Happy Birthday to the [u]greatest[/u] President of the 20th Century - Ronald Reagan!

He's 91 years old today![bday]

Here's a little article for his birthday:

[size=4]Reagan at 91 outdistances all former chief executives[/size=4]
By Thomas V. DiBacco SPECIAL TO THE WASHINGTON TIMES

No other former chief executive has celebrated four score years plus eleven, although John Adams came close, living 90 years and slightly more than eight months.
   
Some of the presidents who lived lengthy lives were among the first to hold office, with Thomas Jefferson reaching 83 and dying on the same day as Adams: July 4, 1826, the 50th anniversary of the approval of the Declaration of Independence. James Madison lived to be 85, John Quincy Adams 80, and Andrew Jackson and Martin Van Buren, 78 and 79, respectively. George Washington was 67 when he died.
     
Another close rival to Mr. Reagan, one of the most successful recent presidents, in the longevity record is Herbert Hoover (age 90), who held office during the onset of the Great Depression. Harry S. Truman, who ordered the atomic bomb to be dropped on Hiroshima, lived to 88.
     
Two of the presidents who lived in the mid-19th century were middle-age at the time of the their death. James K. Polk, one of the hardest-working chief executives, died a few months after his one term in office, at age 53; Chester Alan Arthur died at 56. Several were in their sixties: Zachary Taylor (65), Franklin Pierce (64), Andrew Johnson (66), Ulysses Grant (63) and Benjamin Harrison (67).
     
William Henry Harrison was second only to Mr. Reagan in terms of his advanced age at the time of his inauguration (Harrison, 68, Mr. Reagan, 69). Harrison died within a month after taking office.
     
Some of the best-known 20th-century presidents did not live lengthy lives. Theodore Roosevelt was 60 when he died, as was Calvin Coolidge. Franklin Roosevelt died in office at 63. Warren Harding died in office at 57. Lyndon Johnson died at 64, four years after leaving office. And Woodrow Wilson, who was an invalid in the White House after his stroke in October 1919, was 67 when he died less than three years after leaving office.
     
Mr. Reagan holds one other footnote in the annals of presidential longevity. He was the chief executive who broke in 1980 a cycle of death for presidents elected in 1840, 1860, 1880, 1900, 1920, 1940, and 1960. Every president coming to office after each of these seven elections died in office, either by natural causes or by assassination.

See article at:[url]http://www.washtimes.com/national/20020206-29655182.htm[/url]

Eric The(HappyBirthdayPres.Reagan!)Hun[>]:)]

I heard that the House or Senate (maybe both) had a roll call in which every member said "Happy Birthday" to Reagan, but 4 just said "Present". 4 Dems of course (2 females I think), 1 of whom is from Texas. Guess who ain't getting a vote from me!!! Talk about NO CLASS!! LAter.

A great President that really understood the world and the evil that lives in it.

Bob B

I agree! Happy Birthday.

Best Wishes and Happy Birthday to a Great American.

Oh, what a Great Man!! Happy Birthday,Ronald Reagan.. and Happy Birthday, Oneshot1kill.
.

I know he's dead, but today is also Bob Marley's birthday.

Happy Birthday Mon !!! [smoke]

Jay
[img]http://www.commspeed.net/jmurray/images/iroc-cop.gif[/img]

Thank you very much [b]Eric[/b] for remembering and reminding us. (nearly belated!)


Ronald Reagan was, hands down, the greatest President of the 20th Century.

[beer]

Yes indeed he was the greatest President of the 20th century and he achieved alot for this great land of ours [bday] Mr.President!

[bday][bday]
[bday]

The greatest leader of our time[beer]. President Reagan in his present state has more leadership qualities than the whole of the Klinton era gangsters put together.
[bday] HAPPY BIRTHDAY Mr.President and God Bless !

Happy birthday, Mr. President.  I will try to remember all the good things you did for the country and forget that little video piece you filmed after you left office expressing your support for the Brady bill, and the fact that the 1986 MG ban came in under your watch.

Post from Chairborne_Ranger -

Insofar as the FOPA of 1986 is concerned, the machine gun ban was a last-minute, last-ditch effort by the DEMOS to destroy the bill. Put the blame squarely on the folks who insisted on its inclusion in the final bill, not the President, who signed the bill despite the ban!

Or would you still like the idea of producing an ID and signing for ammunition the way it used to be? Or the fact that FFLs could not sell firearms away from their store locations?
Say goodbye to gunshows!

I could never bring myself to chide Reagan for finally supporting the Brady Bill under the circumstances that he most likely faced - Sarah Brady, and her brain-damaged 'Bear', sitting in his living room in Bellaire, most likely begging for his support, all the while intimating that he was, to some degree, responsible for Brady's condition!

But I see you have no problem blaming President Reagan for this!

How do you feel about the collapse of the Soviet Union? Did that make you sleep better at night?

If it did, then you and your children can thank President Reagan!

Just look back and see what the rest of the world was saying during the Reagan Presidency - the Soviet Union was a fact of life that we would face for the foreseeable future!

Strobe Talbot, the 'Soviet Expert', said in an interview back in 1982, that the Soviets would be a force to be reckoned with, forever, and that we should forget any attempt at thinking otherwise!

Lees than 10 years later, the Soviets had imploded! Way to go, Strobe!

BTW, Clinton made Strobe his 'Russian Expert'!

Apparently, liberals never have to pay for their mistakes!

Eric The(WhichAreLegion)Hun[>]:)]

innn a recent poll i remember hearing about mr. reagan was voted like 21st best president of all time. i strongly believe history will shine favorably upon him. even if some of the decisions he made werent right, he did it for the good of the country. if you ever get the chance to visit his library in california, it is a most enlightening experience. there is a film where he takes you through a tour of the white house. he explains that he has so much respect for the oval office, he puts his suit coat on before he enters. a true american and a beacon for us to follow!

yes I agree 1000% Happy Birthday to an American that can truly be considered a roll model for all!

Why don't you guys go here [url]http://www.reaganfoundation.org/welcome.asp[/url] and send him a birthday message that he might actually see. You can send a message to Nancy from the same site as well.

Wow, take it easy Mr. Hun!  I liked Reagan and voted for him twice!  He did plenty of great stuff, such as changing the basic course of America away from socialism (which of course Klinton did his best to un-do in spite of welfare "reform," one of the few areas I agreed with Klinton).

But whenever I think of Reagan, I think about gun issues, and his record is mixed.

The MG ban shouldn't have been in the 86 FOPA, and I don't consider any "benefits" we received to have been worth it, and Reagan, IMHO, shouldn't have signed it as it is.

 I never had to do this anywhere except Woolco, a large discount chain that is now out of business.  Did you?

 I bought all kinds of guns at gunshows before FOPA became law.  Didn't you?  The shows were better then, this was before the invention of the beanie baby.  Although I don't blame President Reagan for the invention of the beanie baby . . . [;)]

 Agreed.  But what makes a great man is to stand up to pressure like that and do what is right.

 No, I don't, and take the blinders off, neither should you!

A great president, a great man, second in my book to perhaps only Teddy Roosevelt, certainly the greatest president of my lifetime.  But far from perfect.

I really enjoyed the fact that Khomeini, after pushing around Jimmy Carter for a couple of years, released the hostages as soon as Ronbo was about to take office.  Khomeini was a nut, but he wasn't so stupid that he didn't know what was coming with President Reagan at the helm.

President Reagan is easily the best president of the 20th century. He did more for freedom than the rest of them combined. Truly a great American. I consider it an honor to have lived during his presidency.

Post from Chairborne_Ranger -

Absolutely! It was the law from 1968 until 1986! IIRC, the only ammo exempt [u]in any state[/u] from the ID and recordation requirements was .22 cal ammunition.

Here is a nice excerpt from an article discussing the FOPA of 1986, to show the efforts that Rep. Volkmer and the bill's aupporters had to go through and how the 'MG ban' got added at the very last moment!

"In exchange for speedier consideration, Volkmer agreed to a rule allowing his bill as an amendment by way of substitute for H.R. 4332.209 A number of last minute amendments modified his substitute to parallel closely S. 49, with the major difference being a co-opting of H.R. 4332's mandatory sentencing.210 The last minute amendments contributed to subsequent confusion in the debates.211

"The floor fight was quick and messy. H.R. 4332 and Volkmer's substitute were debated simultaneously.212 Hughes moved a package of amendments to the substitute which would have, among other things, required proof only of a "knowing" violation, deleted the requirement that an alleged unlicensed dealer be shown to have had a "principal" intent of money profits, and limited the interstate "pass-through" provision to rifles and shotguns, cased and [Page 625] inaccessible.213 The amendments lost 248-173.214 An attempt to narrow the interstate pass through also failed, 242-177.215 A third proposed amendment, limiting dealer sales to nonresidents, passed, 233-184.216 [b]One final amendment, banning private ownership of any machinegun not already in lawful ownership on the date of enactment, was raised with only minutes left in the time allotted under the rule. [u]It passed on a rather irregular voice vote.[/u][/b]217 The substitute was then accepted in place of H.R. 4332, was passed, and then substituted for the Senate-passed S. 49.218."

This excerpt is from: [url]http://www.hardylaw.net/FOPA.html[/url]

And, as I've always said, I doubt that anyone in the Reagan Administration had even thought for a moment that private individuals were able to own 'machine guns' in the first place!

Trust me, if the NFA of 1934 was to be resubmitted to Congress today, there would be no exceptions to the ban on civilian ownership of full-automatic weapons!

Eric The(Realistic)Hun[>]:)]

 Well I dunno . . . I grew up in FL.  When I started buying ammo at stores at age 18 (1978), Woolco used to give me a hard time about, in particular, .22 LR, because it could also be used in handguns.  They used to want ID and signature for its sale.  Nowhere else did I have this problem, anywhere else sold me rifle ammo with no problem and no ID.  When I want to the local gun range, they happily sold me all kinds of stuff, including .38, 9mm and .45 handgun ammo (and this was starting at age 16) without batting an eye or asking for any ID.  Times have changed . . . [:(]

I didn't like Woolco for their imposition of *extra* paperwork/ID BS, although I did ogle at the $229 Colt SP1 they had behind the counter (about 1976 or so).

Happy Birthday to the Great Communicator!!! [beer]

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