Customer Reviews

Speaking My Mind

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In the introduction, President Reagan expresses the wish that these speeches would give the listener insight into himself as a president and a person: who he was, where he came from and what he believed. The speeches are not about policies and do not include any state of the union addresses. Almost every speech is introduced by Reagan with his reflections on the times and the issues, with his customary wit and humour.

My only complaint about the CD-set is the absence of a booklet with a proper track listing. The speeches are listed on the 5 discs but in a tiny font size so that one needs a magnifying glass in order to read them.

The first speech, from October 1964, in support of Barry Goldwater's candidacy, is particularly stirring. The sound is a bit crackly here but that only adds to the magic of this momentous speech. All the others are from the White House years. Here are the most memorable ones:

1981
Swearing-in ceremony/Inaugural address/Address to the nation on the state of the economy. Reagan was the first president to use a prop on TV - in this case a coin to demonstrate the effect of inflation/Address on the air traffic controllers strike, quite a powerful one.

1982
Magnificent address to the UK parliament on the values of the West and our historic role in the defence of freedom/Inauguration of the USS New Jersey/The national prayer breakfast, on spiritual renewal/Christmas day radio address.

1983
On the struggle for democracy in Central America/On the massacre of the marines in Lebanon/The magnificent Evil Empire speech/Martin Luther King Day.

1984
Hoboken, New Jersey election speech, to enthusiastic audience.
Republican Convention Acceptance speech, also to enthusiastic audience/40th Anniversary of the Normandy invasion, a very stirring and uplifting one.

1985
On SDI (the Space Shield) to the political action conference.
On the upcoming Geneva summit meeting with Gorbachev.

1986
Memorial service for the Challenger dead/On the Reykjavik summit/Centennial ceremony for the Statue of Liberty/Tax reform act of 1986, a breakthrough for economic growth and prosperity/Washington dinner honouring Tipp O'Neill, showing how gracefully Reagan acted towards his political opponents.

1987
Momentous speech at Brandenburg gate in Berlin on June 12th, 1987: "Tear down this wall!"/Speech honouring the heroism of ordinary people.

1988
Veterans Day Ceremony: Reagan restored the dignity and honour of Vietnam vets/Republican National Convention tribute to Nancy Reagan for her campaign against drug abuse. The last address to White House correspondents' annual dinner/Campaign speech for George H Bush in San Diego.
Farewell speech on January 11th, 1989.

Upon his death in 2004, the most moving tribute to Ronald Reagan appeared on the Belmont Club Blog, in the form of an old poem by Thomas Macaulay:

" When the oldest cask is opened,
And the largest lamp is lit;
When the chestnuts glow in the embers,
And the kid turns on the spit;
When young and old in circle
Around the firebrands close;
When the girls are weaving baskets,
And the lads are shaping bows;
When the goodman mends his armour,
And trims his helmet's plume;
When the goodwife's shuttle merrily
Goes flashing through the loom;
With weeping and with laughter
Still is the story told,
How well Horatius kept the bridge
In the brave days of old."

Listening to the Great Communicator is like hearing the stories your grandfather used to tell. They held you spellbound and you never grew tired of them. The Goldwater speech rings true today. The most stirring speeches: Reagan's D-Day speech at Normandy, and his inspirational words following the Challenger disaster, are among the best ever delivered. Hearing these speeches gave me goose bumps. Kudos to President Reagan's outstanding speech writers. I recommend that you read David Gergen's excellent book, "Witness to Power." God Bless you President Reagan.

Reagan was a great President simply from the perspective of his innate leadership ability and masterful skill as an orator. This collection of speeches is quite compelling and an excellent reference for admirers of the honorable Ronald Reagan. I also recommend Reagan In His Own Hand, which is a little more focused on the pre-Presidential Reagan during his stint as a private citizen and Governor of California.

Our daughter gave me this CD set for Christmas. I have been doing a lot of driving lately, and have been listening to the CDs exclusively when in the car.

It's odd that I waver back and forth between feeling incredibly uplifted by re-visiting ... through his own words and voice ... his faith, integrity, dignity, decency, character, intelligence, compassion and love of country. And yet, at the same time, I sometimes feel deeply depressed, occasionally to the point of tears, because we so desperately need someone of his caliber now, and yet the pool of 'leadership' from which we will choose the next leader of the free world is filled with pretenders whose credentials are on an entirely different, inferior plane.

The 'Reagan Legacy' can be seen in the absence of the Berlin wall; in the dissolution of the Soviet Union; in the feeling of dignity and pride that was pervasive in our republic during his tenure in office; in the might, capability, effectiveness, and freedom-preserving focus of the American military, which was the unflinching standard during his watch; in the unparalleled sense of economic well-being that permeated the 80's; in the resurrected life that was breathed into entrepreneurial enterprise as a result of his low-tax/hands-off economic policies; and, perhaps most importantly, in the love and esteem with which those of us who followed his leadership held him. He was an unparalleled American treasure.

We have so unappreciatively squandered his accomplishments and betrayed his example. I pray that we awaken to that folly before the light from the Reagan legacy becomes too dim to rekindle.

Listening to his own thoughts, spoken in his own voice, brings that fact home in a very powerful way.

What better way to remember the Reagan legacy than by listening to Reagan's best speeches.

This is a great collection. It lacks both a booklet and legible track listings. But the production is great, the intro blurbs are well done, and the speeches are just wonderful. He can still make the hair on my neck stand up, still bring tears to this commuter's eyes. He is not just going through the motions, he is trying hard to get every idea and emotion across.

Listened to after Reagan in His Own Voice is revealing. In the early years before the Presidency, he is bouncy, energetic, feisty, tongue in cheek. It is mostly about the message, but partly about creating entertaining radio minutes.

After he is elected, in Speaking my Mind, there is the flush of victory and the many do-able tasks at hand. After the Challenger and the Iran-Contra scandal, he tires. Some of the feistiness and humor is gone. You can hear that he knows that what he can accomplish is limited by the days left. But he can still bring it for the Normandy speech or "Tear down this wall, Mr. Gorbachev!"

If you like this ("if?"), you should get Peggy Noonan's What I Saw at the Revolution and Peter Robinson's How Ronald Reagan Changed My Life.

This is a good set of abridged speeches. The edits are well done by fading in and out. The speech titles are extremely hard to read on the CD. Great for the ride to work, etc.