Terry Longpre 02-09-2018
American Patriot’s
Sixty (60) years and eight days ago I stood in the backyard of our home in NW Bradenton and watched as the United States launched their very first rocket with the Explorer 1 satellite onboard.
At the time I was ten years old and one of the proudest people on planet Earth when I saw the rockets red and yellow exhaust heading for the stars.
Now sixty years later we as a nation witnessed the launch of the SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy which lifted off the same pad which had been utilized for the Apollo Missions back in the beginning days of space travel.
One unusual feature was a bright red Tesla sportscar with a space-suited dummy driver sitting at the wheel when it went into orbit as part of the payload.
I can just imagine what would happen if an extraterrestrial was putting around the universe and saw the car. I would imagine he would pick up his phone, call home and tell his friends he located Elon Musk’s car. Sometimes even ET must have a little fun.
As I said in a prior column I would not watch the Super Bowl; however, that doesn’t mean I will not congratulate the winning team (Philadelphia Eagles) for their sportsmanship. I also want to thank both teams and their players for just playing football and nothing more.
As I sit and write this column I remember when a man by the name of Ronald Wilson Reagan was doing cowboy shoot em’ ups as well as other movies. I really enjoyed watching him while I was growing up. Not only was he an actor, Governor and President, he was in the U.S. Army Air Force from 1937 until 1945 attaining the rank of Captain.
While I was in Vietnam he became the 33rd Governor of the State of California from January 2, 1967, until January 6, 1975. I really believe he helped the folks in California with his no-nonsense governorship.
Governor Reagan became the 40th President of the United States and held the office from January 20th, 1981 until January 20th, 1989. President Reagan once stated in 1964 “The Founding Fathers knew a government can’t control the economy without controlling people. And they knew when a government sets out to do that, it must use force and coercion to achieve its purpose. So, we have come to a time for choosing. … You and I are told we must choose between a left or right, but I suggest there is no such thing as a left or right, there is only an up or down. Up to man’s age-old dream — the maximum of individual freedom consistent with order — or down to the ant heap of totalitarianism.” And he concluded with “You and I have a rendezvous with destiny.”
Sadly, President Reagan passed away on June 5th, 2004 at the age of 93.
President Reagan was married twice, once to Jane Wyman (divorced) then to Nancy Davis in 1952 who he dearly loved and so did everyone who met or knew her. Nancy passed away March 6th, 2017.
Happy 107th birthday Mr. President you made a huge difference in America and the World.
God bless America.
Terry Longpre