Ronald Reagan and His Mother's Bible

When visiting the Ronald Reagan Museum in Simi Valley, California in 2005, I was interested in seeing many items relating to Ronald Reagan’s life. Especially interesting to me was seeing the display of his mother’s Bible. His mother, Nelle Reagan, was a member of the First Christian Church in Dixon, IL which would be in the same vein as the church of which James A. Garfield was a member. 

Reagan was religiously taught largely by his mother and Ben Cleaver, who was the preacher located in Dixon when Ronald Reagan was eleven years old. Cleaver often read from religious advocates pleading for the restoring of Christian worship from creeds to direct reliance on the Bible generally and New Testament specifically. Restoration advocates such as Alexander Campbell and Barton W. Stone were prominent in Cleaver’s reading and he shared these concepts with the young Reagan.

This copy of the Scriptures was a King James Version that was a Dickson Indexed Revised Edition that was owned by Nelle Reagan's mother, Mary Ann Elsey Wilson. The Bible was a family treasure for several reasons because it was a source of comfort during difficult times and included notes and personal reflections. Life was not always easy for the Reagan family. In fact, there were many financial challenges Ronald Reagan's parents had to deal with in addition to his father's alcoholism. 

Presidents sometimes choose Bibles that are especially important to them; e.g., Barack Obama took the oath of office on the Bible owned by Abraham Lincoln. Interestingly, the first president to take the oath of office on a Bible was George Washington who also added “So help me God” and kissed the Bible! The tradition of kissing the Bible stood until Dwight Eisenhower. Nelle Reagan’s Bible had particular interest to Reagan, but it was more than the owner that captivated Reagan’s heart. His mother likewise believed that God would raise up and bring down nations based on their allegiance to God.

One of Nelle Reagan’s favorite passages became one of Ronald Reagan’s favorites as well. She remarked that it was an excellent passage for the healing of a nation. Ronald Reagan believed the principle would hold true for the United States. Reagan’s commitment to the Bible’s teaching on this was instilled in him by his mother. So firm was Reagan's conviction, he had the passage from his mother’s Bible opened to the very passage she had made this personal note in. He reportedly took the oath of office with her Bible open to this passage (both in 1981 and 1985) which reads:

If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. (2 Chronicles 7:14 KJV)

As with the Israelite nation in the Bible, political and religious restorations often went hand in hand. When one reads the book of Judges, one discovers a pattern in the Nation of Israel—a pattern Joshua had warned them about as he prepared to die (Joshua 24:20). When the nation became stronger they forgot God so He would allow calamity to come upon them. Then they repented and cried out to God for deliverance. God would then send a judge to deliver them from calamity. Once the threat was gone, the Israelites went back to forgetting God again. The cycle repeats often, hence the name of the book of Judges, c f., Judges 2:17.

This principle has been demonstrated to be true so often. Of course, in the Old Testament, the nation of Israel’s law included both civil and spiritual provisions. For the United States, we look at the Founding Documents, Founding Fathers and the Bible for similar guidance on how to restore and maintain this Republic. Some wonder whether our nation has repeated this cycle and if God will hear our cry when we have abandoned Him and His teachings? Reagan believed the Bible and the writings of the Founding Fathers were paramount in making and keeping America great and under God’s providential care.

Have we forgotten this?

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SOURCE:

Paul Kengor, God and Ronald Reagan, New York, NY: HarperCollins Publishers Inc., 2004.