What makes reagan so great

While many labor leaders disliked Reagan, especially after he fired the air traffic controllers when they refused to end their strike , he was popular with labor union members. Reagan encouraged the development of "private sector initiatives" as well as federalism, with the objective of transferring from the federal government some of the responsibilities believed to be better served by private business or state and local government.

As the president called for international cooperation to stop the influx of illegal drugs, especially cocaine, into the U. At the heart of Reagan's foreign policy was preventing communist expansion in the world. US actions throughout the world demonstrated this including strong financial and military support of the Contras against the communist Nicaraguan government, the aid given to the government of El Salvador in their fight against the communist guerrillas, the U.

S invasion of Grenada when that nation was perceived as falling under Cuban domination in , the support given to UNITA anti-communist fighters in the Angolan Civil War involving Cuban proxy troops, and the support given to rebels fighting Soviet troops in Afghanistan. These combined efforts were named "The Reagan Doctrine.

Reagan believed that the nation should negotiate with the Soviet Union from a position of strength. To such an end, the administration embarked on a strategic modernization program which included the production of an intercontinental missile, a stengthened navy, and a feasibility study for the Strategic Defense Initiative.

The increase in military spending, and the rise of Mikhail Gorbachev as General Secretary of the Soviet Union at the beginning of Reagan's second term, opened a new era of relations between the two superpowers. The agreement promised to eliminate an entire class of intermediate-range nuclear missiles and was the first arms control agreement in history to reduce the nuclear arsenal. When pro-U. In Middle East affairs, Reagan reported in his inaugural address that the 52 American hostages held in Iran for days were at that moment being released and would soon return to freedom.

The President maintained a firm stance against terrorism, exemplified by the American retaliating against Libya for an air attack in and again in for the death of Americans in a Berlin discotheque. Reagan's peacekeeping force in war-torn Lebanon experienced tragedy in when a truck bomb killed soldiers. Tragedy struck again in when a missile from an Iraqi warplane killed 37 sailors aboard the U.

Reagan could get righteously angry, as when the Soviets shot down a Korean airliner in Goldwater frowned and warned; Reagan smiled and invited. Reagan refused to demonize his foes. Reagan reached most other people he encountered. He understood, from years on the lecture circuit, the disarming value of humor: that getting people to laugh with you is halfway to getting them to agree with you. He used humor more effectively than any president since Abraham Lincoln. Reagan was not an especially warm person, but he appeared to be.

Many people disliked his policies, but almost no one disliked him. He understood that the point of politics, ultimately, is not to make speeches but to make progress, and that progress often requires compromise. Contact us at letters time. Ideas You're Remembering Reagan Wrong. Out of nine presidents compared by Gallup , Reagan's average approval jumped the most after leaving office — 11 percentage points — aside from Kennedy 13 after being killed in office and Ford Looking at only the most recent polls, Reagan has now gained 21 points — far more than any other president measured.

Why do Americans remember Reagan so much more kindly than history suggests they should? One reason may be that Reagan was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease after leaving office, so politicians and journalists who had once been critical of his legacy were less likely to point out his flaws. Reagan's disappearance from public life nearly six years after he left office also made it easy for conservatives of all stripes to claim his mantle.

As late-night host Stephen Colbert recently pointed out to candidate Ted Cruz , Reagan's record as president deviates significantly from both his own rhetoric and the policy positions attributed to him by modern candidates.

That's why today you hear about the Reagan who instituted a massive tax cut in , not the Reagan who, when revenue from supply-side economic theories failed to materialize, reversed course to sign the largest peacetime tax increase in history in , and then to raise taxes again in and Candidates will talk about the Reagan who cut government regulation, but not the one who increased the size of the federal government and the national debt.

We hear about the Reagan who demanded that Mikhail Gorbachev "tear down this wall" and called Soviet Russia an "evil empire," but not the Reagan who later met diplomatically with Soviet leaders to form the foundation of nuclear disarmament. Perhaps the main reason that Reagan is mentioned so frequently may simply be because, as Bill Whalen of the Hoover Institution wrote before September's debate, while Democrats had Clinton and Barack Obama to fill the void after Kennedy, Republicans have had no recent candidates who can match Reagan's charm.

The aide told the President not to worry because the barber did not mind waiting. In a very firm voice, the President told the aide that was not the point.

From then on, the Appointments Secretary made certain there were no meetings scheduled immediately prior to haircuts. Other than when Mrs. Reagan faced breast cancer, he was not a worrier. Ronald Reagan did not need the Presidency to feel good about himself or to vanquish some deep-seeded doubts. He never pretended to be someone other than who he was. He did not adopt a persona to fit the job. It was not always about him.

That, more than anything else, is the enduring legacy of the Presidency of Ronald Reagan. Search Site Search Products.