Strategic thinkers were naturally rattled to find this outsider fooling around with their work. They had been thinking strategically when Reagan was just another movie actor playing opposite a chimpanzee for heaven's sake. They think Reagan is too naive too innocent to grasp the intellectual complexities of cold war strategy.

I remember the '80s being about the Cold War and Reagan and the homeless problem and AIDS. To me it was kind of a dark depressing time.

The battle for the mind of Ronald Reagan was like the trench warfare of World War I: never have so many fought so hard for such barren terrain.

The rule for effective governance is simple. It is one Ronald Reagan knew by heart. And one that he successfully employed with Social Security and the Cold War. When there is a problem you fix it. That is the job you have been sent to do and you cannot wait for someone else to do it for you.

Ronald Reagan said that he sought a Star Wars defense only in order to share the technology with the tyrants of the U.S.S.R.

Ronald Reagan was a president of strength. His philosophy was a philosophy of strength - a strong military a strong economy and strong families.

I have very little respect for Nancy Reagan. There is something about her that is very petty.

First President Reagan was not enthusiastic. But I built up a relationship with him in other areas and then persuaded him that this was important to us and to me and that we had to at least be in the process of looking at this seriously.

Almost all first ladies have had tremendous power on personnel issues whether the public realized it or not whether it was Barbara Bush or Nancy Reagan or whoever.

I learned a good deal about economics and about America from the author of the Reagan tax reforms - the great Jack Kemp. What gave Jack that incredible enthusiasm was his belief in the possibilities of free people in the power of free enterprise and strong communities to overcome poverty and despair. We need that same optimism right now.

While only about half of the voters feel they know very much about Reagan or what he stands for the Republicans who do have a very positive perception of him.

I am involved with politics today because of the inspiration I received from Ronald Reagan.

The days when the words 'Hollywood actor' framed Ronald Reagan like bunny fingers as an ID tag and an implied insult seem far-off and quaint: nearly everybody in politics - candidate consultant pundit and Tea Party crowd extra alike - is an actor now a shameless ham in a hoked-up reality series that never stops.

Four years of Jimmy Carter gave us two titanic Reagan landslides peace and prosperity for eight blessed years - and even a third term for his feckless vice president George H.W. Bush.

I challenge anybody to say that I wouldn't know how to approach foreign policy because unlike some of the other people I at least have a foreign policy philosophy which is an extension of the Reagan philosophy. Peace through strength and my philosophy is peace through strength and clarity.

For example I spent a lot of time with Reagan both before he ran for governor and when he was running for president. As a print reporter without the cameras I was able to really test the quality of their minds and their knowledge base.

President Reagan was a leader at a time when the American people most needed leadership. He outlined a vision that captured the imagination of the free world a vision that toppled the Communist empire and freed countless millions.

While many of us never knew Ronald Reagan personally we felt close to him because we shared his lighthearted sense of humor admired his uncommon virtue and were moved by his remarkable wisdom.

From Jefferson to Jackson to Lincoln to FDR to Reagan every great president inspires enormous affection and enormous hostility. We'll all be much saner I think if we remember that history is full of surprises and things that seemed absolutely certain one day are often unimaginable the next.

I think Ronald Reagan was one of the great presidents period not just recently. I thought he had the demeanor. I thought he had the bearing. I thought he had the thought process.

President Reagan was elected on the promise of getting government off the backs of the people and now he demands that government wrap itself around the waists of the people.

As president Reagan worked very well with Democrats to do big things. It is true that he worked to reduce the size of government and cut federal taxes and he eliminated many regulations but he also raised taxes when necessary.

All Americans and freedom-loving people around the world owe President Reagan our deepest gratitude for his strong principled leadership that ended the Cold War and brought freedom to millions of people.

The words spoken by the leader of the free world can expand the frontiers of freedom or shrink them. When Ronald Reagan called on Gorbachev to 'tear down this wall ' a surge of confidence rose that would ultimately breach the bounds of the evil empire.