The Leadership and
Legacy of the Cold War
President
L
Janet Tran
Education Manager of the Walter and Leonore Annenberg Presidential Learning Center at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation
Anthony Pennay
Director of the Walter and Leonore Annenberg Presidential Learning Center at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation
ike so many of the enjoyable aspects of the study of
British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher recalled that
policies long after he has moved out of 1600 Pennsylvania
Cold War have faded into distant memory, but, as is true for
polls consistently find President Reagan in the top five most
differs greatly from the spread of communism, lessons from
history, presidential legacies are not fixed. A president’s
legacy is based not only on his accomplishments in
office, but the context of the times and the aftermath of his
Avenue. President Ronald Reagan left office in 1989 with a 60
percent approval rating, but post-presidency events, research,
and publications have equally shaped his legacy. Recent
popular American Presidents. While facts do not change, as
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presidential documents are unearthed and policies are played
out, the hand of history hones and refines the narrative.
Recently published “new” histories of presidents such as
Washington and Lincoln, removed from office a century or
more, exemplify the long arc of presidential narratives.
Whereas Washington is linked to the Founding, and Lincoln
to the Civil War, President Reagan is inextricably tied to the
drama-filled backdrop of the Cold War. Of course, hindsight
President Reagan’s contemporaries advocated the popular
option of appeasing the Soviet Union, fearful of a third global
conflict.3 Today the fear of nuclear winter and the threat of the
each generation of Americans, historians and fans of history
seek to contextualize the events of the present through the
lens of the past. While today’s current threat of terrorism
the leadership of President Reagan, his firm belief in the
ultimate triumph of freedom and his resolve to end the Cold
War, are still applicable to diplomacy in unstable regions in
the world today.
3
Margaret Thatcher, “Lecture to the Heritage Foundation: The Principles of
Conservatism,” December 10, 1997, transcript. Margaret Thatcher Archive. http://
www.margaretthatcher.org/document/108376
is 40/20, with historians proclaiming they stood with the
president who demanded the dismantling of the Berlin Wall
and predicted the collapse of the Soviet Union. However, during
the Reagan presidency, it was a “thin and sustainable hope
that some future President” would stand at the landmark of
the Berlin Wall and “recall that years before President Ronald
Reagan had gone there and predicted the Wall’s decay.”2
“Gallup Poll,” Gallup Organization. Accessed January 28, 2014. http://www.gallup.
com/poll/124922/presidential-approval-center.aspx
2
Sidey, Hugh, “Rekindling Pride and Purpose,” Time Magazine 119, no 25 (June, 21,
1982).
1
President Reagan writing his State of the Union Address in the Oval
Office, January 24, 1983. (Photo courtesy of http://www.reagan.utexas.
edu/archives/photographs/large/c12572-6A.jpg. C12572-6A)
NATIONAL HISTORY DAY 2015
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