President Ronald Reagan’s folksy way with words and evocative delivery earned him the moniker “The Great Communicator.” From witty political challenges like “Go ahead, make my day” to legendary international demands such as “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall,” Reagan’s idioms have become engrained in America’s historical lexicon. This encyclopedic compilation gathers nearly 2500 quotations from speeches and other public addresses that Reagan delivered, either in person or on radio or television, during his eight years as president. Organized topically into more than 60 primary subject areas, the entries reveal Reagan’s policy thought on issues from abortion to welfare reform. Each includes information on the title, date, venue, and audience of the speech from which the phrase is taken. The most comprehensive collection of Reagan quotations available, this accessible work offers new and revealing insights into the mind and heart of the fortieth president.

A retired corporate attorney, David B. Frost lives in Daytona Beach Shores, Florida.

Compiled by David B. Frost

Format: hardcover (7 x 10)
Pages: 232
Bibliographic Info: index
Copyright Date: 2012
pISBN: 978-0-7864-6581-1
eISBN: 978-0-7864-8786-8
Imprint: McFarland

Introduction      1
Abortion      3
Agriculture      5
American Exceptionalism      7
American Spirit      13
Apartheid      17
Arts and Humanities      17
Berlin Wall      18
Brotherhood      21
Budgetary and Fiscal Policies      22
Business      45
Central Intelligence Agency      47
Class Warfare      48
Communism      49
Constitution      52
Crime and Justice      54
Declaration of Independence      59
Democracy      60
Developing (Third World) Economies      62
Education      63
Elections and Voting      69
Energy Policy      71
Environment      72
Equal Opportunity and Civil Rights      73
Family      78
Foreign Policy      81
Founding Fathers      83
Free Market Capitalism      84
Freedom and Liberty      89
God and Country      101
Government      105
Healthcare      118
Holocaust      118
Human Rights      120
Human Spirit      122
Immigration and Ethnic Diversity      124
International Relations      126
International Trade      129
Israel and the Middle East      134
Judiciary      136
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr      140
Labor      141
National Security      142
North Atlantic Treaty Organization      155
Olympics      156
Patriotism      157
Peace      159
Political Leadership      163
Politics      168
Presidency      174
Reagan on Reagan      177
School Prayer      194
Science and Technology      196
Senior Citizens      198
Social Security      198
Soviet Union      199
Space Program      203
Terrorism      204
Unemployment      206
United Nations      207
Veterans      208
Voluntarism      211
Washington, D.C      213
Welfare      216
Index      221

• “highly recommended”—Midwest Book Review
• “this comprehensive and accessible collection of quotation provides both an important adjunct to the study of the fortieth US president, but also makes an excellent starting point for further thoughts on the subjects covered. It is an entertaining browse as well as a useful sourcebook”—Reference Reviews