Dez Prez Rankings: (Slightly) Overrated Icons, Pt. 2

#14 of 39:
Ronald Reagan (40th president)
1981-89
Republican



Much like the previous entry, Ronald Reagan's myth overshadows much of the reality. I grew up in the 80's, and Reagan was a huge part of that decade's cultural fabric. His optimism, self-confidence and honest belief that the U.S. was indeed John Winthrop's "City Upon a Hill" reignited American Exceptionalism after the gloomy 1970's and malaise days of Jimmy Carter. That is important and significant.

Reagan was also a walking contradiction. Historian James T. Patterson says he was "famously charming and gregarious, [but] also extraordinarily passive and remote, even with his children...Reagan stood for fiscal restraint, tax reduction, and small government, yet as president he ran up record budget deficits. He was ideological in his rhetoric yet often chose to act the pragmatist...He denounced the Soviet Union as an 'evil empire'...then did more to moderate the Cold War than any other president."


ABOVE: Reagan's tough guy image was crucial to his policymaking and foreign dealings. As he was being rolled into the emergency room moments after the assasination attempt in 1981, he quipped to the doctors "I hope you're all Republicans."

Reagan's domestic legacy is markedly mixed. Supply Side / Trickle Down Economics, or Reaganomics (or "Voodoo Economics" according to George H.W. Bush when he was competing against Reagan for the 1980 Republican nomination) sounds good on paper, but much like Socialism, it has never actually been practiced according to orthodoxy. Especially by Reagan. He got the cutting taxes part right, but not the requisite government spending part. I believe in his free enterprise ideology, but I think that recent events have shown us that some regulation is necessary. How much or how little, of course, is a discussion for a different time. I also appreciate his anti-labor stance, such as when he fired striking air traffic controllers en masse. No president since would have had the stones to do that.


ABOVE: Most experts did not believe that the Strategic Defense Initiative (or "Star Wars") was possible. But that may not have been the point.

Reagan was simply brilliant as a Cold Warrior/Peacemaker. I credit him for our ultimate victory in that near 50 year struggle. It is often overlooked that Reagan was actually quite pragmatic and was willing to shift and adjust course when needed (I believe "flip-flopping" is the term nowadays). Early in his administration he was the American Bad-Ass, calling the Soviets the "evil empire" and pushing his crazy like a fox SDI ("Star Wars") scheme. Star Wars wasn't as wacky as it sounds. Yes, it was impossible to actually do. But that wasn't really the point. The threat of such a crazy scheme forced the Soviets to give up the arms race and come to the table. Reagan saw that we could outspend the Soviets on arms, and this race eventually bankrupted them and forced them to shift course ideologically. (True, this unprecedented spending spree also put us into record deficits. "I am not worried about the deficit. It is big enough to take care of itself." - Ronald Reagan)


ABOVE: In Mikhail Gorbachev, Reagan found a Russkie with whom he could do business

The greatness of Reagan is that once Gorbachev came to power, Reagan realized that this man was different. Here was a man who he could deal with. So the former hawk became the peace-seeking diplomat. He met with Gorbachev in a series of historic summits, signed the INF Treaty, and basically ended the Cold War as we had known it. Gorby, of course, deserves as much credit as Reagan. But it would not have happened without these two extraordinary men.

Reagan definitely had some low points. Aside from his questionable economic policies, he had an absolutely dismal environmental record ("trees cause more pollution than automobiles"), retreated from Beruit after the marine barracks were bombed, and of course there was the Iran-Contra Affair. Reagan probably should have been impeached, and if it had been someone in office other than the Teflon President, he probably would have been. Either way, he didn't look good. If he knew about it, he defied Congress and broke both the law (The Bolan Amendment) and his promise never to negotiate with terrorists. If he didn't know what was going on under his nose (which is what he claimed), then he had shockingly little control over what people in his administration were doing.



Although Reagan's substantive legacy is a mixed bag, his true greatness was in his ability to inspire confidence and optimism when this country sorely needed it. He was such a giant figure. I am old enough to remember life under Reagan, and no president since has come close to having that much personal magnetism, even The Chosen One (Barack Obama). I remember writing a letter to Reagan when I was little, and being thrilled beyond belief when I got a nice book about the White House mailed back to me in return. Reagan is as much the 80's as Pac-Man and parachute pants.


ABOVE: One of his great speeches, the Berlin Address. Not only does it feature one of his great quotes ("tear down this Wall"), it also is a good summation of his Cold War strategy

PROS:
* Reagan injected a sense of optimism and pride when it was needed
* Cut taxes
* Defeated Soviets to end the Cold War (flexible strategies)
* Bombed Libya

CONS:
* Deficits
* Went too far with deregulation (S&L Bailout required during Bush's administration)
* Environmental record
* Beirut
* Iran-Contra