On the 30th anniversary of Ronald Reagan’s inaugural address, David Davis, a Tory member of Parliament, praises the Gipper in the Wall Street Journal’s European edition:
When the 69-year-old Reagan became president, he encountered a barrage of intellectual snobbery from the European and East Coast establishments. The then British ambassador to the U.S., Sir Nicholas Henderson, opined that “Reagan believes there are simple answers to complex problems. The main worry is not just age, but whether he possesses the mental vitality and political vision necessary.”
But Reagan proved them all wrong. He became the first Cold War president to serve two terms without becoming involved in a major armed conflict, despite it being an extraordinarily unstable and volatile period in world history.
Davis, a former chairman of the Conservative Party, challenged David Cameron for the party leadership in 2005. You can watch Reagan’s inaugural here.