It wasn't till years later that many realized he was the great President many of us already knew he was"
I heartily disagree. All the conservatives I knew thought Reagan would go down as one of the greatest presidents of the century if not American history, including myself at the time. We were more than happy with his achievements.
It was the Democrats and the MSM who failed to see it, at the time.
In fact we realized his greatness when we voted for him the first time. I remember it well. Proudest voting day of my life and still is.
I didn't say all .. I said many
The far right crowd at the time did not like Reagan
I never got to vote for him. Pooh. :(
Actually 1 of the reasons one could tell Reagan could go down as a very top president was because of the respect he DID garner from libs. It was about impossible to dislike him. I think alot like Washington many couldn't deny Reagan could be relied on to be fair and honest, and not merely play politics, including "only if it has an R after it".
My Democrat friend (still is) at the time said as his last year came to an end, that she would miss him and that he made it feel good to be American.
You can't beat that.