Some kind of hero

This 08 December 1987 photo shows former US president Ronald Reagan (R) with former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev (L) during welcoming ceremonies at the White House on the first day of their summit

Reminiscent of our own leaders, the Republicans want to name several landmarks, including the Pentagon after Reagan. They want to bump President Alexander Hamilton from the $10 bill and replace him with Reagan. For the record, Hamilton was a towering figure, even among America's founding fathers: Revolutionary War officer, co-author of the Federalist papers, leading advocate of a strong federal government, first Secretary of the Treasury, creator of the budget system, the Central Bank, Customs Service, and the Coast Guard! The Republicans are also upset because so many landmarks are named after President Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR), a Democrat. The Republicans want to replace FDR's likeness on the dime, the people's coin, with Reagan's. What did FDR do? He saw America through the Great Depression by creating new government agencies that put people back to work, restored America's prosperity, led the allies to victory in World War II against Hitler's Germany, and gave America the Social Security safety net and the New Deal, and in the process converted African Americans, who were then predominantly Republicans (Abraham Lincoln's party), into Democrats. Republicans are now pitching Ronald Reagan as comparable in stature to FDR, who is considered the greatest US President of the 20th century.

What did President Reagan do to deserve such a dubious comparison? Republicans like to credit Mr. Reagan for ending the Cold War and the break up of the Soviet Union. It is true that Mr. Reagan's characterisation of the Soviet Union as the "evil empire" and his advocacy of the Star Wars missile defense system for the US against Soviet missile attacks did accelerate the collapse of the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union matched the US only on military hardware; its economy was not much better than the third world's. (Not unlike today's North Korea.) It is common knowledge that the Soviet Union was collapsing under its own weight. In basketball, when a player inadvertently tips the ball into his own basket, the opponent closest to the basket gets credited with the two points. Since Mr. Reagan was the US president for eight years leading up to the break up of the Soviet empire and had dared the Soviets to spend billions to keep with the US's (fictitious) Star Wars programme which would have bankrupted the Soviet Union, Mr. Reagan deserves much credit. However, it was Mikhail Gorbachev, with his perestroika and glasnost, (new freedom and openness) who was more responsible for the collapse of the Soviet Union than Mr. Reagan.

Mr. Reagan opposed every major civil rights law for the emancipation of the African Americans throughout his life, including as President. A CBS television survey in 1984 found that zero per cent of blacks thought that Mr. Reagan was good for them. In return, according to press reports, Mr. Reagan wrote off the black votes for his 1984 reelection campaign entirely and concentrated solely on the whites. Abroad, Mr. Reagan aligned his administration solidly with the racist apartheid regime of South Africa, reversing the human rights-first approach of the Carter administration. Mr. Regan was so far out of the mainstream on South Africa that a Republican-controlled Senate overrode his veto to impose sanctions on South Africa. Earlier, Mr. Reagan had prevented certain Senatorial sanctions by shamelessly imposing pretend sanctions on South Africa; "sanctions with a wink," The Washington Post's Richard Cohen called it.

The Israelisation of America also began in earnest during the time of President Reagan. Mr. Reagan had criticized President Carter for being even-handed in the Middle East. In office, Mr. Reagan gave Israel carte blanche. Long before Sharon and Bush, there was Reagan and Begin. Menachem Begin, like Ariel Sharon, knew that Jewish power controlled US policy in the Middle East, and, like Sharon, was not ashamed to flaunt it. After he mildly criticised Israel, Defense Secretary Casper Weinberger was taken to task by Begin, publicly. Instead of defending his Defense Secretary, President Reagan pleaded with Begin: "My dear Menachem!"

Even rightwing Republicans like the late Senator Barry Goldwater criticised Mr. Reagan for leaving the nation with trillions of dollars in debt. Like the current Bush, Reagan's first act as the president was to cut taxes for the wealthy. However, to pay for the tax cuts, spending had to be cut as well. When he refused to do that, the deficit ballooned. Later, throwing principle to the wind, Mr. Reagan raised taxes! Talking of principles, the Iran-Contra scandal found the Reagan administration selling arms to Iran and channeling the profit illegally to the Nicaragua Contras, in direct violation of the law of the nation. President Reagan escaped legal consequences by claiming under oath not to remember anything. However, according to the protagonist of the scandal, Lt. Col. Oliver North, once Mr. Reagan had interrupted North's dinner at a restaurant by telling North, "I cannot know anything (about the scandal)!" And when The Washington Post's Bob Woodward interviewed Reagan's close friend and CIA Director William Casey on his (Casey's) deathbed, at Casey's request, and asked Casey whether Reagan knew about the Iran-Contra dealings, Casey remained silent! President Reagan's refusal to acknowledge the AIDS epidemic meant that years were lost that should have been given to research and prevention. Even when his Hollywood friend Rock Hudson died in 1985 of AIDS, the president remained unmoved.

The Washington Post's Richard Cohen points out: "Much of the Reagan library is dedicated to the late president's acting career -- movie posters and costumes and publicity shots. That hardly disqualifies him as a great president, but it suggests that much of his popularity rests on his intrinsic appeal. He was a good-looking guy with a terrific smile and a winning personality. I am not belittling Reagan's achievement. It was substantial. But it does not rise to the level of greatness. A great leader is indispensable. Without Washington, the colonies might not have won the Revolutionary War. Without Lincoln, the union might not have been preserved. These men were indispensable to the history of their times -- and our own as well. None of that sense of indispensability is evident in Reagan." Even without Reagan, the Soviet Union would have collapsed. Before the Republicans put Ronald Reagan's face on Mount Rushmore, they ought to let a little more time pass, and let history take a closer look at the achievements of the 40th President.