There are still many people who refuse to give Reagan the credit he is due for winning the Cold War. Some of them credit Mikhail Gorbachev foe ending the Cold War. Some of them claim that the Soviet Union collapsed under the weight of its economic failures. However, the real reason for the collapse of Communism was that President Reagan won the Cold War.

Reagan won the Cold War without firing a shot through a brilliantly conceived and flawlessly executed plan he developed in 1982 and carried out through the rest of his presidency. He did it with diplomatic moves and military threats. He did it with eloquent speeches. He did it with leadership.

Early in his presidency, he answered the Soviet moves to introduce short-range tactical nuclear missiles into Eastern Europe by introducing superior missiles into Western Europe. He called the Communist bluff by beginning the Strategic Defense Initiative to develop a system of anti-ballistic missiles that would destroy Soviet nuclear intercontinental ballistic missiles before they could re-enter the atmosphere. These moves forced the Communists to re-direct ever-increasing resources from their civilian economy to the military to attempt to counteract the newly planned American defenses.

Another aspect of Reagan's brilliant strategy to win the Cold War was his support of Freedom Fighters fighting to overthrow oppressive Communist puppet regimes in Angola, Afghanistan, Nicaragua, etc., and by sending troops to Grenada to stop a Communist takeover there. The most devastating effects of this support were the Freedom Fighters in Afghanistan who, armed with little more than heat seeking Stinger missiles and hand-held launchers clandestinely supplied by the U.S., handed the Red Army a humiliating defeat and drove them from their country. We also know that Reagan enlisted the help of Pope John Paul II to encourage the Solidarity movement in its successful effort to topple the Communist puppet dictator in Poland. The tired, old, hard-line Soviet dictators left over from the Stalin era quickly learned that Reagan was not going to appease them as his predecessors did.

As one might expect from one who is known as the Great Communicator, the ultimate final nails in the coffin of Communism were driven by two inspirational speeches President Reagan made while on his Summit trip to Moscow in 1988. In the first speech, Reagan inspired millions of Russian young people with his eloquent speech about freedom and liberty at Moscow University. Those same young people, armed only with Reagan's inspirational words, stared down Red Army tanks, overthrew the Gorbachev's Communist regime, and installed Boris Yeltsin as president. Those students all credited Reagan's speech for inspiring them to fight for freedom. And, we can never forget President Reagan standing in front of the Berlin Wall and demanding, "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!" Well, Gorbachev didn't tear down that wall, but the young people inspired by Reagan's demand did. Those inspired young people were also instrumental in bringing down the Soviet puppet regimes in Eastern Europe, thus ending the Soviet Empire.

Ironically, the greatest barrier to the successful completion of Reagan's plan to win the Cold War was not the Soviet Union but the Democrat Congress. The Democrats in Congress fought a vicious, last ditch battle to keep the Communist dictators in power all over the World. The Democrats fought against every effort by the Reagan Administration to provide aid to Freedom Fighters who were trying to free their nations from the oppressive yoke of Communism. They even trumped up "criminal" charges against members of the Reagan Administration who were legally trying to supply arms to the Nicaraguan Freedom Fighters attempting to overthrow a Soviet puppet regime. Those trumped up charges resulted in a seven-year witch hunt by Larry Walsh that cost $50 million and obtained no measurable results. Fortunately, Reagan was able to overcome such Democrat obstructionism.

Gorbachev did not end the Cold War. The Soviet Union did not crumble from within. Reagan won the Cold War by executing the brilliant plan he devised in 1982. No one in the last 50+ years has done as much for World peace as Ronald Reagan. No one is more deserving of the Nobel Prize for Peace than Ronald Reagan, but for political reasons he won't receive it. The important thing is that Ronald Reagan saved the World from Communism and we will always thank him for that.