Leadership cannot thrive on division or uncertainty. It depends on an unshakable commitment to sound principles. That is where Ronald Reagan excelled as a president.
The following editorial was written July 13, 1987, by William J. O’Neil, founder and chairman of what was then known as Investor’s Daily. At the time, Lt. Col. Oliver North had just finished a full week of testifying before Congress on the Iran-Contra affair, responding to the Tower Commission report earlier in the year that had faulted the Reagan administration for the scandal. Reagan accepted full responsibility. Amid an ongoing media clamor, our editorial put Reagan’s presidency in a much broader context, one that since has been vindicated by history.
Teddy Roosevelt was once asked how often he expected his decisions to be right. He confessed that if he could be right 75% of the time, he’d be doing great.
So how often should our presidents be right? Should we demand they be correct 100% of the time?
If President Reagan has been on target seven or eight times out of 10, and he makes a mistake, should it be blown into a national crisis? The leader who makes no mistakes is the leader who makes no decisions, takes no risks and therefore achieves nothing for us.
Here’s a list of some of Reagan’s policy decisions that worked:
1. He lifted price controls on domestic oil amid protests that prices would skyrocket. Instead, oil topped and inflation unwound.
2. He rebuilt our depleted defenses and restored pride in our military so that a voluntary peacetime army became a reality.
3. He cut, over congressional objections, everybody’s taxes and slowed the explosive growth rate of government spending.
4. Inflation dropped from a high of 13.5% in 1980 to 1.9% in 1986.
5. The prime rate has dropped from 21% in 1980 to 8.25%.
6. He launched one of the longest economic recoveries on record.
7. He revitalized the ideal of democracy throughout the world and witnessed the trend shift from socialism toward free enterprise.
8. He took a strong stand on drugs. Budget authority for drug law enforcement, abuse prevention and treatment has climbed 150%.
9. He rewrote the tax laws after everyone said it couldn’t be done.
10. He stood firm at Reykjavik on the SDI when our media said his stand was wrong. Now the Russians are at the negotiating table.
11. His invasion of Grenada sent Cubans home, rescued grateful American students and surprised our negative national media.
12. He subdued, with the Libyan raid, Gadhafi and his terrorists.
13. U.S. fighter jets successfully forced down the Egyptian jetliner carrying terrorists from the Achille Lauro ship hijacking.
14. He properly assisted the Philippines in its break from a right-wing dictator’s rule.
15. He did the same for Haiti.
16. He cracked down on Soviet spies and thefts of U.S. technology, and reached parity with the Soviets in embassy and U.N. personnel.
17. He’s the first president since Truman to halt the spreading tide of communism, by providing help and encouragement to democratic resistance fighters in Afghanistan, El Salvador and Nicaragua.
How many incorrect decisions has our president made?
1. The Iran arms sale.
2. Sending U.S. Marines to Lebanon as part of a four-nation peacekeeping force without sufficient intelligence support.
The score:
Success 17, mistakes two. Most Americans would say batting .895 is an outstanding record.
