As we prepare to celebrate our great nation’s 250th anniversary, I am reminded of the words of her 40th president, delivered at the commencement of the University of Notre Dame on May 17, 1981:
This Nation was born when a band of men, the Founding Fathers, a group so unique we've never seen their like since, rose to such selfless heights. Lawyers, tradesmen, merchants, farmers -- 56 men achieved security and standing in life but valued freedom more. They pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor. Sixteen of them gave their lives. Most gave their fortunes. All preserved their sacred honor.
They gave us more than a nation. They brought to all mankind for the first time the concept that man was born free, that each of us has inalienable rights, ours by the grace of God, and that government was created by us for our convenience, having only the powers that we choose to give it. This is the heritage that you're about to claim as you come out to join the society made up of those who have preceded you by a few years, or some of us by a great many.
This experiment in man's relation to man is a few years into its third century. Saying that may make it sound quite old. But let's look at it from another viewpoint or perspective. A few years ago, someone figured out that if you could condense the entire history of life on Earth into a motion picture that would run for 24 hours a day, 365 days -- maybe on leap years we could have an intermission -- [laughter] -- this idea that is the United States wouldn't appear on the screen until 3 1/2 seconds before midnight on December 31st. And in those 3 1/2 seconds not only would a new concept of society come into being, a golden hope for all mankind, but more than half the activity, economic activity in world history, would take place on this continent. Free to express their genius, individual Americans, men and women, in 3 1/2 seconds, would perform such miracles of invention, construction, and production as the world had never seen.
That speech was delivered by Ronald Reagan on a Sunday. The previous Friday the S&P 500 closed at 132.17.
America and the financial markets have since endured stresses and perils too numerous to catalogue here. The Tech bubble and the Great Financial Crisis were two of the worst downturns since the Great Depression. Endless wars in the middle east. On Black Monday the market lost 23% in a single day. Enron and Bernie Madoff were two of the most egregious frauds of modern times. 9/11, hopelessly divisive politics, the Lost Decade, a pandemic… The list could go on for pages.
But we made it 45 years later to our 250th anniversary.
The S&P recently crossed 7,500.
$1,000 dollars invested in the S&P 500 when Reagan delivered that address grew to over $45,000 by America’s 250th anniversary.
Never, ever bet against America.
Given you’ll likely read this on July 3rd, I’ll leave with a perennial meme favorite of ours. Happy 4th of July, America.
Sean Cawley, CFP®
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Sources:
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https://www.reaganlibrary.gov/archives/speech/address-commencement-exercises-university-notre-dame