Thank God for Reagan, Thatcher and the Pope
these 3 are the most responsible for ending Soviet Communism which murdered millions in Eastern Europe. Thank god for them.
shareDid you serve in the military during the Cold War? I did, and I find your statement to be simplistic at best. The Soviet Union was close to collapse before Reagan was ever elected President.
shareI agree, but Reagan accelerated the process.
shareActually, during Reagan's first term, when he called Russia "the evil empire" and the paranoid Soviets feared him, the process pretty much stopped, and we came closer to WWIII than at any time during the Cold War except the Cuban Missile Crisis. It was when the old-guard Cold warriors Chernenko and Andropov died and Gorbechev became premier that the process of Soviet collapse truly resumed. That, and Reagan figuring out that diplomacy was more effective than threats and becoming Gorbechev's friend.
Most dictatorships are kept afloat by the threat, real or imagined, or an outside threat. The Soviet Union was no exception. Reagan played into the communists' hands pretty much throughout his first term.
I give the presidents before Reagan equal credit for our winning the Cold War. Well, except for Jimmy Carter.
[deleted]
The U.S.S.R. was crumbling from within. E.g., crops were rotting in the fields because of lack of means to get them harvested and to market. They happened to fall during Reagan's term, but they would have fallen if someone just blew on them.
share