Does Reagan get credit that should go to George Herbert Walker Bush?
Seriously, Reagan gets credit for tearing down the Berlin Wall and ending the Cold War almost single-handedly. However, it was George Bush Sr who was the president when both events happened. Gorbachev had initiated the perestroika and glasnost policies while Reagan was president, but the Soviet Union did not actually fall until 1991. At that time, they were attempting to assist Saddam Hussein in the First Gulf War, but George Bush Sr had put together a coalition like none before in history and Saddam, and his Soviet weapons, were easily defeated. The Soviet Union disintegrated after that. As most knowledgeable historians will note, the Soviet Union was collapsing before Reagan ever came to power. Their defense spending in the 1980’s was flat and did not change because Reagan was spending more on the US military. The puzzle is why George Bush Sr, rather than Reagan, would not get credit from his fellow Repubs for the events that happened on his watch? ===================================
