Don't know how old you are, but many of us remember 1973 when Richard Nixon went to the highest DefCon and faced down the Soviets, who were angling to jump into the Yom Kippur War through Syria. It was High Noon, but the Soviets blinked, and the rest was history.
I was knee deep in medical school and oblivious to everything...only I thought Nixon was a great president...I don't remember Reagan having the opportunity...
No doubt Kerry, Gore etc. would be appeasing the bastar*ds like the Spanish today...