Over there at the site of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library is a reminder of the Gipper’s wisdom in dealing with foreign adversaries.
The reminder is headlined: “Peace Through Strength.”
And it opens with this Reagan reminder delivered when accepting the 1980 GOP presidential nomination in Detroit on July 17. Said the freshly nominated Reagan: “We know only too well that war comes not when the forces of freedom are strong, but when they are weak. It is then that tyrants are tempted.”
The Library goes on with a lengthy reminder of Reagan’s words that night. My younger self was there in person listening to the man who would, down the road, be my boss in his second White House term. And there was no mistaking his meaning that night in 1980.
Today the Reagan Library records this:
“The foundation of Reagan’s foreign policy, known as the Reagan Doctrine, was the support of freedom for all people around the world. His commitment to the idea of ‘peace through strength’ led to the modernization of our military forces. During Reagan’s administration, the size of the U.S. Army grew by two active divisions and saw the development of new weapons systems. The Strategic Defense Initiative, or “Star Wars,” was announced as a defense against a nuclear attack. It was President Reagan’s hope that his new military initiatives would not only contain communism but defeat it.”
That was indeed Reagan’s hope. And while all manner of supposed foreign policy wise men from the Washington Establishment insisted Reagan was getting things dangerously wrong, the new president was convinced he was right.
In fact, the staff of the day was told that Reagan had been asked by a staff member what his view of dealing with the Soviet Union in the Cold War was, and the president responded simply: “We win, they lose.”
This was a point of view that came close to terrifying the Washington and foreign policy establishment. After all, since the end of World War II and the beginning of what became known as the “Cold War,” the accepted “wisdom” of the foreign policy wizards was that peaceful “co-existence” was the fact of life in the new Cold War. Anything other than that was seriously dangerous and likely to provoke a World War III.
And while all manner of so-called “wise men” in the Establishment of the day insisted Reagan was wrong, in fact he was decidedly right on the money. He raised the budget of military spending and made clear that Soviet interventions in places like Central America and Europe were not to be tolerated.
And surprise, surprise, Reagan was right on the money. Shortly after he left office eight years later — an eight-year period where Reagan built up the U.S. military in massive fashion — the Soviet Union would in fact collapse, bringing to an end decades of Communist interventions around the globe. Not to mention the collapse of the Soviet Union itself.
Among much else, there was enthusiastic support from the people of Berlin when Reagan visited and encouraged the people of Berlin to heed Reagan’s call to “tear down this wall.”
And amazingly enough, that is exactly what happened.
What does this history have to do with President Trump?
In short, everything.
In today’s world, it is President Trump who is standing up with visible support of the “peace through strength” doctrine. This time an American president is dealing not with the adversary that was the Soviet Union — although Russia’s Vladimir Putin lurks in the shadows. This time the out-front adversary is Iran, a country that has cast itself in an adversarial role with the United States since the takeover of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran way back there in 1979.
But while the U.S. adversaries may be different then and now, the hard fact is that dealing with both revolved and revolves around the same principle of peace through strength that Reagan relied on.
Is this easy to do? Decidedly not. In Reagan’s day, there was all manner of open opposition to his policies. Among other things, there were protests with thousands in different spots around the globe and America itself taking to the streets to protest Reagan’s policies.
As just one sample was this headline from The New York Times in June of 1984: “Thousands in London Protest U.S.A.-Arms Policy.”
The story reported this:
According to the organizers, more than 150,000 people took part in the march, including such well-known figures as Michael Foot, the former leader of the Labor party, and Susannah York, the actress. About 200 of the marchers carried irises as a symbol of peace. At the head of the line of march was an 18-foot-long cardboard model of a United States cruise missile and placards saying, ”Return to sender.” Britain to Get 160 Missiles
The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament advocates the removal of all nuclear arms from this country, including the cruise missiles that were installed near London in December. Britain is ultimately to receive 160 of the 572 cruise missiles in Europe.
The point is crystal clear. As President Trump now deals with the serious adversary that is Iran, he is employing “peace through strength” as the key of his policy.
Which is to say, the president is using the time-tested principles of dealing with an adversary employed by American presidents whether the presidents were named Reagan, Nixon, Kennedy, Roosevelt or, going way back, Lincoln.
In short, President Trump gets it.
And America and the world are safer exactly because he does.
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