I will begin by noting that my choices from among the presidents are Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan. FDR reacted with comparative moderation to the Depression, and helped to stave off social revolution. Additionally, it is doubtful that without his aid Churchill could have endured the Battle of Britain, and Stalin the thrust East, which tied down so much of the Nazi armament and permitted eventual triumph. Roosevelt and Churchill, as a pair, saved Western civilization.
As for Reagan, he renewed the spirit of America, which was lapsing into a decadent neurasthenia, and enabled us to lead the West in its final confrontation with the Soviet Union, and finally to triumph. He also battled the domestic Leviathan, and made smaller, more efficient, and more local government an entrenched goal, not fully achieved in his time, but still sought after by a large part of the public. Finally, he showed that the free- market is still the paradigm for prosperity, and helped to unleash its forces through deregulation and tax relief, so that even with the military draw down of the early '90s, the ill effects were modest, and the economy quickly resumed its bustling activity. As with FDR, it was important that he had a British Prime Minister to work with, and Margaret Thatcher deserves recognition as well..... |
