I haven't read most of this thread. I gather there have been a few comments adverse to Reagan.
Reagan during his presidency was depicted in my country as a dangerous warmonger. He was described as overly reliant upon his wife, who in turn was guided by her tarot reader. Reaganomics was an anaethema to many people, and was perceived as causing many Americans to lose their jobs.
As for the end of the Cold War, many people outside the US, including most of Germany, attribute this to Gorbachev, not Reagan. (I actually do think Reagan was partially responsible for this, although he never intended to be - he dramatically increased defence spending and caused what would otherwise have been a dangerous arms race with the Soviet Union, but which instead damaged its economy.)
And so Reagan was much maligned by Australians during his presidency, and the revelation that he had Alzeimer's was considered to be no big surprise.
As a consequence, I was frankly astonished by calls from some people a few years back that Reagan's face be carved on Mt Rushmore. I think I have said before that I only became recently aware of Reagan's principled stance on taxes, refusing to raise them because he did not want to break an election promise.
In any event, the man is dead: may he rest in peace.
