President Reagan, often spoken of as “the great communicator,” was noticeably at a loss for words when his TelePrompTer broke down during his major speech before the European Parliament today.
White House spokesman Larry Speakes said Reagan’s TelePrompTer cut out three times, causing the President to lose his place.
Nonetheless, “it’s our opinion the President spoke eloquently,” Speakes said.
Only minutes into his address recalling the World War II victory in Europe, Reagan said:
“On this day 40 years ago, they swarmed onto the boulevards of Paris, rallied under the Arc de Triomphe and sang the Marseillaise.”
Reagan continued, “In the . . . “ and stopped.
The official White House text of Reagan’s speech showed Reagan was to have said: “In Rome, the sound of church bells filled St. Peter’s Square and echoed through the city. On this day 40 years ago, Winston Churchill walked out onto a balcony in Whitehall and said to the people of Britain, ‘This is your victory’–and the crowd yelled back, in an unforgettable moment of love and gratitude, ‘No–it is yours!’ ”
But Reagan, after a long pause, dropped the reference to Rome and picked up with the Churchill quote.