Republicans greatest praise of Ronald Reagan is that he ended the Cold War.

[Bandit]

How did Reagan do that exactly? Was it because he said "Tear Down That Wall" or did he really do something concrete? I don't recall anything except him selling arms to Iran when they were being sanctioned by the USA.

[rustydog]

1. Militarization between USA and The Soviet Union

coupled with (what we should have learned later on) a disastrous war with Afghanistan bankrupted Russia, states fled, USSR became Russia and the Soviet empire crumpled. Russia tried to keep up with American spending on the military and didn't quite do it like we do.

Reagan happened to be in office at the time and opportunistically said his famous: "tear down that wall" catch-phrase after America knew without a DOUBT it was coming down no matter what Ronnie said..

[TlalocW]

2. When you look at it

It was a group effort of every president since Eisenhower starting or continuing the Cold War practice of building up our nuclear stockpile which forced the USSR to do the same. Their money just ran out first, and it ran out during Reagan's tenure.

TlalocW

[unblock]

4. well, bush, really, but why let a detail like that interfere with ronnie's sainthood?

[jberryhill]

6. Yep

I had this one come up in a recent conversation with youngish low-information voter not old enough to remember Reagan. When explaining how Reagan exploded the federal budget, his response was "But he had the Cold War to deal with!"

It was the unwavering course of US policy of containment, detente and constructive engagement where possible, despite excessive blunders, over the course of 50 years, and then the disastrous Soviet adventure in Afghanistan which pateintly chipped away at that system.

But it seems kids are taught that "Reagan brought down the Soviet Union" instead of, as you put it, every president since TRUMAN.

Crediting Reagan is like the rooster taking credit for the sunrise, and really is a disservice to a long, tedious effort over decades.

[unblock]

3. from the beginning to the end of the cold war, all presidents had essentially the same policy

and furthermore, the cold war largely ended due to the changes in the ussr under gorbachev, largely due to the economic stagnation under their system.

every president, most certainly including reagan, touted the superiority of capitalism over communism, and said that the ussr would ultimately collapse due to their inefficient system.

right up until the end of the cold war, this was considered a big propaganda point for our side, and for conservatives in particular.


all the changed when the republicans decided to elevate reagan to sainthood. they gave him credit for being nearby when something happened.

[rrneck]

5. The claim is that he made them spend themselves into bankruptcy.

The arms race might have been a factor, but other factors like their little excursion into Afghanistan and the general inefficiency of the totalitarian government and Communist economic system garners the bulk of the blame.

ETA Here's an interesting book.

The Drunkard's Walk: How Randomness Rules Our Lives
A drunkard's walk is a type of random statistical distribution with important applications in scientific studies ranging from biology to astronomy. Mlodinow, a visiting lecturer at Caltech and coauthor with Stephen Hawking of A Briefer History of Time, leads readers on a walk through the hills and valleys of randomness and how it directs our lives more than we realize. Mlodinow introduces important historical figures such as Bernoulli, Laplace and Pascal, emphasizing their ideas rather than their tumultuous private lives. Mlodinow defines such tricky concepts as regression to the mean and the law of large numbers, which should help readers as they navigate the daily deluge of election polls and new studies on how to live to 100.

Mlodinow makes the point several times that luck has much more to do with success than we realize or care to admit. Reagan was in the right place at the right time.

[rickford66]

7. Don't forget Poland....W Bush

[WatermelonRat]

8. There is a bit of merit to that argument.

By increasing military spending through the roof and aiding anti-communist insurgencies all over the world, he pushed the Soviets to increase their own spending until they broke their already stagnant economy. The bad economy, in addition to contributing to general dissatisfaction, is what prompted the Gorbechev reforms which in turn eventually led to the end of the Soviet Union.

Basically, it was through a chain of unforseeable events that Reagan himself never predicted or planned.

[underpants]

10. I have read here and elsewhere that the increase in military spending extended the Cold War

it is commonly accepted in the diplomatic and economic world that Reagan's massive expansion in military spending had two results:
1. lined the pockets of his cronies
2. extended the Cold War for 10 years.

The old Red Army types beat the dreaded Nazis/Germans and they weren't about to lose to the Americans without a shot fired. They were fine in their situation so they forced the issue with Breshnev and others.

The Soviet system was doomed for failure by the 1950's and they knew it. When Stalin finally died there was much consideration to just phasing out of it. As an economic system, especially the way they had it set up, it was never going to work. The Red Army said "HELL NYET!!" and so it went on.

[RainDog]

9. Actually, it was Hungarians who put a lot of things in place

Which a reporter notes in his book: The Year that Changed the World: The Untold Story Behind the Fall of the Berlin Wall.

The good historian is a myth buster. Michael Meyer is a very good historian. As Newsweek's bureau chief for Eastern Europe in 1989, he watched the world turn on a dime. The myth he busts in this book concerns the contribution the United States made to the collapse of communist regimes that year. Some Americans want to believe that those regimes crumbled because of White House manipulation -- clever diplomacy backed by raw power. In fact, American meddling was rather benign and, during that fateful year, conspicuously ill conceived.

The preferred myth begins with Ronald Reagan speaking at the Brandenburg Gate on June 12, 1987. "We hear from Moscow about a new openness," he sneered, demanding proof. "Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!" According to the myth, the wall came tumbling down because Reagan, like some benevolent wizard, shouted "Open Sesame!" The moral drawn is that evil, dictatorial regimes crumble when confronted by righteous indignation. Cue Saddam Hussein. George W. Bush, who idolized Reagan, tried to emulate his hero. His distortion of the past inspired tragedy in the present.

The real story, minus the comic book hero, is more complicated -- and interesting. Reagan still plays a role, but as diplomat, not Rambo. His contribution came in accommodation; his willingness to talk to Gorbachev gave the Soviet leader the confidence to break molds. Gorbachev, furthermore, did not tear down the wall; he merely suggested that change would be tolerated.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/04/AR2009090401751.html

The reason the Berlin Wall fell when it did is because no one told the guard at the gate to harm protestors who were there that night. That's the entire reason it happened when it did.

Hungary had already begun to open up East Berlin with "vacations" that allowed East Berliners an escape.

fwiw - I was in East Berlin a few years ago with some friends and we were in a shoe store. The owner said he missed communism b/c capitalism made life much harder for his family.

sales of tourist items, tho, are a huge economic boost - people have probably sold 1000 times the number of actual material from the Berlin Wall attached to postcards, etc. I have a few of them, in fact.

[underpants]

11. Yes + the Poles (as noted above) + their system + Gorbachev (he was the tipping point)

I was in Germany from 90-93 in the Army. There was a ex-GI who stayed and married a German woman (nice people) and got a job working on the roads. His story of that night is close to yours. There was road work being done on a road that literally touched the wall. The workers left all their hand tools at the site (as Germans often do) at the end of the day. On the same road there were several bars. Basically pubs - everyone hits them after dinner or for dinner. Later in the night several drunks stumbled out and saw the tools and basically one of them said, "F^(# it!!" and started pic axing ....others said "Hell Yeah" ....and so on.

As you stated about the guard this situation was that the police who arrived hesitated or weren't sure what to do. The bars kept emptying and people kept trading the tools around. It got out of hand (in a good way) and down it came. That was his story anyway. He said that the crane operators were part of the work crew which would make sense. People don't typically just jump in those things and figure out how to operate them.

[RainDog]

12. The book I mentioned

was from someone covering the area at the time - he spoke with all sorts of people. It's a good read - I have a brand new hardback copy of it on sale via my online store for less than a paperback, in fact, if you're interested... lol, but srsly.

sent me a pm and I'll send you a link.