On the recordJune 8, 2004
I grew up thinking assassinations were normal, remembering the assassinations of Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy; that government corruption was normal, remembering Watergate; and that a failure of government to properly serve its people was normal. Very high inflation, for example. But I remember also the things that my dad and my mom and my grandfather, who was an immigrant, told me about America. They were patriotic people. Ronald Reagan was a patriotic man. And I heard his message, and it resonated with me, because it was something that I had always heard at home, but, unfortunately, had not seen much in practice in government. I became interested, and, as I guess somewhat of a precocious seventh-grader, wrote an editorial in my middle school newspaper supporting Ronald Reagan for President. He did not win that time, but it was not because I did not try. But that legacy and what he stood for stuck with me.
Source
govinfo.gov
