Cathy Young's Reagan tribute.
Reason Magazine
Most Popular Stories
Reason RUPE: Public Opinion Survey
- Romney Most Electable Candidate, Yet Gingrich in Statistical Tie Among GOP Voters (1.31)
- Explaining Newt’s Second Surge (1.26)
- George Washington Would Beat Out Romney as Richest President; John Kerry Would Have, Too (1.25)
- New Poll: Americans Aren't Ready for Another War (1.20)
- 2012 Election Match Up: Romney Wins, Paul Might (1.13)
advertisements
Reason on Facebook
Reason on Twitter
Reason on YouTube
Reason RSSGet Reason E-mail Updates!
Manage your Reason e-mail list subscriptionsSite comments/questions:
Media Inquiries and Reprint Permissions:
(310) 367-6109
Editorial & Production Offices:
3415 S. Sepulveda Blvd.
Suite 400
Los Angeles, CA 90034
(310) 391-2245
Editor's Note: We invite comments and request that they be civil and on-topic. We do not moderate or assume any responsibility for comments, which are owned by the readers who post them. Comments do not represent the views of Reason.com or Reason Foundation. We reserve the right to delete any comment for any reason at any time.
Mo|6.15.04 @ 4:43AM|#
Kent, do you mean Catherine (as in the Great)? :)
|6.15.04 @ 5:04AM|#
Mo,
I'm really not sure. I should look for the book at my father's house next time I visit. I'm sure her original name is in the book.
Larry A|6.15.04 @ 6:33AM|#
Cathy dismisses the �it would have fallen anyway� excuse in passing.
Those who believe Reagan was simply an onlooker miss a vital point.
Yes, absolutely, the centralized state-run economy of the USSR was a failure and eventually would have crumbled. However, during the time the system was approaching senility there were still a number of options left for the core of the Communist Party. Some of them were quite violent.
I believe it was Reagan�s �I double-dog-dare you to mess with us� attitude that kept the politburo from being tempted to pull anything like a Pearl Harbor.
The response by Soviet apologists is, of course, that the USSR wouldn�t have started anything because the people of the Soviet Union didn�t want war any more than we did. Which would have been valid except for the little problem that the people of the USSR didn�t run the show.
Cisco|6.15.04 @ 8:57AM|#
"Ekaterina Jung", I believe, is her original name. And her girlhood memories are an excellent read.
|6.15.04 @ 11:32AM|#
New at Reason: Cathy Young responds to the big story of last week. Or the week before.
|6.15.04 @ 12:01PM|#
"Cathy Young" is the name of a Soviet immigrant?
|6.15.04 @ 12:05PM|#
A fitting tribute and really interesting points made even more so by Cathy's perspective!
Reagan was right about Communism years before most were, going back to before he was elected to any government office. Reagan's words gave ideological sustenance and courage to those trapped behind the iron curtain.
Reagan was right, and inspirational when he called the USSR an "evil empire", helping bring to fruition his long held dream of its demise. The intellectual bankruptcy of the mainstream political liberals of the day is evidenced by their whining response to Reagan's words.
See Reagan's War by Peter Schweitzer for a fascinating account of his forty-year struggle and final triumph over communism.
|6.15.04 @ 12:44PM|#
Really,
I believe her name was (some Russian equivalent of Cathy) Jung and she, like many other immigrants, Anglicized her name. Many years ago, she wrote an interesting book called "Growing up In Moscow."
|6.16.04 @ 7:09AM|#
Cisco,
Thanks. My late mother read "Growing up in Moscow" in a fraction of the time it normally took her to read a book. Offhand, I cannot remember another book my mother discussed as much.