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

Sub-sections under Homeland Security:
• Cold War
• Star Wars
• Other issues under Homeland Security

OpEd: Promised to shrink government, but DoD grew by 34%

Under Reagan the military didn't shrink. In fact, defense spending rose by 34 percent during Reagan's presidency. And spending that was already guaranteed by law, like Social Security and Medicare, remained out of the Republicans' reach. But all other spending that Congress had to approve year after year was now on the chopping block. All the spending on education, on infrastructure, and on research.

The trickle-down policies of the Reagan years shifted American' priorities. At the same time that military spending expanded significantly, school funding was slashed by 15 percent. More bombs and fewer text books.

Called Mandela's ANC "notorious terrorist group"

America is the abiding alternative to tyranny

OpEd: To grow military, had to let Dems grow social programs

"For decades we have piled deficit upon deficit, mortgaging our future and our children's future for the temporary convenience of the present. To continue this long trend is to guarantee tremendous social, cultural, political, and economic upheavals. You and I, as individuals, can, by borrowing, live beyond our means, but for only a limited period of time. Why, then, should we think that collectively, as a nation, we're not bound by that same limitation?"

Unfortunately, Reagan had to deal with a Democrat Congress intent on expanding domestic spending for social programs. In order to get the spending he wanted to rebuild our military and back down the Soviets, Reagan was forced to give the Democrats the money they wanted for social programs. America's debt and dependency increased dramatically. Overall federal spending nearly doubled during the Reagan years, and federal deficits skyrocketed.

Heal the wounds of Vietnam so we can lead the world again

OpEd: Given benefit of doubt on knowing Iran-Contra scheme

Reagan probably got the most benefit of most doubts, pretty much from the 1980 campaign onward. He seemed like such a genuinely nice guy, like how everyone wishes their grandfather could be, that people were willing to forgive him the minor things--like being accurate with facts.

He was so prone to say the most outlandish things--that it was never completely clear whether he was edging into the blurry fog of senility, or merely pretending to. So when his defense to the revelations that his aides had concocted a scheme to sell arms to Iran and then illegally funnel the profits to the contras in Nicaragua was that he simply had no idea how this could have happened.you almost had to shrug. Maybe he didn't know anything about it.

1981: Iranian hostages released 5 minutes after inauguration

Let me tell you why I'm sure the Reagan people had a hand in this. First of all, the arms transfers from Israel to Iran began almost immediately after Reagan became President. 2nd, the main defense of the Reagan people was that it would have been too terrible a crime for Reagan to cook up secret deals with the Iranians in violation of US law, but that is just what the Reagan administration did when it sold arms to the Iranians and used the profits to illegally fund the contra rebels in Nicaragua.

On Iran-Contra: We did not trade weapons for hostages

"We did not, repeat, not trade weapons or anything else for hostages--nor will we," Reagan said on national television. "Those who think we have 'gone soft' on terrorism should take up the questions with Colonel Quaddafi. We have not, nor will we, capitulate to terrorists." [But we had]. Pres. Bush pardoned 6 top officials; the pardons stopped two pending cases and nullified one conviction and 3 guilty pleas.

The Iran-Contra affair should be taught in detail to every high school student in America, so we can do a better job of learning from past mistakes. Cynical secret deals with our enemies to win elections will always come back to haunt their perpetrators later.

1983: Introduced & pushed through bill to produce nerve gas

1980s: Focus of US foreign policy would be "War on Terror"

Shultz, who was considered a moderate within the Reagan administration, went on to say that terrorism had to be dealt with by force and violence, not by utopian legalistic means like mediation and negotiations and so on, which were just a sign of weakness. The Reagan administration declared that the fight would be focused on the 2 areas where this crime was most severe, namely Central American and the Middle East.

OpEd: Reagan no part of diverting Iran-Contra funds

"I have no personal notes or records to help my recollection in this matter. The only honest answer is to state that try as I might, I cannot recall anything whatsoever about whether I approved an Israeli sale in advance of whether I approved replenishment of Israeli stocks around August1985. My answer therefore and the simple truth is, 'I don't remember--period.'"

The Ronald Reagan I knew and served was no part of this plan to divert funds--in his mind or in his actions. The President's heart was another matter. As I have written, his concern for the safety of the hostages, his frustration in not being able to apply the enormous power of the US against a weak but hidden adversary, and his firm (and in my view, correct) belief that a communist Nicaragua represents a long-term danger to democracy and peace in the western hemisphere, were genuine and visible.

Policy of openness to deal with Iran-Contra scandal

One major regret: I took a risk with Iran & it did not work

Let there be no mistake about American policy: We will not sit idly by if our interests or our friends in the Middle East are threatened, nor will we yield to terrorist blackmail.

Defense is not a budget issue; do B-1, MX, Trident & Stealth

Just for a start, he announced that the US intended to rearm with 100 B-1 bombers, 100 MX multiple-warhead intercontinental ballistic missiles, a second generation of Trident subs, and a new, radar-invisible, stealth warplane.

America has never gotten in a war because we were too strong

REAGAN: I believe with all my heart that our first priority must be world peace, and that use of force is always and only a last resort, when everything else has failed, and then only with regard to our national security. Now, I believe, also that this responsibility for preserving the peace, which I believe is a responsibility peculiar to our country, that we cannot shirk our responsibility as the leader of the Free World, because we're the only one that can do it. And therefore, the burden of maintaining the peace falls on us. And to maintain that peace requires strength. America has never gotten in a war because we were too strong. We can get into a war by letting events get out of hand, as they have in the years under the foreign policies of Mr. Carter's, until we're faced each time with a crisis.

1980s strategy: win Cold War by forward military posture

In the eyes of most voters and even a small slice of elite opinion, Reagan won a measure of vindication in these debates by visible successes at home and abroad, especially when the Berlin Wall fell and the Soviet Union disintegrated in the immediate aftermath of his presidency. Reagan had a rare combination of adamantine will and serene temperament that enabled him to pursue his goals relentlessly and cheerfully in a landscape of virtually unbroken elite disapproval.

Speaking out on USSR's human rights undermined that regime

I believe this can happen in North Korea as well. If we can get more information out about what they're doing to their own people, that can be valuable in hastening the collapse of that evil regime.

Roll back Communism, not just containment

Conservatives credit the Reagan Doctrine with playing a decisive role in America's Cold War victory. Yet Reagan never asserted a US right to launch preemptive strikes or preventive wars on nations that had not attacked the US.

Bush's aides believe a right of preemptive attack and preventive war is inherent in the national right to self-defense. In the Cuban missile crisis, they argue, Kennedy was prepared to attack the missile sites in Cuba rather than let them become operational. True, but the Soviet missile threat in Cuba appeared both grave and imminent. Those were nuclear missiles that could strike Washington from their Cuban bases in 20 minutes.

Reagan Doctrine: US aid to anti-Communist rebels

Conservatives credit Reagan and the Reagan Doctrine with playing a decisive role in America's Cold War victory. Yet Reagan never asserted a US right to launch preemptive strikes or preventive wars on nations that had not attacked the US.

Bush's aides believe a right of preemptive attack is inherent in the national right of self-defense. In the missile crisis, they argue, Kennedy was prepared to attack the missile sites in Cuba rather than let them become operational. True, but the Soviet missile threat in Cuba appeared both grave and imminent. Those were nuclear missiles that could strike Washington from their Cuban bases in 20 minutes.

Dealt with Soviets but insisted on verification with teeth

Ronald Reagan exemplified the best way to approach such situations. His refusal to award trust that hadn’t been earned changed the nature of our country’s relationship with the Soviet Union. Over arms control, he insisted on verification; he wouldn’t take the Soviets at their word because it would have been reckless to have done so. The Soviet Union wasn’t entitled to that civility. Reagan forced the Soviets to make concessions up front before the United States made any in return. We know we’re going to live up to any treaty. We have laws and protocols that ensure it, and our culture demands it. That wasn’t true of the Soviet Union. Reagan insisted on inspection mechanisms with teeth, of the kind that previous administrations might have refused to pursue to completion.

Build morale & increase fire power to combat Communism

We're armed because we mistrust each other, not vice versa

"Someone else has said that we mistrust each other because we're armed. I believe we're armed because we mistrust each other. Wouldn't it be fine if we would spend just as much time trying to find out the reasons for our mistrust?"

"They kept dying on me," Reagan said of the Soviet premiers, three of whom had died before Gorbachev took over.

Reagan said he looked Gorbachev straight in the eye again and said, "The only alternative to this is we resume the arms race. That is a race you can't win. There is no way we're going to permit you to be superior to us in weaponry."

To preserve the peace, we had to become strong again

Common sense told us that to preserve the peace, we'd have to become strong again after years of weakness and confusion. So, we rebuilt our defenses, and this New Year we toasted the new peacefulness around the globe.

OpEd: Sought nuclear treaty as legacy toward world peace

Reagan's every action in foreign policy--the dramatic and very costly buildup of US military power; the overt and covert resistance to Soviet adventurism; the public rhetoric of confrontation and the private signals of conciliation directed toward the Soviets; the dogged Geneva arms talks, and, above all, the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) for deployment of a futuristic missile shield in outer space--had been carried out with the idea of one day sitting down at the negotiating table with the leader of the USSR and banning weapons of mass destruction from the planet.

“Evil Empire” speech succeeded where nukes failed to impress

Trust but verify: INF cut 1000s of missiles

December 9, Regan demands a date for Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan. Reagan, “SDI is essential to our goal of total nuclear disarmament.”

Close “window of vulnerability” against Russian attack

In 1978, Reagan completed his arsenal of campaign arguments against Carter’s defense policy-the famous “window of vulnerability.” This is a catchy slogan condensing a sophisticated argument with three alternatives.
1. The Soviets are achieving such superiority in ICBMs that they can launch a ground strike taking out all our land-based missiles, after which we cannot use our submarines or cruise missiles to deliver a retaliatory blow, because the Russians would still have enough ICBMs to launch another strike, so we would have to submit to dictated terms of surrender;
2. The Russians could hit a selected target here or in Europe with nuclear weapons, and threaten the above sequence unless we short-circuited it by surrender;
3. Even without launching an attack, Russia could threaten either of the two processes above, and get the same results without any attack at all. As Reagan summarized the argument in this extreme form, “the Russians could just take us with a phone call.” Source: Reagan’s America, by Garry Wills, p. 337 , Jul 2, 1987

   Reykjavik: refused to trade SDI for nuclear disarmament

   Gorbachev had offered to scale down the Warsaw Pact’s huge conventional arms superiority over NATO. Reagan thought, we have negotiated the most massive weapons reductions in history.

   Gorbachev demanded something in return, “This all depends on you giving up SDI.” Reagan had been bracing for this. “SDI isn’t a bargaining chip. If you are willing to abolish nuclear weapons, why are you so anxious to get rid of a defense against nuclear weapons?”

   Gorbachev kept smiling, while the president got angrier. Both realized that their rush toward a zero option in Europe had been cowardly, a feint to postpone the unresolved issue. “It’s [that] or nothing,” Gorbachev said.

   “The meeting is over,” Reagan said.

   “Mr. President, you have missed the unique chance of going down in history as a great president who paved the way for nuclear disarmament.”

   Reagan said, “That applies to both of us.”

   Gorbachev said, “I don’t know what else I could have done.”

   Reagan said, “You could have said yes.”

   Source: Dutch, by Edmund Morris, p.598-599 , Nov 19, 1985

   No nuclear freeze due to danger from the “evil empire”

   In your discussions of nuclear freeze proposals, I urge you to not to ignore the facts of history and the aggressive impulses of an evil empire, to simply call the arms race a giant misunderstanding and thereby remove yourself from the struggle between good and evil. I ask you to resist the attempts of those who would have you withhold your support for this administration’s efforts, to keep America strong and free. Source: Speech in Orlando Florida , Mar 8, 1983

   Scrap SALT II treaty; too many unilateral concessions

   Q: Both of you have expressed the desire to end the nuclear arms race with Russia, but by vastly different methods. You suggest that we scrap the SALT II treaty, for one more favorable to us. Pres. Carter says he will again try to convince a reluctant Congress to ratify the present treaty as the best we can hope to get. Both of you cannot be right.

   REAGAN: I think I'm right, because I believe that we must have a consistent foreign policy, a strong America, and a strong economy. The SALT II treaty was the result of negotiations that Mr. Carter's team entered into on the Soviet Union's terms, because Mr. Carter had canceled the B-1 bomber, delayed the Trident submarine, shut down the Minuteman missile production line, and whatever other things that might have been done. The Soviet Union knew that we had gone forward with unilateral concessions without any reciprocation from them whatsoever. I have not blocked the SALT II treaty, as Mr. Carter suggests--it has been blocked by a Democratic Senate.

   Source: The Reagan-Carter Presidential Debate , Oct 28, 1980

   ---

   Ronald Reagan on Star Wars

   1983: Anti-missiles replace mutually-assured destruction

   The Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty of 1972 limited defense to negligible levels. In 1983 Ronald Reagan proposed the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), aimed at making nuclear weapons "impotent and obsolete." Even those who weren't wedded to the mutually assured destruction theology found the prospects for the success of Reagan's approach fairly dim. Reagan nevertheless pursued the initiative. But the dream of a national shield to protect the United States from Soviet nuclear weapons died with the end of the Cold War. Reagan and Gorbachev went on to sign important arms control agreements, and the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty remained intact. The same approach--new agreements and maintenance of the treaty--remained true for George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton. Source: No Higher Honor, by Condoleezza Rice, p. 58-59 , Nov 1, 2011

   “Star Wars” enabled historic peace with Soviets

   I called a meeting of the Joint Chiefs and said: Every offensive weapon has resulted in the creation of a defense; isn’t it possible that we could invent a defensive weapon that could intercept nuclear weapons? So SDI was born, and some named it “Star Wars.” If I had to choose the most important reason for the historic breakthrough in the quest for peace with the Soviet Union, I would say the Strategic Defense Initiative. Source: RonaldReagan.com , Dec 25, 2000

   SDI averts biblical prophecy of Armageddon

   Reagan was awed by the biblical prophecy of Armageddon, which he translated into a vision of nuclear hell on earth. He proposed to avert it in two ways: development of an antimissile defense through the Strategic Defense Initiative and reduction of nuclear arsenals through negotiations with the Soviets. “A nuclear war can never be won and must never be fought.” It seemed logical to Reagan that all such weapons must be eliminated. As he put it in his memoirs:

   My dream became a world free of nuclear weapons. Some of my advisors did not share this dream. They said a nuclear-free world was unattainable. Since I knew it would be a long and difficult task to rid the world of nuclear weapons, I had this second dream: the creation of a defense against nuclear missiles, so we could change from a policy of assured destruction to one of assured survival.

   Source: The Role of a Lifetime, by Lou Cannon, p. 741 , Jul 2, 1991

   SDI: kill missiles, not people; share with Russians

   The Strategic Defense Initiative was one project for which Reagan took direct responsibility, pushing it forward despite the doubts of some in his own circle. An implausible scheme in itself, it is a perfect expression of Reagan’s politics, which are at one with his personality. “Star Wars” is a “nice” weapons system-defensive, not offensive; killing missiles, not people; finally sharable with others (even the Russians) in an act of American altruism. SDI was a “final solution” in the benign sense, the one answer to all our problems.

   Its simplicity of intent was not the least of its charms for a man who felt uncomfortable with the complexities of weapons systems-he confessed that he never understood what “this throw-weight business is all about.” Such technical matters would never plague his rhapsodic discussion of SDI: No one understood all its multiple if sketchy projections. It was more a wish than a single project, and such wishes are the very stuff of Reagan’s leadership.

   Source: Reagan’s America, by Garry Wills, p. 358 , Jul 2, 1987

   Share SDI instead of MAD

   The summit should focus, Reagan felt, not on arms control per se but on the madness of MAD, which led to nuclear stockpiling. Once that neurosis was taken care of, “the mountains of weapons to which you refer can shrink.”

   Reagan said, “I have an argument to share with you--our anti-missile shield. We don’t know if it is possible, but we are optimistic. If we come up with a solution, let us share it, make it available to everyone. Remove all fear of a nuclear strike.“

   No idea could have seemed more addled to Soviet perceptions than a universal defense against the ultimate offense, unless the President’s shield was the sort of defense that kills. Yet he was insisting, ”It’s not a weapon, it’s a system, a worthy dream.“

   Source: Dutch, by Edmund Morris, p.562 , Nov 19, 1985

   SDI: intercept and destroy ballistic missiles

   Let me share a vision of the future which offers hope. It is that we embark on a program to counter the awesome Soviet missile threat with measures that are defensive. Let us turn to the very strengths in technology that spawned our great industrial base and that have given us the quality of life we enjoy today.

   What if free people could live secure in the knowledge that their security did not rest upon the threat of instant US retaliation to deter a Soviet attack--that we could intercept and destroy strategic ballistic missiles?

   Current technology has achieved a level of sophistication where it’s reasonable for us to begin this effort. My fellow Americans, tonight we’re launching an effort which holds the promise of changing the course of human history.

   I call upon the scientific community in our country, those who gave us nuclear weapons, to turn their great talents no to the cause of mankind and world peace; to give us the means of rendering these nuclear weapons impotent and obsolete.

   Source: Dutch, by Edmund Morris, p.474-477 , Mar 23, 1983

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