President Reagan Signs and Inscribes “President Reagan’s Quotations” to His Ambassador to Great Britain

The only copy of this book we have ever seen signed

“Government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem.”

In 1984, President Ronald Reagan won a landslide election against the Democratic candidate, Walter Mondale, taking 49 out of 50 states. This made him only the second president to attain this level of  success in a reelection bid.  In January of that campaign year, a large collection of his quotations as President were gathered from the public record, but also in cooperation with the White House, and published in special edition book form, the Seal of the President being placed on the front cover engraved in gold.  The quotations include his vision for domestic and foreign policy, his feelings on religion and prayer, politics, history, and much more. They are as inclusive a look at his own words as one can find in one book.

Reagan so loved his work that he sent out a few signed copies to high level people. The post of US Ambassador to Great Britain was, and likely remains, the most prestigious ambassadorship in the gift of the President. For the last six of his eight year term, Reagan’s man in London was Charles H. Price II. During his five years as ambassador, Price participated in talks between the British and the Irish Republican Army and helped Mrs. Thatcher defuse protests after the United States used British bases to carry out attacks on Libya in 1986. He also deployed his sense of humor and Midwestern humility to try easing the anti-American sentiment that Reagan’s policies had stoked among some Britons, and he hosted elaborate receptions for members of the British government and press, becoming a familiar face on television there. When a terrorist bomb brought down Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, in December 1988, killing all 259 people aboard, Price and his wife were at the scene within hours and received praise for their efforts.

Reagan sent Price a copy of this scarce book, inscribed in another hand to he and his wife: “To Carol and Charles with warmest friendship and regards,” then signed “Ronald Reagan.” The book was one of Price’s prize possessions, and kept by him at the London Embassy during his service there. Book signed, President Reagan’s Quotations, First edition, 1984, 181 pages, with the gold Seal of the President.

Among the quotations in the book:

Copies of any books signed by President Reagan as President are very uncommon.  This is the only copy of this book that we have seen signed, and a search of public sale records back to 1984 discloses no other signed copy of this book having been sold.  Here are just a handful of the hundreds of quotations from throughout his first term:

From his first inaugural address:

“Government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem.”

“We are a nation under God, and I believe God intended for us to be free.”

“Whoever would understand in his heart the meaning of America will find it in the life of Abraham Lincoln.”

“Freedom and the dignity of the individual have been more available and assured here than in any other place on earth. The price for this freedom has at times has been high.  But we have never been unwilling to pay that price.”

From his 1982 State of the Union Address:

“Don’t let anyone tell you that America’s best days are behind her, that the American spirit has been vanquished.  We’ve seen it triumph too often in our lives to stop believing in it now.”