Seth Leibsohn: Reagan and the Rebirth of the American Spirit

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In the 1970s, there was much talk that the presidency was too big for one man, and that it had become increasingly difficult for a president to affect much change. The inauguration of Ronald Reagan in 1981 annulled that kind of talk.

The new movie, Reagan, starring Dennis Quaid, shows the Gipper challenging our malaise, our fatalism and the perceived inevitability of our decline.

The movie takes a man of many parts and focuses on one aspect of his life: His driving conviction that tyranny must not breed and that freedom needs to be defended and nurtured … and then retaught, again and again.

Critics don’t like the movie, they prefer cynicism and giving credit to the fall of the USSR to everyone but Reagan—who they spent a lifetime trying to destroy. But, undeterred, Reagan pressed on; and the movie is loved by those who’ve seen it; for as Reagan knew, we are not a cynical people and we do not want decline.

For our history—and our future, see Reagan.

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