The Greatest Generation

"The Boys of Pointe du Hoc" offers an intriguing book idea: a book about a speech about one historic day in WW II. Douglas Brinkley ("Tour of Duty: John Kerry and the Vietnam War") weaves together the events of June 6, 1944 (D-Day) on Omaha Beach with President Ronald Reagan's speech on the 40th anniversary of the assault (June 6, 1984).

Reagan's speech on the boys of Pointe du Hoc is perhaps his second most memorable next to his "Mr. Gorbochav, tear down this wall!" speech. Brinkley goes behind the speech, inside the speech, and after the speech.

Behind the speech, he skillfully recounts that faithful day when more than half the Rangers scaling the hundred-foot Omaha Beach cliff were casualties. Inside the speech, he traces the thinking of Reagan and his talented speech writer, Peggy Noonan. After the speech, Brinkley shares the impact it had on a nation (the revival of respect for "the Greatest Generation") and on relatives of the boys of Pointe du Hoc.

Reviewer: Bob Kellemen, Ph.D., is the author of "Soul Physicians," "Spiritual Friends," and the forthcoming, "Sacred Companions: A History of Soul Care and Spiritual Direction."

How Patriotism Became Cool Again

Aside from some of Lincoln's and Washington's grand orations, you won't find too many books dedicated to political speeches. But Reagan's eloquent paeans to the World War II generation at Normandy in `84 certainly merit the treatment historian Douglas Brinkley has provided here.

Along with his Challenger Disaster and Berlin Wall remarks, the "Boys of Pointe du Hoc" tribute is the Great Communicator's most famous, poignant and moving oratory. Brinkley provides a behind-the-scenes look into how the Pointe du Hoc speech - as well as the equally powerful D-Day remembrance delivered on Omaha Beach - came into being.

No statesman of our time could deliver a line or a story like Ronald Reagan. But Reagan had a big assist from his masterful speechwriters - Peggy Noonan (Pointe du Hoc) and Tony Dolan (Omaha Beach) - who crafted elegant prose and vivid imagery, often overcoming "practical" objections from State and NSC staffers. Noonan, especially, intuited that Reagan was at his best when he related stories about real people and spoke directly his audience. So she has Reagan addressing his stirring tribute directly to the Army Rangers assembled in the front row, an emotional formulation that brought French President Mitterrand (whom Brinkley calls "one of the original stone faces") to near tears.

Likewise, Dolan forms his Omaha Beach narrative around a young woman's testimonial to her late father, a D-Day survivor who never realized his ambition to someday return with his family to Normandy's shores. The woman, Lisa Zanatta Henn, exchanged friendly letters with Reagan for several years after their meeting at Normandy, and she maintains adoration for Reagan to this day.

The D-Day anniversary speeches were integral, Brinkley says, in kindling a New Patriotism across America, and touched off renewed veneration of World War II veterans - the Ambrose books, Brokaw's Greatest Generation, "Saving Private Ryan," etc -- that continues to this day. Restoring American pride and native optimism, Reagan knew, were keys to exorcising post-Vietnam defeatism and bringing a successful end to the Cold War."Reagan knew the best way to roll back Woodstock nation," Brinkley writes, "was to trump it with Normandy nation."

A Great Orator Needs Great Material

President Reagan was such a speaker and he was wise enough to know that what he said was far more important than the fact that he was the one to say it. Not unlike his "speech" at the Berlin Wall or the funeral of the 221 Marines who died in Beirut, President Reagan never stood too tall in the foreground of his message; he suited it like a well-worn glove. How often have you heard after a Presidential debate that a particular candidate won the debate because he was the more talented speaker? The deft delivery of a smart one-liner may earn an applause or two, but what wins debates is invariably the content of the argument coupled with its cogent presentation.

I read a book more recently about the war on drugs ("Operation Pseudo Miranda") and wondered if President Reagan had deigned to speak about it in the midst of Iran-Contra, would the war on drugs have turned out any differently. Based on the "content" of that amazing story and the adroit oratory skills of possibly the greatest President of the 20th Century, I believe it would have. I strongly recommend both books!