For almost a week now, the news media has been full of analysis and commentary on the impact of Ronald Reagan's presidency on America's economy, our sense of self-confidence, and our victory in the Cold War. Even his critics -- well, some of them anyway -- have come to recognize his contributions to freedom and prosperity, not just here at home but around the world.

I'm familiar with the statistics, and they are indeed compelling, just about any way you look at them: economic growth, new jobs, lower taxes, nations liberated from communism. But the 40th president of the United States was not a man driven by statistics -- he didn't even particularly care who got the credit for successful policies. He was simply a man so infused by the values and ideals that fill the sails of the great American experiment that he awoke one morning in 1981 to find that his countrymen had placed him at the tiller.

It was this modesty in the face of great achievement that set Reagan apart from so many other presidents, who typically seek great credit for modest achievements. And it is part of what made him a hero and a role model for me.

Reagan's congenital congeniality masked a steely determination: to change the very mindset of the American people about the role of government, to win the battle against totalitarianism, and to unleash the potential of a free people to make the world a better place for themselves and others. By 1980, government really had become more of a problem than a solution to economic recession. The "containment" strategy for fighting the Cold War was really just a drawn-out way of losing it, when victory could be within our grasp. And America really does hold a special place in the world, and with it, a special burden to promote peace, freedom and opportunity.

It's hard now to even recall the atmosphere of malaise and fatalism that gripped the country at the end of the 1970s. It's hard to even believe that when Reagan took office the top marginal tax rate was 70 percent -- a confiscatory level that simultaneously discouraged innovation and hard work while encouraging cheating and distortion of the marketplace. And we are blessed that an entire generation has now come of age with no firsthand experience living as hostages to the doctrine of Mutually Assured Destruction, when two massive nuclear arsenals were poised to wipe out humanity at the touch of a button.

Ronald Reagan had the vision to see a better way, and the confidence that his fellow Americans needed only encouragement and a sense of hope to join with him. His rare gift was in using common language and common sense to articulate exactly what so many of us were thinking, in ways no one else could have but seemed so obvious in hindsight.

His philosophy of "peace through strength" not only convinced the Soviets they could not match us, but still serves today as the basis for our national security. Reagan believed in peace through strength rather than relying on the promises of adversaries in treaties and deals. "Trust but verify" typified his concern that we must always be in charge of our own destiny.

They called him the "Great Communicator," but as Reagan himself said in his final address from the Oval Office: "I never though it was my style or the words I used that made a difference: it was the content. I wasn't a great communicator, but I communicated great things, and they didn't spring full bloom from my brow, they came from the heart of a great nation -- from our experience, our wisdom, and our belief in the principles that have guided us for two centuries."

Ronald Wilson Reagan's life gave truth to the platitude that just one person -- possessed with vision, integrity, the courage of his convictions and an unshakeable sense of optimism -- really can change the world.