Some thoughts on President Reagan
RONALD REAGAN
1911-2004
40th President of
The United States of America
A great man's legacy
Is never simple as we would
Like it to be.
President Reagan's
Is more complex then most.
A conservative Hawk in the Cold War of his first term, he became a peacemaker (almost sounding like a Democrat) when Gorbachev made it clear that the Russian leadership clearly wanted to end the arms race. A lesser man might not have been able to make that transition. Gorbachev flew from Moscow to Washington for the funeral. In an interview interview with NBC, Gorbachev made an observation I had not heard before. The First Lady, Nancy Reagan, was a major influence on the President's transition from a Hawk to a Dove.
On the other hand, Reagan failed to acknowledge a disease that was killing thousdands of American's every day untill well into his second term and over 20,000 had died. His silence ignored the advice of the entire health care community and set a tone of denial that enabled the disease to be in epidemic proportions before the incredible ability of American society to deal with a crisis got in to full gear. By then it was too late for several of my closest friends.
Perhaps an insight in to this failure can be seen in a coment that soon-to-be California Governor Reagan made at a banquet shortly after President Lyndon Baines Johnson announced his "War on Poverty" to end hunger in America.
"If people are hungry in America, it is because they are dieting."
I prefer to remember the peace maker.
| Posted: February 25, 2005 , Modified: February 28, 2005 |
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