John Howard: Man of tradition who reshaped history

June 14, 2004
I WAS wrong about Ronald Reagan. Back in 1980 when the Republican primaries
were being held I wanted George Bush (who later became 41st president) to win.
My view reflected much of the conventional wisdom at the time. Reagan was a
movie star. It was too old at the age of 69 to be commencing a presidential
career. He did not seem to have the same background in national political
responsibility as his Republican primary rival Bush.

Subsequent events proved me and many others completely wrong.

The first and most important thing that Reagan did as president was to restore
America's sense of self-belief.

SNIP> Reagan's dominant role in the collapse of the Soviet reach

to be described as America's greatest president since World WarII.

No debates about his domestic economic policies can detract from his decisive
shaping of such history-changing events.

John Howard: Man of tradition who reshaped history

June 14, 2004
I WAS wrong about Ronald Reagan. Back in 1980 when the Republican primaries
were being held I wanted George Bush (who later became 41st president) to win.
My view reflected much of the conventional wisdom at the time. Reagan was a
movie star. It was too old at the age of 69 to be commencing a presidential
career. He did not seem to have the same background in national political
responsibility as his Republican primary rival Bush.

Subsequent events proved me and many others completely wrong.

The first and most important thing that Reagan did as president was to restore
America's sense of self-belief.

It may sound strange even to raise the issue of self-belief when talking of the
most powerful country in the world. In 1980, however, the US was experiencing
great self-doubt. The combination of Watergate, the Iranian hostage crisis, the
lingering trauma of Vietnam and economic challenges had combined to produce a
sense in which America's greatest years were behind it.

In the many tributes to Reagan of the past few days I was struck by Colin
Powell's reference to how, in the early 1980s, US military officers employed by
the Pentagon often came to work in civilian clothing – as if their military
identity needed to be hidden. This was symbolic of the self-doubt felt by many
Americans.

Reagan set about changing this by connecting very directly and effectively with
the traditional values of his country. He appealed to America's sense of
self-reliance. He stressed the importance of the individual as against the
state and he was especially able to appeal to the frontier spirit always strong
in his country.

Reagan was an immensely gifted communicator. Watching replays of old campaign
advertisements during the past few days, one was constantly reminded of just
how effective he was in communicating a simple message. More than any president
in my living memory, he had a tremendous ability to talk directly to the
American people – overwhelmingly through television – over the heads of
commentators and the political elite.

Of course, Reagan's greatest legacy will be the role he played in the implosion
of the Soviet empire. He deserved all the accolades that have come his way
since his death. There is no doubt that internal strains on the Soviets were
apparent when Reagan came to office. His decision, however, to massively
increase defence spending and confront philosophically the Soviet Union
produced the responses from Mikhail Gorbachev that resulted in the historic
events of the late '80s.

It should not be forgotten that Reagan initially was ridiculed by so many for
his stance. Many so-called experts in East-West relations poured scorn on his
references to the evil empire. His now famous "tear down this wall" speech was
criticised at the time for being too extreme and indeed harking back to a '50s
mindset.

What Reagan's critics did not understand was that they were themselves the
victims of '50s thinking. Remember that in the '50s many accepted that not only
was the Soviet Union close to being the military equivalent of the US but that
in time it would also be its economic equivalent. The ultimate collapse of
communism demonstrated just how unsoundly based such views had been.

Reagan's strong ideological stance made many of his critics feel uncomfortable.
This was because there was a strong streak of moral equivalence in many of the
attitudes towards Reagan's policies in the '80s. It had been a long time since
a US president – or indeed, in Margaret Thatcher, a British prime minister
– had so directly attacked the moral basis of Soviet communism and
passionately articulated the moral superiority of the democratic West and its
liberal values system.

The collapse of Soviet communism has been the most profound political event in
the history of the world since the end of World WarII. Not only did it end the
Cold War, it also exposed the total failure of the centrally planned command
approach to economic management which for far too long had held sections of the
Western intelligentsia and media in its thrall.

Although the world has not embraced completely unrestrained laissez-faire
capitalism, there is little doubt about the wide acceptance of predominantly
market-based approaches to economic management.

China's remarkable economic
progress in recent years is a direct consequence of a less centrally controlled
economic approach, notwithstanding the continuation of an authoritarian
political system in that country.

Reagan's dominant role in the collapse of the Soviet reach alone entitles him
to be described as America's greatest president since World WarII.
No debates about his domestic economic policies can detract from his decisive
shaping of such history-changing events.