City University of New York (CUNY) CUNY Academic Works Dissertations and Theses City College of New York 2018 “Better Unmentioned:” An Assessment of Reagan Administration Aid to Pakistan, Panama, and Zaire. Charles G. Sherrard CUNY City College How does access to this work benefit ou?y Let us know! More information about this work at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu/cc_etds_theses/726 Discover additional works at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu This work is made publicly available by the City University of New York (CUNY). Contact:
[email protected] 1 “Better Unmentioned:” An Assessment of Reagan Administration Aid to Pakistan, Panama, and Zaire Senior Thesis. Author, Charles Sherrard. Mentor, Professor Ravi Kalia. Second Reader, Professor Yaari Seligman. Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the Master of Arts of the City College of City University of New York. 2 “Better Unmentioned:” An Assessment of Reagan Administration Aid to Pakistan, Panama, and Zaire.1 By Charles Sherrard. In the 1940 movie Santa Fe Trail, then-actor Ronald Reagan plays the part of George Custer, depicted in the film as a dashing young cavalry officer who fights against the abolitionist John Brown (who is portrayed as a crazed radical) alongside the story’s main character, Errol Flynn’s “Jeb” Stuart. There are some striking similarities between Reagan’s character in the film and the image he helped foster during his presidency. Like Custer in the film, Reagan tried to create a myth where he was the “cowboy” fighting against the radical Soviet Union alongside the members of his cabinet. Reagan’s world was the world of movies, simple, uncomplicated, and Manichean.