Reagan and Trump, Alike in Their Flippancy - a WSJ letter
Both presidents Reagan and Trump share a penchant for uttering (or tweeting) inflammatory words that could provoke a nuclear crisis.
Most Americans are unaware that in November 1983 Ronald Reagan’s record of risky rhetoric nearly resulted in a nuclear exchange. National security experts have called it the nearest we’ve come to nuclear war since the Cuban Missile Crisis. It was known as the Able-Archer 83 NATO war games scare.
Leading up to the crisis, Reagan had provocatively said that “the Soviet Union was the focus of evil in the modern world” and an “evil empire.” Reagan also offered Trump-like flippant jokes, once publicly saying “we begin bombing [Russia] in five minutes.”
In late 1983 a nuclear crisis over new missiles was brewing like the current one with North Korea. The Soviets twice mistook sunlight reflected off clouds as U.S. nuclear missile launches. Moscow nearly counter-launched. Then the Soviets shot down a Korean Air Lines flight. Tensions were fever pitched. A month later, NATO held military exercises that the Soviets were convinced were preparations for a pre-emptive nuclear first strike. Only an instinctive pullback by Reagan’s national security adviser saved the world from a probable nuclear catastrophe.
The words of the American president matter as much today as in 1983. In some ways the reckless rhetoric of Ronald Reagan and Donald Trump are very much alike—but in a dangerous way.
Frank Richter
Clawson, Mich.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/reagan-and-trump-alike-in-their-flippancy-1514316802
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