He came to the podium at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum in Simi Valley with help from two younger men, leaning on his cane and watching where he put his feet.
And then 99-year-old former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, famous and infamous for his long-ago role in easing U.S. relations with the Soviet Union and establishing cordial relations with China, and overseeing controversial decisions such as bombing in Cambodia, said, “What we need is another Ronald Reagan.”
To honor the late President Reagan on the 112th anniversary of his birthday, the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation, in conjunction with U.S. Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, held an outdoor event on Monday, Feb. 6, that drew a crowd of several hundred to the grassy hill where the Reagan Museum sits.
The outdoor program included music by the 1st Marine Division Band, a three-volley salute by the Marines, the placing of an official White House wreath on President Reagan’s gravesite and the Tiger Squadron precision flying team soaring overhead.
Kissinger, awarded the Nobel Peace Prize jointly with Le Duc Tho for negotiating a cease-fire in Vietnam in 1973 while serving for predecessor Richard Nixon, told the crowd, it was “an honor to speak here about a great president who I knew for many decades.”
The German-born geopolitical consultant and diplomat called Reagan “a truth-teller, and for this he earned the appellation of ‘The Great Communicator.’”
Although Kissinger was Secretary of State under presidents Nixon and Gerald Ford, not under Reagan, he reminisced that he and Reagan had 70 conservations and that he also saw the president in action in group settings many times.
He said one of Reagan’s strongest convictions was that “America was most stable if it was the leader in making a stable world,” and while Reagan was criticized for his missile defense program, he said, it has proved to be one of the country’s key safeguards.
Turning to current challenges, Kissinger repeated thoughts he has aired recently, that Russia should be given the chance someday to rejoin the international system — if there is a peace deal in Ukraine.
Kissinger praised a recent book that described Reagan as a leader who “more than anyone” understood how to address conciliation. But, he told the gathering, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine shows no evidence of “slowing down.”
