Ronald Reagan (1911-2004) But his legacy survives

In his address to the 1992 Republican Convention, Ronald Reagan spoke eloquently about the ways in which he had seen the face of America change during the eight decades he had lived.
What was unsaid was how much Reagan -- the actor, governor, president and ex-president -- changed the politics of America and the world. It was a change as dramatic and as lasting as any president of the 20th century, save, perhaps, Franklin D. Roosevelt. Reagan engineered the collapse of the Soviet Union and the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Reagan's domestic political legacy continues today, even after his death Saturday, giving conservative politics a mainstream legitimacy that his forebears such as Sen. Robert Taft or Sen. Barry Goldwater could not have imagined. There weren't many Taft or Goldwater Democrats. Reagan Democrats were legion.
Memorable words
President Reagan, four years removed from the White House, told the '92 convention:
"[H]ere's the remarkable thing about being born in 1911. In my life's journey over these past eight decades, I have seen the human race through a period of unparalleled tumult and triumph. I have seen the birth of communism and the death of communism. I have witnessed the bloody futility of two World Wars, Korea, Vietnam and the Persian Gulf. I have seen Germany united, divided and united again. I have seen television grow from a parlor novelty to become the most powerful vehicle of communication in history. As a boy I saw streets filled with model-Ts; as a man I have met men who walked on the moon.
"I have not only seen, but lived the marvels of what historians have called the American Century. & quot;
While Reagan lived through 90 percent of the American Century, he created with his bare hands, his deeply held convictions and his ability to connect, even with political foes, the Reagan Era.
He was so persuasive in his demand for smaller government that the only way the Democrats could reclaim the White House in 1992 was by mounting a campaign in which Bill Clinton ran as a New Democrat and parroted the call for less government.
Clinton won the presidency in 1992, but arguably Reagan won the House in 1994. Every Republican candidate identified himself or herself as a Reagan Republican. Today, Republicans who control both the House and the Senate, as well as President Bush, have run and govern under the Reagan mantle.
Valley misgivings
Reagan visited the Mahoning Valley over the years -- dating back to 1956, when the then movie star and General Electric pitchman, spoke at the 9th annual meeting of the Industrial Information Institute Inc., and visited the GE plant in Warren. But his national appeal to voters was not mirrored here. While he carried Ohio in his presidential runs, he failed to carry Mahoning or Trumbull County against either President Carter or former Vice President Walter Mondale and carried Columbiana County against both by modest margins.
But it is difficult to imagine even those who wouldn't, or felt they couldn't, vote for Reagan feel ill will toward him. Regardless of politics, few could fail to be moved by the former president's closing remarks at that convention 12 years ago:
"And whatever else history may say about me when I'm gone, I hope it will record that I appealed to your best hopes, not your worst fears, to your confidence rather than your doubts. My dream is that you will travel the road ahead with liberty's lamp guiding your steps and opportunity's arm steadying your way."
Thus he should -- and shall -- be remembered.