Ronald Reagan Spoke on the Fourth of July: Celebrating Freedom, Shared Values, and Diversity

Ronald Reagan, White House photo

On July 4th, 1986, United States President Ronald Reagan spoke for unity. He praised the United States for being one nation, united. Ceremonial speeches are at their best when they remind audiences of shared values, when they pull us together—when they encourage us to work “heart in hand.” Reagan celebrated religious and ethnic diversity, praising a nation that is united, not by race or creed, but, more importantly, by shared values.

While acknowledging our differences, Reagan focused instead on our common goals. Reagan asked the nation to put disagreements into perspective. He asked us to celebrate and embrace what is good. He called Americans to uphold shared values, with world freedom (not just our own freedom) being the paramount value, working together, yes, “heart in hand.”

Today, have we forgotten that lesson?

A true traditionalist, Reagan quoted our third president, Thomas Jefferson, to reach across the ages with his optimism. Quoting Jefferson, Reagan reminded the audience about the nation’s ability to triumph over adversity, to ride through storms. He reminded the audience that we can overcome strife and continue to enjoy a united America: a United States of America. By quoting Jefferson, Reagan tied his ideas to tradition, while simultaneously looking to the future:

“‘It carries me back,’ Jefferson wrote about correspondence with his co-signer [John Adams] of the Declaration of Independence, ‘To the times when, beset with difficulties and dangers, we were fellow laborers in the same cause, struggling for what is most valuable to man, his right to self-government. Laboring, always at the same oar, with some wave ever ahead threatening to overwhelm us and yet passing harmless, we rode through this storm with heart and hand.’”

“Rode through the storm.” We often lose perspective, don’t we? Our differences alarm us, while we overlook what we share. That is why, continuing, Reagan stated the balance—the balance between our heritage and our hopes for the future, on the one hand, and the seemingly minor differences that set us apart:

“…the things that unite us, America’s past of which we’re so proud, our hopes and aspirations for the future of the world and this much-loved country. These things far outweigh what little divides us.”

Having reinforced the nation’s shared principles, Reagan neared his value-laden conclusion. Drawing an even larger point, Reagan gave the nation a lesson in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI):

“And so tonight we are to reaffirm, that Jew and Gentile, we are one nation under God. That black and white, we are one nation indivisible. That Republican and Democrat, we are all Americans. Tonight, with heart and hand, through whatever trial and travail, we pledge ourselves to each other and to the cause of human freedom. The cause that has given light to this land, and hope to the world.”

Doesn’t that make sense? By definition, a united nation is an inclusive nation. We are all Americans, Reagan insisted, no matter what our religion. Regardless of race or ethnicity, he said, “we are one nation indivisible” (echoing the Pledge of Allegiance). Regardless of our disagreements, he said, Americans are to reach “heart and hand,” not only to one another, but to “the cause of human freedom.”

Indeed, yes, ceremonial speaking at its best pulls us together and reminds us of our shared values. Reagan talked about values by which we can live. We are weak if we fracture, but we can live in a united America. We can agree that freedom is important, and not just freedom for the privileged few, but freedom for everyone.

So often, conservatives today honor Ronald Reagan as one of our greatest presidents. However, should we all listen to him more often than we do? Can we agree about “the cause of human freedom?” Can we, on the Fourth of July 2023, remember to work together, “heart and hand?”

What Happened to the Fourth of July Speeches? 

In my youth, we always heard a patriotic speech before the July Fourth fireworks. The content varied a little from year to year, but the speaker always reminded us about what it means to be an American. That practice has died away. The 4th of July should mean much more than setting off fireworks or grilling frankfurters. Shouldn’t it? Can we “ride through the storm?”

Happy Birthday, United States of America!

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Mark Twain's 1886 Fourth of July Speech

Frederick Douglass’ 1852 Fourth of July Speech and the Christian Right

Reagan versus Trump: The Unifier and the Divider. Two Public Speaking Styles. Same Message, Different Songs

President Trump Awards Medal of Honor: An Epideictic Speech

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Research note: the insight that ceremonial (or epideictic) speeches teach shared values traces back to The New Rhetoric: A Treatise on Argumentation, by Belgian philosophers Chaïm Perlman and Lucie Olbrechts-Tyteca.

Thanks to the good people at rev.com for preparing a transcript of this important speech.

America Is a Dream? Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Independence Day Speech

Declaration of Independence

On July 4, 1965, Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his audience an Independence Day dream. Americans have heard two kinds of 4th of July speeches. The first kind is unapologetically patriotic. These speakers assume that the nation is already perfect. However, the second kind challenges us, if I might echo the preamble to the United States’ Constitution, to become more perfect. Echoing his “I Have a Dream” speech of two years earlier, King compared America to a dream. He led his audience from the past’s revolutionary ideals to a future in which those ideals would come to life.

When I was a child, a patriotic speech invariably preceded the Fourth of July fireworks. The speaker discussed patriotism and war heroes, carefully quoting something or other that Thomas Jefferson said. In contrast, King gave the other kind of 4th of July speech. King asked the United States of America to live up to its revolutionary values. So, the first kind of 4th of July speech praises the United States as a perfect beacon of light. The second kind gives us ideals for which we can choose to strive.

To establish the values to which our nation strives, King quoted the Declaration of Independence:

“We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”

King then emphasized the Declaration of Independence’s inclusive values. He noted that Jefferson did not say “all white men,” but instead said “all men.” King added that Jefferson did not say “all gentiles,” nor did he say “all Protestants.” (Many of us today would agree that Jefferson should have said “all persons” instead of “all men.”)

Jim Crow still dominated large swaths of the United States’ 1965 political landscape. King’s 4th of July speech argued that the Declaration of Independence stated an ideal, not an accomplished fact. It stated, King said, a dream. Indeed, the United States itself was a dream:

“I would like to discuss some of the problems that we confront in the world today, and some of the problems that we confront in our own nation by using as a subject The American Dream. I choose this subject because America is essentially a dream.”

Continuing, King reminded his audience that human rights are not the government’s gift. Instead, they are basic rights that heaven grants to all of us. The United States’ founding ideal was to recognize everyone’s fundamental worth:

“It says that each individual has certain inherent rights that are neither derived from or conferred by the state. They are gifts from the hands of the almighty God. Very seldom, if ever, in the history of the world has a socio-political document expressed in such profound, eloquent, and unequivocal language, the dignity and the worth of human personality.”

No, the United States of 1965 did not recognize everyone’s rights. In 1965, most public schools and institutions were de facto segregated. Even today, in 2022, many people justly question whether women, poor persons, and ethnic minorities enjoy equal rights. However, can the dream become true? King had devoted his rhetorical life to a dream: equal opportunity for everyone.

Maybe the “more perfect union” gives us an ideal that we can strive for it but never reach, something like a physics problem. To the end of his life, however, King expressed his deep faith that United States could fulfill the dream. In a torrent of metaphors, he spoke of an emerging freedom:

“And so, with this faith in the future, we will be able to adjourn the counsels of the staff, rise from the fatigue of darkness, to the buoyancy of hope. And we will be able to bring into being this new society and realize the American dream.”

Ending, King repeated the same hymn verse that concluded “I Have a Dream:”

“Free at last, free at last, thank God almighty, we are free at last!”

Yes, on the one hand, we have heard 4th of July speeches that praised American freedom as unquestionable fact. How dare you question America! On the other hand, King’s searing language promised that the dream of American liberty of which Jefferson spoke would become real. King cited the past but looked to the future. If one loses hope, what could our values possibly mean?

In more recent years, 4th of July speeches have all but disappeared. To all my fellow Americans, happy Independence Day! Enjoy your fireworks and your hot dogs, but never forget our ideals.

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Frederick Douglass’ 1852 Fourth of July Speech and the Christian Right

Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Speech, "Love, Law, and Civil Disobedience:" The Civil Rights Movement’s Philosophical Foundation

Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" Made Biblical Morality a Public Imperative

Thanks once again to rev.com for creating these historically vital transcripts.