Paul Kengor Quotes

[Ronald Reagan] called the image of [George] Washington praying on his knees in Valley Forge "the most sublime image in American history."

[John] McCain references favorite presidents like Teddy Roosevelt. Hillary cited Eleanor Roosevelt.

Learning is a good thing, but unless it's tempered by faith and a love of freedom, it can be very dangerous indeed.

Throughout American history our presidents have invoked our nation's founding fathers. This is particularly true of recent presidents.

You would hope that the supposed best of American educational institutions would teach its students about America as an institution.

Freedom cannot exist alone.

Colleges need learning, faith, and freedom. Each reinforces the others, each makes the others possible. For what are they without each other?

When Reagan was outspoken about his faith it was usually for a purpose, but never for getting votes.

If our presidents, or potential presidents, don't know this or don't articulate [an America ideal], that's a blown opportunity. The president can teach as well as lead.

Issues are important, yes, but issues come and go. America as an ideal is timeless.

It is quite sad, to me, that that ideal, that vision and understanding [of American founding ], doesn't seem to be a part of the current political season.

I was a child or didn't live through those presidents prior to [Ronald] Reagan, and thus didn't realize how little attention they had paid to the founders.

I was disappointed in how [Bill] Clinton, like [Jimmy] Carter, used the founders to argue for huge expansions in federal power, clearly beyond what the founders could have ever conceived.

Frankly, neither president [Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter] was an inspiring figure; so, maybe their lack of inspiration by the founders shouldn't surprise us.

There's the unique case of Ronald Reagan, who cited [founders] some 850 times, and in a way that was absolutely fundamental to understanding Reagan's vision for America.

Maybe the most interesting find in my research is that it is clear that Ronald Reagan, among all modern presidents, plainly rediscovered the founders.