One Generation Away

On January 5, 1967, Ronald Reagan delivered his inaugural address as governor of California on the steps of the Capitol in Sacramento. He told the crowd that freedom is a fragile thing and is never more than one generation away from extinction — that it is not passed to children in the bloodstream, and must be fought for and defended by every generation in turn.

He had been using the line since his years on the speaking circuit for General Electric in the early 1960s, and he kept using it for the rest of his career, through two terms in Sacramento and two in Washington.

The poster leaves the line unsigned. Most people who read it know whose it is.

The eagle is a single navy shape, wings spread almost from edge to edge, banking down and to the right with the white head turned toward the viewer. It owns the lower two-thirds of the page. Above it the words are set small and wide in a spaced red serif, letter-spaced capitals with tall initials, four short lines with plenty of air around them. A thin red rule frames the sheet. The restraint is the point: a big bird, a quiet warning.