Nonetheless, NO SINGLE PERSON in politics did more to contribute to an end of the Cold War that he. The Germans to proud, to stupid and self absorbed, would never admit it, but their country today stands united because of him.
The movers and shakers are often disliked at the time, may they be Teddy Roosevelt or Ronald Reagan ("Man in the Arena" was not a speech written because of all the positive press Teddy got). But it’s actually the Clinton's who brought us 911, a President that perjures himself and has oral sex in the Oval Office that go down as a farce in history right next to Carter.
By the time of the 1980 election, I had been living in a small town in Germany (Traben-Trarbach) for about 3 years. My neighbors pleaded with me to vote for Jimmuh, as they were certain that RR would start WW3.
In my best German, which wasn't too bad by that time, I tried to reassure them that the US, and the free world, needed RR as our President.
27 years later, I'd say that vote worked out pretty well for all of us.
I'd like to think that my explanations made sense to most of my neighbors. Shortly after the election, I was invited to sit at the stammtische, a table reserved for family and close friends of the proprietor, at the nearby gasthaus.
If I ever decide to run for president, I can always use that to burnish my foreign policy credentials. Additionally, I made quite a few friends in the Northern German tourist town of Lutjenburg (near Kiel) during a temporary assignment in 1979.
To this day, the summer of 1979 ranks as the best summer of my life: I was a bachelor with a few bucks in my pocket as a 1LT, the job entailed 4 days a week max, and we were the only Americans for about 200 miles (except for the units that came to train for a week, and they were confined to the post for much of the week).
Adding to the fun was the fact that I was in charge for about 75% of the time, as the CO was dealing with his family problems 400 miles away. I had excellent NCO's, and let them do their jobs. Interesting sidenote: one of the battalions that came through was commanded by Jay Garner, who would end up with 3 stars and eventually was assigned to direct the reconstruction of Iraq in 2003.
Accordingly, I'd say my experience in foreign relationships far exceeds that of three top-tier Democrat candidates.