Mike Pence: “Mr. Speaker, Ronald Reagan will be remembered as a great man and a great American leader, who personified the highest…”

“Mr. Speaker, Ronald Reagan will be remembered as a great man and a great American leader, who personified the highest ideals of the American people at home and abroad. After 8 years of his Presidency, the communism of Soviet Russia was collapsing, the American military was rebuilt, the Nation's economy restored, and its moral fabric renewed. Many remember him as the ``Great Communicator,'' but as the President said many times, he was not a great communicator, he communicated great things. Those were the traditional American values of this Midwesterner turned national leader. They came from the profound Christian faith inculcated in a young Dutch Reagan by his beloved mother Nelle and from his heart. And, as the President said, ``They came from the heart of a great Nation.'' Those ideas were simple, straightforward, and distinctly American. President Reagan believed that freedom depended on limited government. He fiercely advanced the principles of less government, less taxes, a strong military, and a commitment to traditional moral values. And President Reagan changed the course of my life. While youthful ambition led me to politics, it was the voice and the values of Ronald Reagan that made me a Republican.”