Reagan was the most aggressive president of the Cold War, we took a risk of voting for him to make an aggressive push against the communists, and he did, it was a heck of a ride.
Reagan was so aggressive that I rejoined the military in my mid 30s, to be a part of it.
Just as you overlooked his invading and conquering a country, you don’t seem to remember the Reagan years and the tensions as he kept up his global pace of conflict and confrontation.
I will never forget the tension among the troops in Europe under Reagan, we were close to total global war, and knew it, the rate of activity in Latin America was pretty amazing, and Africa, Reagan was obviously ready for war, but he was so aggressive that the other side couldn’t get a grip on things. Reagan emboldened the oppressed in the Soviet empire, to revolt, and terrified the Soviets enough that they failed to stop it.
I don’t know what your reasons are for trying to rewrite Reagan the cold war warrior, into Reagan the hands off pacifist are, but I assume it has something to do with being one of those guys who is only a merchant at heart, a libertarian only interested in money.
Reagan was by no means a pacifist. But he didn’t believe in unnecessary wars — unlike McCain and Bush. In fact, Reagan didn’t get us into any wars. The Grenada rescue operation wasn’t a war. Nobody fired back and it was over in one day. If you call that a war, I’ll spring for a dictionary because you need it.