I was a day shy of my eighth birthday when the reassuring words of President Reagan crackled over my family’s radio. Like all Americans, we were traumatized by the explosion of the space shuttle Challenger, which carried, among her passengers, 38-year-old social studies teacher Christy McAuliffe. We had followed her story in the newspapers and were proud of the opportunity afforded this civilian hero, chosen from among 11,000 applicants to a special “Teacher in Space” program.
The president’s words—delivered at a time when presidents still knew how to deliver reassuring words in crisis—were poignant and powerful:
The crew of the space shuttle Challenger honored us by the manner in which they lived their lives. We will never forget them, nor the last time we saw them, this morning, as they prepared for their journey and waved goodbye and “slipped the surly bonds of earth” to “touch the face of God.”
This was my introduction to the creative pen of Peggy Noonan, working then as a speechwriter for the 40th president. And I’ve been reading Noonan ever since, from the apt prose she crafted for Reagan to the eyewitness account of her time in the White House, What We Saw at the Revolution. Noonan’s tribute to Reagan, When Character Was King, was a key text in my political journey, while her how-to book on the delicate craft of communication, On Speaking Well, is a guide I recommend and often require as I teach future writers.
Click Here to Read More (Originally Published at the Acton Institute)
Daniel Darling is the director of the Land Center for Cultural Engagement at Southwestern and the author of several books, including his forthcoming A Defense of Christian Patriotism from Broadside Books.
