New Papers Redefine Reagan

Los Angeles Daily News ^ | 1/23/05 | Eric Leach- Staff writer

[Mark]

Robert C. Smith, a professor of political science at San Francisco State University, researched Reagan's race and civil rights record this month at the library. Smith said that, on these issues, the former president was heavily influenced by his advisers, especially on the question of affirmative action.

That's called POLITICS. Get a clue.

[Brian328i]

most scholars believed Reagan was an "amicable dunce" who relied heavily on his advisers.
Sounds like the liberal intellectia still. Nope, no one can be smart unless they are a member of the hippie clan...

[Thebaddog]

I can recall Reagan's run for the presidency when he lost in the primaries to Ford who went on to lose to Carter. Reagan was a force that was not going to be denied. He had a sense of mission that can only come from him and not his advisers, IMHO.

Methinks that the "Scholars" are finally going to catch on to what the voters knew all along.

[Professional Engineer]

BTTT

[carlr]

For example, Smith said, he was looking for documents covering the Reagan administration's position on the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, and papers from Melvin Bradley, an African-American adviser to Reagan. "I've been told it might take three years to process some of the Martin Luther King holiday material. That delays the completion of my work. ... I've looked at the entire file on South African policy, but a good bit of it is still classified."

Even though the article isn`t openly hostile to President Reagan this is an issue someone is researching.
All that was Reagan ,the cold war,the defeat of communism and all they can do is attempt to imply and find racism.
What no one investigating AIDS?

[ClearCase_guy]

Will it be 20+ years before the intellectuals start realizing that Bush is also a brilliant political mastermind who is shaping his age and the age that follows him?

Republicans are always misunderestimated.

[patriciaruth]

Those who haven't read Peter Schweizer's "Reagan's War", available at Amazon in paperback for around $11.00, I think, are missing an excellent work.

It is better than Reagan's autobiography, An American Life, which is a much too modest sefl-assessment.

[DoughtyOne]

It would have been a real blow to the left, if they had to face the fact that when he was the President of the Screen Actors Guild, when he was Governor of California and when he was President of the United States, Ronald Reagan was his own man. But then, they knew it all along.

[Mark]

Even though the article isn`t openly hostile to President Reagan this is an issue someone is researching.

It's a good article. Daily News is usually fair & balanced, so I was just wondering how the LA Times would have written of this subject.

[BykrBayb]

Methinks that the "Scholars" are finally going to catch on to what the voters knew all along.

Bump that.

[carlr]

Yes I agree it shows Reagan as an active,intelligent,thoughtful man much in contradiction to the way he(and President Bush)has been portrayed.
I just thought it strange to interject what is implied that Reagan may not have supported MLKs holiday.
I presume this is to insinuate that he was a racist.

I wasn`t trying to cast a pall over the article you posted just reflecting on what I perceive as the continuing agenda of some to discredit Republicans.It just seemed that they had to try to sneak it into the article.
I may be overreacting being used to the bias in the press and not terribly trusting of them to get a story right.

[Reagan Man]

Many people had influence on the public and political career of Ronald Reagan. But Reagan himself was clearly the driving force behind advancing big ideas like tax reform, limited government, US military superiority and support for pro-life issues. Reagan took a back seat to no one.

[DannyTN]

"When you hold up a handwritten document to a historian, it's like holding up a cross to the devil. "

ROFLMAO How true. In this day of every political group revising history in their own image, we need more crosses.

[lump in the melting pot]

..."you hold up a handwritten document to a historian, it's like holding up a cross to the devil."

My favorite line of the whole article. Just think, 10 or 20 years from now, we'll see the same light-bulbs turning on above the heads of researchers in the Dubya Presidential Library.

[lump in the melting pot]

Great minds, etc.

[randog]

Methinks that the "Scholars" are finally going to catch on to what the voters knew all along.

I was in my late teens/ early twenties when Reagan was president. This entire article reads like "gosh--who knew?" when it was so apparent even to a teenager.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

They wouldn't.

[Thebaddog]

Think about it. Nixon antagonized the media and paid for it. Ford was a caretaker and Carter was the president installed by the media kingmakers. Carter had the first media consultant named Gerald Rafshoon. If that doesn't tell you the score, nothing will.

Reagan changed the course of history by his election. If he had lost, Carter would have given us to the Soviets. And I remember that Carter was surprised by a Soviet buildup in Cuba. They tested him and found him useful.

Those "scholars" should consult us at Freerepublic for the real story, IMHO.

[Thebaddog]

Think about it. Nixon antagonized the media and paid for it. Ford was a caretaker and Carter was the president installed by the media kingmakers. Carter had the first media consultant named Gerald Rafshoon. If that doesn't tell you the score, nothing will.

Reagan changed the course of history by his election. If he had lost, Carter would have given us to the Soviets. And I remember that Carter was surprised by a Soviet buildup in Cuba. They tested him and found him useful.

Those "scholars" should consult us at Freerepublic for the real story, IMHO.

[Thebaddog]

Timelag oops. Sorry.