Prior to the Reagan Presidency, the Cold War was fought mostly through appeasement and the diplomatic efforts of detente. The strong leadership of PresReagan finally ended the Cold War. There's no doubt about it. Reagan deserves most of the credit for closing the books on the USSR and European communism.
If Allen Matusow is going to be honest, he will report that the legacy of JFK, is an incomplete legacy, at best. In historical context, JFK is a martyr to the liberal Democratic establishment. JFK`s death gave us LBJ, who gave us the Great Society, the VietNam War, the War on Poverty, higher taxes and bigger governemnt, forced equality, wealth transer and social engineering.
I'll take Reagan over JKF or LBJ any time!
Historians have modified their view of the Cold War a couple times. The traditional view held the Soviet Union responsible, pointing to Stalin's paranoia. The revisionist view claimed the US was culpable for increasing tension. Post-revisionism holds a couple of premises. First is that of hegemonic war--when one nation surpasses the other in power, there will tend to be a retaliation..."use it or lose it." Post-revisionism says that there was no hegemonic war because the USSR never really was capable of challenging the US, except militarily. Gorbachev put in place reforms such as glasnost and perestroika to alleviate the economic pressure caused by an unsustainable military budget. The new openness contributed to the empire's downfall. Reagan's policies most likely contributed to this. I tend to think he should be given most of the credit (as would most Freepers, I think) but it still remains a contentious point.