Why was Ronald Reagan considered a great president?

In practical terms, "Reaganomics" has to be considered one of the reasons that Reagan has come to be thoughtof as a great president. Reaganomics created an unprecedented period of economic prosperity. It was only the Democratic-controlled congress' insistence on continuing to raise wasteful government spending beyond the means that even this economic boom would support that cut sort the prosperity that Reaganomics brought.

It was also Reagan who rebuilt our military, after his predecessor had practically destroyed it through neglect.

It was Reagan's policies that so weakened our greatest enemy of that time, the Soviet Union, to the point where it fell apart not long thereafter.

It was Reagan's policies that stopped the spread of Communism in Latin America before it became a direct threat to us. To understand how important this is, consider the problems we now have with illegal immigrants from Mexico, and then try to imagine how it would be if these illegal immigrants were Communists intent on bringing Communism with them into our country.

It was Reagan who made America strong again, after the previous administration saw America weakened and humiliated.

Aside from his practical accomplishments, Reagan's personality almost certainly had a great deal to do with his perceived greatness. He was "The Great Communicator". His speeches rang with optimism and comfort and patriotism. After the humiliating Carter years, Reagan made us again feel proud to be Americans, and confident in our nation's future.

He ended the Cold War between us and the USSR. He stood up to the Communist and brought them down. That's what we need todo now to the Socialist that want to take us back to pre 9/11 days! PEACE THRU STRENGTH! Keep our Military STRONG! We should be spending more tax dollars on moderizing our military. We don't spend enough. Our enemys will not want to take a chance of being destroyed if they know they don't have a chance. We better worry more about our enemys than the BS about Global Warming. I'm more concerned about Bin Laden and Russia than the Polar bears.

I am sorry, but you can't leave "reaganomics" out of the mix when considering Ronald Reagan's administration. His economic policies helped to produce a booming economy. This economy actually increased the revenues that were taken in by the government. Yes, individuals were paying less in taxes, but there were more people working and engaging in tax generating activities. So, there was actually a net increase in the the total revenues. (The reason the deficits ballooned during that decade was because Congress increased government spending faster than the revenues increased.)

Reagan also rebuilt the military after the Carter administration allowed it to degenerate. This was part of Reagan's over all policy of confrontation with the Soviet Union. This refusal on the part of Reagan to settle for the status quo with the Soviets helped to speed the demise of that tyrannical government and freed Eastern Europe from its stranglehold.

So, these are a couple of reasons why I think that Reagan was a great President. There are others, but it is late and I need to get to bed.

(P.S. I misread part of the question. I thought that it was saying to forget reaganomics. However, I am too tired to go back and reword my answer to correct for that misreading.)

Liberal douche answer: he gave lots of money to the wealthy, and the wealthy are in the best position to influence public opinion.

Probably more accurate answer: he was the last true conservative president. The Bushes are neo-cons, the son much more so than the father though.

Well, long-term economic policy effects are usually seen about 6-8 years after being passed. If you liked the '90s, you can see why Reagan was a terrific president. On the same token, just about 8 years after Clinton demanded the amending of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act of 1999 to ensure credit be made available to those of little or no credit, our mortgage market melted down.

Makes you wish we ensured American kids were taught Econ 101 in high school so they could make educated decisions about our candidates, doesn't it?

He had great hair.

Because the working class actually flourised during his presidency. The economy was great, corporations didn't rule the world, jobs abounded and it was easy to make money. As I look at it, that's what makes a president great, what he does for the working class, not for EXXON, Halliburton, Blackwater and Wall Street

Reagan was a great man after he was shoot he was worried about the nurse getting fired and was cleaning the floor after he'd either split something or bleed on it.

That's a hero in my book.

A great president? I think NOT.
A lot of people I knew lost jobs during his presidency, including me. And prosperity?? Not in my circle. The only 'trickle down' I and others I knew received was being 'trickled on' (read: peed on) by the upper class rich and businesses of the day. It was around this time that CEOs and business owners salaries and bonuses went sky high, many times what employees were making, on the backs of these employees. And about this time was when companies and businesses where scooped up by raiders, and then broken apart and sold in pieces to other companies willing to buy the assets and let the liabilities fall by the wayside, along with its employees.
A great president? Only if you were rich or were well on your way to be so. For regular, middle-class Americans, he, his party, and those in his administration... Cheeny, Rumsfeld, et.al. were the beginning of the great class divide and the fall of the middle class in our society. The current 'middle class' would be a lot better off now, fiscally, had Reagan NOT been president.
This was also the time of the great divide in partisan politics in the US. Again, I'll mention Cheeny, Rumsfield, and others for their me first, my-way-or-the-highway, smug attitude towards the middle class and towards the Democratic Party.
I was there and this is how I saw it and how it affected me, my family and my friends and co-workers.
Now, as far as the fall of the USSR, this leaves only us, the USA, as the target for the rest of the world. Never mind that our colonial arrogance has once again surfaced since 1990. The world balance between WWII and the fall of the Soviet Union was a GOOD thing. Kept the world honest and in check. Now that the yin & yang of such things is gone, we, the US, thinks Waaay to highly of itself. I miss the checks and balance of the world the way it was.
You want to give this credit to Ronald Reagan, okay.
A great president? No, I think not.

I spent the bulk of my Marine Corps career under Reagans administration.He tried to get me killed a few times.No,i dont think he was all that great.

NO -Most people don't know the truth about him or dont care to know.He will alwaysn be thought of as a monster by me and anyone else who lost friends and loved ones to AIDS

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2004/06/08/EDG777163F1.DTL

Didn't he make it harder for the people to use drugs? I think that's why.

i think he was

Not to me.

I think that depends greatly upon how you use the term great:
http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/1052923
http://www.wikiality.com/Ronald_Reagan

Reagan is often chosen as one of - if not the most - most popular past US presidents. He certainly had a sense of charisma, charm, screen presence, and optimism about America that was addictive in his post-Vietnam era. As a former actor and president of the Screen Actors guild, he certainly knew how to play to an audience and present himself well.

One of Reagan's most important achievements was the fall of the Berlin Wall and the USSR. Although the final, culminating events took place during his successor's presidency, it was the result of years of work between Reagan and Gorbachev. This is widely considered a great achievement. It is certainly significant.

The rest of his legacy is more open to debate, and there certainly isn't anything approaching universal agreement on it. I don't consider his economic policies to be good. Trickle down "Reaganomics" failed for the working class because of the increasing globalization of manufacturing. Thus, even though the rich did indeed have more money, much of it didn't trickle down to the working class and was instead invested in foreign markets. It also increased foreign debt and the national deficit.

His leadership during the Iran-contra affair is still remembered. The US was found guilty in International Court of having supported terrorism in Nicaragua during his presidency. The US was fined by the UN (although we have never paid the fine).

His social record is even more controversial. He opposed sanctions on apartheid South Africa. He attempted to scale back welfare benefits. While he did nominate the first woman justice to the Supreme Court, his five other nominees were all men. His cabinet and administration had less than 5 women. A picture of his cabinet and staff in 1981 shows just one woman. Only one staff member in the picture is not obviously Caucasian.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronald_Reagan

Reagan was an ok prez, but not the saint the republicans try to make him out to be.

I thought he was pretty good, better than many but not perfect. I was not old enough to vote for Reagan either time but I would have . Reagan has been deified by the right for some strange reason which I cannot understand. Reagan was far too liberal by today's far right GOP standards. His foreign policy was highlighted by diplomacy and not wars. He raised taxes on 11 occasions including gasoline taxes and the largest corporate tax increase in US history. The national debt quadrupled under Reagan, he is basically the father of our national debt crisis.

When our marine barracks in Lebanon were attacked by terrorists killing 241 marines he pulled out of Lebanon and never launched so much as 1 retaliatory missile. Imagine if Obama were to do such a thing. Every republican voter in America would be calling him a disgraceful coward. But republicans wipe this from their very selective memory.

Reagan also passed the most liberal abortion legislation to date as California governor. A sure fire death sentence for any prospective republican candidate today.

Oh yeah, four more years of the Carter malaise. Yeah, that's just what we needed.

He was ok. Not great. He did some good things, but he also set into motion some very disrupting policies.

I find it funny that the tea baggers and right wing neo-cons have elevated him to sainthood, yet they know little of what he really stood for.

He actually raised taxes on the rich. Funny how they seem to forget all about that.
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does anyone remember the crash of' 87? reagan was president...a lot of people were out of jobs...i really don't remember any booming economy during his administration.

i remember a smug, not very bright, reagan...old and out of touch with america...and very elitist.

not sure where all this "love" for the guy comes from....

Effective marketing. Internationally, he was a bastard. Nicaragua suffered greatly.

Because he knew enough to fall asleep and keep his mouth shut most of the time!

He was a great guy to people that had money. He cost many people their jobs in the early '80's. Most guys I knew at the time had to go back to school to learn new trades after he forced the grain embargoes in '82 or '83. I was a bad rough time for working guys.