The passing of a movie idol-turned-politician

Producer: Felix Tan
First broadcast: 7 June 04, Radio Singapore International

As the United States prepares for a state funeral for former US President Ronald Reagan, the world mourns the loss of a film start trained politician.

The former president died of Alzheimer’s disease over the weekend after battling the illness for almost a decade.

From Hollywood star to a two-term Republican President, Ronald Reagan made an impact on US politics during the Cold War era.

But why was he so well liked among Americans and the international community?

Felix Tan puts this question to Dr. Joseph Siracusa (JS), author of the book ‘DEPRESSION TO COLD WAR: A History of America from Herbert Hoover to Ronald Reagan, 1929-89’

JS: “Well, some presidents have been good administrators and chief executives, but not very good human beings. I think Reagan’s warmth came out. He had what we would call today ‘emotional intelligence’ - that is he is able to put a sort of warm, fuzzy look on his conservatism. He presided over a triumph of conservatism and in fact, in my book, I titled the final chapter ‘The conservative revolution’ for which he was mainly responsible. And more than any other leader in contemporary world - including Margaret Thatcher - he invited the conservative revival of the 1980s, in terms of American ideals, American superiority in arms, negotiating strength and the rest of it. And of course, he came at a time when Americans were looking for a hero. The nation had been battled by Vietnam, damaged by Watergate and humiliated by the taking of the hostages by the Ayatollah Khomeini and he comes along and said that he is going to make America stand tall again. And he did.”

What would you say were Ronald Reagan’s most significant achievements during his tenure as President?

JS: “Well, the first thing is that he presided over an economic recovery in which the people of America created and filled 19 million new jobs. And in doing that, he was able to… the damage of inflation and lower taxes. That was his first achievement - he presided over an economic recovery that most people doubted at the time when it was possible. Now, the second thing is that he was responsible for the recovery of the morale of the American people at the time when the morale was very, very low. And probably a third achievement and that is he revitalised the office of the Presidency. Up till this time, between Vietnam and LBJ and Watergate and rest of it, the office of the President had taken a real battering. And what he has… his third major achievement, I think, was to revive the office as an important position in the United States. It could have taken a beating from which it could never recover. Now that is the domestic side. I suppose you could also say he was there when the Cold War started to end because for a while there, he heated up the Cold War with the arms race and threats against the Soviet Union. But to be fair to him - and this is a year before the Berlin Wall came down - he and Gorbachev, quietly and privately called the Cold War off. I mean, they sort of agreed that, in their various meetings, to sort of ‘cool it’.”

The Cold War was filled with complex political issues. So, what would you say was Ronald Reagan’s approach, would it be right to say that some of these approaches might have worked?

JS: “Yes. What he did was he revived the policy of containment - that is the containment of the Soviet threat. And he was very good at it. He indirectly helped the Afghan rebels - the Mujahadeens. He got plenty of arms to the rebels of Afghanistan to eject the Soviet Union. He forced the Cubans out of Africa. He triumphed over a number of left-wing governments in Central America by helping right-wing insurgents in the light. He revived the issue... the policy of containment and he played it for all that it was worth. So, I think in that sense that was the focus of his foreign policy with the Soviet Union and its friends and allies. And he set himself to defeat them and of course, to a certain extent, the Soviet Union defeated itself and you could see for yourself that today, the Afghans are quite capable of defending themselves.”

How far do you think Ronald Reagan’s policies - foreign and domestic - as well as the legacy of what he has achieved have been carried forward in the United States then?

JS: “Well, he presided over what I call, the conservative revolution - that is, he took the Americans and he moved them to the right. He became a ‘law and order’ president. He really fulfilled or realised everything that Richard Nixon has started. In the 60’s, Richard Nixon had invited the workers, the traditional democrats to join the Republicans Party on the ‘law and order’ issue. And he fulfilled the job that Nixon started and that is to make the Republican Party, not a party of wealthy people, a party of technocrats and businessmen, but he invited the average workers into the Republicans Party where they felt comfortable. That is what I mean the ‘conservative revolution’. He invited the majority of the Americans to join Republican cause, whether they join the Party or not. And you have got to remember, the Republicans do not have that many of registered voters. He dig very deeply into the blue collar workers and the disinfected democrats out there. So, I think that will be his lasting contribution - conservative revolution in the United States.”