A long line of Presidents held the Soviet Empire at bay, and shouldn't be forgotten. Most of them realized the stakes, and kept our military strong and ready. And although there were some less than stellar moments for America in the Cold War, with countries won and lost, and tactics that sometimes came back to haunt us, we did eventually win.

Still, had Reagan backed down on some significant policies, maybe the Cold War would still be on. Maybe a lot of us don't remember the crap Reagan was given for his hard-nosed policies on disarmament, missile defense, treaties, and other issues. Largely by Europe and the same people at home giving Bush crap on similar issues now.

It's also worth remembering something else:

For almost half a century, a stockpile of thousands of nuclear warheads remained unused. Not one was ever launched. If this isn't some kind of major victory for not just the U.S. and all its Presidents, but for everyone, I don't know what would be.