February: Month of Important Birthdays

**Previously recorded by Phyllis Schlafly**

February is the month when we observe the birthdays of our most important presidents: the greatest president of the 18th century, George Washington; the greatest president of the 19th century, Abraham Lincoln; and the greatest president of the 20th century, Ronald Reagan. Today, on Ronald Reagan’s birthday, let’s recall why he is so important.
A few weeks ago, PBS re-aired its two-part documentary about Reagan. One of the most interesting parts of that documentary described the famous meeting with Mikail Gorbachev at Reykavick, Iceland. Gorbachev came to that summit determined to get Reagan to abandon his plan to build an anti-missile defense to defend America against incoming Soviet missiles. Gorbachev made enormous concessions about his own missiles, but Reagan was steadfast in his conviction that our national strategy must be based on saving American lives from an enemy attack.
Everbody was against Reagan’s position, not only the Russians, but also the Democrats, and the media, and even the U.S. State Department. Senator Ted Kennedy dubbed Reagan’s plan “Star Wars,” and with the help of the media, he ridiculed the whole idea of defending the American people against incoming nuclear missiles.
Let me tell you about one vivid scene in the PBS documentary that I think was so significant. When Reagan concluded his last meeting with Gorbachev, Reagan came out of the building alone, got into his limousine alone,a nd slumped down in his seat alone. The media reported that the summit was a failure and that Reagan had thrown away our best chance for peace.
But history has proved that Reagan was right. Reykavick was where Reagan won the Cold War. It was where Gorbachev realized the Soviet economy could not compete with America. Years later, Gorbachev was asked what was the turning point in the collapse of the Soviet Union, and he replied, “It was Reykavick.” Thank God we had Ronald Reagan, a man of courage to stand for what was right against all enemies both abroad and at home.
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