I´m sorry for going off-topic (i can´t rank 3 US presidents as I don´t know enough about them) but it just gets my goats when I read it was an American president who took down communism. How can you do that if you´re not a leader of a communist country? It was the people of Europe who dealt with the system, not the US. A lot of people died to bring communism to an end. If the States REALLY wanted to support them communism would be over way earlier. Yet it seems that communism was pretty convenient for the US - at least they had an enemy to scare people with and could justify army expenses with Cold War...

Great post DD.  Dont worry about the US now though - they have the evil Muslims to wage war against (to justify army expenses)

 Indecency?

How did a blow job from a secretary affect his ability to be president?  The only difference between him and the others is that he was caught!

I have to agree there!  I watched the East Germans rip the Berlin wall apart on TV - something I will never forget!

I don´t think anyone here was giving Reagan sole credit for bringing down communism.  Of course it was the people who brought the wall down, I don´t dispute that.  However if you have ever read the book Ronald Reagan and the Fall of Communism.  You will see how Reagan led a lifetime crusade to bring communism down and his desire to liberate the people of the Soviet empire.  I also  give credit to Gorbachev for breaking the communist party monopoly of power and for eventually allowing religous freedom to take place.  Communism convenient?

Carter was a great president.  He is one man who walked the walk....IOW he followed his ideals.  If we had listened to him and followed some of his advice, we would not be in the situation we are now. I love that man.

Reagan on the other hand...cut funding to state hospitals, emptying the inmates into the streets...causing the homeless problem. 

Let´s not forget IranContra....

Rock & Radiation, not Ronald Reagan, Brought down the Soviet Union

by Harvey Wasserman
 

No greater nonsense will accompany Ronald Reagan to his grave than the idea that he brought down the Soviet Union and ended the Cold War.

Among the many causes of Soviet collapse two words stand out, and they aren´t Ronald Reagan.

They are rock and radiation.

The GOP military´s 1980s attempt to "spend the Soviets into oblivion" certainly feathered the nests of the defense contractors who contributed to Reagan´s campaigns here, and who still fatten George W. Bush. Lockheed-Martin, Halliburton and an unholy host of GOP insiders have scored billions in profits from Iran-Contra to Star Wars to Desert Storm to Iraq.

But these were not the people who brought down the Kremlin. If anything, they prolonged Soviet rule with the unifying threat of apocalyptic attack.

No, it was rock & roll that wrecked the USSR. From the late 1960s on, the steady beat of the Beatles and Motown, Bob Dylan and Jimi Hendrix, shattered Stalinism at its stodgy core.

Precisely the things most hated by the Reagan´s rightist culture warriors here eroded and helped dissolve the old-time Soviet culture there. Beamed in by radio, smuggled in on records and tapes, the "youth music" was unstoppable.

When Mikhail Gorbachev announced Perestroika, it was at least in partial response to the irresistible subversion of the western counterculture. Rock and roll was doing to the remnants of Stalin´s Russia what it had already done to Eisenhower´s America.

The final blow came not from Ronald Reagan´s beloved nuclear weapons, but from the Soviets´ own Three Mile Island.

After Chernobyl Unit Four exploded on April 26, 1986, Swedish radiation monitors detected huge clouds of radiation pouring out of the Ukraine. Gorbachev lied about it. Critical days passed before his "open" regime acknowledged the catastrophe.

As apocalyptic radiation poured over their land and into their bodies, millions of Soviet citizens were infuriated to learn from sources outside their country how horrific the disaster really was---and that their lives were in genuine danger. Cancer, birth defects, stillbirths and more soared out of control. Gorbachev´s credibility was forever shattered.

Soon a staggering 800,000 draftees---"liquidators"--- were forced into deadly manual clean-up. The horrific maelstrom of resulting disease fed a fierce organization parallel to the US´s Vietnam Vets Against the War that remains an uncompromising political force throughout the former Soviet Union.

With the fury aimed at Gorbachev came devastating economic fallout. Untold billions went to evacuate and quarantine the Chernobyl region. The costs are still escalating. The danger of a renewed melt-down still boils beneath the surface.

The epidemic of radiation-related diseases has also taken a huge psychological toll, with countless evacuees and victims---many of them children---still in pitiable condition.

Himself a pusher of atomic power since his "Death Valley Days" working for General Electric, Reagan never mentioned the devastating impacts of Chernobyl. He also never thanked the Beatles.

But a cultural revolution and a nuclear malfunction cracked the Kremlin´s core. Reagan´s beloved Cold War made his GOP buddies even richer. But it was rock and radiation that finally did in the Soviets.

I´m curious just exactly how you define "recent"? They all have some good points and some bad ones.  My favorite would have been FDR...for the New Deal.  I´m thinking that maybe he isn´t recent enough for you?  Even he had his faults...in particular the issue of Executive Order 9066 during WWII

"In 1942 Roosevelt made the final decision in ordering the internment of Japanese, Italian, and German Americans (many not released until well after the war´s end) during World War II."

List of US Presidents

It is indeed difficult to determine what recent means in connection with the US presidents. Considering the length of their office terms (Reagan 8 years, George (father) Bush 4 years, Clinton 8 years and George Bush 8 years), we are looking into a period of 28 years and five presidents.  It is generally believed that before the period of Reagan the world was totally different politically (a two pole world, cold war era, the lingering consequences of the world war the second and communism).

Reagan was the first of those leaders who began talking about concepts like global village, star wars etc. He proved the he was a president with a keen vision. Therefore he must be the starting point of  "recent" as applied to US presidents. Carter is admittedly a bit out of this scope but then again he is probably the most different US president ever. Therefore he is easily remembered.

I really don´t know how much of that was his vision....after all, he was an actor.  Reagan was widely reported to had had signs of Alzheimers during his second term, some actually say it was before that....after an assassination attempt less than three months into his first term..

As far as Global Vision....many world leaders thoughout time have had Global visions....Alexander....Atilla....NapoleonI...the Punic wars....all were about Global "unification"....

As for Star Wars....anything that could possibly be weaponized has been......

Carter was before Reagan.  It was the Iran Hostage Crisis that defeated Carter.  The hostages were released just minutes after Reagan was inaugurated.

I don´t think Reagan was a bad man, or evil....but his brand of Tough Love I could do without.  I do not think it really helps.

I guess the question is what criteria do use to determine who is considered a “great president”? For me a “great” president is someone who can effectively lead their people and have proven accomplishments. The overall consensus in the U.S. is that Reagan was an effective leader and indeed led his people. Carter may have been a nice guy..but he did not effectively lead us. You may not agree with Reagans policies, however a great portion of our country felt Reagan was successful at promoting his vision. I can’t say the same for Carter. C-Span recently did a survey in 2009 based on specific criteria asked to the public and scholars. The results are below..

http://www.c-span.org/PresidentialSurvey/presidential-leadership-survey.aspx

For me, I would have to say:

1.  Abraham Lincoln

2.  Ronald Reagan

3.  FDR

Three men who guided our country at pivitol times.