Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Noonan to be part of Daniels' speaker series

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -- Columnist Peggy Noonan, President Ronald Reagan's speech writer whose words comforted a nation grieving the 1986 Challenger Space Shuttle tragedy, will take part in Purdue's Presidential Lecture Series event.

The university announced Noonan, a Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington Post columnist, will join President Mitch Daniels at 6 p.m. Oct. 17 in Stewart Center’s Fowler Hall.

The event is titled “Columnist Peggy Noonan on Culture, History & Life in Our Times.” Sponsored by the Purdue President’s Council, the event is free, open to the public and will be livestreamed.

On Jan. 28, 1986, President Reagan gave the speech Noonan had written, which included an oft-remembered line:

"We will never forget them, nor the last time we saw them, this morning, as they prepared for their journey and waved goodbye and 'slipped the surly bonds of earth' to 'touch the face of God.'"

“For years now, Peggy Noonan has been a unique and essential voice in our national discourse,” Daniels said in a release. “She sees things others have overlooked and says things clearly that others have thought but struggled to express.

“She has defined and defended endangered standards of grace, civility and character in her columns and in her own life. I have long been her faithful reader and student, and I’m fortunate to say, her friend, and I look forward to welcoming her to Purdue.”

Noonan has written nine books on American politics, history and culture, including “The Time of Our Lives.”

This article originally appeared on Lafayette Journal & Courier: Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Noonan part of Daniels' speaker series