FOREST - On Jan. 20, 1989, I remember quite clearly standing in the library of Milam Junior High in Tupelo watching as President Ronald Reagan and his wife left the White House and President George H.W. Bush took the oath of office.
For me, Reagan was the first president I remember during my lifetime, though he was actually the third. I spent a little more than a year in diapers with President Gerald Ford and then four years with President Jimmy Carter, but of course no memories of that age seem to stick with many of us.
In fact, it was Reagan and Carter who first piqued my interest in politics. During eighth grade I did a "Mini Task" - a nine-week-long research project and oral presentation - on Carter's presidency for one of my classes. Perhaps it was just the next logical step that after Carter one should read about Reagan, but for whatever reason I picked up a rather large biography chronicling Reagan from a struggling actor all the way to his ascension to the White House.
I read with interest how Reagan transformed the Screen Actors Guild during a time when Hollywood was on a witch hunt against probable Communists in the industry. Looking back, it strikes me as remarkable that the man who did the most to end the Cold War and curtail the spread of Communism globally was wise enough to temper his growing disdain for Communism as head of SAG as to not be lured into the witch hunt himself.
For a man many described as lacking a real understanding of the political process, Reagan showed remarkable judgment and political savvy during that time.
So much so, it led him to political endorsements of California politicians, which in turn led him to the governor's mansion there. His first year he pushed through the California Legislature an across-the-board 10-percent reduction in government spending. It proved to be a tremendous mistake by a leader hell-bent on curbing spending, reducing taxes and cutting down the size of an intrusive government.
The following year, he helped push through a $1 billion tax package that in the end helped the novice governor accomplish his conservative agenda. In arguably one of the most liberal states in the nation, the future standard bearer of the Republican Party - the man who despised high taxes, loved a strong military and adhered to a conservative social agenda - won a landslide re-election.
So popular was Reagan at this time that he was within a handful of delegates from taking the 1976 Republican nomination for president away from incumbent Ford.
So popular was Reagan at this time that he ran as an independent that year against both Ford and Carter. He lost by a landslide, of course, but one Washington state elector cast a vote for Reagan. The other eight went to Ford.
And so popular was Reagan that in 1980 he returned to the Republican Party, which he never really left, and won the nomination easily before going on to devastate Carter by using a simple tactic: being optimistic about the future of our nation and the will of our people.
Perhaps Reaganomics, including massive deficits in the struggle of the Cold War, led to the dull economy under the first President Bush. Perhaps some of Reagan's foreign policy decisions were costly. Perhaps he became disconnected with his domestic policy agenda during his second term.
But Reagan's voyage through political discovery is one that few can argue changed the landscape of our nation. He brought to bear a new mantra for the Republican Party. Reagan's influence reached deep into the heart of America and pulled forth new energy and a new road for which conservative politicians have been traveling ever since.
Reagan's legacy can be found in politicians who today are leading our cities, counties, states and nation. Two prime examples are Gov. Haley Barbour and President George W. Bush, both of whom would most likely not be where they are today without Reagan's success. In Mississippi, the Republican Party has strong life today because of Reagan's influence. It is seen in the legislative struggles and the overwhelming conservative voice we use during presidential and congressional races.
In the end, it is seen in the simple legacy of a man who simply loved his wife more than anything and tried to do what he felt was right. And if history judges him as simple for that, then so be it.
