Cao Changqing is a freelance writer based in New York. Born and raised in China, he draws on his experience as an immigrant adapting to a new culture and language to share thoughtful reflections on politics and society, seen through the eyes of someone raised under a communist regime.
Part I traced my first encounters with America and introduced four qualities that, in my view, explain Ronald Reagan’s lasting influence. The first was his wisdom. In this second installment, I turn to the second quality — his courage — and explore how it shaped history.
The courage that defined Reagan’s leadership
The Chinese proverb “great wisdom brings great courage” (大智大勇) reminds us that true bravery is rooted in clear understanding. Because Reagan saw communist ideology for what it was, he had the moral clarity to confront it head-on — and to do so at great personal and political risk.
Speaking truth to tyranny
The 1980s marked the height of the Cold War. While the Soviet Union trained thousands of missiles on the free world — and, together with communist China, exported Orwellian nightmares reminiscent of Animal Farm and 1984 — Reagan refused to waver.
From Afghanistan and the Philippines to Nicaragua, the Middle East, Europe, and the Taiwan Strait, he backed those fighting for liberty and pushed back against communist expansion. In a historic address to Britain’s Parliament, he predicted that the communist revolution was “in crisis.” In 1983, during a speech to the National Association of Evangelicals in Orlando, he boldly called the Soviet Union an “evil empire.” In 1987, before the Berlin Wall, he challenged Moscow directly: “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!”
For people trapped behind the Iron Curtain, those words rekindled hope. A Russian professor later told Washington Post columnist David Ignatius: “Your president had the courage to call us by our true name.” Within a decade, that courage helped topple communist regimes across Eastern Europe.
For younger generations raised in an era of information overload, moral relativism, and shifting cultural values, it can be difficult to appreciate just how rare it is for a political leader to speak the truth plainly — and to do so with conviction. Reagan did exactly that, often standing firm against elite consensus, media ridicule, and global pressure. In an age when compromise is too often mistaken for wisdom, his unwavering honesty reminds us that real courage begins with moral clarity.
Withstanding the media onslaught
Reagan’s plain-spoken defense of freedom drew fierce resistance from the Western Left. Journalists, editors, and television anchors mounted what New York Times reporter James Reston called “an unprecedented effort” to block his 1984 re-election — yet voters returned him to office in a landslide.
Left-leaning intellectuals mocked him as “far-right,” “arrogant,” even “the president who only tells jokes.” Pulitzer-winning historian Arthur Schlesinger Jr. insisted the Soviet Union was nowhere near collapse; economist John Kenneth Galbraith praised Moscow’s command economy for “concentrating all human resources” — to which a conservative critic retorted: “Do you mean the Gulag?”
Calling Western leftists the Communist Party’s “allied forces” was no exaggeration, given how closely their rhetoric matched Soviet talking points. Reagan’s answer was simple: “Don’t listen to them.” He kept speaking the truth — and history vindicated him.
Standing firm within his own party
Reagan’s courage also meant standing alone when necessary. On taking office, he pushed through the largest tax cut in U.S. history, trimming personal income-tax rates by 40 percent. When the economy dipped into recession the next year, advisers urged retreat. Reagan refused. The recovery that followed created 19 million new jobs and tamed inflation.
He pursued three domestic goals — tax cuts, economic growth, and a balanced budget. The first two he achieved; the deficit remained high because he insisted on rebuilding America’s defenses. Looking back, speechwriter David Frum observed that Reagan’s military buildup “was key to winning the Cold War — and the resulting deficit was a small price to pay.”
Refusing to trade principle for popularity
Unlike many politicians, Reagan did not chase trends or poll numbers. Peggy Noonan, who wrote speeches for him, recalled: “When public opinion went one way, he often went the other — pulling the nation forward with nothing but faith and strength.” He endured charges of fanaticism even from his own party, yet voters rewarded his constancy: in 1984, he carried 49 of 50 states, a record unlikely to be surpassed.
Legacy of a giant
One year after Reagan left office, the Berlin Wall fell. Two years later, the hammer-and-sickle flag was lowered over Red Square, and the Soviet empire dissolved. In the 1991 Gulf War, U.S. forces — rebuilt on Reagan’s watch — achieved America’s first decisive victory since Vietnam.
Margaret Thatcher, his partner in the struggle against communism, summed it up: “At a time when freedom was in retreat, he launched a global campaign to expand it — and he succeeded.” Today, from Prague and Warsaw to Kyiv and even Moscow, former captive peoples still echo the prayer that carried his message: God bless America.
(To be continued)
Originally published in “Observations.”
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