I've been re-reading the section on the Cold War in John O'Sullivan's The President, the Pope and the Prime Minister. It is a bracing antidote to the vapid anti-Reaganism of academics like John Gaddis. Liberally salted with entries from the diaries of high Soviet officials at the time, this book makes clear that Reagan, if anything, is under-appreciated for his vision, skill, and tenacity. He had to defeat not only the USSR, but also the "intellectuals," the Democrats, and the State Department.
Yet, between him, Thatcher, and Pope JP II, Gorbachev didn't have a chance.
Definitely... Also, I’m sure it never hurts having the Pope on your side... I’m sure he has that l’il extra pull, if you know what I mean... : )
He is not under-appreciated at all. Half of us fully appreciate his talent and single mindedness of vision when he decided that the communists were on the losing side of history and held to it. The other half of hate him for it. [Note to the obsessive compulsive literalists around here - half means a division into two groups and is not here meant in the mathematical sense of two precisely equal portions].