Chapters 2-3 Summary and Analysis

Chapter 2. A Nation at Peace Everywhere in the World. In 1976, while running in the Republican primary against Gerald Ford, Reagan developed the opinion that Ford had made America look weak in the eyes of the world through the loss of the Vietnam conflict. To battle this idea, Reagan grabbed on to the idea that Ford was about to give up American rights to the Panama Canal under threat of the Panamanian leader General Omar Torrijos. Although his claims had no basis, Reagan won many states on the idea that he would not allow the world to believe Americans were weak. Not only did this argument, based on false information, allow Reagan to win multiple states in the primary, it caused the Panama treaty, which should have been ratified easily in Congress, to nearly be defeated. Not only this, but...