Remembering Challenger and President Reagan's address
REMEMBERING CHALLENGER: 39 years ago this morning, Space Shuttle Challenger broke apart during its flight to orbit. President Ronald Reagan, originally intending to deliver the State of the Union address that evening, instead made a shorter address, written by his speechwriter Peggy Noonan, on national TV.
One thing to know about Peggy Noonan and the Challenger speech, whose anniversary is today, is that in the moment The White House thought the speech didn't land.
Reagan himself believed that he missed the mark. Noonan went to bed thinking that she had been called on in a moment of crisis and had failed.
The next morning, she came into the office to messages from all sorts of people saying differently. And then Reagan called, and asked how she knew that he knew that "High Flight" poem - and she hadn't, she had just hoped he'd recognize the reference. Turns out it was on a plaque at the school of his daughter, and he had read it regularly.
Then she said she was worried the speech hadn't worked, and Reagan's response was: "Well, Frank Sinatra called, and he said it landed. And he doesn't call after every speech."
The first memory of my life - the very first thing that I remember - is sitting in front of the old tube television in my Keds, watching the TV, and knowing that this man on the screen was the president, and that was the leader, and he was important, and he was telling us why these brave people died.
Her words. His speech.
EDIT: How fitting that tonight I’m rewatching a favorite movie for podcast homework, Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, which, being released later the same year, begins with this dedication card:
