During a talk a fewyears back on his book about Lincoln, historian John Patrick Diggins was asked to name other great presidents. “When I mentioned Reagan, people gasped.”
This became the impetus for his new book, “Ronald Reagan: Fate, Freedom, and the Making of History” (W.W. Norton, 2007).
Like a fine wine, Reagan’s reputation has grown better with time. Once widely dismissed as a B-movie actor who sailed into the White House on his good nature and telegenic looks, America’s president of the 1980s is now revered by diverse camps — conservatives, libertarians and more than a few liberals.
Diggins presents a richly detailed, forthright account of Reagan the statesman and man, covering the attitudes that shaped his actions, the attributes that won voters and influenced world leaders, and the peaks and valleys of his legacy.
The City University of New York professor, noted for such works as “The Rise and Fall of the American Left,” is making the rounds of D.C. think tanks, having pitched a double-header Thursday at the Cato Institute and Hudson.
His book makes a compelling case that Reagan will be remembered as one of the top presidents, in the rarefied league with Lincoln and FDR. His own role models included libertarian Thomas Paine and Ralph Waldo Emerson, the poet laureate of democracy and self-reliance.
Diggins trains his pen on Reagan’s chess-master handling of the nuclear arms race, the welfare system that rendered recipients dependent, and “a joyless religious inheritance that told people their kingdom was not of this world and they needed to be careful about pursuing happiness in case they came to enjoy it.”
Continues Diggins: “With the 1980s came America’s ‘Emersonian moment,’ when people were told to trust not the state but the self and to pursue wealth and power without sin or shame.” Should Reagan take blame for the rise of the “me” generation, the age of entitlements, that hadthe paradoxical effect of bigger government? The reality is more complex than that, as is the president illuminated by Diggins.
Coming from working-class roots, the late chief executive was an advocate for laborers while an opponent of unions. He was a limited-government proponent who let the federal deficit more than double under his watch. Ironically, his faith in the people coupled with his interpretation of Emersonian ideals had an unintended effect of opening the door to big-government conservatism. Architect of the “Star Wars” defense program, he nonetheless was the only presidential liberator to win the big war of his times without firing a shot. He displaying an affinity for peacekeeping over war-making.
Being open-minded and diplomatic enabled Reagan to resist entreaties from neocon hawks; despite his hatred of Communism, he worked with Mikhail Gorbachev to end the Cold War and liberate Eastern Europe. The Great Communicator accomplished this through words, not war.
When asked what three lessons politicians could learn from Ronald Reagan, the historian suggested: “To be able to admit you made a mistake, to be clear about your convictions, and to have a sense of humor.”
At the end of the book, Diggins draws parallels Abraham Lincoln and Reagan. While one was a melancholic pessimist and the other an incorrigible optimist, both leaders possessed Illinois roots, prized middle-class values, suffered attacks from assassins, faced divisive moral dilemmas (although unlike Communism, slavery was deeply entrenched on the home front). They displayed humility and humanity. And both, contends Diggins, demonstrated “greatness of soul.”
