Ronald Reagan: Philosophy   In his autobiography, President Jimmy Carter wrote “too many of our international concerns were being defined...by the chronic United States-Soviet confrontation mentality.”  Reagan couldn’t have disagreed more.  During his bid for election against Carter, Reagan declared bluntly, “Let’s not delude ourselves.  The Soviet Union underlies all the unrest that is going on.”  After all, what else would you expect from what Reagan referred to as “the Evil Empire?”  From the invasion of Grenada to arm shipments to the contras in Nicaragua, virtually every foreign policy decision made by the Reagan administration was directed to blocking the spread of Soviet influence. Although Reagan was intent on the Soviet threat throughout his presidency, he was also confident of its eventual collapse.  As early as 1980, Reagan told a group of reporters that “The Soviets can’t compete with us.”  To Reagan, the Soviet Union would always be a place of  “failure, technological backwardness, [and] declining standards.” Not only did Carter and Reagan disagree with America’s posture towards the Soviet Union, but also on the role the president should play.  When Carter took office, he was determined to be the principal decision maker in the administration when it came to foreign policy, while his advisors were generally idea men and go-betweens.  Reagan, on the other hand, rarely took an in-depth interest in foreign policy concerns.  From Secretary of State George Shultz’s book on the administration’s foreign policy Turmoil and Triumph, one certainly gets the impression that, while Reagan would give a general direction for the US to take, he would leave the specifics to the State Department or his advisors and simply approve the final draft.  Indeed, one Reagan insider made the comment that Reagan “just responded to whatever was brought to his attention.”  Nevertheless, what Reagan lacked in direct involvement, he made up for with his personable nature and natural negotiating skills.       T. Roosevelt           Wilson       F. Roosevelt          Truman              Eisenhower             Kennedy       Johnson           Nixon           Carter              Reagan          Philosophy          Incidents                  Evaluation          Citations       Bush

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