Ronald Reagan - 9781640120037

Ronald ReaganAn Intellectual Biography\nAuthor(s): David T. Byrne\nFormat: Hardback\nPublisher: Potomac Books Inc, United States\nImprint: Potomac Books Inc\nISBN-13: 9781640120037, 978-1640120037\nSynopsis\nIn this ambitious work David T. Byrne analyzes the ideas that informed Ronald Reagans political philosophy and policies. Rather than appraising Reagans personal and emotional life, Byrnes intellectual biography goes one step further; it establishes a rationale for the former presidents motives, discussing how thinkers such as Plato and Adam Smith influenced him. Byrne points to three historical forces that shaped Reagans political philosophy: Christian values, particularly the concept of a universal kingdom of God; Americas firm belief in freedom as the greatest political value and its aversion to strong centralized government; and the appeasement era of World War II, which stimulated Reagans aggressive and confrontational foreign policy.\n\n Byrnes account of the fortieth presid.