From the Reagan Diaries:
Tuesday, October 6 [1981]
Most of the days event [sic] cancelled. Awakened at 7:25 by a phone call from Al Haig with news that Anwar Sadat had been shot along with many others. All morning we waited for news — receiving word only that he was not fatally wounded & was in surgery. Then came the word he was dead.
It’s hard to describe the shock & the sorrow we both felt. Even though their visit was short we discovered we had a deep feeling of friendship for them. Maybe it has to do with a state visit. You start out with knowledge of each other & immediately get into the problems you want to solve.
Anyway, we both feel a great sense of loss. He was truly a great man, a kind man with warmth and humor.
I’m trying not to feel hatred for those who did this foul deed but I can’t make it. Qadhafi gloating on TV, his people jubilantly celebrating in the streets. He is beneath contempt.
He goes on radio (clandestine) and begins broadcasting propaganda, calling for a holy war, etc., before Sadat’s death was confirmed. This material had to have been already prepared. In other words, he knew it was going to happen.
–Ronald Reagan
Washington. Lincoln. Reagan. Best Presidents ever.
What a great, great man first, and one of the greatest Presidents ever. The measure of his greatness is that even though you never knew him, he seems like an old friend when you read his words.
My mother bought this book for me as a Christmas gift, so I have to wait for Dec 25th to go on a reading spree…(how very cruel of her!)
Anthony, it’s well worth the wait.