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REAGAN, Ronald (1911-2004). Typescript “Charleston/Pensacola,” with numerous autograph corrections and emendations, Charleston, S.C. and Pensacola, Fla., [c.5-9 January 1979].
REAGAN, Ronald (1911-2004). Typescript “Charleston/Pensacola,” with numerous autograph corrections and emendations, Charleston, S.C. and Pensacola, Fla., [c.5-9 January 1979]. Four pages, 272 x 210mm, on white and yellow-lined sheets. Early in his run for President of the United States, Ronald Reagan takes a swipe at the Carter Administration’s handling of Afghanistan, Iran and the Soviet Union: “The credibility of America’s power and determination has been tested and found wanting... a crisis of confidence is spreading through our country. But those who tell us this are the ones who created the crisis.” A scathing attack on the Carter Administration, delivered in Charleston and Pensacola in January 1980, heavily edited with extensive autograph corrections and emendations – revealing Reagan’s particular method of speech writing. Although he used speechwriters for some of his addresses, Reagan wrote many of his own speeches and was heavily involved in the editing process of those for which he did not compose initial drafts. Here, Reagan draws up a laundry list of problems plaguing the Carter Administration, most notably the Iranian hostage crisis that had begun in November 1979 and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan the following month : “The American dollar is under a pounding attack abroad. Small and defenseless nations are being overrun by a totalitarian juggernaut. American honor, American prestige, vital American interests and Americans abroad in service to their country are being assaulted on an unprecedented scale.