Ronald Reagan on Foreign Policy President of the U.S., 1981-1989; Republican Governor (CA)

1964: If we lose freedom here, it's the last stand on earth

-- Ronald Reagan, "A Time for Choosing," his televised speech during the 1964 US presidential election campaign.

Came to office determined to challenge Soviet power

While President Reagan (prodded by then-Secretary of State George Schultz) had decided that Mikael Gorbachev was indeed a different Soviet leader, some, including Brent and myself, were skeptical of how authentic the shift in Soviet policy really was.

1982:Disagreed with Law of the Sea's international authority

Reagan's reversal of US policy led to consternation at the Department of State, to which Reagan asked, "But isn't that what the election was all about?"

1987: People surprised that Soviet Union HAS a constitution

"I've read the constitutions of a number of countries, including the Soviet Union's. Some are surprised to hear that they have a constitution, and it even supposedly grants a number of freedoms to its people. Many countries have written into their constitutions provisions for freedom of speech and freedom of assembly. Why is US Constitution so exceptional? The difference is so small that it almost escapes you, but it's also so great it tells you the whole story in just three words: We the people. In those other constitutions, the Government tells the people of those countries what they're allowed to do. In our Constitution, we the people tell the government what it can do, and it can do only those things listed in that document and no others. Virtually every other revolution in history has just exchanged one set of rules for another set of rules. Our revolution is the first to say the people are the masters & the government is their servant.

US has no territorial ambitions despite military might

"In your letter you imply territorial ambitions of the US; that we have imperialistic designs and thus constitute a threat to your own security and that of the newly emerging nations. There not only is no evidence to support such a charge, there is solid evidence that the United States when it could have dominated the world with no risk to itself made no effort whatsoever to do so.

"When WWII ended, the US ha the only undamaged industrial power in the world. Its military might was at its peak--and we alone had the ultimate weapon, the nuclear bomb with the unquestioned ability to deliver it anywhere in the world. If we had sought world domination who could have opposed us? But the United States followed a more decent course--one unique in all the history of mankind. We used our power and wealth to rebuild the war-ravaged economies of all the world including those nations who had been our enemies."

Evil is powerless if the good are unafraid

1976: passionately advocated for retention of Panama Canal

1988: Agreed to mutual nuclear reduction with USSR

1981: Don't spend unused funding; return it to Treasury

OpEd: Viewed Latin America in context of worldwide Communism

President Reagan, for example, wanted to send support to the government of El Salvador, led at the time by a civilian/military junta, which was fighting leftist guerillas. The government's notorious death squads also targeted those who opposed its power.

In Berlin: Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!

Ronald Reagan didn't listen to his advisors. He didn't listen to his pollsters. He trusted his gut. And he united the whole world. Mothers and fathers who had locked themselves in their homes in fear showed up in town squares in Poland and Czechoslovakia and in the Baltic states. "We want our freedom." Reagan's words echoed through Eastern Europe, and soon enough the Berlin Wall came tumbling down and millions of people were returned to their rightful way of life, to freedom.

Nicaraguan Contras: moral equal of our Founding Fathers

[Then] 17 Americans were kidnapped in Beirut by terrorists. In a misguided effort to free the hostages and finance Reagan's war against the Sandinistas, Lt. Col. Oliver North of the National Security Council devised a complex scheme, which he and others later tried to cover up: secretly aiding the contras, selling arms to Iran, and diverting proceeds from the Iran arms sales to the contras. The deception by North and others led to joint congressional hearings, a presidential commission, an investigation, court trials, and 3 convictions. In the end, 6 participants received presidential pardons.

1986: Angered Jewish groups by visiting Nazi cemetery

Reaffirmed Shanghai Communique's "One China" policy

Jimmy Carter, however, severed diplomatic relations with Taiwan, terminated the security treaty, and recognized the People's Republic as the sole legitimate government of China. A firestorm ensued.

Reagan reaffirmed the Shanghai Communique--that Taiwan was a part of China--and agreed to cut back arms sales to the island. Joint communique 1982, the United States declared that it intends to reduce gradually its sales of arms to Taiwan, leading over a period of time to a final resolution.

While this writer, among others, opposed the Shanghai Communique and the more far-reaching Carter and Reagan concessions, the day when Taiwan might have declared independence with US support is gone.

OpEd: Allied with South Africa despite a million killings

Those are the years of what was called "constructive engagement," at a time when South Africa was a valued ally and Nelson Mandela's African National Congress was an officially designated terrorist organization, in fact worse than that. The State Department listed it as one of the "more notorious terrorist groups" in the world. That was in 1988, when South Africa was still, of course, a valued ally after its actions in the preceding eight years.

Iran-Contra: Reagan uninformed; subordinates indicted

[The official 1987 report] depicted Reagan as confused and uninformed, and concluded that his relaxed “personal management style” had prevented him from controlling his subordinates. Congressional committees heard testimony that Reagan did not know of the diversion of funds. Most committee members signed a majority report in Nov. 1987 asserting that although Reagan’s role in the affair could not be determined precisely, he had clearly failed to “take care that the laws be faithfully executed.” Poindexter, North, and others were indicted in the affair.

Called USSR “Evil Empire,” but signed an anti-nuke deal

Assist contras to overthrow Sandinistas

Knew "evil empire" would polarize but felt forced to use it

Ignored ICJ ruling against mining Nicaraguan harbors

The mines were designed primarily to damage and scare off ships rather than destroy them, but they were a clear violation of international law. The Sandanistas took their case to the International Court of Justice in the Hague (popularly known as the World Court) and won, though the administration refused in advance to recognize the court’s jurisdiction. The mining of the harbors was an example of “force against another state,” the court said; US support of the contras “amounts to an intervention of one state in he internal affairs of the other.”

By 1984 the contras had become an end in themselves. Loyalty to the contras had become the litmus test for loyalty to “Reagan’s policy” among conservatives.

Democracy & market economy result in a better life

Reagan-Gorbachev meetings based on personal contact

Reagan and Gorbachev had discovered that they could talk to each other even if they could not yet agree. On that basis they had decided that they would meet again in Washington and Moscow. In the meantime, they would correspond as man to man, with no insulating layers of diplomats between them. The meeting of the minds, the measure of character, and above all, the decision to go on, could only have been achieved by the President and General-Secretary.

Limit UN role; withdrew from UNESCO

Aid to Soviet Union dependent on its commitment to freedom

Iran-Contra: maybe authorized it, unknowingly

It was the reaction, in Regan’s opinion, of a complete innocent. Or, it was the reaction, a cynic might say, of someone who had been found out. Guilt drains blood just as fast as shock.

Only the Admiral knows whether Reagan knowingly authorized the transfer of illegal funds from illegal mercenaries in the Middle East to another set of illegal mercenaries in Central America. My suspicion is that Reagan did authorize the transfer, not having the smallest comprehension of the laws he was subverting. Reagan’s character by 1986 had become so lacking in curiosity & his life as president so repetitive, that when I went to interview him, I was reminded of the what-am-I-doing-here look of an actor between takes

Bergen-Belsen concentration camp: Never again

What we have seen makes unforgettably clear that no one of the rest of us can fully understand the enormity of the feelings carried by the victims of these camps.

Here lie people-Jews- whose death was inflicted for no other reason than their very existence. Here death ruled.

We are here because humanity refuses to accept that freedom or the spirit of man can ever be extinguished. We are here to commemorate that life triumphed over the tragedy and the death of the Holocaust. Out of the ashes-hope, and from all the pain-promise.

As we flew here, over the greening farms and the emerging springtime, I reflected that there must have been a time when the prisoners of Bergen-Belsen and those of every other camp must have felt that the springtime was gone forever from their lives. Here they lie. Never to hope. Never to pray. Never to love. Never to heal. Never to laugh. Never to cry.

Never again.

Consoled Taiwan when Nixon went to China

Reagan’s ambivalence over such a mission is evident in a speech he wrote : “The President has been blunt in his declarations that we will not under any circumstances desert an old friend and ally. give anything away, or betray or honor. If I am wrong and that should be the result--time then for indignation.”

This was good enough for Nixon. In 1971, Governor Reagan found himself appointed special presidential envoy and dizzyingly transported to a throne room in Taiwan. Chiang Kai-Shek received him stiff with rage. “Look, I don’t like this any more than you do, but it had to happen sooner or later.”

Flying home, Reagan found that he had been converted by his own mission. Taiwan was more secure now than before since “the People’s Republic,” would have to respect its sovereignty or compromise the new rapprochement.

Open door to PRC, but maintain alliance with Taiwan