Dinner with The Gipper by Stephen

Dinner with The Gipper by Stephen - February 2016 Scholarship Essay

“If we ever forget that we are One Nation Under God, then we will be a nation gone under.” Powerful words said by a larger than life man, and the historical figure whom I would have dinner with: The Gipper himself, Ronald Reagan. President Reagan is by far my favorite president, and furthermore an extraordinarily interesting man.
Beginning life in the town of Tampico, Illinois Ronald Reagan was born on February 6, 1911. Reagan lived until June 5, 2004 when he died in Los Angeles, California. This means that Reagan lived through The Great Depression, World War I, World War II, The Cold War, The Vietnam War, and The Gulf War. Reagan experienced so many major events in his life time and it would be fascinating to learn about each of these events from the man who witnessed them all firsthand.
Prior to becoming the 40th United States President, Reagan was a radio sportscaster which led him to his career in acting. Starring in over 50 films, Reagan was quite famous in his time. I would love to hear about some of the things Reagan was able to experience during his time in the entertainment industry. I can only imagine what it was like to be invited to spring training games for top notch MLB teams or working alongside the day’s most prominent movie stars. While Reagan tells us about the long journey he went on to reach these positions in his autobiography An American Life, he doesn’t fully explain the opportunities that these positions provide and the honor it must have been to be on the same playing field as Hollywood stars.
Ronald Reagan was also a United States Army Reserve officer in the cavalry division. It would be quite intriguing to hear about his military experiences and learn firsthand how far our country’s military has come since those days. I have always enjoyed learning about military tactics, and would love to learn more about the evolution of American military tactics from President Reagan.
Ronald Reagan was, of course, President of the United States for two terms. This presented him with a lengthily amount of time to enact his policies, and strive towards peace. Reagan ran as a Conservative Republican which is the political party that I too, identify with. He enacted policies that not only improved the American economy, but also put an end the Cold War with the Soviet Union. Reagan prevented a global nuclear apocalypse while simultaneously making great improvements to the Homefront. His policies reduced restrictions on American businesses as well as modernizing and expanding our military power in order to deter foreign threats and secure peace and prosperity for our great nation. I would love to learn about the challenges that Reagan went through and hear firsthand the stories he could tell involving the politics of America and the world. Reagan could provide me with so much insight about events such as the arms reduction and eventual fading away of the Soviet Union.
Once, on March 30, 1981 there was an assassination attempt on President Reagan. Not only did Reagan survive and go back to work in a few weeks, but he also made light of the entire ordeal. Reagan’s sense of humor helped to relieve the tension of this situation and also showed a true level of personal strength. I have always admired Reagan for this reason and think that it would be a true honor to be able to have dinner with this deeply inspirational man.