Monday, June 07, 2004
Reagan's legacy
Today is a good time to recall my favourite anagram: "Ronald Wilson Reagan" = "Insane Anglo Warlord". Less facetiously, I am disgusted with the sanitising of Reagan by the media. This man (along with Bush Sr, Oliver North, and convicted Admiral Poindexter) was quite probably a traitor, illegally conspiring with the enemies of the US against the Carter administration, and then, after assuming power, using the proceeds of his illegal arms deals with Iran to fund an illegal, Congress-skirting (and therefore democracy-skirting) war against the democratically-elected government of Nicaragua. And oh so much more.
But I can say this: I owe my career to Reagan. In high school, I decided I wanted to join the US Foreign Service. During the Summer after my Junior year, I took International Relations at Cornell. A few months later, I was admitted via early decision to the Edmund A Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. But at the last minute, I changed my mind, not least because I realised that as a Foreign Service Officer, I would be expected to represent, implement and defend US foreign policy, no matter what that might have been. The fact that Reagan was in office at the time made me realise that it was possible, even likely, that as an FSO I would routinely face crises of conscience. I decided I didn't want to put myself in such a morally questionable position. I applied to Berkely and Stanford, and eventually attended the latter, avoiding International Relations, Politics and the Foreign Service altogether. Which is just as well: Although Warren Christopher was a Stanford Trustee and shook my hand at my graduation, the ultra-conservative Hoover Institution and Condi Rice were dominating the political scene there at the time.
From Chichester Terrace, Brighton
Today is a good time to recall my favourite anagram: "Ronald Wilson Reagan" = "Insane Anglo Warlord". Less facetiously, I am disgusted with the sanitising of Reagan by the media. This man (along with Bush Sr, Oliver North, and convicted Admiral Poindexter) was quite probably a traitor, illegally conspiring with the enemies of the US against the Carter administration, and then, after assuming power, using the proceeds of his illegal arms deals with Iran to fund an illegal, Congress-skirting (and therefore democracy-skirting) war against the democratically-elected government of Nicaragua. And oh so much more.
But I can say this: I owe my career to Reagan. In high school, I decided I wanted to join the US Foreign Service. During the Summer after my Junior year, I took International Relations at Cornell. A few months later, I was admitted via early decision to the Edmund A Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. But at the last minute, I changed my mind, not least because I realised that as a Foreign Service Officer, I would be expected to represent, implement and defend US foreign policy, no matter what that might have been. The fact that Reagan was in office at the time made me realise that it was possible, even likely, that as an FSO I would routinely face crises of conscience. I decided I didn't want to put myself in such a morally questionable position. I applied to Berkely and Stanford, and eventually attended the latter, avoiding International Relations, Politics and the Foreign Service altogether. Which is just as well: Although Warren Christopher was a Stanford Trustee and shook my hand at my graduation, the ultra-conservative Hoover Institution and Condi Rice were dominating the political scene there at the time.
From Chichester Terrace, Brighton
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