Ronald Reagan: The First Inaugural Address “No arsenal or no weapon in the arsenals of the world is so formidable as the will and moral courage of free men and women.” ~Ronald Wilson Reagan, January 20, 1981 From two minutes to two hours, American presidents have delivered inaugural speeches both inspiring and dull, redundant and original, innovative and dogmatic, yet sharing one universal goal: to create a memorable message. There are those that demand “action now” as FDR’s did or those that seek unity and call “the better angels of our nature” as Lincoln’s did. While many are forgettable, Ronald Reagan’s words ring true today: “The crisis we are facing today does require…our best effort and our willingness to believe in ourselves and to believe in our capacity to perform great deeds, to believe that together with God's help we can and will resolve the problems which now confront us. And after all, why shouldn't we believe that? We are Americans.” In the Reagan Library archives, the handwritten document crafted by the 43rd president-­‐elect just weeks before his inauguration is preserved. On inauguration day as President Reagan stepped to the podium to speak to the American people, Walter Cronkite reported that “he had handwritten the speech on a yellow legal pad on a flight from Washington to California on January 8th.” What was the process behind the speech and did he work alone? For many years preceding his terms in the White House, Ronald Reagan wrote his “own stuff” as he called it. When running for governor of California, Pat Brown belittled his skill by accusing him of reading someone else’s lines. We suspect when Governor Brown moved out of the Governor’s mansion, he may have realized he was bested by someone with better ideas and a better ability to express them. Even though the young Reagan had grabbed the attention of American voters in 1964, critics continued to minimize his skill. “The Speech” he delivered not only vaulted him to national prominence but confirmed his superior talent for both writing and delivering a verbal powerhouse of political thought and inspiration. What does a guy have to do to get credit? We don’t question this at the Reagan Library. With boxes filled with hundreds of yellow legal pads featuring his original words and ideas, we know and are not surprised that he tackled his historic first inaugural on his own terms. How did he begin? From what we know, President Reagan jotted down some themes and a general outline to get the process rolling. Because he worked well with writer Ken Khachigian during the campaign and because the president-­‐elect knew that Ken had a strong grasp of key principles that needed to be part of the historic inaugural, he engaged his expertise. For years, American presidents have relied on the expertise of speechwriters with the exception of Abraham Lincoln who is considered, quite simply, the best. And he worked alone. His second inaugural address, only 700 words, is particularly moving, drafted as the Civil War was winding down in 1865 when Lincoln summoned Americans to “bind up the nation’s wounds” and to do so, “with malice toward none, with charity for all…” Setting the standard for presidential oratory, Lincoln’s speeches were the starting point for Ted Sorenson as John Kennedy directed him to study his addresses before beginning to draft one for himself. Kennedy did seek suggestions from others including Harvard economist John Kenneth Galbraith who is credited with a version of the line, “Let us never negotiate out of fear. But let us never fear to negotiate.” Jefferson, like Lincoln, was a superb writer who, it is believed, flew solo in all writing challenges including his inaugurals. But he could have used a bit of help on the second as it became rather sour, characterized by Peggy Noonan as a “you won’t have Jefferson to kick around anymore” speech, ending with a tirade on the irresponsibility of the press. Preparing Bill Clinton’s first inaugural, writer Michael Waldman taped rules above his computer screen. “No quoting dead people.” “No reversible raincoat sentences” (Ask not, etc.). Turns out, all the rules were broken by the time he was done drafting the address. Serving first as Special Assistant to the President for Policy Coordination and then as Director of Speechwriting, Waldman was responsible for writing and editing nearly 2,000 speeches, including four State of the Union Addresses and both of President Clinton’s Inaugural Addresses. George W. Bush’s first inaugural could not have been crafted without the assistance of Starbucks. We learned that writer Michael Gerson did his best work in the coffee joint, where “his muse is the largest latte on the menu and the ambient noise of an espresso machine.” It worked. According to the New York Times, Gerson created “the most eloquent speech of Bush’s life.” Back to Reagan scribe, Ken Khachigian. According to Reagan biographer Lou Cannon, the “graceful speechwriter who mastered his craft” in the Nixon White House under Pat Buchanan, was brought aboard the Reagan campaign plane in 1980. Apparently candidate Reagan needed someone who could “dash off a punchy speech between campaign stops” and Stu Spencer knew just the guy who could get the job done. Mr. Khachigian rose to the occasion, quickly earning the confidence of both Ronald and Nancy Reagan, along with Mike Deaver. When their new address was Pennsylvania Avenue, they asked one of their finest assets, Ken Khachigian, to accept the coveted assignment of working on the first inaugural. Just Ken. No other cooks were invited into the kitchen. Now then, back to that speech. On December 16, 1980, Mr. Khachigian met with President-­‐elect Reagan at his home in Pacific Palisades to put the full court press on the project. Both men had already begun to work: Reagan had an outline, speech cards with key principles and excerpts for consideration, in addition to a letter from Martin Treptow. Years before, Governor Reagan had received a letter from a long time California supporter about Treptow, killed in heavy artillery fire in WWI, along with an account of his diary entitled, “My Pledge.” Under that heading the soldier had written, “America must win this war. Therefore, I will save, I will sacrifice, I will endure, I will fight cheerfully and do my utmost as if the issue of the whole struggle depended on me alone.” Reagan intended to honor the sacrifice of the American soldier and remind Americans that while the current foreign crisis did not require such sacrifice, it did demand “our best effort and our willingness to believe in ourselves and to believe in our capacity to perform great deeds…” As for Mr. Khachigian’s preparation for the assignment, he collected memos from various sources and forwarded them to Reagan. Of course, he also studied every past presidential inaugural address and wrote, “The one thing that struck me about them, regardless of how eloquent or not eloquent they were, was the fact that you could do sort of an historical timeline of the United States by reading them….the speech sort of told you what was on America’s mind every four years.” So the two men faced each other, sharing ideas when the president-­‐elect suggested that Mr. Khachigian prepare a draft, which should include the themes that had carried him to the presidency and a reminder that the US government was of the people, by the people and for the people. He also favored a line from a WWII movie about Bataan in which the actor had said, “We are Americans – what’s happening to us?” Khachigian made notes and with his acute understanding of the president-­‐elect’s goals, created a first draft. While flying home from his 3rd and last pre-­‐inaugural visit to Washington, Reagan reviewed the draft. He loved Khachigian’s work but found this version too flowery. Mr. Khachigian recalled that it didn’t fit Reagan’s common-­‐man style and Reagan “ramped it back down to where he was eloquent but not florid.” Further, the president-­‐elect wanted a more personal and dramatic link with the past. Enter the Treptow letter. So he pulled out his yellow legal pad and rewrote, creating an almost entirely new speech which, as scholar Richard Reeves wrote, “The words were Reagan’s own. He wrote the final version of the speech out in longhand on a yellow legal pad.” And so it resides in our archives. We have only a photocopy of the first page which the president clearly “gave” to an unknown and willing recipient. Fortunately, the remaining pages are original and protected here, at the Reagan Library. To read the document, click here: On January 20, 1984, when two weeks of bitterly cold weather gave way to spring-­‐like temperatures, the new president from California delivered a powerful, memorable, stirring speech while inspiring Americans to new challenges. Great words based on great ideas. He delivered the first inaugural address in 50 years that appealed to the idea of a limited government; and, almost simultaneously, the hostages in Iran were released. “By the time he left the Capitol,” wrote the Washington Post, “America seemed a different place.” Yes, it did.