Classical Liberalism: Ronald Reagan

Ronald Wilson Reagan [Wikipedia] [Conservapedia]
(February 6, 1911 - June 5, 2004)

The 40th President of the United States (1981–1989), the 33rd Governor of California (1967–1975) and actor.

Educated at Eureka College in Eureka, Illinois, with a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics and sociology. Upon his graduation, Reagan first moved to Iowa to work as a radio broadcaster and then in 1937 to Los Angeles, California. He began a career as an actor, first in films and later television, appearing in over 50 movie productions and earning enough success to become a famous, publicly recognized figure.
Reagan served as president of the Screen Actors Guild, and later spokesman for General Electric (GE); his start in politics occurred during his work for GE. Originally a member of the Democratic Party, he switched to the Republican Party in 1962.
After delivering a rousing speech in support of Barry Goldwater's presidential candidacy in 1964 ["A Time For Choosing" considered one of the most effective ever made on behalf of a candidate; later for which he was called the "Great Communicator"], he was persuaded to seek the California governorship, winning two years later and again in 1970. He was defeated in his run for the Republican presidential nomination in 1968 as well as 1976, but won both the nomination and election in 1980

As president, Reagan implemented sweeping new political and economic initiatives. His supply-side economic policies, dubbed "Reaganomics," advocated reducing tax rates to spur economic growth, controlling the money supply to reduce inflation, deregulation of the economy, and reducing government spending. In his first term he survived an assassination attempt, took a hard line against labor unions, and ordered military actions in Grenada. He was reelected in a landslide in 1984, proclaiming it was "Morning in America." His second term was primarily marked by foreign matters, such as the ending of the Cold War, the bombing of Libya, and the revelation of the Iran-Contra affair. Publicly describing the Soviet Union as an "evil empire," he supported anti-Communist movements worldwide and spent his first term forgoing the strategy of détente by ordering a massive military buildup in an arms race with the USSR. Reagan negotiated with Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev, culminating in the INF Treaty and the decrease of both countries' nuclear arsenals.

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Acting Career
Military Service
California Governor
Presidency
Assassination Attempt
Air Traffic Controller Strike
Reaganomics
Lebanon: Operation Urgent Fury
Cold War
Tear Down This Wall
War on Drugs
Bombing Libya
Immigration Reform [Amnesty]
Iran-Contra affair

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The "We Armed Iraq" Myth

As discussed in "The Next War Zone" pg 94 and 95 [Google books]
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The US Government Accountability Office (GAO), in its Feb. 7, 1994 Letter Report titled "Iraq: U.S. Military Items Exported or Transferred to Iraq in the 1980s" (GAO/NSIAD-94-98), stated:

"Since 1980, U.S. policy has been to deny export licenses for commercial sales of defense items to Iraq, except when the items were for the protection of the head of state. As a result of the exception, license applications valued at $48 million were approved. The Department of Defense (DOD) has not made any foreign military sales to Iraq since 1967. In contrast, U.S. policy toward Iraq for sales of dual-use items (items that have both civilian and military uses) was not constrained by national security controls, and there were few applicable foreign policy controls until August 1990. Thus, the Department of Commerce approved the licenses for exporting $1.5 billion of dual-use items to Iraq between 1985 and 1990...

Commerce officials told us that because Iraq was removed from antiterrorism controls and because controls on missile technology and chemical and biological warfare were not in place until the late 1980s, few foreign policy controls were placed on exports to Iraq during the 1980s. They said that this, along with the lack of national security controls, resulted in a long list of high-technology items being sold to Iraq during the 1980s.

Commerce data showed that between 1985 and 1990, it approved 771 licenses, valued at $1.5 billion, for sales to Iraq, while only 39 applications were rejected."

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Saturday, March 19, 2011

Ronald Reagan

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