In his 1982 Christmas address, President Ronald Reagan read what he described as “A sort of modern American Christmas story that took place not in our country’s heartland, but in the troubled waters of the South China Sea last October.”
Pres. Reagan read a letter from Ordinance Man First Class John Mooney, written to his parents from aboard the Aircarft Carrier Midway, on October 15, 1981, saying it represented for him “the American character, and what this beloved land of ours stands for not only to ourselves but to millions of less fortunate people around the globe.”
Dear Mom and Dad, he wrote.
Today, we spotted a boat in the water, and we rendered assistance. We picked up 65 Vietnamese refugees. It was about a two-hour job getting everyone aboard. And then they had to get screen by intelligence and checked out by medical and fed and clothed and all that…
Their boat was sinking as we came alongside. They’d been at sea five days and had run out of water. All in all, a couple of more days, and the kids would have been in pretty bad shape. I guess once in a while, we need a jolt like that for us to realize why we do what we do, and how important really it can be.
I mean, it took a lot of guts for those parents to make a choice like that, to go to sea in a leaky boat in hope of finding someone to take them from the sea. So much risk, but apparently they felt it was worth it, rather than live in a communist country.
For all of our problems with the price of gas, and not being able to afford a new car, or other creature comforts this year, I really don’t see a lot of leaky boats heading out of San Diego looking for the Russian ships out there.
After the refugees were brought aboard, I took some pictures, but as usual, I didn’t have my camera with me for the real picture, the one blazed in my mind. As they approached the ship, they were all waving and trying their best to say ‘Hello, America sailor. Hello, freedom man.’
It’s hard to see a boat full of people like that and not get a lump somewhere between chin and belly button. And it really makes one proud and glad to be an American. People were waving and shouting and choking down lumps and trying not to let other brave men see their wet eyes. A lieutenant next to me said, ‘Yeah, I guess it’s pay day, in more ways than one. We got paid today,’ and I guess no one could say it better than that.
It reminds us all of what America has always been, a place a man or woman can come to for freedom. I know we’re crowded, and we have unemployment, and we have a real burden with refugees. But I honestly hope and pray we can always find room.
We have a unique society, made up of cast-offs of all the world’s wars and oppressions, and yet, we’re strong and free. We have one thing in common: No matter where our forefathers came from, we believe in that freedom.
I hope we always have room for one more person, maybe an Afghan or a Pole or someone else looking for a place where he doesn’t have to worry about his family starving or a knock on the door in the night, and where all men who truly seek freedom and honor and respect and dignity for themselves and their posterity can find a place where they can finally see their dreams come true and their kids educated and become the next generation of doctors and lawyers and builders and soldiers and sailors.
Love,
John
Pres. Reagan paused, with emotion, and then said that Americans are “uniquely blessed… by a bounty of the spirit, a kind of year-round Christmas spirit that still makes our country a beacon of hope in a troubled world…”
That Christmas message sent a clear signal about the purpose of American freedom and democracy—to create a place where humanity is welcome, where welcoming and sacrifice for the human rights of all, are part of a shared mission.
The Declaration of Independence lists among the crimes committed by King George III “obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither”.
The Declaration also describes numerous other crimes, which feel all too familiar at the start of 2026: “[sending] swarms of Officers to harrass our people”, “without the Consent of our legislatures”, “protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States”, and “depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury…”
This is why we have a Bill of Rights—to make those tyrannical abuses universally unlawful.
A state lawmaker from North Carolina joined a hearing in Minnesota, to tell the story of unconstitutional abuses and aggressions against people in his state, committed by federal agents. He told the story of a man legally in the United States, with a valid work permit, with three children who are US citizens, who was unlawfully detained and imprisoned for weeks, even after a judge ordered his release.
North Carolina Senator Michael Garret said
Every generation of Americans carry a sacred obligation to leave behind a country more free, more fair, and more just, than the one they inherited. Today, legislators from 24 states are here to say ‘We refuse to be that generation that lets that promise shatter.’
Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution requires Congress support immigration and naturalization. Pres. Reagan and John Mooney were not just painting a rosy picture; they were evoking a foundational principle of the American democratic republic—that human beings are welcome to seek freedom, make a living, and contribute to the work of self-government.
Rescue from tyranny is the American way.
The Faithful Citizen 