According to Douglas Brinkley:
Egypts brutal crackdown on demonstrators and the media would have angered and goaded the late, great President Ronald Reagan, who would have sided with the people trying to throw off a dictator, best-selling historian Douglas Brinkley tells Newsmax.
One of the things I learned in editing 'The Reagan Diaries' is to never say what Reagan would do, because he surprised people, Brinkley told Newsmax in an exclusive interview Thursday night.
However, theres little doubt how Reagan would have reacted to the mayhem in the streets of Cairo, "The Reagan Diaries author said.
If Reagan had intelligence information that showed that the upheaval in Egypt is actually Democratic in spirit, then he would have, I believe, turned his back on Mubarak, even though theres a long friendship between the United States and Egypt, Brinkley said. And [he would have] supported the Democratic movement.
Reagan was a pure liberation, free-and-fair election American. I think he would have been cautious, would have been doing what he could to get Americans out of Egypt like Obamas done, and to try to embrace this perhaps-Democratic movement that is sweeping throughout the Middle East, Brinkley said.
Regarding President Barack Obamas handling of the crisis, Brinkley was not critical and pointed out Im sure theres a lot going on . . . that were not privy to.
The prize-winning historian and author said there were two reasons Reagan handled situations such as the crisis in the Middle East astutely: He listened to his top advisers, and he was always fighting for one ideal: democracy around the world.
More: Douglas Brinkley: What Reagan Would Do in Egypt
Egypts brutal crackdown on demonstrators and the media would have angered and goaded the late, great President Ronald Reagan, who would have sided with the people trying to throw off a dictator, best-selling historian Douglas Brinkley tells Newsmax.
One of the things I learned in editing 'The Reagan Diaries' is to never say what Reagan would do, because he surprised people, Brinkley told Newsmax in an exclusive interview Thursday night.
However, theres little doubt how Reagan would have reacted to the mayhem in the streets of Cairo, "The Reagan Diaries author said.
If Reagan had intelligence information that showed that the upheaval in Egypt is actually Democratic in spirit, then he would have, I believe, turned his back on Mubarak, even though theres a long friendship between the United States and Egypt, Brinkley said. And [he would have] supported the Democratic movement.
Reagan was a pure liberation, free-and-fair election American. I think he would have been cautious, would have been doing what he could to get Americans out of Egypt like Obamas done, and to try to embrace this perhaps-Democratic movement that is sweeping throughout the Middle East, Brinkley said.
Regarding President Barack Obamas handling of the crisis, Brinkley was not critical and pointed out Im sure theres a lot going on . . . that were not privy to.
The prize-winning historian and author said there were two reasons Reagan handled situations such as the crisis in the Middle East astutely: He listened to his top advisers, and he was always fighting for one ideal: democracy around the world.
More: Douglas Brinkley: What Reagan Would Do in Egypt