Do our leaders still value the wisdom of the founders? American presidents no longer quote the founders of America the way the used to in their speeches. This thought ran through my mind as I read the latest book by Dr. Paul Kengor on the “11 Principles of a Reagan Conservative.”

He has a section on the founder’s wisdom and vision. Ronald Reagan placed great faith not only in America but especially in the American founders. It was their vision, he believed, that paved the way to America’s success.

Every president has invoked our nation’s founding fathers. But some have done so more than others. President Obama rarely talks about the founding fathers and when he did recently, he called them “men of property and wealth.” Other presidents mentioned the founding fathers more frequently.

Paul Kengor researched this in the official Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States. Most of the presidents quoted from the founders in the range of 100-200 times. John Kennedy was approximately 160 times. Lyndon Johnson at roughly 240 times. Nixon and Clinton were around 100 times.

Some presidents (like Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, and George H.W. Bush) infrequently quoted the founders. In the case of presidents Ford and Carter this is indeed puzzling, since their time in office was during the American bicentennial.

As you can probably guess by now, the president who quoted the founders the most was Ronald Reagan. He cited them some 850 times. No president in modern times quoted the founders as much as Ronald Reagan. He not only quoted Jefferson, Washington, and Lincoln. He also quoted the early founders from pilgrims to John Winthrop to William Penn.

This statistical analysis reminds us of what we are losing. Americans no longer hear about our history from our presidents. Fewer American students hear about our history in their classrooms. We are losing the memory of the wisdom and vision of our founders.