America, Prepared for Peace Pt 1 – Veterans of Foreign Wars – #RonaldReagan 1984 * PITD August 24, 1984 (Remarks at the National Convention) Excerpt For 85 years, the VFW has stood united in support of the values which have made our Republic great, and today you're doing it better than ever. Four years ago, right here in Chicago, I stood before your convention, and when you think back to 1980, it's hard to forget the mess America was in, hard to forget the foolish talk of a malaise, the unfairness of runaway price increases, 21 1/2-percent interest rates, weakened defenses, Americans held hostage, and the loss of respect for our nation abroad. It seemed that we woke up every morning wondering what new humiliation our country had suffered overseas, what disappointing economic news lay waiting for us on the front page. We knew we couldn't continue on that road. We knew we had to change course and get America back on her feet. And we knew that peace and freedom could not be protected without cost and commitment, without perseverance and courage. One cannot sit in the Oval Office without realizing the awesome responsibility of protecting peace and freedom and preserving human life. The responsibility cannot be met with halfway wishes. It can be met only by a determined effort to pursue and protect peace with all the strength that we can bring to bear. My deepest commitment is to achieve a stable, enduring peace, not just by being prepared to deter aggression but also by bringing steadiness to American foreign policy, by being prepared to pursue all possible avenues for arms reduction, by ensuring that our economic strength leads the way to greater stability through growth and human progress, and by having the spiritual strength and self-confidence that enables us to reach out to our adversaries. Well, I think we've come a long way together. In fact, I believe we've closed the books on that dismal chapter of failed policies and self-doubt. May it never return. And our progress wouldn't have been possible without you of the VFW and millions of other concerned Americans. Gone are the days when we abandoned principle and common sense. Gone are the days when we meekly tolerated obvious threats to our peace and security. Gone are the days when we either sought to achieve overnight grandiose arms control agreements that were bound to fail, or when we set our sights so low that the agreements permitted the numbers and categories of weapons to soar. We have made a new beginning, a dramatic, far-reaching step toward a much better, safer, and more secure future. To all of you who have served your country with such courage and distinction, and to all the young men and women who look to their future, I can tell you today from my heart: The United States of America is prepared for peace. And because we're stronger than before, we can be confident that we're in a position to secure a future of peace, not peace at any price, but a true, meaningful, lasting peace supported by freedom and human dignity. As I said last night in Dallas, our military serves to protect our freedom and keep the peace. None of the four wars in my lifetime and none of the wars that you have seen came about because we were too strong. History shows that weakness invites tyrants to believe that the price of aggression will be cheap. And while military strength alone is not enough to ensure a more secure world, without military strength, there can be no effective diplomacy, no meaningful negotiations, no real security, no lasting peace. If you have any suggestions, questions or concerns please leave them below. Thanks for watching and make it an outstanding day! *** I am a proud American, blessed father, a staunch 2A activist and a Marine Corps Veteran that just happens to be 100% blind. This is a look at the Second Amendment, firearms, self Defense, Constitutionally protected rights, Liberty and Freedom from the perspective of a Visually Impaired, Blind American. #PatriotInTheDark If you like what you have seen here, please consider showing your support on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/PatriotInTheDark https://www.paypal.me/PatriotInTheDark Also check out our Spreadshirt Shop for Swag: https://shop.spreadshirt.com/patriot-in-the-dark Also find us here: https://odysee.com/$/invite/@PatriotInTheDark:0 https://gunstreamer.com/PatriotInTheDark https://twitter.com/patriot_itd https://www.instagram.com/patriot_in_the_dark/ PatriotInTheDark@gmail.com Disclaimer: No purchase necessary, must abide by all state and federal laws. Void where prohibited. No Puppies or sighted people were hurt during the filming of these videos. Reagan Presidential Library: www.reaganlibrary.gov President Reagan's Foundation: http://www.reaganfoundation.org ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qc6SGKLi1ss

Nuclear Arms Reduction ☢️ INF Treaty & START Agreement — USA / USSR ☢️ #RonaldReagan 1988 * PITD Reagan's ideas served as the foundation for his administration's approach to the Cold War and to #NuclearWeapons. Abolishing nuclear weapons was one of Reagan's fundamental goals for his presidency. His desire to rid the world of nuclear weapons underpinned much of what he did as President in terms of his Cold War policy. Reagan believed that the Soviet Union's economy and technological base represented key weaknesses in its Cold War competition with the United States, because of both the intrinsic flaws of the Soviet system and the exorbitant devotion of Soviet resources to the military. Reagan sought not to manage the Cold War, but to prosecute and win it. After an initial period of disorganization, the Reagan Administration, over the course of 1982 and early 1983, established in a series of highly classified national security directives its fundamental Cold War policy, which formally ensconced Reagan's own beliefs and served as the single, unifying framework for the administration's approach throughout the rest of Reagan's presidency. Those directives set out a few basic objectives. The first was to "contain and reverse the expansion of Soviet control and military presence throughout the world." The second was "[t]o foster, if possible in concert with our allies, restraint in Soviet military spending, discourage Soviet adventurism, and weaken the Soviet alliance system by forcing the USSR to bear the brunt of its economic shortcomings, and to encourage long-term liberalizing and nationalist tendencies within the Soviet Union and allied countries." The adminis­tration would aim to promote "the process of change in the Soviet Union toward a more pluralistic politi­cal and economic system in which the power of the privileged ruling elite is gradually reduced." The third objective was to negotiate with the Soviets. The Reagan Administration believed itself to be embarking on a new and ambitious Cold War pol­icy, one guided by the President's own aims and ideas. The policy papers evidenced a special atten­tion to the political, economic, and technological weaknesses of the Soviet Union, and to how the United States could shape the decision-making environment in which Soviet leaders acted. The papers also show that the administration looked to a new, younger generation of Soviet leaders for the kind of interlocutor who might be willing to intro­duce more flexibility in Soviet policy. While the administration set out the general means by which it would pursue its policy-for example, a vigorous military competition, efforts to destabilize the Sovi­et economy, covert action, and public diplomacy- it did so more as a means of providing options rath­er than dictating specific measures, and thus gave itself strategic flexibility in carrying out its policy objectives. The Reagan Administration also set forth pro­posals for arms negotiations with the Soviet Union that called for deep reductions in each side's nuclear arsenal. As its plan for intermediate-range nuclear forces, or INF, talks, the administration proposed that if the Soviet Union eliminated its intermediate-range missiles, the United States would not deploy its own missiles, which it had planned to do in Western Europe in 1983. On strategic weapons, Reagan insisted that the name of the talks be changed from SALT, or Strategic Arms Limitation Talks, to START, or Strategic Arms Reduction Talks. He set out a START plan that called for dramatic cuts in strategic weapons, particularly on the Soviet side. See: https://www.heritage.org/defense/report/president-reagans-legacy-and-us-nuclear-weapons-policy If you have any suggestions, questions or concerns please leave them below. Thanks for watching and make it an outstanding day! *** I am a proud American, blessed father, a staunch 2A activist and a Marine Corps Veteran that just happens to be 100% blind. This is a look at the Second Amendment, firearms, self Defense, Constitutionally protected rights, Liberty and Freedom from the perspective of a Visually Impaired, Blind American. #PatriotInTheDark If you like what you seen here, please consider showing your support on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/PatriotInTheDark https://www.paypal.me/PatriotInTheDark Also check out our Spreadshirt Shop for Swag: https://shop.spreadshirt.com/patriot-in-the-dark Also find us here: https://odysee.com/$/invite/@PatriotInTheDark:0 https://gunstreamer.com/PatriotInTheDark https://twitter.com/patriot_itd https://www.instagram.com/patriot_in_the_dark/ PatriotInTheDark@gmail.com Disclaimer: No purchase necessary, must abide by all state and federal laws. Void where prohibited. No Puppies or sighted people were hurt during the filming of these videos. ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2FC-T1QyRQ