Sane Americans will always remember the Bush administration for its foreign policy debacles; the Iraq War, authorization of torture, and the alienation of close allies have become the symbols of an abnormally inept administration that destroyed America’s reputation abroad. The administration also seemed determined to run a foreign intervention worse than the Vietnam War: the War in Afghanistan managed the rare feat of failing in almost all of its objectives, save for the successful boom in opium production in Helmand. Due to the notoriety of the regime’s many foreign policy failures, the devastation of the economy during the Bush years gets forgotten; tax cuts and expensive wars drove up the deficit, while deregulation of the financial industry caused the economy to crash in 2007. This lack of attentiveness from the majority of the population has helped benefit many presidents throughout American history. Lyndon Johnson is considered one of the most effective presidents of all time, albeit a polarizing one. The Great Society was a pivotal turning point in domestic policy, while the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965 ensured all citizens were equal, probably for the first time in American history. His endeavors are cherished or loathed by observers who forget to consider the millions of Vietnamese killed in a war caused by the false-flag operation in the Gulf of Tonkin. It is a testament to our society’s low attention span and lack of political knowledge that we can’t judge regimes in the entirety of their policies, but instead seek to pick noteworthy events during their time in government as a sample. If viewed in its entirety, the added weight of causing an economic recession would result in a more damning view of the Bush years than the one perceived today, while Johnson’s reign would seem less rosy if the Vietnam War was taken into proper account.

For the sake of fairness, it has already been pointed out that many presidents have the advantage of careless electorates. But no one has reaped these benefits like Ronaldus Maximus. Progressives usually attribute the current economic turmoil and decay of the political system to the Ronald Reagan administration, and for good reason; his deregulation and massive tax cuts are the primary causes of the transfer of wealth to the top of the economic pyramid over the past 30 years. But while Reagan’s fiscal policies remain under the microscope, his foreign policies are rarely discussed.

Last week, Efraín Ríos Montt was ordered to stand trial in Guatemala City on charges of genocide. The former dictator of Guatemala has managed to avoid being tried for years, successfully evading the consequences of a “scorched-earth” policy that resulted in the slaughter of thousands of indigenous people in 1982-83. Unsurprisingly, Rios Montt, while lacking the notoriety and longevity of other despots from the 1980’s, had something in common with his fellow tyrants: support from the Reagan administration. The regime made a habit of propping up, supporting, and funding mass murderers and genocidal maniacs throughout Asia and Latin America; today, these are the regions that harbor the highest anti-American sentiments.

While support of oppressive foreign dictators can be placed next to baseball and apple pie as American pastimes, the Reagan regime in particular should be complimented for the variety of characters they supported as puppet rulers. Panamanian strongman Manuel Noriega was used by the CIA to funnel arms and money to the Contras, despite his drug running and money laundering; Noriega was on the CIA payroll for almost two decades. Power hungry narcissist Saddam Hussein, chieftain of Bush’s Axis of Evil, was the recipient of weapons that were later used as the basis of invading his country less than 15 years later. Hussein was to use these weapons to topple the Iranian theocracy, a task which he was unable to complete, partly due to the fact that the US was selling weapons to the US at the same time. Reagan seemed to have a soft spot for the Iranian regime; even before his election, the Reagan/Bush campaign was negotiating with the Iranians to not release the US embassy hostages to discredit the Jimmy Carter government. The hostages were released 20 minutes after Reagan took the oath of office. In the aftermath, notable figures such as former presidential nominee Lyndon LaRouche and former Iranian president Abolhassan Bani-Sadr have stood by the allegations.

The greatest indictment of the heedless voter might be the fact that George H.W. Bush won an election after it was proven that he was involved in not only supporting foreign dictators, but also breaking US law. The Boland Amendment was specifically passed to block any support for the Nicaragua rebels, who were trying to overthrow the Sandinista government. The Reagan administration decided to fund the Contras through other means; the sale of weapons to Iran generated the funds that were to be used to support the Contras. Today Reagan is not remembered for these blunders, but instead only for his domestic policies. He is revered as a demigod to conservatives and moderates alike, and remains one of the most popular presidents of all time. Reagan had policies, foreign and domestic alike, that ruined the country’s financial institutions and created enemies across the globe. His popularity, and by correlation, the popularity of his policies are more malignant to the core of the country than any of Reagan’s actual policies. Until the electorate is able to judge leaders in the totality of their politics, bad policies will continue to pale in comparison to the naivety and benightedness of the population.