Proof that Ronald Reagan is a man with the potential to rise to the opportunities that fate brings was demonstrated at the closing session of the Republican National Convention.
Reagan had rejected two invitations to address that Thursday session because, gentleman that he is, he did not want to encroach on President Ford’s evening of glory or delay his acceptance
speech scheduled for prime-time television. When, at the very end of the session, Ford spontaneously turned the microphone over to Reagan, the former actor starred in one of the most dramatic moments in political history.
Reagan demonstrated that he needs neither ghost writers nor prompters nor long preparation nor rehearsals in order to deliver a masterful, meaty, relevant, and eloquent speech.
Reagan showed that he clearly understands that his 1,070 delegates had not come to Kansas City because they are pawns of the political patronage system willing to do the bidding of their bosses, or even just because they like Reagan personally or believe he is a more attractive candidate.
Reagan’s speech showed that he understands that his supporters came to Kansas City because there are major moral, patriotic, and political differences between Ford and Heagan, and that those differences were not erased by Ford’s 117-vote margin of victory.
Reagan diplomatically but firmly used that exciting moment before the assembled delegates to point with pride to their tremendous victory in forcing into the Platform a foreign policy section which repudiates the core of the Kissinger-Nixon-Ford foreign policy, namely, detente, the sellout agreements with the Soviets, the deliberate snub of Solzhenitsyn, and the betrayal of the Captive Nations at Helsinki.
That needed to be said because, when the Ford forces capitulated late Tuesday night to the Reagan Minority Report on foreign policy, they thereby avoided a political vote which would have visibly brought home to the television viewing audience the fact that the Republican National Convention had gone on record against those crucial features of the Kissinger policies.
Finally, Reagan’s brief closing speech showed that he understands that the overriding issue of this 1976 election is the survival of America in the face of the gigantic Soviet missile threat, and that how we meet this challenge in the months ahead will determine whether our country is still around during the next century.
By the conspicuous omission of Gerald Ford’s name, Reagan made it clear that the survival of America does not depend on the election of Gerald Ford over Jimmy Carter. Reagan emphasized that the challenge to our country’s survival cam be met only if his supporters continue to work together for the same principles and policies that brought them to Kansas City.
Ronald Reagan’s finest hour was the leadership he displayed in defeat and his dedication to a cause larger than his own candidacy.
If his supporters will follow his example, swallow their disappointment, and continue the battle that he has led during the past year, they can bring about the same changes in the
Kissinger-Ford policies in Washington that they 30 successfully forced in the Kissinger-Ford policies in Kansas City.
