Mark Newgent’s thoughts on Reagan

Mark Newgent’s thoughts on Reagan – His latest contribution to National Review Online - For Presidents’ Day, National Review considers our favorites

National Review Online Symposium Expert Opinion

The Good, the Bad, and William Henry Harrison

February 16, 2009 4:00 AM

http://tinyurl.com/afdnye

Read all of the commentary from various experts here: For Presidents’ Day, National Review considers our favorites

An NRO Symposium

William Henry Harrison! James K. Polk! Millard Fillmore! Chester Arthur! Grover Cleveland! Warren Harding! Calvin Coolidge!

It must be Presidents’ Day on NRO.

Below, our contributors select their favorite presidents. Don’t worry: Washington, Lincoln, and Reagan also receive their due.

MARK NEWGENT

The obvious choice for a conservative is Ronald Reagan — if only I had understood his true greatness during his presidency. A liberal-by-default in my youth, I instinctively scorned all things Reagan. As I matured and found myself on the right, however, I returned to Reagan and discovered why so many loved the man and why I’m proud to call myself a conservative now.

Reagan was an autodidact. He did his own research and wrote most of his own speeches. Detractors called him an “amiable dunce” and “unlettered bumpkin.” They underestimated the depth of his intellect. After all, what “dunce” could embarrass Robert F. Kennedy in a debate and hold his own against William F. Buckley Jr.?

More important, Reagan believed in the power of ideas, especially the idea that “this breed called Americans” had the capacity to govern themselves better than distant bureaucrats. In this age of encroaching government, those currently in power may think that idea quaint. I believe it is more powerful than ever.

— Mark Newgent blogs for Red Maryland and is the Baltimore history examiner.

http://tinyurl.com/afdnye

20090216 SDOSM NRO Mark Newgent thoughts on Reagan

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For Presidents’ Day, National Review considers our favorites

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