Posted on 06/07/2004 6:19:23 AM PDT by dead
From Ireland:
The last Cold War warrior Ronald Reagan received the love of Americans, but the puzzlement of Europeans. On this side of the Atlantic, people found it hard to understand how a President with his folksy manner and his apparently naive political views could be so greatly admired and respected.
On the whole, the Americans had the right of it; and now, following his death aged 93, it is possible to look back and see not not only his good personal qualities and his enormous likeability but also his real achievements.
He came to office following the 1980 election at a time of gloom in the United States. Defeat in Vietnam, the Watergate scandal and the aimlessness and muddle of Jimmy Carter's presidency had undermined the confidence of the elite and the general population.
Reagan gave them back that confidence. He acted according to his own faith in the greatness and destiny of his country. He became the most successful, and in a way the last, of the Cold Warriors. Historians can argue the relative importance of the role he played in the fall of communism, but there is no doubt that his was a major part.
His style of government was eccentric, though not necessarily the worse for that. In an age in which political leaders boast of the amount of time they spend at work, he spent much of his time in bed. He ignored minor issues and was stubborn on the few questions which he regarded as important.
The land of his fathers had mixed feelings. His charm was undeniable, and we took pride in his Irish ancestry.
But his visit here in 1984 was far from a thundering success. He was whisked from location to location to avoid protesters. The main complaint against him was his Latin American policy, based on a ruthless assessment of US interests and an evident lack of the care for democracy and human rights which should have been his country's hallmark.
Ten years ago, after being diagnosed with Alzheimer's, he moved entirely out of the public gaze and into the care of his devoted wife. His last message to the American people was immensely dignified and moving.
His legacy includes the the Cold War victory, but also the less agreeable aspects of "neo-conservatism". The present incumbent is a man somewhat in the Reagan mould, at least in manner. But unlike Reagan, he has not united his people or nurtured their self-belief.
I'm glad there was a bright side for your boy. I had some money invested for my girls during those years, very conservatively. They did very well.
By the time Reagan left office, just about every Latin American country was democratic or heading that way.
Welcome back
Utterly untrue. Reagan was a smoldering hate object for the left - possibly their biggest boogeyman ever. The press was savage about him. Possibly the right/left divide was generally less acrimonious then (I don't remember it that way), but Reagan the most polarizing politician of my lifetime.
Ireland PING
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