[riverdawg]

“It was not until Reagan actually visited the USSR that he became convinced he could dismantle their economy by forcing them into an arms race.”

This simply isn't true. I recommend reading Peter Schweizer’s “Reagan's War” or his earlier “Victory” for a detailed study of Reagan's insight into the fundamental frailty of the Soviet economy. Reagan was giving speeches as early as 1963 claiming we could win the Cold War if we used our economic, and especially technological, superiority against the Soviet Union. President Reagan's NSC directives that spelled out the strategic goals of U.S. military superiority and economic and political decline of the U.S.S.R. were issued in 1982-83, long before his official trips to Moscow.

[Cowman]

This simply isn't true. I recommend reading Peter Schweizer’s “Reagan's War” or his earlier “Victory” for a detailed study of Reagan's insight into the fundamental frailty of the Soviet economy.

One thing that seems to be forgotten about Reagan is that he had a degree in economics from before Keynsianism came about. So he had a real understanding of what worked and what didn't.

[GVnana]

Reagan BELIEVED in the superiority -- the exceptionalism -- of the US. The question was, "How, exactly, do we put an end to the threat?"

I'm paraphrasing Reagan's own description in my previous post, but I'm going to have to find an original written source.

Remember, we were still in the Nixon/Carter era of "detente" with the Soviets.

We had lost the edge.

Sorry I can't research this more right now since I'm supposed to be working! See: Wikipedia "Predictions of Soviet Collapse - Ronald Reagan"