On October 23, 1983, Hezbollah (with Iranian backing) bombed barracks of US soldiers in Beirut, Lebanon, killing 241 Marines.

Besides being a horrible loss of life, this event obviously stirred up a feces tsunami for the Reagan administration. Shortly thereafter, President Reagan withdrew US forces from Lebanon, and looked for a couple of weaker bad guys to smack around. Hey, any bad guys in this Grenada place we can make an example of?

In retrospect, withdrawing those troops was the worst moment of Reagan's presidency. This retreat was one of the top moments giving the likes of Bin Laden some good reason to think that we're paper tigers, lacking the will to use our power.

Now, we probably shouldn't have been in Lebanon in the first place, but leaving like that obviously cost us rep, making them think they could kill our people and get away with it. That has cost us. We should have took the opportunity to wipe out as much of Hezbollah as we could find, and pretty much anybody who knew them- then left.

Ah well, Reagan didn't see what we were going to be getting into decades later. He was still fighting the last war- the Cold War.

This brings us to perhaps the best moment of Reagan's presidency though, in retrospect perhaps the final psychological tipping point of the half century standoff with the Soviets.

On August 11, 1984, President Reagan was on stage preparing for a radio broadcast. Joking around, Reagan "accidentally" said into a live microphone, "My fellow Americans, I'm pleased to tell you today that I've signed legislation that will outlaw Russia forever. We begin bombing in five minutes."

This little snafu didn't cost American lives, so the public didn't much care. Democratic opposition, however, pitched a fit. Why, this guy's NUTS. He's off his beam.

The Soviets probably thought the same thing, as well as some other dirtbags. They gave THIS crazy old man keys to the nukes? Holy crap!

Perhaps I'm too cynical or giving Reagan too much credit, but I doubt that the incident was accidental. What a brilliant and subtle communication this was if purposeful. Let our enemies think the guy at the top isn't quite all there. Scary! Better not TRY him.

One way or the other, Reagan put the fear of God into our enemies. He did pretty good that way for someone who never really did have a major war. Perhaps it's good for the president to have people thinking he's maybe just half a bubble off level. Keep them off balance.

Maybe he really WAS the Great Communicator in ways we haven't yet fully appreciated.