On this day in 2004, Ronald Reagan, the 40th U.S. President, dies after a lengthy battle with Alzheimer’s disease.

Without God…

Despite the withering disease, Reagan’s legacy as “The Great Communicator” endures. His ability is exemplified by the following ever-pertinent remarks from a prayer breakfast in Dallas, TX in August 1984:

“Without God, there is no virtue, because there’s no prompting of the conscience. Without God, we’re mired in the material, that flat world that tells us only what the senses perceive. Without God, there is a coarsening of the society. And without God, democracy will not and cannot long endure.
If we ever forget that we’re one nation under God, then we will be a nation gone under.” (emphasis added)

It’s fitting that as a young man Ronald Reagan was a lifeguard, so he knew a thing or two about what it takes to stay afloat.