During the last Republican debate, the candidates said the name “Ronald Reagan” a total of 42 times. 42 times!!! I understand that the candidates are all trying to “out-conservative” each other, but what is with the child-like adoration of Ronald Reagan? It’s a little queer.
Conservatives will tell you that he cut taxes, saved the economy, got the Iranian hostages freed, ended the Cold War, brought down the Berlin Wall, and created the climate in which countries like Poland could be transformed into free countries. Some of these things he actually did, some he didn’t do at all, and some he did at great cost to the nation.
The widening gap between rich and poor, freeing hostages by trading arms with terrorists, cutting and running in Lebanon are some of the consequences. And as for “ending the Cold War”, I will admit that his policies played a part in putting the final nail in the coffin, but the demise of the Soviet Union was the result of American foreign policy over a fifty year period. Furthermore, George Kennan’s 1947 “Mr. X” paper, The Sources of Soviet Conduct (http://www.foreignaffairs.org/19470701faessay25403/x/the-sources-of-soviet-conduct.html) lays out the containment strategy that would eventually prove to be effective in defeating Soviet Communism. So, should Reagan get credit for the fall of the Soviet Union? Yes, but not all of it.
Conservatives will tell you that he cut taxes, saved the economy, got the Iranian hostages freed, ended the Cold War, brought down the Berlin Wall, and created the climate in which countries like Poland could be transformed into free countries. Some of these things he actually did, some he didn’t do at all, and some he did at great cost to the nation.
The widening gap between rich and poor, freeing hostages by trading arms with terrorists, cutting and running in Lebanon are some of the consequences. And as for “ending the Cold War”, I will admit that his policies played a part in putting the final nail in the coffin, but the demise of the Soviet Union was the result of American foreign policy over a fifty year period. Furthermore, George Kennan’s 1947 “Mr. X” paper, The Sources of Soviet Conduct (http://www.foreignaffairs.org/19470701faessay25403/x/the-sources-of-soviet-conduct.html) lays out the containment strategy that would eventually prove to be effective in defeating Soviet Communism. So, should Reagan get credit for the fall of the Soviet Union? Yes, but not all of it.
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