Reagan's Legacy in a World Transformed PDF
Preview Reagan's Legacy in a World Transformed
REAGAN’S LEGACY IN A WORLD TRANSFORMED Reagan’s Legacy in a World Transformed Edited by JEFFREY L. CHIDESTER and PAUL KENGOR Cambridge, Massachusetts London, En gland 2015 Copyright © 2015 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America First printing Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data Reagan’s legacy in a world transformed / edited by Jeff rey L. Chidester and Paul Kengor. pages cm Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-674-96769-4 (alk. paper) 1. United States— Foreign relations—1981–1989. 2. U nited States— Foreign relations—1989– 3. R eagan, Ronald— Infl uence. I. Chidester, Jeff rey L., editor, author. II. Kengor, Paul, 1966– editor, author. E876.R423 2015 973.927092— dc23 2014035126 Contents foreword B rian Mulroney . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vii Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Paul Kengor and Jeff rey L. Chidester I. At Home and Abroad: The Global Impact of Reagan’s Domestic Policy 1. Ronald Reagan and the New Age of Globalization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Alfred E. Eckes Jr. 2. Th e “Great Expansion”: Th e Economic Legacy of Ronald Reagan . . . . . Henry R. Nau 3. “Th e Balancer”: Ronald Reagan, Party Politics, and U.S. Grand Strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Peter Trubowitz II. Trends in Global Democracy: The Reagan Legacy 4. From Containment to Liberation: U.S. Strategy toward Eastern Eu rope . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jeff rey L. Chidester 5. Reagan’s “March of Freedom” in a Changing World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Paul Kengor vi Contents III. A New National Strategy: Reagan’s Defense Policy Revisited 6. Th e Beginning of a New U.S. Grand Strategy: Policy on Terror during the Reagan Era . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Kiron K. Skinner 7. Ronald Reagan and American Defense . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Eliot A. Cohen IV. The Great Debate: Reagan and Negotiating the End of the Cold War 8. A World of Fewer Nuclear Weapons: Ronald Reagan’s Willingness to Negotiate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Paul Kengor 9. Building Up and Seeking Peace: President Reagan’s Cold War Legacy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Beth A. Fischer 10. Ronald Reagan, Liberalism, and the Politics of Nuclear War and National Security, 1981–1985 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Julian E. Zelizer V. Reagan and Multilateralism: Two Voices 11. Ronald Reagan’s Approach to the United Nations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Kim R. Holmes 12. Ronald Reagan, the Pragmatic Internationalist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Barry E. Carter notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ac knowl edg ments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . contributors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Foreword brian mulroney Reagan’s Legacy in a World Transformed is all about remembering Ronald Reagan, his presidency, and the manner in which he changed the world. During his centennial year in 2011, individuals of great distinction the world over shared their personal refl ections of the fortieth American presi- dent and bore witness to his life’s work. Many knew Ronald Reagan longer and better than I did. Some worked with him daily for years. I knew him as a fellow G-7 leader with whom I shared moments of high drama on the world stage during one of the most explosive de cades in modern history. We became friends, and I saw him often when questions of world peace or war w ere being determined. In that most scalding of po liti cal cauldrons, I observed Ronald Reagan closely. Th at is the perspective I bring with me to open this volume. Some years ago the legendary New York Times columnist Scotty Reston came to lunch with me at 24 Sussex, the prime minister’s offi cial residence in Ottawa. After an impressive “tour d’horizon,” Mr. Reston said: “You know, Prime Minister, for the last 25 years I have opposed every single policy that your friend Ronald Reagan has ever stood for.” Th en he added: “And during that same period, Ronald Reagan was twice elected governor of California and twice elected president of the United States.” Th is self-d eprecatory observation— I thought memorable because of its infrequency at the New York Times— was delivered somewhat ruefully, as if Mr. Reston were perplexed by his own admission. But to so wise an observer as Reston, the answer surely should have been very clear. It’s called leadership— that ineff able and sometimes magical quality that sets some men and women viii Foreword apart so that millions will follow them as they conjure up new visions and invite their countrymen to dream big and exciting dreams. In his seminal work on leadership, James MacGregor Burns segregates “transactional” from “transforming” leadership. He writes that it is the trans- forming leader who “raised the level of human conduct of both leader and led . . . who responds to fundamental hopes and expectations and who may transcend and even seek to reconstruct the pol iti cal system rather than simply operate within it.” Many suggest that great, inexorable currents of history themselves— and not individual leaders—s eal our fate. In my judgment, how- ever, Carlyle was on target when he observed that the right man in the right place at the right time can completely change the course of history. I believe that to be true because I was there to see it happen. In a brilliant address delivered some years ago in Canada, Th eodore Sorenson— himself a skilled observer of powerful leaders— said: Once in offi ce those who wish to stand up and stand out and leave some- thing enduring behind must build new institutions, not new images. Th ey must look to the next generation, not merely the next election. Th ey must talk in terms of fundamental values, not merely costs. Th ey must appeal to our hopes as well as our needs, to what we long to be and what we know is right. Th at’s leadership. Does this remind you of anybody? Now, if today you asked the American people if they think Ronald Reagan was a “transforming” president or simply a “transactional” one, what do you think they would reply? Look around you, they would say, the Reagan Revo- lution and its powerful eff ects on freedom, economic prosperity, the private sector, and the public good are clearly visible both to contemporary America and to history. President Reagan’s personal qualities defi ned his presidency in interesting ways. One day at lunch in Tokyo during a discussion of leading personalities in public life, I asked him who he really disliked in American politics. He thought for a moment, looked at me quizzically, and said: “You know, Brian, I just can’t think of one at the moment. I’m fi xated on what looks like an eel in my soup.” Th is was a very disconcerting answer for any Canadian prime minister who, on his best days, has more adversaries than friends— and who can clearly remember every insult or slight from any opponent since his four- Foreword ix teenth birthday. In fact, in some countries such generous detachment of atti- tude in politics would probably be unconstitutional. Nevertheless, under my insistent interrogation, President Reagan fi nally identifi ed a former associate as someone he actually disliked. Th is display of vindictiveness on his part made me feel better and partially restored my faith in the American pol iti cal proc ess. To be fully serious, however, I noted that because of this absence of malice, President Reagan’s judgments w ere unaff ected by the pettiness and mean- spiritedness that tend to make good intentions bad and tough situations worse. He never sought to get even with anybody except by the triumph of his ideas. He struck me as a leader more interested in healing old wounds than in settling old scores. In consequence, his true nature and sunny personality came through to the American people, who reveled in the choice of a presi- dent who clearly made policy not for easy headlines in 10 days but a better America in 10 years. I also thought that President Reagan’s understanding of the nobility of the presidency coincided with the American dream. One day in Brussels following a NATO meeting, President François Mitterrand of France, in referring to Ronald Reagan, said to me: “Tu sais, Brian, notre ami Ronald Reagan a vrai- ment la notion de l’État.” Rough translation: “You know, Brian, our friend Ronald Reagan really has a sense of the State about him.” Th e translation does not fully capture the profundity of the observation: what Mitterrand meant was that there is a vast diff erence between the job of president and the role of president. In fact, many people can do the job. Few, however, fully grasp that unusual alchemy of history, tradition, achievement, personal conduct, and national pride that defi ne the special role the U.S. president must assume at home and around the world. “La notion de l’État”—no one understood it better than Ronald Reagan, and no one could more eloquently summon his nation to high purpose or bring forth the majesty of the presidency and make it glow better than the man who saw his country as a “shining city on a hill.” Ronald Reagan’s mature attitude to life while in offi ce framed his presi- dency forever. President Kennedy captivated America and the world 54 years ago, in January 1961, in large mea sure because of the excitement and promise of his youth. From that day on, the celebration of youth in public life was over- powering and pervasive. It was also somewhat misleading. But around the world,
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