kiki5711 wrote:How well "HE" managed it????
Warren, you're an ex military guy, you really believe that REGAN managed the war? Com'n...he knows about as much as you and me how to manage a war!
There are EXPERIENCED military people who managed the war not him.
First off, Regan, five letters, was treasury secretary. Reagan, six letters, was the President.
As to your main point - not only was I a military guy, Reagan was Commander in Chief for most of my time in the military. I know a lot about how he managed the cold war.
The military does not manage entire wars, because wars have political and economic elements, and not just military elements. The military does handle the actual combat, as well as other operations such as for example the tapping of undersea Soviet cables during the Reagan administration, but the President handles the political aspects and influences the economic aspects.
With respect to the economic aspects, Reagan was brilliant in making sure we used a Cold War strategy that leveraged the economic strength of the free market U.S. system over the Communist Russian system. In large part, the whole "Peace Shield" ballistic missile defense system was an economic play. Reagan actually offered to share the entire program with the Soviets if the Soviets would pay their share - but the Soviets couldn't agree, because their economy simply couldn't support the burden. Ultimately they had to choose between bankrupting their economy to match our progress, or facing an insurmountable strategic disadvantage - or giving up on their Communist economic system, which is what they ultimately did.
Reagan was also good about the political aspects. When faced with a proposal like the undersea cable tapping, Reagan generally accepted the military's more expert assessments of what was possible and what was not rather than micromanaging, was willing to approve some audacious programs like that one, and most importantly, was willing to keep the stuff secret and not leak it.
So yes, Reagan won the cold war. Yes, the military also had a big part in it, but ultimately it all depended on the man at the top, and that man was Reagan.
