UPF Czechia commemorates the 20th anniversary of the death of Ronald Reagan

To commemorate the twentieth anniversary of the death of the Ronald Reagan (1911-2004), the fortieth President of the United States, the Czech branch of the Universal Peace Federation hosted a lecture at the Peace Embassy in Prague. The speaker was Dr. Roman Joch, Director of the Civic Institute and political scientist.

Joch commented that Ronald Reagan was an exceptional personality who was appreciated even by his enemies. Although initially a Democrat, he later became a Republican.

He served two consecutive terms of office as President of the United States (1980 - 1989).

His economic policies, driven by the goal of cutting taxes, became known as Reaganomics. Although he took a hard line against the Soviet Union, he was prepared to negotiate from a position of strength.

In 1966, as governor of California, Reagan had to deal with the occupation of Berkeley University campus by young ‘hippies’. He was able to solve the problem and have the campus vacated by insisting that whilst everyone had the right to freedom of speech and demonstration, there was no right of occupation.

In his 1976 presidential election speech, Reagan speculated on the nature of public opinion 100 years from then.

In 1983, Reagan called the then Soviet Union an evil empire. A few years later, in June 1987, he famously declared in front of the Berlin Wall, “Mr. Gorbachev tear down this wall”. Two years later the Berlin wall fell, and communism collapsed. Reagan was at the forefront of a group of statesmen who succeeded in ending the Cold War.

He was a very good communicator and was able to convey his policies in a simple and understandable way. He liked jokes and humour and was able to link ideals with reality and to act from a position of strength against his opponents.

Following Dr. Joch’s presentation, Juraj Lajda took the floor to recall that UPF founder Rev. Sun Myung Moon initiated the founding of The Washington Times newspaper, which supported Reagan’s policies.

The audience then had the opportunity to browse through several books about Reagan and ask questions.