Reagan President Quotes

#1. When you tax capital gains income, you don't help the economy, you hurt the economy, which is why President Kennedy, President Reagan, President Clinton and President Bush all believed we should have a lower rate for capital gains.

Rob Portman

#2. You know my father as governor, as president, but I knew him as dad. I was so proud to have the Reagan name and to be Ronald Reagan's son.

Michael Reagan

#3. Well, it is alarming to have a president [Reagan] who doesn't know what he is doing.

McGeorge Bundy

#4. Ronald Reagan's vision of smaller government, less taxes, and a strong national defense has led to a prosperous America. As president, he rebuilt our military and reinvigorated our confidence in ourselves.

David Vitter

#5. Over the course of two terms, President Reagan revolutionized the Republican Party and changed the political atmosphere in a way still being felt today.

William L. Jenkins

#6. I often quote Ronald Reagan, who is pretty close to my favorite President ever, I will have to say that, but one of my favorite remarks he ever made was that when you look at Federal programs, there is nothing so close to eternal life on Earth as a Federal Government program.

Marsha Blackburn

#7. As we celebrate President Reagan's remarkable career and historic legacy, we also celebrate a man of strong character, deep conviction, unforgettable charm, and wonderful wit.

Jim Ramstad

#8. I mean, people need to remember without the grassroots, Ronald Reagan probably doesn't become president of the United States of America and he worked the grassroots on a regular basis during his political career and especially between the years of 1976 and 1980 after the loss in Kansas City.

Michael Reagan

#9. Just think how happy you'd be if you lost everything you have right now & then got it back.

Ronald Reagan

#10. Nothing is going to change the fact that I believe Ronald Reagan is the greatest president in my lifetime - may well be the greatest president this nation ever had.

Oliver North

#11. As his vice president for eight years, I learned more from Ronald Reagan than from anyone I encountered in all my years of public life.

George H. W. Bush

#12. First, President Reagan was not enthusiastic. But I built up a relationship with him in other areas and then persuaded him that this was important to us and to me, and that we had to at least be in the process of looking at this seriously.

Brian Mulroney

#13. Often dismissed or underestimated by political opponents, President Reagan had the most valuable weapon in the political arsenal: a bond with the people.

William L. Jenkins

#14. Eight years after Reagan's nomination for president, the conservative movement is directionless

Richard Viguerie

#15. Their imperfect record at awards shows was disappointing, sure, but the best prize of all came when, on February 4, 1986, President Ronald Reagan name-checked and quoted directly from the movie - where we're going, we don't need roads - in his State of the Union address.

Caseen Gaines

#16. Ronald Reagan was the greatest president of the twentieth century.

Rush Limbaugh

#17. Ronald Reagan?wasn't without leadership ability, but he lacked most of the management skills that a President needs. But let me give him his due: he would have made a hell of a king.

Tip O'Neill

#18. President Ronald Reagan on his 1980 opponent: "I had a dream the other night. I dreamed that Jimmy Carter came to me and asked why I wanted his job. I told him I didn't want his job. I want to be President."

Bob Dole

#19. President Ronald Reagan used to speak of the Soviet constitution, and he noted that it purported to grant wonderful rights of all sorts to people. But those rights were empty promises, because that system did not have an independent judiciary to uphold the rule of law and enforce those rights.

John Roberts

#20. President Reagan's one-liners were terrific.

Geraldine Ferraro

#21. For seven of the eight years he was president, Reagan would not say the AIDS word.

John Irving

#22. I don't think President Obama has been that revolutionary in reaching out to ethnic communities. President Reagan did a lot for the black community that people don't realize.

Terrence Howard

#23. A Masai warrior on a cellphone in the middle of Kenya has better mobile comm than President Reagan did 25 years ago.

Peter Diamandis

#24. Ronald Reagan was a president of strength. His philosophy was a philosophy of strength - a strong military, a strong economy and strong families.

Mitt Romney

#25. I registered as a Republican when I turned 18 because of Ronald Reagan - he was the president at the time; I admired what he stood for. I respected him.

Brian Sandoval

#26. Again, President Reagan was sort of an amiable presence out at the ranch by the last 6 months of his presidency. He had no effect on national policy at all.

Paul Begala

#27. [On Ronald Reagan:] The President doesn't want yes-men around. When he says no, we all say no.

Elizabeth Dole

#28. President Reagan is a rhetorical roundheels, as befits a politician seeking empathy with his audience.

William Safire

#29. George W. Bush, though a president's son, is cast as Reagan's heir even more than his father's.

Nancy Gibbs

#30. [Television executives] are afraid to advertise condoms that could save lives, but do not blush about telecasting a National Geographic special on President Reagan's pelvic plumbing.

Martin Nolan

#31. The American pledge not to negotiate with terrorists has been honored more in the breach than the observance from the moment President Ronald Reagan made it.

Alex Berenson

#32. President Reagan rushed home from Santa Barbara vacation, from the Reagan ranch when the Korean jetliner was shot out of the air by the Russians.

Kate Obenshain

#33. President Obama had a few historians at the White House for a couple of dinners. I was lucky enough to be one of those asked, and he was very interested in Ronald Reagan, and I came away feeling that.

Douglas Brinkley

#34. Always the eternal optimist, President Reagan instilled confidence and optimism at a time both were in short supply in our country.

Jim Ramstad

#35. Just when you think there's nothing to write about, Nixon says, 'I am not a crook.' Jimmy Carter says, 'I have lusted after women in my heart.' President Reagan says, 'I have just taken a urinalysis test, and I am not on dope.

Art Buchwald

#36. President Reagan was a leader at a time when the American people most needed leadership. He outlined a vision that captured the imagination of the free world, a vision that toppled the Communist empire and freed countless millions.

Dennis Hastert

#37. The author deduces the best way James Baker serve Reagan as Chief of Staff was to continually remind him why he wanted to be president.

Chris Matthews

#38. Success will require the studied lack of sophistication of a Ronald Reagan and the casual dishonesty of an FDR. The president must appear to be not very bright yet be able to lie convincingly.

George Friedman

#39. [Reagan] was the best president in this era, as he had the perfect temperament for the job.

Dan Patrick

#40. And so it was interesting for me to find myself very enamored of a Republican president, but Ronald Reagan was someone I thought captured the spirit of America.

Ed Gillespie

#41. When my father, Ronald Reagan, was running for president in 1980, my mother, Nancy, traveled with him on the campaign trail, but she did not give speeches or even many interviews. She never stood in front of a group of reporters and expounded on her views and opinions.

Patti Davis

#42. When Ronald Reagan spoke a thing aloud, he believed it forever and for always. By the time he started running for president, in 1976, he had already developed an unwavering and steadfast faith in the correctness of whatever came out of his mouth.

Rachel Maddow

#43. President Reagan always gave the credit to the American people and American ideals. He treated his job as a valuable temporary loan from the American people, a loan that should be respected and returned with dutiful appreciation.

William L. Jenkins

#44. I think Ronald Reagan was the best President of my lifetime.

Johnny Ramone

#45. To be sure, President Clinton reached an accord called "The Agreement" in 1994 that purports to address some of President Reagan's concerns.

Frank Gaffney

#46. America entered the Lebanese Civil War. It paid the price. Two hundred marines were killed by one Shiite. Reagan pulled the troops and avoided discussing Lebanon. Lebanon, like AIDS, was hardly ever mentioned by our president.

Rabih Alameddine

#47. I was a big fan of Ronald Reagan. He was the first president I got to vote for.

Steve Daines

#48. Presidents make history but are also a product of it. And there are two kinds: transforming and transactional. Reagan was a transforming president. He made history.

David E. Hoffman

#49. President Reagan is a lot like E.T. He's cute, he's lovable, and he knows nothing about how Americans live.

Elayne Boosler

#50. If I could go, I would tell the truth to the North American people. President Reagan personally ordered my visa to be denied.

Tomas Borge

#51. I have been hung in effigy by the gay community for a long time, from when I was on President Reagan's first AIDS commission.

Richard DeVos

#52. If President Reagan could be an actor and become president, maybe I could become an actor. I've got a good pension. I can work for cheap.

William J. Clinton

#53. President Reagan achieved such successes because when you sat in a room with him, there could be over 1,000 people in the room, yet you felt like there was only the two of you, and his wonderful wit would put you at ease. That was a tremendous gift.

Elton Gallegly

#54. Expanding a failing, big-government program that reduces flexibility for the states and traps generations of Americans in dependency is not consistent with the kind of conservative solutions that Reagan sought during his terms as governor of California and president of the United States.

Edwin Meese

#55. In the event of the death of a current or former President, like the recent death of President Ronald Reagan, the flag should be flown at half-staff for thirty days from the day of the death.

Michael K. Simpson

#56. All Americans and freedom-loving people around the world owe President Reagan our deepest gratitude for his strong, principled leadership that ended the Cold War and brought freedom to millions of people.

Jim Ramstad

#57. Remember when Ronald Reagan was president? We had Bob Hope. We had Johnny Cash. Think about where we are today. We have got President Obama. But we have no hope and we have no cash.

John Boehner

#58. We all obviously need others to look up to, and be inspirational to us. Ford did a great job as far as putting the presidency back where it belonged, getting the trust back after Nixon. And President Reagan has been one of the most influential presidents.

Steve Garvey

#59. As president, Reagan worked very well with Democrats to do big things. It is true that he worked to reduce the size of government and cut federal taxes and he eliminated many regulations, but he also raised taxes when necessary.

Arnold Schwarzenegger

#60. President Reagan is now at rest. We mourn his passing, but we are grateful for the gifts he gave us: a safer world, strong economic base, and a renewed belief in America's greatness.

Elton Gallegly

#61. One day in 1984, at the height of his fame, Michael Jackson made a visit to the White House. President and Nancy Reagan may not have dug his music, but they understood the power Mr. Jackson commanded as a common pop-cultural touchstone for just about everyone else.

Monica Crowley

#62. Well, I think the reality is that as you study - when President Kennedy cut marginal tax rates, when Ronald Reagan cut marginal tax rates, when President Bush imposed those tax cuts, they actually generated economic growth. They expanded the economy. They expand tax revenues.

Mike Pence

#63. I was friends with President Ronald Reagan and he once said to me, 'I don't know how anybody can serve in public office without being an actor.'

Warren Beatty

#64. John Kerry suspended his campaign for five days this week in honor of President Reagan. And right now, he's ahead in the polls. How's that make him feel? Disappears for a week and he's up in the polls. What else can he do now but go into hiding.

Jay Leno

#65. Politicians used AIDS to energize anti-gay supporters and religious conservatives who heralded it as a consequence of immorality. Pat Buchanan, an adviser to President Reagan, declared, "The poor homosexuals - they have declared war upon nature, and now nature is exacting an awful retribution." A

Sean Strub

#66. When I was operating as one of President Reagan's economic advisers, an early assignment was to analyze the federal government's landholdings and make recommendations about what to do with them. This was a big job. These lands are vast, covering an area six times that of France.

Steve Hanke

#67. Having worked for him in the nuclear weapons policy business, I can tell you that President Reagan was committed to assuring the effectiveness of our nuclear deterrent.

Frank Gaffney

#68. Ronald Reagan is the first modern President whose contempt for the facts is treated as a charming idiosyncrasy.

James David Barber

#69. Regardless of your political affiliation, most people agree that Ronald Reagan was an American icon. He was a president of national significance and for that reason he deserves an honor in the nation's capital.

Henry Bonilla

#70. I still remember March 31, 1981, when a deeply disturbed John Hinckley Jr. took aim at President Ronald Reagan and fired shots that hospitalized the Commander-in-Chief and two others, and left his Press Secretary James Brady paralyzed for life.

Charles B. Rangel

#71. For example, I spent a lot of time with Reagan, both before he ran for governor and when he was running for president. As a print reporter without the cameras, I was able to really test the quality of their minds and their knowledge base.

Robert Scheer

#72. Presidents have a right to certain prerogatives, including the expectation of a certain deference. He's the president; this is history. But we seem to have come a long way since Ronald Reagan was regularly barked at by Sam Donaldson, almost literally, and the president shrugged it off.

Peggy Noonan

#73. You know, when President Reagan, who was one of my idols, granted amnesty to about three million illegal immigrants it was based on the fact that the borders would be secured. That didn't happen. It didn't happen during the Bush administration.

Jan Brewer

#74. President Reagan, of course, did more than any other person to entrench the Republican reputation for toughness on national security.

Samantha Power

#75. Ronald Reagan's biographer wrote of the former president's final days: "for all the intimate familiarity of that face and body, I did not feel his presence beside me-only his absence."

Edwin Morris

#76. I just have that sense this is the reason we got Sandra Day O'Connor on the Court in the first place is because Ronald Reagan was running for President.

Patricia Ireland

#77. Ronald Reagan is the most ignorant president since Warren Harding.

Ralph Nader

#78. To my mind, a president should care about all people, and he didn't, which is why I will always feel Reagan lacked soul.

Helen Thomas

#79. President George Herbert Walker Bush ran as a strong conservative, ran to continue the third term of Ronald Reagan, continue the Ronald Reagan revolution. Then he raised taxes and in '92 ran as an establishment moderate - same candidate, two very different campaigns.

Ted Cruz

#80. President [Ronald] Reagan told me he would negotiate and negotiate and negotiate with the Soviets, and I believed him.

Helmut Schmidt

#81. Again and again as president, Reagan let it slip that he concurred with fundamentalists' belief that the world would end in a fiery Armageddon. This did not hurt him politically. The kind of people offended by such talk had already largely abandoned the Republican Party.

Rick Perlstein

#82. I would rank George Washington as America's greatest president, but he only had to defeat what was then the world's greatest military power with a ragtag group of irregulars and some squirrel guns, whereas Ronald Reagan had to defeat liberals.

Ann Coulter

#83. When Reagan left office, he was the most unpopular living president, apart from Nixon, even below Carter. If you look at his years in office, he was not particularly popular. He was more or less average. He severely harmed the American economy.

Noam Chomsky

#84. President Ford was taken for a ride by his predecessor, whom he unpardonably pardoned; Jimmy Carter was also taken for a ride, but by his successor, Ronald Reagan, over the return of the Iran hostages.

Nigel Hamilton

#85. President Reagan was concerned - deeply concerned, emotionally concerned - with the loss of life of any American, but especially with the lives of military soldiers, Marines, navy.

Robert McFarlane

#86. Reagan's dead, and he was a lousy President.

Keith Olbermann

#87. Reagan, people claimed, was too old to run for president and to be elected. But he proved himself such a vigorous campaigner in the primary system that he overcame those beliefs.

Geoffrey Cowan

#88. It is absolutely right that President Reagan considers SDI and thank goodness people considered nuclear research before the last war.

Margaret Thatcher

#89. Ronald Reagan wasn't qualified to be governor, let alone president.

James Garner

#90. President Reagan fueled the spirit of America. His smile, his optimism, his total belief in the ultimate triumph of democracy and freedom, and his willingness to act on that belief, helped end the Cold War and usher in a new and brighter phase of history.

Colin Powell

#91. Ronald Reagan was older than I was when he ran for president.

Jesse Jackson

#92. I'm glad Reagan is president. Of course, I'm a professional comedian.

Will Durst

#93. Letter writing was clearly important to Reagan. Even as president he kept dashing off letters to friends, pen pals, media people, statesmen, critics, and the kind of people who write to presidents never expecting a reply.

Russell Baker

#94. Though it was never a goal in life, it has occurred to me that I've met six presidents of the United States. OK, I met four of them before they became president, including Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush, No. 43.

Dan Jenkins

#95. When President Ronald Reagan asked me a stupid question once, I called him an idiot in public! I thought I was going to be arrested, but he laughed and appreciated me.

Bikram Choudhury

#96. AUGUST 5, 1981. That's the date it became official. It's rare that we can point to an exact date when a business theory or idea becomes an accepted practice. But in the case of mass layoffs, we can. August 5, 1981, was the day President Ronald Reagan fired more than 11,000 air traffic controllers.

Simon Sinek

#97. I could run for Congress. Why not? Good heavens, if Ronald Reagan can be president, I ought to make a great secretary of the treasury.

Sandra Dee

#98. As prime minister, I worked closely with Ronald Reagan for eight of the most important years of all our lives. We talked regularly both before and after his presidency. And I have had time and cause to reflect on what made him a great president.

Margaret Thatcher

#99. They asked me to go in front of the Reagans. I'm not used to going in front of President Reagan, so we went out behind the Bushes.

Dan Quayle

#100. [Ronald]Reagan and[George W.] Bush were far more radical than other presidents.

Kevin Drum