The Boys of Pointe Du Hoc: Ronald Reagan, D-Day, and the U.S. Army 2nd Ranger Battalion

This extremely well-written book goes along two tracks: the story of the Rangers who scaled the steep cliffs of Pointe du Hoc on D-Day, and the speech given by President Reagan on the 40th anniversary of the invasion. Both tracks are covered quite well, and the bravery of those young men shows through their particular section. When it comes to President Reagan, the book reveals how he identified himself with those men, because they were from his generation. His admiration for their courage knew no boundaries, and his speech touched the hearts of everyone who heard it. There is no doubt that this speech will go down as one of the best speeches given by a sitting president, and rightfully so. This is a book well worth reading by eveyone interested in World War II and the brave men who saved the world from tyranny.

The speech that Ronald Reagan gave on the fortiety anniversary of D-Day was perhaps the greatest talk in recent memory. He gave it to only a few who remained from the Second Rangers. At that spot, forty years earlier to the day, 225 'boys' mostly 19-20 years old landed and climbed the hundred foot cliffs. They were to destroy cannon that would have had the ability to disrupt and possible prevent the D-Day landings. They were to be releived by noon. Instead the Second Rangers were there for four days. At the end of that time there were only 99 left. There were 66 present at Point Du Hoc forty years later. There was plenty of background material for a speech and the speech that Reagan gave was supurb. It is included in the book, it's a short speech, five pages. It's not as memorable as the speech given at Gettysburg, but almost. This is a book about a moment that changed our history.

Aside from some of Lincoln's and Washington's grand orations, you won't find too many books dedicated to political speeches. But Reagan's eloquent paeans to the World War II generation at Normandy in `84 certainly merit the treatment historian Douglas Brinkley has provided here. Along with his Challenger Disaster and Berlin Wall remarks, the "Boys of Pointe du Hoc" tribute is the Great Communicator's most famous, poignant and moving oratory. Brinkley provides a behind-the-scenes look into how the Pointe du Hoc speech - as well as the equally powerful D-Day remembrance delivered on Omaha Beach - came into being. No statesman of our time could deliver a line or a story like Ronald Reagan. But Reagan had a big assist from his masterful speechwriters - Peggy Noonan (Pointe du Hoc) and Tony Dolan (Omaha Beach) - who crafted elegant prose and vivid imagery, often overcoming "practical" objections from State and NSC staffers. Noonan, especially, intuited that Reagan was at his best when he related stories about real people and spoke directly his audience. So she has Reagan addressing his stirring tribute directly to the Army Rangers assembled in the front row, an emotional formulation that brought French President Mitterrand (whom Brinkley calls "one of the original stone faces") to near tears. Likewise, Dolan forms his Omaha Beach narrative around a young woman's testimonial to her late father, a D-Day survivor who never realized his ambition to someday return with his family to Normandy's shores. The woman, Lisa Zanatta Henn, exchanged friendly letters with Reagan for several years after their meeting at Normandy, and she maintains adoration for Reagan to this day. The D-Day anniversary speeches were integral, Brinkley says, in kindling a New Patriotism across America, and touched off renewed veneration of World War II veterans - the Ambrose books, Brokaw's Greatest Generation, "Saving Private Ryan," etc -- that continues to this day. Restoring American pride and native optimism, Reagan knew, were keys to exorcising post-Vietnam defeatism and bringing a successful end to the Cold War. "Reagan knew the best way to roll back Woodstock nation," Brinkley writes, "was to trump it with Normandy nation."

"The Boys of Pointe du Hoc" offers an intriguing book idea: a book about a speech about one historic day in WW II. Douglas Brinkley ("Tour of Duty: John Kerry and the Vietnam War") weaves together the events of June 6, 1944 (D-Day) on Omaha Beach with President Ronald Reagan's speech on the 40th anniversary of the assault (June 6, 1984). Reagan's speech on the boys of Pointe du Hoc is perhaps his second most memorable next to his "Mr. Gorbochav, tear down this wall!" speech. Brinkley goes behind the speech, inside the speech, and after the speech. Behind the speech, he skillfully recounts that faithful day when more than half the Rangers scaling the hundred-foot Omaha Beach cliff were casualties. Inside the speech, he traces the thinking of Reagan and his talented speech writer, Peggy Noonan. After the speech, Brinkley shares the impact it had on a nation (the revival of respect for "the Greatest Generation") and on relatives of the boys of Pointe du Hoc. Reviewer: Bob Kellemen, Ph.D., is the author of "Soul Physicians," "Spiritual Friends," and the forthcoming, "Sacred Companions: A History of Soul Care and Spiritual Direction."