The Military Channel ran a very Excellent documentary called "Decisions Which Shook the World" (DVD) which included a chapter on how Reagan won the Cold War by sticking to his guns and refusing to negotiate away missile defense with the Soviets. In the end, the Soviets reached a long term arms reduction agreement that did much to reduce the threat of nuclear war and laid the ground work for the eventual dismantling of the Evil Empire.
Not sure when the Military Channel will repeat this program, but there is a version available online:
Tune in at 45:00.
Reagan's success started with a lifelong abhorrence of the evil of communism which helped him overcome the bureaucratic inertia which opposed the peaceful change he sought. And that's the key elemement which raises concern with Obama. His whole life he has been surrounded by people who are either indifferent or hostile to American exceptionalism and who never really had much of a problem with totalitarian regimes like the Soviets.
It's all too likely that Obama will reject Reagan's lesson that peace really does come through strength and try instead another bitter sip from the cup of appeasement that brought nothing but war to millions in the previous century.
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