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Ronald Reagan: the president who stood up for Soviet Jews

During Reagan’s presidency, the U.S. achieved spectacular economic growth that affected literally all segments of the population.

27.12.2022 456 (0)
Ronald Reagan: the president who stood up for Soviet Jews
Ronald Reagan 1985 photo: mark reinstein / shutterstock

Ronald Reagan is one of the most popular presidents in the history of the United States, serving as the leader of the great superpower from 1981 to 1989.

President Reagan’s long run of successes began from the very moment he was elected as governor of California. It is worth noting that his election was totally unexpected and was truly considered by many as an incredible success, because he won the most votes, managing to beat his rival by three million votes. Immediately he had to deal with the biggest budget deficit California has ever faced. And... contrary to all predictions, Reagan was able to deal with it.

Later, he also implemented a successful welfare program in California that benefited and prospered its residents.

In the presidential campaign against the current country leader, Carter, Reagan represented the Republicans and defeated his opponent with stunning success, gaining victory in 44 of the 50 states!

Just 20 minutes after his election, 52 American citizens who had been held as hostages by Iranian authorities for a year and a half were released. Reagan received this news and soon made a statement to the media that started with the words "Thanks to the G-d Almighty... Some 30 minutes ago, the planes bearing our prisoners left Iranian air space, and they’re now free of Iran.’’

Unprecedented Economic Growth

During Reagan’s presidency, the U.S. achieved spectacular economic growth that affected literally all segments of the population. Reagan reduced income taxes for people and businesses by an average of 25 percent, increasing investment, which ultimately led to the creation of many new jobs. The famous Dow Jones Industrial Average increased under Reagan from 800 to 2,400 points. Reagan undertook a tough approach to bureaucracy, which he battled and reduced greatly in many areas, and thus achieved the removal of many economic barriers and, as a result, rapid development in many industries.

The terrible inflation rate of 14% under Democrat Carter was reduced under Reagan to 3-4%. He also reduced unemployment by creating millions of new jobs. The U.S. economy, driven under Carter’s government to the worst economic crisis since the “Great Depression” , revived and began to grow rapidly under Reagan.

Standing up to the Soviet Union... and victory

One of the most difficult problems Reagan had to deal with was the Cold War, the confrontation with the Soviet Union. Unlike many of his predecessors, who viewed the struggle with the Soviet Union as a fatal destiny that could not be avoided, a kind of eternal war that could not be won, Reagan was convinced that, under existing circumstances, he had the power to break the situation and bring the United States to its victory.

Among the ways by which Reagan was able to do this was to strengthen the U.S. military. The army budget increased under Reagan by more than a hundred percent! When he was elected as president, the U.S. Army’s annual budget was $162 billion, three years later it was as high as $343 billion!

Reagan followed a very different line than his predecessor, Carter. He actively promoted the development of military industry, in particular by securing large investments in strategic bomber and stealth aircraft projects. In addition, he was the one who initiated the so-called “Star Wars” project, which was announced as a final and ultimate response to the Soviet nuclear threat, through a series of innovative nuclear missile interceptor projects. The project was presented as the most ambitious and enormous in U.S. history.

Officially, it was called the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), but in the media it became known as “Star Wars” because of its innovative and fantastic technology, which involved deploying missile interceptors both on the ground and in space that would presumably use laser beams to destroy thousands of potential enemy missiles. These space systems were supposed to involve a giant network of huge “space mirrors” capable of combining beams from interceptors, one by one, until the attacking missiles were destroyed.

It is not entirely clear to what extent these fantastic projects were actually being developed in the U.S. and not part of a maneuver designed to lure the USSR into an extremely costly arms race. Today, almost forty years later, some believe that huge sums of money were actually invested in this program, convincing the leaders of Soviet regime that it was impossible to compete with the United States. Others believe that the Soviet Union, dragged into the arms race by Reagan (in which the U.S. was in fact only imitating its participation), undermined its economy. One way or another, this actually contributed to the economic collapse of the Soviet Union, and led to Gorbachev’s reforms with the eventual collapse of both the Soviet Union and the Soviet block.

However, some of the programs included in the “Strategic Defense Initiative” were quite real and even proved to be successful. For example, they led to U.S. funding for Israeli projects such as the “Hetz” missile defense system and the “Nautilus” laser-based missile defense system.

Unlike many of his predecessors, especially Carter, who wanted, if possible, military parity with the Soviet Union, Reagan saw the Soviet regime as a dictatorship — an “evil empire” — and was convinced that it had to be defeated. That is why he spoke out forcefully and decisively wherever he could to stop the Soviet expansion.

In addition to the aforementioned arms race (perhaps at least partially simulated to trap the USSR economically), Reagan also acted decisively against the Soviet Union in virtually every political and diplomatic arena and in every possible economic sphere. For example, he actively prevented international exports of Soviet gas and supported the fiercely fighting Afghan rebels across Pakistan by providing them with massive military aid.

Reagan also didn’t hesitate to issue orders to act against other lower-ranking dictators as well. Under his orders, U.S. fighter jets bombed the palace of the Libyan tyrant Gaddafi after the terrorists he had sent had carried out an attack on American soldiers. Gaddafi himself managed to escape at the last minute, but 60 of his guards and people from his inner circle were killed.

When the Soviet Union began to disintegrate, Reagan, during his 1987 visit to Germany, addressed the Soviets directly, saying: “Mr. Gorbachev — bring down this wall!” referring to the Berlin Wall, which became a major symbol of the dark spirit of the “Iron Curtain” and “Cold War” eras.

It was under Reagan that Gorbachev initiated reforms that reduced the Soviet military threat to the West, such as announcing the reduction of the Soviet contingent in Eastern Europe by 500,000 soldiers and 10,000 tanks. At the same time Gorbachev signed with Reagan the first agreement to limit and remove nuclear weapons, the “The Treaty on the Elimination of Intermediate-Range and Shorter-Range Missiles ” (INF Treaty). In other words, Reagan’s tough and consistent approach began to pay off...

Reagan’s enormous influence on the United States is evident to this day. It is no coincidence that he regularly takes honorable first places in U.S. polls. In a Discovery Channel poll about a year after his death in 2005, Reagan was named the most important American in history!

Friend of Israel and the Jews

Many are convinced that Reagan was the most sympathetic to Jews in general and Israel in particular (with the exception, of course, of President Trump).

A recently published new biography of Reagan shows that his sympathy for the Jewish people is rooted in the upbringing he received in his parents’ home. For example, it tells us that his father (of Irish-Catholic descent) was once on a business trip to sell shoes when he stopped at a hotel where the receptionist proudly told him that he “could feel comfortable because the hotel does not accept Jews”. The father of the future president reacted angrily to this anti-Semitic statement and preferred to sleep in his car despite the snowstorm that was raging outside rather than stay in a hotel that did not accept Jews.

Throughout his presidency, President Reagan fought vigorously for the rights of Soviet Jews. High-ranking officials who worked with him recalled that this was one of the first issues he consistently raised in every meeting with Soviet officials.

Reagan openly supported the “Prisoners of Zion” struggle and framed the normalization of relations with the Soviet Union in terms of improving the situation of Soviet Jews in an unprecedented way. It was a step no American president had ever taken before.

Reagan was directly involved in the releasing process of Nathan (Anatoly) Sharansky, and shortly after Gorbachev came to power he sent a personal letter to Gorbachev in which he raised the problem of Sharansky release.

During his presidency U.S. aid to Israel increased considerably — both annual economic support and military grants that reached billions of dollars and became regular. Israel used these substantial sums of money to strengthen its air force, which received hundreds of modern F-16 and F-15 fighters, as well as thousands of smart bombs and missiles, thereby establishing its regional air superiority, which became the key to the security of the Jewish state.

On the whole, Reagan’s policies toward Israel were sympathetic, a policy for which he was regularly criticized by the Arab countries.

We must also admit that his name was associated with several unpleasant incidents in Israel. For example, Reagan ordered a stop to the supply of fighter jets after it was revealed that Israel had used them to attack a nuclear reactor in Iraq. We note that Reagan reversed that order some time later, and the supply of warplanes to Israel resumed.

Another case is that a few months after his election, Reagan offered Israel a “peace plan” that included, God forbid, giving up all of Judea and Samaria, based on the Carter precedent (the transfer of the Sinai Peninsula to Egypt). But Begin categorically rejected this proposal and, moreover, established several new Jewish settlements in these areas. In response, Reagan postponed the delivery of fighter planes for three months, but then pulled back again and abandoned his plan.

Moreover, in 1983, Reagan announced that “no more Israeli settlements would be established on the territories”. One day after this announcement, a new military outpost was established in Samaria, originally called “Rogen” (“nerd” in Hebrew and an obvious reference to Reagan’s name). Today it is known as “Yitzhar”...

And yet, despite the aforementioned and other lesser-known incidents, Reagan has certainly earned the right to be considered one of the most sympathetic American presidents to the Land of Israel and the Jewish people.

In fact, unlike Carter, who pressured Israel heavily to withdraw from the Sinai in favor of Egypt to the disadvantage of our national interest, Reagan did not press Israel much to give up security in Judea and Samaria, and when his plan was not accepted by the Israeli government, he gave it up as well.

Reagan’s impressive succession of accomplishments, which led the United States to significant economic growth and drove its enemy, the Soviet Union authorities, into a position from which they could not recover, is a striking example of how good deeds toward the Jewish people and their country end up being a blessing from the Almighty.

It is no coincidence that during the Carter presidency, when Israel was forced to give up the Sinai with unprecedented cynicism, the United States fell into its worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. Under Reagan, on the other hand, who fought for the rights of Soviet Jews and cared about Israel’s security, the United States was back on the path that had led it to economic success and prosperity.

Translated by D. Bilyayev from Рональд Рейган: президент, заступившийся за советских евреев Comments: 0 Support www.moshiach.ru