The movie “Reagan,” starring Dennis Quaid as the late former President, has been in area theaters recently, with great comments from friends around town and a 98% favorable rating from verified reviews. Regardless of one’s opinion about the movie overall, though, it clearly makes a great case for the impact of reading on youth.
President Reagan didn’t have it easy during his early years, including an irresponsible father, but as a young teen, he was given Harold Bell Wright’s novel, “That Printer of Udell’s,” as a gift from his mother, who was a strong woman of faith, and the family’s pastor. That book’s portrayal of true Christianity led to young Reagan’s decision to get baptized and commit to following Christ.
I read the book—at my mom’s suggestion—during my own teen years, and received an early edition as a gift years later. Having been a young adult during the Reagan presidency, and having read his personal testimony about the book, I felt the movie accurately portrayed the impact of faith on Ronald Reagan’s life and career. That impact, though, went beyond simply professing Christianity. It wasn’t hard to see connections to Reagan’s stance against Communism’s infiltration of Hollywood unions and later against social programs that increased dependency on government and reduced Americans’ motivation to work. Wright’s novel strongly incorporates the “hand up, not a handout” principle, as true Christians involve local business and provide job training to help homeless hobos.
Other noticeable elements included leaving vengeance in the hands of God, illustrated by the Jim Whitley and Frank Goodrich characters in the novel; the sacrifices often made by true Christians, modeled by the book’s Rev. Cameron; and personal integrity when faced with tough choices, evident throughout the book and reflected in Reagan’s decision to be transparent about responsibility for the Iran arms situation.
For me, the message was clear that we must steer youth toward quality literature with redemptive themes, if we expect them to make good decisions. Youth are not stupid; they will draw good conclusions when given the tools; on the other hand, if families, churches and schools cave to social pressures, such as teaching Critical Race Theory to discourage personal effort, it’s not hard to see how dangerous ideologies infiltrate the minds of American youth and our college campuses.
If you haven’t read “That Printer of Udell’s,”I strongly encourage you to do so and pass it on to your teen children and grandchildren! There are some hair-raising moments as well as passages that inspire personal introspection, also the case with Wright’s novel that put Branson and the Roark/Fall Creek areas on the map long before theme parks and music shows, “The Shepherd of the Hills.” A future President of the United States may be counting on you!
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