(6 of 6)
A. Yes, because I think what you say about letting political nature take its course means that the advocates of one position are supposed to remain silent while the advocates on the other side can be as vociferous as they want to be. Some of the exponents of atheism—and I do not challenge anyone's right to believe or not believe—but some of them do not realize that in effect they have created almost a religion of their own in that belief and are demanding things for their religion that they would deny others.
Q. Senator Strom Thurmond and some of your other Senate supporters want to reinstitute the death penalty in the federal criminal code. There has also been talk about either repealing or substantially altering the Voting Rights Act. What are your views on these two issues?
A. I was opposed to the Voting Rights Act from the very beginning, but not because I was opposed to the right to vote. I was opposed to the act being applied only to several states. I say make it apply to everybody. As to capital punishment, so long as it is confined to those crimes for which the Federal Government has the authority to act, I am in favor of it. I think that capital punishment is a deterrent. [Reagan implied that he would not involve himself in the capital punishment issue at the state level, though he felt the same way about the question in that context.]
Q. How do you react to criticism from the far right of your party that your Cabinet selections do not represent the rightward edge of your original constituency?
A. I do not think they know the people I have appointed very well, because I think the appointees do have a "rightward edge." One of the most important considerations I have had is that they agree with what I have enunciated as the policies of this Administration; we have picked people on that basis. I said also that I wanted people who were not necessarily seeking a job in Government but would have to be persuaded to take one and would even have to step down from achievements that were far greater in their own careers. I think I have followed that. The sacrifice that has been made by some of those Cabinet appointees is more than just stepping down. It's jumping off a bridge.
Q. One thing that set your campaign apart from many others is that you always seemed to maintain a very healthy sense of humor out there on the road. Even when things were not going well. Are you going to continue to do that?
A. Yes. I think I'm very fortunate that I can find occasion to laugh even when the situation may not warrant it.
Q. Or, perhaps more important, help your audience, which is now the whole country and the whole world, to laugh?
A. You know, you can quote Lincoln on that. Lincoln said that if he had lost the ability to laugh during the terrible times in which he presided, he could not have gone on—that the job would have been intolerable. I think one of the great compliments to Americans was given by Winston Churchill in the dark days of World War II when he said of American soldiers that they seemed to be the only people who could laugh and fight at the same time.
Q. And you're going to do the same thing?
A. Yes.