Thank you, Governor, friends and distinguished guests.

When Mayor Giuliani appeared at this Library last September, he paid tribute to the contribution of Mrs. Reagan for her role in creating the Reagan legacy that we celebrate tonight—a legacy that merits celebration every day that we remain free people. The Mayor said, "Had Mrs. Reagan not had the strength, I don't know that we would be here today." I heartily echo that sentiment.

Anyone who closely examines the life and times of Ronald Reagan knows that "his Nancy" was the centerpiece of his life, and that he gained much inspiration and support from her that enabled him to provide the kind of leadership to our nation and to the world that he provided so capably. And so, I say, thank you Mrs. Reagan.

I had the pleasure of introducing Governor Wilson to audiences more times than I can count at fund-raisers and other events during his candidacy for governor as well as his 8-year tenure as governor of California.

Introducing the governor of the largest state in America, the 7th largest economy in the world, can be pretty heady stuff for a poor kid from Louisiana.

On occasion, my exuberance got the better of me and I spread the embellished rhetoric on pretty thick. When that happened, the governor would just beam, readjust his halo, and simply state after my introduction: "Are there any questions?"

Tonight the roles are reversed, and after Pete's introduction of me, I am tempted to just ask: "Are there any questions?"

About a year ago, the California Republican Party honored me by presenting me with the Ronald Reagan Award for Leadership. That honor was a source of great pride for me, because it carried the name of Ronald Reagan. But, I can't find the words to sufficiently express my pleasure at being invited to participate in the Reagan Forum lecture series and to discuss the relevance of President Reagan's Legacy.

President Reagan was admired and will be remembered in the annals of history for his strong convictions and his dedication to his "Four Pillars of Freedom"—individual liberty, economic opportunity, global democracy and national pride.

As future historians look back on the 20th Century, they will find that the rapid disintegration of totalitarian regimes and the expansion of democracy around the globe had its genesis during the Reagan years. It was Ronald Reagan who made the most compelling case for the cause of democracy and convinced other nations that democracy was a product worthy of being imported to their people.

When they look back on the end of the 20th Century and find a period of unparalleled economic prosperity, for which others sought to take credit, they will not be misled. They will find that it was President Reagan's tax reforms that placed more disposable income into the hands of more American families, instead of the coffers of their government, thereby enabling them to create that period of economic expansion.

Future historians will also conclude that it was, indeed, Ronald Reagan who made it fashionable to be patriots once again. He was the President who inspired Americans to take pride in their country after the humiliating years suffered under a prior administration. He gave Americans a cause to champion and an enemy to defeat — the cause was democracy and the enemy were those who refused to yield to the inevitability of Reagan's vision for global democracy.

But, the legacy of President Reagan extends far beyond his principles. All of us are capable of holding strong beliefs, but few of us have the capacity to communicate those beliefs to others in such force that we inspire them to embrace our values and to act upon the principles that we hold dear. Let me share an experience with you.

I believe that virtually all of us inherit three things from our parents: our genes, our religion and our politics. I was born a brown-skinned, Baptist Democrat.

Although I have remained a brown-skinned Baptist for 60 consecutive years, my politics changed in 1969; and there are three individuals who, in their own way, are responsible for my conversion from Democrat to Republican: Pete Wilson, Ronald Reagan and Willie Brown.

I was consultant to a committee chaired by a brash young legislator from San Diego named Pete Wilson. As chairman of the committee, Pete wanted to reduce the level of public housing by enabling public housing tenants to become homeowners.

We shared the view that if more low-income people got a stake in our economic system, we might break the cycle of dependency that was so prevalent in the lives of many of those who resided in public housing.

But, to make the transition from public housing to private housing, these tenants and prospective homeowners needed a source of mortgage capital. Rather than put the government into the business of directly originating mortgage loans, Pete and I came up with the idea of creating a secondary mortgage market, backed by government bonds, for private institutions interested in making loans to low-income people.

We began to hear rumblings that Governor Reagan would veto our bill if it reached his desk. So, Pete said, "Let's go see the governor and find out where he stands." Bob White, Pete's administrative assistant, arranged the meeting.

After eating a few jellybeans, we explained the bill to the governor. He listened carefully as we told him that it was important for the Republican Party to provide leadership in solving the housing problems of California.

The governor offered us some more jelly beans, tilted his head to the side, gave us that familiar agreeable half-smile, and then said rather firmly, "Well, that's not my view of the proper role of government. If the Democrats want to expand government, they're going to have to go through me first, and I don't intend to let that happen. I want to limit government and expand personal responsibility—not the other way around."

While the governor was affable, there was no mistaking the fact that we had just been politically dressed down. As we left his office, he gave us a genial handshake and a warm, no hard feelings smile.

Walking out of the executive suite, Pete and I knew that we had just been in presence of a man who had that rare combination of principle and good humor and understood the legitimate uses of political power to implement his principles.

Ronald Reagan had a way of disagreeing profoundly, while making those with whom he disagreed, profoundly liking him and taking no personal offense at his disagreement.

I couldn't help but contrast Governor Reagan to Willie Brown, whom I saw in action almost every day in legislative hearings. One stood for bigger government and would do anything to win a political battle. The other stood for limited government and would not be deterred from his principles by the prospect of a political battle.

As I reflected on my experience with the governor and my encounters with Willie, I realized that although Willie and I shared roughly equal levels of melanin content, the content of my philosophy was more attuned to that of then-Governor Reagan. I respected his forthrightness, his basic good humor and political decency. But, more than anything else, I admired the strength of his convictions, even when I disagreed with him.

It impressed me that Ronald Reagan didn't need confirmation from others to validate his principles. As Michael Reagan recently said, "My father didn't run as a Lincoln Republican or a Goldwater Republican. He ran as Ronald Reagan."

Although Pete had begun to introduce me to Republicanism, it was my meeting with Governor Reagan that had such an enormous influence. The day after my meeting with the governor, I changed my party affiliation to Republican.

The Reagan years have often been referred to as a "quiet revolution." But, the cause of individual liberty — a principal pillar in the structure of freedom designed by Ronald Reagan — is much like the American Experiment to create a united people out of our many differences; it is a work-in-progress.

For much of the 20th Century, the individual has been increasingly subordinated to the interests of society and submerged into group classifications. We have acquiesced in, and often contributed to, adoption and implementation of policies that disregard the rights of individuals.

No public policy, no governmental practice, is more disrespectful and more destructive of individual rights and liberty than the current quagmire of policies that grant preferences based on group identity.

When our nation was founded, individual liberty was the centerpiece of democracy. Why else would the founders refer to "inalienable rights?" Why would they include "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" among the Creator-endowed rights allocated to every person?

The effort to eliminate preferences based on race, sex and ethnicity is truly an effort to maximize individual liberty. How can an individual be emotionally free when he considers his fate to be contingent upon the actions of another?

I saw a movie once in which the door of a birdcage was opened, but the bird within never made the connection between the open door and freedom. It, therefore, never made its exit. Instead, it remained a caged bird, although it was free to fly away anytime it wanted to do so.

Those who tell young, black children that America is a "racist" society, or that they cannot pass standardized tests, or that affirmative action is essential to their success, prevent those children from ever making the connection between that open door of opportunity and individual liberty and freedom.

President Reagan was not known as a champion of civil rights, in the traditional sense of that term. In fact, he has often been accused of being "anti-civil rights" by the traditional civil rights establishment. But, in the fullness of time, we shall see that his accusers were wrong. They are the ones who fail to understand that "civil rights" are individual rights that attach to every individual, not to any group.

Throughout the nation, we hear the mind-numbing chant, "We must celebrate diversity." "Diversity," or more accurately integration, is, indeed, a noble and desirable result of free and open competition in a democratic society. But, diversity is not an excuse to discriminate or to deprive others of their individual liberty.

Beneath this mind-numbing blather about diversity is a belief that it is appropriate for government to engineer or rig the final outcome of competitions for college admission, jobs and public contracts.

Ronald Reagan understood that race, gender and ethnic preferences were a deprivation of individual liberty, and that they were morally wrong. He spoke out against such practices with clear and compelling conviction. He didn't coat his opposition with a lot of mush about "inclusion," "diversity," "compassion," and "leveling the playing field." He understood that true compassion meant equipping individuals to be self-sufficient and unfettered by the intrusions of government into their lives.

When some feared that in the absence of affirmative action UC Berkeley would become "all-Asian," Governor Reagan said, "I don't care if every seat is taken by Asians, as long as they have earned the right to be there."

Ronald Reagan would not have hesitated to endorse an initiative like Proposition 209. First, he spoke so often about self-government and about government being best when it is closest to the people. What could be closer to the people than a citizen sponsored initiative, such as 209?

Second, he would have endorsed 209 because of the fundamental principle that this initiative represents: equal treatment for every individual. One measure of the president's influence on our political process is the fact that Republican candidates for office—all the way from those seeking election to the mosquito abatement district to the highest office in the land—are so quick to portray themselves as "Reagan Republicans."

But, they often fail to appreciate that it takes more to be a Reagan Republican than just saying you're one. Ronald Reagan was, indeed, a "uniter," but he united the country through leadership and by example, not by slogans or being timid about speaking out on tough issues, as many who interview for public office do in this era of political correctness.

President Reagan etched his brand of conservatism on our political landscape with bold crayons, not with 29 cent Bic pens.

When I was first sentenced to a 12-year, unpaid, term on the UC Board of Regents (and Pete, someday I will get even with you), little did I know that I would ultimately become involved in shaping public policy to the extent that I am, or that I would be thrust into the cockpit of racial politics in America.

Although I did not seek appointment to the Board of Regents, I have come to appreciate how tremendously blessed I am to have this unique opportunity to participate in the process of self-government that is at the core of our democratic system.

Part of the President's legacy to America is the ammunition he left us — the principles he embraced, the vision he proposed, and the warriors he attracted to follow in his footsteps — to complete the Reagan revolution.

Every day that I speak out as an ordinary citizen, I do so as a product, a disciple, of that Reagan revolution — a revolution that produced a band of citizens at Americans for Tax Reform, American Enterprise Institute, Empower America, Claremont Institute, CATO Institute, Heritage Foundation, Manhattan Institute, Hoover Institution, the Young America's Foundation, and a host of other think tanks, talk show hosts, and activist organizations dedicated to making America better by completing the Reagan Revolution.

A few days ago, Encounter Books released my autobiography. When we were selecting a title for the book, there were several suggestions being considered. I finally approved Creating Equal: My fight against Race Preferences. What finally inspired me to select this title was something that the President said in August of 1992, as he addressed the Republican National Convention in Houston.

He said, "Whether we come from poverty or wealth, whether we are Afro-American or Irish-American, Christian or Jewish, from big cities or small towns, in the eyes of God, we are all equal. But, in America, that is not enough. We have to be equal in the eyes of each other."

In saying that, the President closed the loop on what the founders said about all men being created equal and the problem of race, which remains a raw nerve in American society. He said, in essence, that it is up to us to "create equal."

Great figures of history are often remembered as much for their style as for the substance of what they leave behind. Single memorable phrases — "Mr. Gorbechev, tear down this wall", "there is nothing to fear but fear itself", "ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country" — are lasting remembrances of historical figures who capture the attention of the world. President Reagan is on a very short list of historical worldwide figures who influenced the direction and character of democracy around the globe.

"Mend it, don't end it" will not be included in that historical list of visionary words of that challenged and summoned the American people to achieve greater accomplishments.

Style cannot be separated from substance when discussing the Reagan political legacy anymore than it can when reviewing the legacy of JRK, for example. Camelot and the "Reagan Mystique" were like magnets for attracting those in search of something to believe in.

Just as Democrats seek to mirror the style of Kennedy, Republicans seek to define themselves by the standard of Reagan. But, the Reagan style is not one that can be easily imitated, although many have tried.

No matter how annoying it must be for the family and friends of President Reagan to witness the exploitation of his legacy by those who seek to define themselves as "Reagan Conservatives," such tactics are a reflection of his profound influence on history and our nation. Such tactics are a guarantee that the Four Pillars of Freedom are deeply embedded in the soil of American political thought.

To be candid, Ronald Reagan's detractors often accused him of being simplistic, of taking complex issues and reducing them to simple concepts and somewhat corny solutions and phrases. But, Ronald Reagan applied his core principles and value system to the problems that faced him and his nation.

We desperately need leaders like Ronald Reagan, individuals who are not afraid to tell us what they believe — not what they think we want to hear, who can communicate their beliefs in terms that are not couched in political correctness, and who are willing to defend their beliefs, no matter what.

I yearn for a return to leaders like that, individuals who can inspire you with the strength of their character and the certainty of their convictions, individuals who are not afraid to use their value system as their compass to govern.

Ronald Reagan gave America a sense of national purpose and pride. When the New York Times did a profile of me, the writer accused me of being "extravagantly patriotic."

There was no question that such a characterization was meant to be pejorative. Little did that columnist know that because of Ronald Reagan, he had showered me with the ultimate words of flattery.

Although the President is not with us physically tonight, his influence is ever present, not only at this great library, but also throughout our nation and, indeed, the world.

In music, certain songs are considered "evergreens." That means that they never lose their relevance or their currency. Ronald Reagan's "Four Pillars of Freedom" are evergreens. They are just as valid today as they were in 1968 and as they will be forevermore in America: Let the American people have maximum freedom and they can take care of themselves.

Thank you, Mr. President.

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