If you follow the Republican campaign, you have heard Ronald Reagan's name mentioned a lot lately. Virtually all of the candidates pay tribute to Reagan's conservative philosophy of government and try to paint themselves as the successor to the Reagan legacy. Indeed, among conservatives, Reagan is pictured as one of our greatest presidents-the one who won the Cold War. As someone who lived through Reagan's presidency and his prior governorship of California, I have mostly positive recollections of him. What follows is my own personal assessment of Reagan as president and historical figure.
Being from California, my memories of Reagan go back to his days as an actor. Even then, he was active politically. When he was younger, there was no question about his mental prowess (as there was in his later years as president when he was slowing down.) Reagan was a conservative figure with passionate, forceful beliefs-which were not shared by many in California, particularly Hollywood. As governor, he incurred the wrath of many liberal figures, but he fought hard and eloquently for the principles he believed in.
I voted for Reagan against Jimmy Carter because after 4 years of Carter's ineptitude, the country was in a mess, economically, politically and in terms of our overall morale as a nation. Worst of all, we were being humiliated by a 4th rate country (Iran) run by a bunch of fanatical mullahs that was holding our diplomats hostage while Carter sat around and wrung his hands in futility.
As president, Reagan did much to restore our pride as a nation. His fiscal policies were a great improvement over those of his predecessor. Of course, after Carter all but decimated the military, Reagan built it back up.
As for the Soviet Union, I think Reagan handled the Cold War masterfully, refusing to concede any military advantage we had and forcing the Soviet Union to continue an arms race that Gorbachev finally realized the USSR couldn't win. Nonetheless, unlike many, I don't give Reagan full credit for "winning" the Cold War. Having studied Soviet history in researching my first book (on the languages of the former Soviet republics), I am convinced that the Soviet Union simply imploded from within largely because of the forces of the non-Russian peoples, who took advantage of glasnost and perestroika to revive a sense of nationalism that had been hereto repressed. This led to a desire for independence on the part of many of the non-Russian republics. Reagan's policies helped, no doubt, but I don't think they were the most important factor.
One of the acts that I cheered Reagan for the most was his firing of air traffic controllers who had gone on strike and refused to return to work. I believe strongly that certain professions that are involved with public safety should never be allowed to strike.
In terms of the Middle East, I think Reagan was not very successful. Our intrusion into Lebanon only accomplished the bombing of the Marine barracks, which led to a withdrawal. In a related matter, Reagan allowed the delivery of arms to Iran (which was connected to the support of Nicaraguan rebels). His main motive was in trying to gain the release of an American official who was being held and tortured by terrorists. While I had no problem with helping overthrow a communist regime in Central America, I was furious that our government was sending arms to Iran-so soon after they had held our diplomats hostage. I was so angry, I didn't bother to vote in Reagan's second victory over (Mondale).
Perhaps, we should also remember that in 1986, Reagan granted amnesty to illegal aliens (then only numbered about 3 million). In exchange, Congress was supposed to increase border security-which they failed to do. That should serve as a lesson for us today.
In his second term, we all began to see that he was slowing down mentally. Perhaps it was the beginning of his Alzheimer's Disease, which finally ended his life
Yet,in evaluating Reagan today,I feel that first of all, he was a good and decent man. Some like to throw brickbats at him over his religious conviction (or lack thereof), his marriages and his relationships with his children. So what? His daughter, Patty and his son, Ron made their "careers" on bad-mouthing their father. In my view, they are dopes.
More importantly, Reagan left behind a philosophy of government and economic policies that was sound and should be emulated. He believed that government should stay out of our lives and out of our pocketbook. Yes, there are certain roles of government, such as defense, law enforcement and maintaining the infrastructure-and they require a certain amount of taxes. Yet, he saw that the more government intruded into our lives-even with the intent of helping us- the bigger and more unwieldy that government became. He also projected a pride in being an American. He loved his country and had great faith in its people. He knew that America's greatness derived from its people, not its government.
Those are the things that made Ronald Reagan great. That is his legacy.
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