Opinion of Ronald Reagan

[Mr. Smith]

HP

[Oldiesfreak1854]

FF, and the best president since WWII (not a hack).

[TheSaint250]

One of the worst best

[Thank you for being a friend...]

He was a great actor.  All an ideology needs is a great actor and you can give it a resurgence.

[Dr. MB]

FF, and the best president since WWII (not a hack).

You could easily make a case for Truman, Eisenhower, or LBJ.

I'm nowhere close to a hack and I think Reagan's policies in general were bad. "But the economy grew" is nothing but a trains-run-on-time argument.

I'd have a much higher opinion of him if not for the War on Drugs, the AIDS epidemic, arming the contras and mujahideen, supporting any dictator/group so-long as they were anti-communist, bad financial policies without oversight, etc.

[Alabama_Indy10]

FF, and the best president since WWII (not a hack).

I completely agree.

[Joe Haydn]

Massive HP.

[Oldiesfreak1854]

FF, and the best president since WWII (not a hack).

You could easily make a case for Truman, Eisenhower, or LBJ.

I'm nowhere close to a hack and I think Reagan's policies in general were bad. "But the economy grew" is nothing but a trains-run-on-time argument.

I'd have a much higher opinion of him if not for the War on Drugs, the AIDS epidemic, arming the contras and mujahideen, supporting any dictator/group so-long as they were anti-communist, bad financial policies without oversight, etc.

His support of anti-communist dictators was not that exceptional compared to most of his predecessors.  Truman and Eisenhower both supported intervention to remove Mosaddeq in Iran, Kennedy and Johnson both propped up Forbes Burnham in Guyana, and Nixon supported the coup against Allende in Chile.

LBJ was not the best president since WWII by any measure.  He sent us to war in Vietnam on false pretenses, then lied about how the war was going; the Great Society failed massively, and only passed civil rights legislation to shore up his black support, not because he actually believed in it.

[Oswald Acted Alone, You Kook]

FF, and the best president since WWII (not a hack).

You could easily make a case for Truman, Eisenhower, or LBJ.

I'm nowhere close to a hack and I think Reagan's policies in general were bad. "But the economy grew" is nothing but a trains-run-on-time argument.

I'd have a much higher opinion of him if not for the War on Drugs, the AIDS epidemic, arming the contras and mujahideen, supporting any dictator/group so-long as they were anti-communist, bad financial policies without oversight, etc.

His support of anti-communist dictators was not that exceptional compared to most of his predecessors.  Truman and Eisenhower both supported intervention to remove Mosaddeq in Iran, Kennedy and Johnson both propped up Forbes Burnham in Guyana, and Nixon supported the coup against Allende in Chile.

LBJ was not the best president since WWII by any measure.  He sent us to war in Vietnam on false pretenses, then lied about how the war was going; the Great Society failed massively, and only passed civil rights legislation to shore up his black support, not because he actually believed in it.

Also, Nixon started the War on Drugs, not Reagan.

And no, LBJ didn't only pass civil rights legislation for black support. He genuinely believed it.

[Dr. MB]

FF, and the best president since WWII (not a hack).

You could easily make a case for Truman, Eisenhower, or LBJ.

I'm nowhere close to a hack and I think Reagan's policies in general were bad. "But the economy grew" is nothing but a trains-run-on-time argument.

I'd have a much higher opinion of him if not for the War on Drugs, the AIDS epidemic, arming the contras and mujahideen, supporting any dictator/group so-long as they were anti-communist, bad financial policies without oversight, etc.

His support of anti-communist dictators was not that exceptional compared to most of his predecessors.  Truman and Eisenhower both supported intervention to remove Mosaddeq in Iran, Kennedy and Johnson both propped up Forbes Burnham in Guyana, and Nixon supported the coup against Allende in Chile.

LBJ was not the best president since WWII by any measure.  He sent us to war in Vietnam on false pretenses, then lied about how the war was going; the Great Society failed massively, and only passed civil rights legislation to shore up his black support, not because he actually believed in it.

On the first point, I'm not condoning any of that.

Second, yeah, I admit LBJ was a gigantic mixed bag – terrible foreign policy, but regardless of intent good legislation was passed under him – civil rights and Medicare, which both had a gigantic impact.

[RINO Tom]

FF, and the best president since WWII (not a hack).

You could easily make a case for Truman, Eisenhower, or LBJ.

I'm nowhere close to a hack and I think Reagan's policies in general were bad. "But the economy grew" is nothing but a trains-run-on-time argument.

I'd have a much higher opinion of him if not for the War on Drugs, the AIDS epidemic, arming the contras and mujahideen, supporting any dictator/group so-long as they were anti-communist, bad financial policies without oversight, etc.

His support of anti-communist dictators was not that exceptional compared to most of his predecessors.  Truman and Eisenhower both supported intervention to remove Mosaddeq in Iran, Kennedy and Johnson both propped up Forbes Burnham in Guyana, and Nixon supported the coup against Allende in Chile.

LBJ was not the best president since WWII by any measure.  He sent us to war in Vietnam on false pretenses, then lied about how the war was going; the Great Society failed massively, and only passed civil rights legislation to shore up his black support, not because he actually believed in it.

Also, Nixon started the War on Drugs, not Reagan.

And no, LBJ didn't only pass civil rights legislation for black support. He genuinely believed it.

How would you prove this one way or the other?

[Sestak]

Better than W.

[fluffypanther19]

As Trump said, he was a "great cheerleader for America", but a massive HP on balance.

honestly america needed that cheer after the 70s, but yeah HP overall

[tallguy23]

Amazing speaker but I carry a grudge considering he worsened the AIDS crisis and closed all the mental asylums (hence our homeless problems).

I also disagreed with his economic policies.

[🐒Gods of Prosperity🔱🐲💸]

Overall, an HP. He began the process of radicalizing the Republican Party and made the Religious Right a force in American Politics, it was on his watch that Income Inequality started to become an issue, he began the notion of "Deficits Don't Matter" (except when Democrats are in the Presidency of course), and it seems like ever since 1981, the tax burden has shifted from the Wealthy to the working class and what's left of the Middle Class. His response to the AIDS epidemic was a disgrace, the Reagan Cabinet was more criminal than even Nixon's, he sold Weapons to an enemy state to skirt the Boland Amendment and fund the Contras, and brought the Cold War tensions to dangerous highs in his first term.

Reagan does have a few bright spots though. He worked with Gorbachev in his Second term to wind down the Cold War, and while Reagan didn't single handily win the Cold War, I don't think it would've ended as smoothly as it did if he, Bush Sr., and Gorbachev hadn't done what they did from '85-'91. Reagan also, after the country was rocked by the events of the '60's and '70's, made everyone feel good about America again. Also, the fact that he served two full terms also gave people the perception that the Presidency worked again as for the two decades prior to Reagan, Presidents were either defeated (Ford, Carter), assassinated (JFK), declined to run again (LBJ), or driven out of office due to Scandal (Nixon). Also I will say that despite how misguided and even pig headed his views were, Reagan did seem like a decent human being.

I agree with most of this, though I have a more positive opinion overall.  Given my opposition to abortion and some other "pro-family" views I see bringing in the Religious Right as a good thing in some important ways, though a bad thing in a lot of ugly stuff toward gays and identity politics distractions that arose out of the movement.  The way various social and cultural politics have increasingly polarized along partisan lines is a harmful development, though I'm not sure how much Reagan had to do with that.

Reagan was at a basic level an idealist, a believer in American exceptionalism and the power of free market economics, which served him well in some areas and led him astray in others.
Growing up with his Presidency and seeing the fall of the Berlin Wall leading up to the end of the Cold War adds for me some significance to his tenure. Reagan talked of an "Evil Empire," while too much ignoring the evils committed by America and her allies.  He enlarged the nuclear arsenal at first, but his ultimate goal was for a world without nuclear weapons. He offered to Gorbachev to cooperate in anti-ballistic missile defense technology. I read an account where the question came up whether if the Russians struck first with a nuclear attack would Reagan respond in kind; this author came away with the distinct sense that Reagan would not, and it isn't hard to believe.

His attitude toward immigrants, coming out of that American idealism, was much more positive than the more narrow nationalism put forward by Republicans throughout much of the 90s and today.  The free "Shining city on the hill" is a worthy aspiration, even if we need to be cognizant of our limits in order to preserve it.

[Lechasseur]

Ehhh. Undecided.

Yeah I'm actually going to say HP, despite being an FF geopolitically.

How come?

At anyrate for me he had some flaws but overall FF

[Lechasseur]

FF, and the best president since WWII (not a hack).

You could easily make a case for Truman, Eisenhower, or LBJ.

I'm nowhere close to a hack and I think Reagan's policies in general were bad. "But the economy grew" is nothing but a trains-run-on-time argument.

I'd have a much higher opinion of him if not for the War on Drugs, the AIDS epidemic, arming the contras and mujahideen, supporting any dictator/group so-long as they were anti-communist, bad financial policies without oversight, etc.

His support of anti-communist dictators was not that exceptional compared to most of his predecessors.  Truman and Eisenhower both supported intervention to remove Mosaddeq in Iran, Kennedy and Johnson both propped up Forbes Burnham in Guyana, and Nixon supported the coup against Allende in Chile.

LBJ was not the best president since WWII by any measure.  He sent us to war in Vietnam on false pretenses, then lied about how the war was going; the Great Society failed massively, and only passed civil rights legislation to shore up his black support, not because he actually believed in it.

True

[courts]

Amazing speaker but I carry a grudge considering he worsened the AIDS crisis and closed all the mental asylums (hence our homeless problems).

I also disagreed with his economic policies.

well to be fair the asylums weren't in great shape and had been closing down for various reasons long before he came in.especially after brennan

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

Amazing speaker but I carry a grudge considering he worsened the AIDS crisis and closed all the mental asylums (hence our homeless problems).

I also disagreed with his economic policies.

well to be fair the asylums weren't in great shape and had been closing down for various reasons long before he came in.especially after brennan

By my recollection, “deinstitutionalization” of the mentally ill was, at the time (say starting in maybe the sixties) treated as a liberatory phenomenon, and was generally regarded as a response to the development of pharmaceuticals that could... contain their symptoms. The big mistake was essentially that they expected all of these folks to stay on their prescriptions, I am told.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Better than W.

That is such a low bar to cross its utterly meaningless.

HP.

[Mr. Illini]

FF. Somewhat overrated by most conservatives, severely underrated by lefties.

I audibly laughed at "severely underrated by lefties." Many liberals seem intent on playing into the conservative notion that he was some sort of god to be worshiped. You see this when liberals are pointing out that he gave the undocumented a path to citizenship and was generally favorable to gun control.

The man did nothing while tens of thousands were dying of AIDS, turned the EPA into essentially a do-nothing agency, and ushered in an unprecedented era of economic inequality. We don't have to pretend that he was a good President or person.

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

...when liberals are pointing out that he gave the undocumented a path to citizenship and was generally favorable to gun control.

I always get amused when people use this argument--and particularly when it's done through some sort of picture, shared on Facebook by people with views--as I generally perceive it as legitimizing other, unmentioned, objectionable stances. I get so confused when I see someone sharing a Ronald Reagan quote on gun control and I ask myself "So you're saying we should also fund death squads?" or something absurd like that.

[SATW]

Massive FF

[OSR stands with Israel]

Here's where historians rank Reagan all time:

https://www.c-span.org/presidentsurvey2017/?page=overall

[DavidB.]

Ehhh. Undecided.

Yeah I'm actually going to say HP, despite being an FF geopolitically.

How come?

At anyrate for me he had some flaws but overall FF

Great foreign policy, but everything that is so utterly wrong with America today domestically was caused, exacerbated or not tackled by him. In addition, his ideological views have long been the consensus, at least within the Republican Party but arguably also among many Democrats before 2008, and we can now see where it has gotten America. Mass immigration has become absolutely crazy from the 1980s onwards. The turn from companies that work for the benefit of the community towards companies that work for the benefit of their rich stakeholders, and screw the people, has been one of the main consequences of Reagan's policies. The War on Drugs has been a disaster regardless of one's opinion of drugs. The extreme inequality and widespread poverty in America have led to an opioid crisis that is absolutely embarrassing in a country as wealthy as the U.S. Some cities, such as Washington DC, deal or did at some point deal with HIV rates comparable to those of some of the worst African cities. Tuition fees in universities are insane. All of this was caused or exacerbated by Reagan and Reaganism. He made America a worse country.