‘Peace through strength’: SDI and the genius of Ronald Reagan

Mark Levin had the privilege of serving in Ronald Reagan’s administration as a chief of staff, so he knows what he’s talking about when he says that Reagan, who he calls “a genius,” was the brain behind the idea of peace through strength.

“He wanted to bring the most brilliant scientists in the United States together to figure out how to build a missile shield system,” which he called “the Strategic Defense Initiative — SDI,” says Levin, adding that Reagan was “mocked” and “attacked” for these ideas.

The Democrats accused him of “wasting money.” They said “it was an excuse not to reduce nuclear arms.” They called him “a dunce” and “a cowboy” and joked that the program was playing a game of “Star Wars.” They even “made every budgetary movement they possibly could to try and block it.”

One person took Reagan’s SDI program seriously — Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev, the last leader of the Soviet Union before it was dismantled.

Even Gorbachev himself admitted that “SDI was a game changer because the Soviets could never keep up with our technological knowhow, our scientific capabilities, and they certainly wouldn't have the money to build this system,” Levin recounts.

Israel also saw the program’s merit.

It “took the idea” and “refined it” to suit its unique needs — an adoption that has been hugely beneficial for the country.

“Like no other country on the face of the Earth, the Israelis have a strategic defense missile defense system, and thank God they do,” says Levin.

America, on the other hand, is “laying naked,” he warns.

To hear more of Levin’s analysis, watch the clip above.

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