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In case anybody asks you
about my position on capital punishment, you can tell them I favor it; and if
they want to know why, you can tell them this story. – Ronald Reagan
[PHOTO SOURCE: http://www.azquotes.com/quote/1306196]
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QUOTE: After a highly publicized execution, Reagan received a letter that began, "Governor thanks for saving my life." The rest of the letter, Reagan recalled went something like this: "I run a liquor store. Last week, a thug broke in. He intended to rob us, but I resisted him. He wrestled me to the floor and poised his knife above my throat. I shouted out, 'Go ahead and kill me! You'll get the death penalty and be executed, just like the guy last week.' "The letter continued, "He dropped the knife and ran from the store. Thank you, Governor. Your fortitude and resolve saved my life."Reagan added, "In case anybody asks you about my position on capital punishment, you can tell them I favor it; and if they want to know why, you can tell them this story." In the end, capital punishment saves lives. [Source: Lessons From a Father to His Son, by John Ashcroftp.138-139 , May 5, 1998]
AUTHOR: Ronald Wilson Reagan (February
6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was the 40th President of the United States
(1981–1989), the 33rd Governor of California (1967–1975), and prior to that, a
radio, film and television actor. Reagan was born in Tampico in Whiteside
County, Illinois, reared in Dixon in Lee County, Illinois, and educated at
Eureka College in Eureka, Illinois, with a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics
and sociology. Upon his graduation, Reagan first moved to Iowa to work as a
radio broadcaster and then in 1937 to Los Angeles, California. He began a
career as an actor, first in films and later television, appearing in over 50
movie productions and earning enough success to become a famous, publicly
recognized figure. Some of his most notable roles are in Knute Rockne, All
American and Kings Row. Reagan served as president of the Screen Actors Guild,
and later spokesman for General Electric; his start in politics occurred during
his work for GE. Originally a member of the Democratic Party, he switched to
the Republican Party in 1962. After delivering a rousing speech in support of
Barry Goldwater's presidential candidacy in 1964, he was persuaded to seek the
California governorship, winning two years later and again in 1970. He was
defeated in his run for the Republican presidential nomination in 1968 as well
as 1976, but won both the nomination and election, defeating incumbent Jimmy
Carter in 1980. As president, Reagan implemented sweeping new political and
economic initiatives. His supply-side economic policies, dubbed
"Reaganomics", advocated reducing tax rates to spur economic growth,
controlling the money supply to reduce inflation, deregulation of the economy,
and reducing government spending. In his first term he survived an
assassination attempt, took a hard line against labor unions, and ordered an
invasion of Grenada. He was reelected in a landslide in 1984, proclaiming that
it was "Morning in America". His second term was primarily marked by
foreign matters, such as the ending of the Cold War, the 1986 bombing of Libya,
and the revelation of the Iran-Contra affair. Publicly describing the Soviet
Union as an "evil empire", he supported anti-communist movements
worldwide and spent his first term forgoing the strategy of détente by ordering
a massive military buildup in an arms race with the USSR. Reagan negotiated
with General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union Mikhail
Gorbachev, culminating in the INF Treaty and the decrease of both countries'
nuclear arsenals. Reagan left office in 1989. In 1994, the former president
disclosed that he had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease earlier in the
year; he died ten years later at the age of 93. Although a polarizing figure to
some on the American left, he often ranks highly in public opinion polls of
U.S. Presidents. Moreover, as a popular conservative icon, he is credited for
generating an ideological renaissance on the American political right.
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