Leave it to the Village Voice to provide a much needed antidote to orgy of collective oblivion and revisionist history surrounding the recent death of The Great Pretender.
[Alec Baldwin voice] If Reagan’s head shows up on ANY denomination of currency, or the Pentagon, I’m moving to Canada. [/Alec Baldwin voice]
I guess the debate is this: how will Reagan’s legacy come out in the wash? Will the fictional aspects of his reign–his manufactured image–hold sway over the truth–arms for hostages, etc.?
If you and I are alive 50 years from now, perhaps I could tell you. I think it’s just far too early to talk about how Reagan, or for that matter any other president of the last 30 years, will be viewed by history. Right now, the presidency belongs to political science and journalism, not history.
Having said that…I think how Reagan’s presidency will be viewed by fellow historians and by public at large may well be significantly affected by the politics and economy of the coming few decades. If GWB wins the coming election, I think many “experts” will take that as evidence that Reagan’s legacy continues to be strong. If Kerry wins, those same experts will say that Reagan’s legacy is gone, and that the GOP will need to find a new direction.
I think the Iran-Contra affair will be seen as an incredibly damaging episode in Reagan’s presidency. Whether it will be seen as the Reagan presidency in political microcosm remains to be seen. I think that future history books will use the affair to illustrate, along with Vietnam, how questionable policy measures were used in fighting the Cold War. I think that eventually the Cold War will be seen as a conflict “lost” by the Soviets rather than “won” by Reagan. As for “Reaganomics,” I think that eventually he will be seen as its figurehead rather than its architect. Most presidential historians realize that modern presidents are not polymaths, and that Reagan agreed with but did not build or micromanage the economic course of America during the 1980’s.
I think future history books will look kindly on Reagan’s charisma and his relations with foriegn leaders, not so well on his social policies, in particular his public silence on the AIDS epidemic.
Lastly, I think Reagan will neither be seen as a great nor terrible president, but rather fall somewhere in the middle. Towards which end of the scale, we will know in 50 years’ time.
(historian’s cap off)
Frankly, lissener, if Reagan appears on currency before Martin Luther King, save a spot for me in Canada.
So: Alec Baldwin threatens to leave the country. Again. :dubious:
Wow. I’m completely underwhelmed with emotion at this prospect.
Yah, you betcha. I’m just going to run right out and tell my Congressman that under no circumstances can RR appear on any American currencly, 'less we lose that American cultural icon, Alec Baldwin, to the Canucks. :rolleyes:
Al. just LEAVE already! Kim don’t love you no more. Go north , grow a beard, wear lots of flannel, and invite your brothers to visit you. Frequently!
. . . in The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, Oliver Sacks tells a remarkable story about watching a presidential speech in a roomful of people with severe aphasia, a condition that impairs or destroys understanding of verbal content but leaves its victims preternaturally alert to the authenticity of facial expressions, mannerisms, and tone. Every solemn, ringingly earnest sentence out of Reagan’s mouth had the patients rolling on the floor laughing.
Great column. I’d never checked out The V V’s website before.
Horseshit. You started this thread in order to have your own empty stage to link that rambling, incomprehensible indictment of Reagan. If you had really wanted to discuss Reagan’s legacy, you’d have jumped into this thread:Reagan dies! Let’s debate his legacy!
UB, if you ever once come into a thread that I’ve started and address the actual content of the thread, rather than your perceived assumptions as to my motivations in starting it, or some other aspect of me personally, I will eat an entire hat. Naked. In public.
Moderator’s Note: There is a five-page thread entitled Reagan dies! Let’s debate his legacy! I think there might have even been another thread or two around here someplace on various aspects of the life and death of Ronald Reagan. If you want to post a link to that article over in the other thread, go ahead. Conversely, if there’s some more specific aspect of Reagan you wish to debate–supply-side economics, say, or the Iran-Contra scandal–I’m not saying nobody can ever open another Ronald Reagan thread again.
And UncleBeer and lissener, both of y’all play nice, now.