At Reagan Gala, Secretary Cites Importance of U.S. Military Power
(May 28, 2011) |
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| WASHINGTON, May 25, 2011 – At a gala here to celebrate what
would have been Ronald Reagan's 100th birthday, Defense
Secretary Robert M. Gates quoted the 40th president on the
importance of sustaining U.S. military power.
“As
President Reagan once observed,” Gates told an audience of
more than 500, “‘of the four wars in my lifetime, none came
about because the United States was too strong.'” |
Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates addresses the
audience during the Ronald Reagan Centennial Gala in Washington,
D.C., May 24, 2011. DOD photo by Cherie Cullen |
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The Ronald Reagan Centennial Gala is part of the
two-year-long celebration to commemorate the centennial of
Ronald Reagan, who was born in February 1911.
In the
audience was British Defense Secretary Liam Fox, along with
members of Congress and the diplomatic corps and others who
served Reagan's presidency.
Fox brought a message
from former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, who said she
was “with the audience tonight in spirit on the momentous
occasion of this wonderful man” and great president.
Fox called Reagan and Thatcher “giants of history at a time
when history needed giants.”
Also at the gala, Lech
Walesa -- the first freely elected president of Poland, a
trade-union organizer and a human-rights activist – who
received the Ronald Reagan Centennial Freedom Award. Walesa
co-founded Solidarity, the Soviet bloc's first independent
trade union, and received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1983.
“It's altogether fitting that the theme of these
centennial celebrations is ‘Inspired Freedom, Changed the
World.'” Gates said.
“And while President Reagan's
domestic initiatives fundamentally changed the politics and
government of this country,” he added, “as defense secretary
for at least a few more weeks, I'd like to focus my remarks
tonight on how he brought that slogan to life abroad.”
In the decade before Reagan took office, Gates said,
there had been a bloody takeover in Vietnam and millions of
deaths across Southeast Asia, “stagflation,” two energy
crises and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.
There
was revolution in Iran, an embassy taken hostage and a
failed rescue mission, he added. Also at the time, tens of
thousands of Cuban soldiers were in Angola and Ethiopia,
Nicaragua was fast moving into Cuba's orbit and
Cuban-supported insurgencies were in El Salvador and
elsewhere in the region.
“Some of you here today
remember what it was like to work in national security
during that time, or any time during the Cold War -– always
carrying a heavy burden, always facing an existential
threat, not just to our country, but to the entire world.”
Reagan, nearly alone, Gates said, had the bedrock
conviction that the Soviet system was “rotting from within”
and could be brought down.
“He spoke blunt truths
about the Soviet system and Soviet behavior. Remember the
‘Evil Empire' speech in 1983? It drove Moscow nuts. No one
spoke these truths with more credibility or more eloquence,”
the secretary said.
The Reagan administration's
actions, overt and covert, gave hope to dissidents and
millions of others trapped behind the Iron Curtain and let
the world know that “America was back,” said Gates, who
holds a doctorate in Russian and Soviet history from
Georgetown University.
After the Geneva Summit in
1985, Reagan and the new Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev,
“between them set in motion developments that would
ultimately lead to the remarkable turn of events,” Gates
said -- “the fall of the Berlin Wall, the reunification of
Germany, the dissolution of the Soviet Union, and the
liberation of hundreds of millions of people behind the Iron
Curtain.”
Reagan's statecraft consisted of
diplomatic, economic and military pressure combined with a
willingness to parlay with his Soviet counterpart, Gates
said. Today, he added, it's a different world, but still a
dangerous place.
“In many ways, geopolitics are much
more complex than when two nuclear superpowers taunted and
tested each other,” Gates said. “But communism's demise
holds lessons for us even now.”
Along with the
importance of sustaining military power, the lessons include
the enduring value and broad appeal of freedom and “the idea
that free men and women of different cultures and countries
can, for all the squabbling inherent in democracy, come
together to ... make the tough decisions to deter aggression
and preserve their liberty,” Gates said.
After a
decade of war, weariness with conflict is understandable, he
said, but a stand must always be taken against those who
seek to dominate and intimidate others through violence.
“We saw this on 9/11. We see it today in Afghanistan,
where more perseverance, more sacrifice and more patience
will be required to prevent the terrorists who attacked us
from doing so again –- though cutting off the head of the
al-Qaida snake was definitely a big step in the right
direction,” the secretary said to enthusiastic applause.
“We see it anywhere nations, movements or strongmen are
tempted to believe that the United States of America does
not have the will or the means to stand by our friends, to
meet our commitments and to defend our way of life,” he
added.
No one can predict the future or what impact
today's decisions will have over the next decades, he said,
but history makes certain things clear.
“When America
is willing to lead the way; when we live up to our
responsibilities and stand with our allies, even in
troubling times; when we prepare for threats ... on ... and
beyond the horizon; and when we make the necessary
sacrifices and take the necessary risks to defend our values
and our interests,” Gates said, “then great things are
possible and even probable for our country and the world.”
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By Cheryl Pellerin
American Forces Press Service
Copyright 2011
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