But Reagan had sized up Gorbachev, correctly, as a leader prepared to make sweeping changes in the communist system and ready to make deals of historic importance with the West. In December 1987, Reagan and Gorbachev signed an agreement eliminating intermediate-range nuclear weapons, for many years a key stumbling block for progress in larger arms-control talks. That was only the beginning. Within four years, the Soviet Union would allow German reunification, give up its satellite countries, and, finally, split apart.

It was his anticommunism that aides appealed to in persuading Reagan to send missiles to Iran, warning of growing Soviet influence there. That gambit, coupled with Reagan's disengaged management style, produced his worst foreign-policy debacle. Then a few of the president's men compounded the damage by diverting the proceeds from missile sales to another anticommunist crusade, the contra rebels in Nicaragua. For months starting in late 1986, the administration was battered by charges of illegality and deception. Reagan himself was widely blamed for either approving the gambit directly or for failing to pay enough attention to what was going on in his own government. Amid concern that he was losing his grip, the 76-year-old commander in chief endured a rapid decline in his job approval rating among voters.

Gradually, however, things turned around. Increasingly prosperous and secure, Americans lost interest in the scandal, and Reagan's popularity rebounded. He was, his critics complained, a "Teflon president."

Through the ups and downs, Reagan carried himself without the sense of burden that plagued so many of his predecessors. Early in his presidency, Reagan told a friend he didn't understand why Jimmy Carter had complained so much about the demands of office. "This job isn't all that tough," Reagan said. "The big problem is all these meetings. Once you get used to them, you just realize you set a course and stay with it." He did, often leaving the Oval Office about 5 p.m. to have an early dinner with Nancy. At 69, he was the oldest man ever elected president, and he was careful to give himself plenty of time to relax (though that didn't prevent him from dozing during cabinet meetings). He took long weekends at Camp David and spent weeks in seclusion at his Santa Barbara, Calif., ranch every summer.

From the day he walked into the Oval Office, Reagan considered himself an ordinary guy with a few extraordinary skills. Now that the nation is searching for a set of truths that will guide it through the 21st century, perhaps it is most appropriate to remember Reagan for the simple personal precepts he represented: a lifelong belief in the goodness of the American people and the firm belief that if someone sticks to his guns, he can truly change the world.

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