From 1974 onward, there were Marxist takeovers in Angola, Mozambique, Guinea, Ethiopia, South Yemen, South Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Rhodesia, Afghanistan, and Nicaragua; attempted coups in Sudan, Somalia, and Egypt; Khomeini’s revolution in Iran; the deterioration of Lebanon’s security; two failed secessions in Zaire; and the spread of Libyan and Cuban extremism under Soviet support.

Jimmy Carter finally woke up when the Soviets jammed his face into the obvious in Afghanistan.

Reagan opposed Soviet expansion everywhere, including in the Western Hemisphere. In this, he was consistently opposed by the Democrats and the Left.

Had Mondale or Dukakis been president, there would have been no organized support of opposition to Soviet-backed communist expansion in places like Nicaragua and others. Nor would there have been a hard-line approach to things like arms control or missile defense, or a strong philosophical opposition to communism in general.

Without Reagan, I would lay better than even odds that the Soviet Union would still be there.

Incidentally, you often say things would have been better in Iraq had Saddam been kept in power to keep things under control. How do you feel about the Shah of Iran?