*EPF314 06/09/2004
Reagan Leaves Imprint on World Affairs, Domestic Policy, Politics
(Accelerating end of Cold War may be his crowning achievement) (1040)

By Ralph Dannheisser
Washington File Writer

Washington -- "Legacy" is a word that sometimes is thrown around a bit loosely. That is emphatically not the case when it comes to Ronald Reagan, 40th president of the United States, who died June 5.

In his eight years in the presidency, Reagan transformed both the world we live in and the terms of political debate in the United States.

In all things, Reagan was a buoyant optimist, convinced that his policies were right, and would prevail.

His presidency added several phrases to the political lexicon that aptly tell his story -- notably "the Great Communicator," "Reaganomics," "Reagan Democrats" and "the Reagan Revolution."

On the world stage, Reagan was motivated by a steadfast commitment to freedom and opposition to communism, coupled with an unshakeable conviction that freedom would win out.

Whether or not his policies brought about the end of Soviet Communism, as his supporters insist, it is undeniable that Reagan helped accelerate the end of the Cold War, and the fall of the Soviet Union -- events that occurred soon after he left office.

The defense buildup Reagan spearheaded, and his proposal for a costly missile defense system, the Strategic Defense Initiative, put the faltering Soviet system under severe pressure.

Reagan made clear in a 1982 speech that he had what turned out to be the correct take on the disastrous state of the Soviet economy. "The dimensions of this failure are astounding," he told the British Parliament. "A country which employs one-fifth of its population in agriculture is unable to feed its own people.... Over-centralized, with little or no incentives, year after year the Soviet system pours its best resources into the making of instruments of destruction."

Reagan kept up the pressure in other areas as well. He lent support to anti-Communist forces in conflicts from Angola to Nicaragua, and also to Polish dissidents.

His support for rebels fighting the Marxist Sandinista government of Nicaragua led to perhaps the greatest foreign policy crisis in his administration -- one that became known as the Iran-Contra scandal. It was disclosed in his second term that his administration had evaded congressional restrictions by aiding the Nicaraguan rebels, in part by diverting proceeds from the secret sale of missiles to Iran.

One of Reagan's hallmark moments came on a 1987 visit to the Berlin Wall, when he challenged Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev to "tear down this wall." After four decades of the Cold War, he said on that occasion, "there stands before the entire world one great and inescapable conclusion: Freedom leads to prosperity. Freedom replaces the ancient hatreds among the nations with comity and peace." And, Reagan declared with his usual assurance, "Freedom is the victor."

But while he exhorted Gorbachev, he also worked well with the reform-minded Soviet leader. He met with Gorbachev at a 1986 summit in Reykjavik, Iceland -- a summit that produced no immediate results but led to approval the following year of the first-ever pact to eliminate an entire class of nuclear weapons: intermediate range nuclear force missiles. A later treaty limited strategic arms.

On the domestic front, Reagan was motivated by beliefs in low taxes, limited government and social conservatism.

He became a role model for a new generation of Republican politicians and officeholders who share those beliefs. Those include the current president, George W. Bush, who accords Reagan hero status. Moreover, his ideological followers have held control of the House of Representatives for a decade, and his appointees -- he named four of the nine U.S. Supreme Court justices to their current posts --continue to hold the balance of power in many contentious cases before the Court.

Bush summed up what he saw as Reagan's key leadership qualities in comments delivered shortly after the former president's death: "He had the confidence that comes with conviction, the strength that comes with character, the grace that comes with humility and the humor that comes with wisdom," Bush said. And, he said, "He always told us that for America, the best was yet to come."

Said longtime Reagan friend and aide Michael Deaver, "He got the country to believe in itself again."

In the economic realm, Reagan championed supply-side theory, based on a belief that cutting taxes and unleashing the free market would spur the economy, more than making up for the lost revenue.

During his first year in office, he pushed through both a major tax cut and a budget plan designed to cut the size of the federal government. And throughout his term, he showed an aversion to new government programs.

The approach -- "Reaganomics" -- survives as Republican orthodoxy to the present day, and serves as national policy in the current Bush administration.

Policy specifics aside, Reagan's ability as a universally recognized "Great Communicator" to make his social, economic and military philosophies appealing to a broad spectrum of voters changed the face of American politics. His success in drawing in millions of "Reagan Democrats" shifted the balance that had kept Republicans a minority party since the days of President Franklin Roosevelt.

By the time he died, his party had pulled roughly even in popular support -- and held the presidency, as well as majorities in both houses of Congress and in state governorships.

Among the greatest testaments to the changes that Reagan wrought in the world is the tribute that none other than Mikhail Gorbachev delivered on the occasion of his death. Writing in the New York Times June 7, the former Soviet premier called Reagan "a true leader, a man of his word and an optimist" who exhibited dignity and courage. "He has earned a place in history and in people's hearts," Gorbachev said.

But perhaps the "Great Communicator" summed up his own essence best of all.

Said Reagan in a letter to the American people written almost 10 years ago, in which he first revealed he was afflicted with the progressive and incurable Alzheimer's disease: "When the Lord calls me home, I will leave with the greatest love for this country of ours and eternal optimism for its future."

(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)

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