OUR REPUBLICAN PRESIDENT:

Even Reagan displayed more strategic patience and restraint than many give him credit for. In his early days in the White House, Reagan resisted calls from the hawkish establishment to send tens of thousands of troops to Central America to undo the gains of communist forces in the region. In addition, after 241 American servicemen  were killed in the 1983 barracks bombing in Lebanon, he withdrew all U.S. troops from the country, though it was in the midst of a civil war.

Reagan also negotiated directly with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and the Kremlin, even though Moscow still had troops in Afghanistan. Because of these talks, Reagan was taunted as a weaseling Neville Chamberlain by prominent members of his own party, among them Newt Gingrich. Reagan also reduced defense spending by 10 percent in real terms during his second administration in order to avoid sequestration, which was part of the 1985 Graham-Ruddman-Hollings Act.

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