One reason I believe Ronald Reagan was a great President

[jjones]

Originally posted by: B00ne
All I remember from the Reagan pesidency was: As a little Kid when I was going to sleep - if I would wake up again the next morning. Maybe a victim to east german(russian) propaganda but as I know now All over Europe alot of ppl were in fear at that time....
Dunno if he was great he certainly is in my memory as very scary

That's a very interesting comment B00ne. I always wondered what life was like on the other side.

 

[Gonad the Barbarian]

Don't we have the Reagan administration to thank for setting precedent for government moral crusades like the war on drugs?

 

[outriding]

why dont you reagan lovers go and read "My Turn: The Memoirs of Nancy Reagan "

For one thing i can't tell the difference between Reagan's first and 2nd term.

And in the book she writes about how Ronnie was unable to run the country so she did it while consulting "Miss Cleo"

 

[Nemesis77]

Originally posted by: GTaudiophile
Without the Reagan, the Berlin Wall would not have fallen on November 9, 1989.

Ummmm, no. The Berlin Wall went down because Hungary opened their border with The West. Thousands on East-Germans then crossed the border via Hungary. East-German government decided to allow people to cross the wall in to west, but things got out of their hands.

more info

 

[Nitemare]

Originally posted by: charrison

Originally posted by: SuperTool
Don't see what's so great about Reagan, aside from good PR. From what I gather he was pretty good at ignoring things that he didn't want to deal with, like AIDS and growing deficits. All this revisionism and glorification of Reagan in the Republican ranks is getting out of hand. Reagan's role in USSR collapse was of secondary importance. Gorbachev brought the USSR down because the socialist system was unsustainable and buckling under its own corruption. When Gorbachev instituted Glastnost and allowed people to speak the truth, it was over.
Reagan is one of those presidents like Kennedy. A lot of flash, very little substance.

Actually Kennedy handled the Cuban missle crisis well. Also he pushed thru some big tax cuts which got the economy going again.

Kennedy handled the Cuban Missile crisis well? That is news to me...I thought he bent over and took one for the home team by pulling all of our missiles out of Eastern Europe and the Middle East....Lest we forget his sagacious plan to liberate Cuba by supplying weapons to farmers and then leading them to slaughter by abandoning them...how bout his tightrope act on civil rights?...took an assasination, Bobby Kennedy and LBJ to get those passed.

JFK was a sorry excuse for a president, but a perfect example of a Kennedy

 

[Nemesis77]

Originally posted by: Nitemare
[Kennedy handled the Cuban Missile crisis well? That is news to me...I thought he bent over and took one for the home team by pulling all of our missiles out of Eastern Europe and the Middle East

Isn't that a suitable compromise? I mean, you wanted Soviet missiles out of Cuba. In return, you had to get rid of your missiles that were parked right next to USSR.

 

[Red Dawn]

JFK was a sorry excuse for a president, but a perfect example of a Kennedy

Whoops, there goes what little credibility you had.

 

[Amused]

Originally posted by: Nemesis77

Originally posted by: Nitemare
[Kennedy handled the Cuban Missile crisis well? That is news to me...I thought he bent over and took one for the home team by pulling all of our missiles out of Eastern Europe and the Middle East

Isn't that a suitable compromise? I mean, you wanted Soviet missiles out of Cuba. In return, you had to get rid of your missiles that were parked right next to USSR.

I agree. I mean, we were going to pull those outdated missiles anyhow. It was a gimme. We got everything and they got nothing... but owned, big-time. The incident also spelled the end of Krushchev's career.

 

[Twerpzilla]

Folks, those of you who were not around, or old enough to care about listening to Reagans speeches, you missed the last great orater that the USA has had as a president. I still remember his speech from 1983, when the Soviets shot down a Korean airliner. If you can find that speech on video, watch it. It made us, as Americans, proud that we had a president that had balls to stand up to the Soviet Union.

 

[ElFenix]

Originally posted by: Nemesis77

Originally posted by: GTaudiophile
Without the Reagan, the Berlin Wall would not have fallen on November 9, 1989.

Ummmm, no. The Berlin Wall went down because Hungary opened their border with The West. Thousands on East-Germans then crossed the border via Hungary. East-German government decided to allow people to cross the wall in to west, but things got out of their hands.

more info

you might want to think about what drove gorby to a policy of non-interference.

might also want to read "we now know" by john lewis gaddis. yes, its a response to revisionist claims that reagan did nothing, but it goes through the soviet archives to see what they were thinking. see, the stagnation in the soviet union is necessary but not sufficient to explain why gorby did what he did. it had been stagnant for more than a decade, and most likely could have remained run exactly the same way for a decade or two more.

 

[Nitemare]

Originally posted by: Red Dawn

JFK was a sorry excuse for a president, but a perfect example of a Kennedy

Whoops, there goes what little credibility you had.

Sorry to rain on your parade, Red Dawn, but I have yet to find something about JFK that I liked...

So here are a few things that I disliked about the man. Maybe you can shed some light and give me some credible reason why he was not a bad president...

A. The Bay of Pigs
B. the fiasco known as the Vietnam War (Nothing like fighting a war handcuffed)
C. Cuban Missile Crisis
D. Cheatin on Jackie with Marilyn
E. Dealings with the FBI and CIA
F. Mob connections
G. Do nothing approach to the Civil Rights situation

 

[Linflas]

Originally posted by: Nitemare

Originally posted by: Red Dawn

JFK was a sorry excuse for a president, but a perfect example of a Kennedy

Whoops, there goes what little credibility you had.

Sorry to rain on your parade, Red Dawn, but I have yet to find something about JFK that I liked...

So here are a few things that I disliked about the man. Maybe you can shed some light and give me some credible reason why he was not a bad president...

A. The Bay of Pigs
B. the fiasco known as the Vietnam War (Nothing like fighting a war handcuffed)
C. Cuban Missile Crisis
D. Cheatin on Jackie with Marilyn
E. Dealings with the FBI and CIA
F. Mob connections
G. Do nothing approach to the Civil Rights situation

I will give you Bay of Pigs, that was an embarassment.
While Kennedy may have begun our involvement the disaster it became falls squarely on the shoulders of Lyndon Johnson and Robert McNamara.
Could care less what he did with Marilyn Monroe.
Not sure what you mean by the dealings with the CIA and FBI.
Well there is the old joke about the difference between an Italian Bootlegger and an Irish bootlegger being one gets busted for tax evasion (Al Capone) while the other gets and Ambassadorship (Joe Kennedy) but I am not aware of any direct mob ties to JFK. His brother the Attorney General was actually quite active in prosecuting the mob.
Kennedy was hardly do nothing on Civil Rights. He is the one that sent in the National Guard in the George Wallace stand in the school house door incident.

I never thought he was a great or a poor President rather a tragic one since we never got to see the end results of a full term of his Presidency due to assasination.

 

[JoeBaD]

linflas,

if you want some info re: JFK and the Mob do a little reading about the 1960 election and Chicago. The Mob delivered Illinois for JFK! Otherwise, Nixon would have won.


One of the reasons I liked Reagan was that I knew where the man stood. He didn't change his stance on issues depending on the latest poll. And he was a great orator. I would get chills from some speeches. As others have said, he was the right man @ the right time.

ps. anyone who forms their opinions from SNL skits shouldn't be conversing with adults.

 

[Linflas]

Originally posted by: JoeBaD
linflas,

if you want some info re: JFK and the Mob do a little reading about the 1960 election and Chicago. The Mob delivered Illinois for JFK! Otherwise, Nixon would have won.


One of the reasons I liked Reagan was that I knew where the man stood. He didn't change his stance on issues depending on the latest poll. And he was a great orator. I would get chills from some speeches. As others have said, he was the right man @ the right time.

ps. anyone who forms their opinions from SNL skits shouldn't be conversing with adults.

I think now that you mention this I recall hearing it before in relation to theories that the mob was behind JFK's assination because of RFK's vigorous pursuit of mobsters after the 1960 election. I will take your suggestion and read up a bit more on it.

 

[MiataGirl]

Originally posted by: Linflas

Originally posted by: Nitemare

Originally posted by: Red Dawn

JFK was a sorry excuse for a president, but a perfect example of a Kennedy

Whoops, there goes what little credibility you had.

Kennedy was hardly do nothing on Civil Rights. He is the one that sent in the National Guard in the George Wallace stand in the school house door incident.

I never thought he was a great or a poor President rather a tragic one since we never got to see the end results of a full term of his Presidency due to assasination.

i thought that was eisenhower? and i believe kennedy passed a few civil rights acts in the 60's..

or, i could be waay off here

 

[Pooteh]

Originally posted by: Nitemare

Originally posted by: charrison

Originally posted by: SuperTool
Don't see what's so great about Reagan, aside from good PR. From what I gather he was pretty good at ignoring things that he didn't want to deal with, like AIDS and growing deficits. All this revisionism and glorification of Reagan in the Republican ranks is getting out of hand. Reagan's role in USSR collapse was of secondary importance. Gorbachev brought the USSR down because the socialist system was unsustainable and buckling under its own corruption. When Gorbachev instituted Glastnost and allowed people to speak the truth, it was over.
Reagan is one of those presidents like Kennedy. A lot of flash, very little substance.

Actually Kennedy handled the Cuban missle crisis well. Also he pushed thru some big tax cuts which got the economy going again.

Kennedy handled the Cuban Missile crisis well? That is news to me...I thought he bent over and took one for the home team by pulling all of our missiles out of Eastern Europe and the Middle East....Lest we forget his sagacious plan to liberate Cuba by supplying weapons to farmers and then leading them to slaughter by abandoning them...how bout his tightrope act on civil rights?...took an assasination, Bobby Kennedy and LBJ to get those passed.

JFK was a sorry excuse for a president, but a perfect example of a Kennedy

wow, your so ignorant i don't know where to start.

since you probably don't read...


go watch Thriteen Days, for a mostly accurate and entertaining movie that will give you half a clue

 

[sandorski]

Originally posted by: jjones
Being born in 1960, I've lived through a few presidents. After the debacle of the Vietnam era, culminating with Nixon and the Watergate fiasco, then followed by the weak presidencies of Ford and Carter, Reagan was exactly what America needed to regain its strength, vitality and credibility in the world. For all his faults, and the faults of his administration, without the strength of his convictions America would still have been weak-kneed, doubtful superpower unsure of what direction it was taking. Of the nine presidents so far in my lifetime, Reagan stands well above any others in having a beneficial impact on the life of the average American and putting America back on the path of playing from strength.

And I say this not having liked Reagan much during his presidency. I always thought him borderline ultra-conservative.

The first paragraph is spot on. It wasn't so much his policies that made him great, it was how he affected the American psyche. Clinton had much the same efect. Republicans are all goo goo on him because Nixon had demoralized them severely. Reagan gave them reason to live once again.

The second paragraph isn't my experience. I began as a big fan of Reagan, but began to realize he was out of touch around the Iran/Contra scandal. He was great compared to most Presidents, but Lincoln or Washington he wasn't.

 

[oLLie]

Originally posted by: Twerpzilla
Folks, those of you who were not around, or old enough to care about listening to Reagans speeches, you missed the last great orater that the USA has had as a president. I still remember his speech from 1983, when the Soviets shot down a Korean airliner. If you can find that speech on video, watch it. It made us, as Americans, proud that we had a president that had balls to stand up to the Soviet Union.

I wanna see a video of that...