A Pope and A President: John Paul II, Ronald Reagan, and the Extraordinary Untold Story of the 20th Century

Event Conservatism
Event Conservatism

June 29, 2017 A Pope and A President: John Paul II, Ronald Reagan, and the Extraordinary Untold Story of the 20th Century

Even as historians credit Ronald Reagan and Pope John Paul II with hastening the end of the Cold War, they have failed to recognize the depth or significance of the bond that developed between the two leaders.

Thursday, Jun 29, 2017

12:00 pm - 1:00 pm

The Heritage Foundation

214 Massachusetts Ave NE
Washington, DC
20002

Author

Paul Kengor

Ph.D.

Paul Kengor, Ph.D., is the New York Times bestselling author of "God and Ronald Reagan;" "The Crusader: Ronald Reagan and the Fall of Communism"; "11 Principles of a Reagan Conservative"; Dupes: How America’s Adversaries Have Manipulated Progressives for a Century"; and other books. He is a Professor of Political Science and serves as the Executive Director of the Center for Vision and Values at Grove City College.

Description

Even as historians credit ­Ronald Reagan and Pope John Paul II with hastening the end of the Cold War, they have failed to recognize the depth or significance of the bond that developed between the two leaders. Best selling author Paul Kengor changes that. In his newest book, he reveals a singular bond – which included a spiritual connection between the Catholic pope and the Protestant president – that drove the two men to confront what they knew to be the great evil of the Twentieth Century: Soviet communism.

Reagan and John Paul II almost didn’t have the opportunity to forge this relationship: just six weeks apart in the spring of 1981, they took bullets from would-be assassins. Their strikingly similar near-death experiences brought them close together – much to Moscow’s dismay.

Nancy Reagan called John Paul II her husband’s “closest friend.”  Reagan himself told Polish visitors that the pope was his “best friend.” As Kengor recounts in this book, Ronald Reagan and John Paul II united as kindred spirits in pursuit of a supreme objective – and in doing so, they changed history.