[This series describes the 12
Post-War American Presidents from a British perspective]
Ronald Reagan’s accession to the Presidency was received
with misgivings by the British public, as former movie actors were thought
unlikely presidential material. They totally underestimated the man. In the
event genial Reagan proved to be a highly successful and respected leader,
reviving conservatism and simple patriotism which had been in sharp decline in
the previous years.
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| President Ronald Reagan |
Ronald (Ronnie)
Reagan (1911 – 2004) was born in Tempico, Illinois and the family
eventually settled in Dixon, where Reagan senior ran a shoe shop. After
education at Dixon High School, Ronnie won an athletics scholarship to Eureka
College in 1928 leaving four years later to become a radio sports announcer.
In 1937 he was signed
up by Warner Brothers and he made some 50 films until the mid-1950s. Never a
leading star, but a well-recognised face, his earlier films were the more
striking. He played the 1920s Notre Dame American football hero George Gipp in
the 1940 movie Knute Rockne, All-American
memorably encouraging his team colleagues from his deathbed to “win one for
The Gipper” – Reagan was often known as The
Gipper thereafter. His best film role was as Drake McHugh in Kings Row (1942), a rather lurid
melodrama where Reagan has both legs amputated after a railway accident; he
wakes up in his hospital bed and exclaims in horror “Where is the Rest of Me?”
This risible line was delivered with a straight face and Reagan used it as the
title of his 1965 autobiography. From 1940 Reagan was married to Jane Wyman, a
notable actress, (they had co-starred in Brother
Rat in 1938) but they divorced in 1948.
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| Ronnie Reagan as football star The Gipper |
Soon after Kings Row,
Ronnie was drafted into the US Army, but his poor eyesight kept him out of
combat and he made training films. Returning to Hollywood after the war his
film career fluctuated but from 1947 to 1952 he was President of the Screen
Actors’ Guild where he learnt the politics of trade unionism. More dependable
for Reagan was his appointment as public relations spokesman for General
Electric and he moved gradually from the liberal Left (he defended actors from
anti-communist witch-hunts) to the pro-business Right, denouncing excessive
government regulation and wasteful state spending. He toured the country
speaking to business audiences and honed his communication skills. In 1952 he
had married actress Nancy Davis who was to be his life-time support and companion.
Reagan’s developing conservative views (he only joined the
Republicans in 1962) were out of sympathy with the atmosphere of Kennedy’s and
LBJ’s America but Reagan loyally supported Republican Barry Goldwater’s doomed
campaign in 1964. Almost 50 years ago to the day, Reagan delivered a rousing
speech, known as The Time to Choose, to
a Republican audience which made his name:
“You and
I are told increasingly we have to choose between a left or right. Well I’d
like to suggest there is no such thing as a left or right. There’s only an up
or down – [up to] man’s old-aged dream, the ultimate in individual freedom
consistent with law and order, or down to the ant heap of totalitarianism.”
This emphasis on the personal freedom of Americans animated Reagan’s
political philosophy together with the belief that governments were too big and
too pervasive. Reagan’s conservative viewpoint in time became deeply
influential and his soft-spoken, humorous and folksy delivery enhanced the
effectiveness of his message.
In 1966 Reagan won the Governorship of California, a prize which had
long eluded the Republicans. His programme was populist in that he pledged “to
get the welfare bums back to work” and to “clear up the mess at Berkeley” – the
University of California campus and hotbed of hippie and anti-war protest. More
constructively he raised taxes sharply to balance California’s poorly controlled
budget. Reagan served two terms to 1974 and sought the Republican Presidential
nomination in vain in 1968 and 1976 losing out to Nixon and Ford. Nixon and
Reagan were usually friends and allies, both historically to have many
accomplishments to their credit.
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| Like-minded Reagan and Nixon |
Reagan’s chance came in 1980 when Carter, beset by the Iran
hostage crisis, campaigned ineffectually for his second term and was thrashed
489-49 in the Electoral College. At 69, Reagan was the oldest new President
ever. A month or two after taking office in 1981, Reagan survived
assassination, taking a bullet near his lung – he nonchalantly told Nancy
“Sorry, Honey, I forgot to duck!” – but he pluckily recovered.
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| Ronnie and Nancy Reagan |
Reagan’s domestic programme started with a bang with a
significant reform of the tax code and deep cuts in marginal tax rates in 1981.
Some of the tax reduction was later clawed back but the 1980s saw what became
known as “Reaganomics”. In guru
economist Milton Friedman’s words: "Reaganomics
had four simple principles: Lower marginal tax rates, less regulation,
restrained government spending, noninflationary monetary policy. Though Reagan
did not achieve all of his goals, he made good progress”. These policies
underlined the importance of monetarism as opposed to the old consensus
supporting Keynesian demand management and echoed many of the policies of
Britain’s Margaret Thatcher who became a close ally and confidante of Reagan. There was then, and there remains, much
partisan debate about how important Reaganomics were, but the facts are that
the US economy revived from 1983 with the tax take and productivity growing
strongly. Reagan’s regular fireside chats on TV were well received – not for
nothing was he dubbed The Great
Communicator.
Foreign policy was of crucial importance to Reagan. The
Russians remained in Afghanistan until 1989 and Reagan used the phrase “The
evil Empire” to describe Soviet policy. He took the simple view that Russia did
not merely have to be contained, but defeated by rolling back the communist
empire in Eastern Europe. He developed a constructive but wary relationship
with reforming Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev but he greatly increased
military spending and challenged the Soviet capacity to compete by launching
the Strategic Defence Initiative envisaging a missile shield around the West.
The Soviet economy was too weak to do likewise; Gorbachev negotiated the
significant Intermediate Nuclear Forces Treaty with Reagan in 1987 reducing
nuclear arsenals.
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| Reagan with Gorbachev making Peace |
Eventually, in 1989, the Soviet satellite states in Eastern
Europe, starting in East Germany, deposed their communist governments, opened
their borders and welcomed the West. The Soviet Union itself disintegrated in
1991. A long nightmare was ended and although Reagan was no longer President,
much of the credit for this peaceful political earthquake must go to him.
Margaret Thatcher’s British government greatly esteemed
Reagan. When in 1982 Argentina seized the British colonial Falkland Islands in
the South Atlantic, Britain sent a military force to recover them, a risky
venture. Against State Department advice, Reagan (and Defence secretary Casper
Weinberger) helped Britain with intelligence and equipment and British forces
triumphed. In a punitive action against Libya following terrorist activity by
Gaddafi, Tripoli was bombed and Britain gladly provided airbase facilities.
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| Partners Thatcher and Reagan |
Not everything went smoothly overseas. In 1982 800 US
Marines were sent to bolster the government of Lebanon but, in 1983, 241 were
killed in a suicide attack on their Beirut barracks, a heavy blow. Later the
reputation of the Reagan administration was tarnished by the Iran-Contra Affair,
a murky episode whereby the proceeds of arms sales to Iran, in contravention of
an embargo, were diverted to the Contra rebels fighting against the leftist Sandinista
government of Nicaragua. Senior government figures were involved and Reagan
later apologised to the nation in 1987. It was not Reagan’s finest hour.
Reagan’s Presidency ended in 1989 and after the election he
was succeeded by his vice-president George Bush senior. In 1994 he movingly
wrote to the American people announcing he was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and
bade his public farewell. His mental powers gradually deteriorated and in 2004
he died, aged 93, in Los Angeles.
Reagan’s Presidency was a landmark in US history. He
reasserted conservative values and gave them a new shape, inspiring later
libertarian movements like The Tea Party. His devotion to the American Dream
was unwavering and his role in ending the Cold War has earned him the gratitude
of all free people.
SMD
28.10.14
Text Copyright © Sidney Donald 2014
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