: This offering is composed of two 3 in x 5 in note cards that were used to outline 1979 campaign speeches in Montana and North Dakota.Price:$5,900.00

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Ronald Reagan (b.1911-2004). Actor, Governor of California, and 40th President of the United States (1981-1989).

This offering consists of two 3 in x 5 in note cards on which President Reagan outlined the 1979 stump speech he gave during a campaign swing through Montana and North Dakota. The cards are in excellent condition and they appear to have been printed using a standard ball point pen.They are unsigned. President Reagan often used similar file cards to outline his speeches and he even mentions that point in his book Speaking My Mind. These cards therefore represent an outstanding and important historical artifact. In terms of their provenance , these cards were left in Reagan's Glacier Hotel room in Cut Bank Montana and were rescued by a person with great foresight and a sense of history who cleaned the room after he departed :kudos to her. Reagan stopped in Cut Bank at the behest of the owner of the local paper who was a friend.

There are several points with respect to these cards. First, even though Reagan is speaking in rural America the speech by all accounts dealt with very substantive matters such as The Salt Treaty, the Cold War and appeasement and why it is important to be willing to die for a noble cause.SOME DIFFERENT THAN THE PAP OF "HOPE AND CHANGE." For those who underestimated Reagan, these notes are an important reminder of how misguided they were.Second with respect to the Salt II Treaty, Reagan felt that signing it was a very bad idea because it was not verifiable and, as it turns out, he was right. After signing SALT I the Soviets continued to violate the provisions of that treaty over the years and so whether or not to abrogate it or enter into another Salt Treaty became contentious issues during the Reagan Presidency. The cards mention specifically that The Soviets ignored both the UN and The SALT I treaty to build "the greatest war machine the world has ever seen." Reagan felt that signing SALT II would be tantamount to appeasement--- hence his reference in one of the cards to that famous appeasement metaphor --" hearing the tap, tap, tap of Chamberlain's umbrella on the cobblestones of Munich."*** History proved Reagan right once again because, soon after SALT II was signed by Carter and Brezhnev in June of 1979, the Soviets invaded Afghanistan and soon thereafter deployed the "Cuban Brigade." And, it wasn;'t long before Soviet proxy Fidel Castro, sent troops to make mischief in Angola. Third, Reagan also makes reference in one of the cards to the situation in Iran (Hostages) and that we had turned our back on our allies in Europe and Israel and Taiwan. Reagan's notes references a December 15th betrayal of Taiwan- that was the date on which President Jimmy Carter announced that we would no longer recognize diplomatically the Nationalist Chinese government of Taiwan but rather recognized the Communist Government in Beijing as the legitimate government of China. Fourth, Reagan also predicted in the his speeches with great prescience that Iran would become a major "disaster" for the United States in the future.Who got that right --The New York Times or Ronald Reagan? Finally, These notes also reflect the fact that Reagan believed there were things worth dying for and he used the Israeli Commando raid on Entebbe as an example of such a cause.The reader may recall that the Entebbe Raid was carried out by Israeli Commandos to free Israeli citizens who had been taken hostages by the African thug dictator of Uganda Idi Amin. Entebbe was where the present Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu lost his brother (Yonatan Netanyahu) who was the only Israeli casualty.

There is one other important reference in these cards.With respect to the Cold War Reagan wrote on his card "win." President Reagan always believed our goal should be to win the cold war and not to tolerate an indefinite stalemate based on the doctrine of mutually assured destruction (MAD) with the Soviets. That thought process caused President Reagan to respond to his National Security Adviser Judge Bill Clark when asked by Clark what his goals were in the cold war with the following formulation----"We win, they loose." Who got that right--the main stream media and our so-called allies or Ronald Reagan?

In President Reagan's book Speaking My Mind he makes the point that his ideas and goals had been formulated over a long period of study and reflection and were, for the most part, immutable. He argued that he therefore did not have to have speech writers because he was well prepared to run for president.These cards reflect the fact that Reagan's beliefs and ideas were well formed and were his and not that of some speech writer or adviser---- or dare I say "czar.".

The world has turned over many times since that giant Ronald Reagan thundered across the world's stage. These cards represent quintessential Reagan----thoughtful, informed, insightful and well aware that the Soviet Empire was exactly what he called it somewhat later--AN EVIL EMPIRE THAT COULD NOT BE TRUSTED. REAGAN HAD A COMMITMENT TO PRESERVING THE SECURITY AND FREEDOM OF THE LAND HE LOVED-THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AS WELL AS FREEDOM FOR THE WESTERN WORLD AND TAIWAN. That commitment is reflected in these cards.Historians now calculate that International Communism accounted for the death of over 100 million human beings and that Joseph Stalin was a worse butcher than even Hitler and Himmler combined.You tell me who got it right-Walter Duranty *****of the The New York Times or Ronald Reagan?? President Reagan also had a keen sense of obligation to our friends and allies and turned around the concept that took root under Jimmy Carter to the effect that 'it was more dangerous to be a friend than to be an enemy of the United States.' God, how we miss him.

In summary, these cards are a unique item of Reagan memorabilia. Whenever you read the speeches or books of Ronald Reagan you know there were many individuals( editors, grammarians, policy wonks,advisers and others ) who potentially had input between the first Reagan drafts and the final product, especially in the books. However, reading these cards is like experiencing a one on one with the great man himself: No one is interposed between the reader/owner and President Reagan so they are in a sense unique in the Reagan manuscript field.

***No one seems to be able to document who formulated the appeasement metaphor----"hearing the tap,tap, tap of Chamberlain's---"It most certainly was not either Churchill or Reagan but both used it not infrequently.

***** Duranty-The new York Times reporter and Stalin apologist who said of the Soviet Union in 1933--"I have seen the future and it is here." Reference:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Duranty

For more information on collecting Ronald Reagan see our special article by going HERE.

These cards come with a guarantee as to their origin, history and authenticity.

Price: $5,900.00