1985 Our Nation is already great. And we don’t have to prove it by pushing people around or off their own land. What Reagan was conjuring up was not the greatest of Americans, but the worst moments in our history.

Time To End 'Manifest Destiny"

by Richard Reeves

1985 Jan 28, The Republic 

      New York - President Reagan's sweeping inaugural address was in the grand tradition of the meanest and most foolish rhetoric in American history: updated Manifest Destiny.
      We are "this last best hope of mankind on earth," our president told us. "God - is the author of our song," our president told us. We have been called upon by him "to pass that dream on to a waiting and hopeful world."    Hope, Hope, world! We sinners, the Americans are coming to save you whether you want to be saved or not. Redemption is near!

• “We are a country manifestly called by the Almighty to a destiny that Greece and Rome in the days of their pride might have envied.” Those words weren’t from Reagan, although they could have been. Andrew Jackson said them in 1824. 
• “It is our ‘Manifest Destiny’ to lead and rule all other nations.” That was James Gordon Bennett, the editor of the New York Tribune, in 1865.
• “It is our Manifest Destiny to overspread the continent allotted by Providence for the free development of our yearly multiplying millions.” That was John O’Sullivan, the diplomat who coined the phrase “Manifest Destiny,” arguing that the United States must annex Texas and Oregon to satisfy our need for living room. 

Much of the hypocrisy (or self-delusion) in Reagan’s speech could have been passed over in the good feeling of the moment this past week.  Let him attack [deficit spending].. Let him cheer [progress toward the brotherhood of man] … Let him say that putting weapons into space is “demilitarizing” …  But when americans start talking about God’s plans and destiny, people start getting killed, many of them American people. Manifest Destiny was the name for God’s plan for us to rule the North American Continent – and a little more, such as Hawaii and the Philippines, which President William McKinley discovered was in the Lord’s American manifesto. 

      It all rings very badly these days, particularly since Central America is part of the continent. And President Reagan is already on record with such 19th century rhetoric as this:

•  “I have always believed that this hemisphere was a special place with a special destiny. I believe we are destined to be the beacon of hope for all mankind. With God’s help, we can make it so. We can create a peaceful, free and prospering hemisphere based on our shared ideals and reaching from pole to pole of what we proudly call the New World.” 

     I hated his inaugural address. I was appalled by some of the rhetoric and offended by one line in particular, “Our nation is poised for greatness.” 

      Our Nation is already great. And we don’t have to prove it by pushing people around or off their own land. What Reagan was conjuring up was not the greatest of Americans, but the worst moments in our history. 

1985 Jan 28, The Republic