European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - January 17, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 columns the stars and stripes Arnold Sawislak final report on Reagan presidency must wait the first person in almost three decades to serve two full terms in the White House will leave Washington Fri Day with one big question to be an swered How Good a president was Ron Ald Reagan this is a question in two parts. The first is How successful Reagan was Politi Cally and the answer is very he was elected twice and he achieved most of his announced political goals. The second question is How he will rank with the 38 men who served As president before him and it will almost surely have to wait perhaps for a decade or More for a consensus answer. But it is hard to dispute the judgment that Reagan leaves office As a president who actually did much of what he set outto do. Starting in 1981, he put the brakes on and in some cases reversed the 50-year trend of increasing Federal intervention into the marketplace the work place and the schoolroom. Inflation and interest rates plummeted and unemployment dropped to the lowest level in 15 year during his administration. He Cut tax rates More than in half for some peo ple and he put in place the biggest peacetime military buildup in history. He also achieved the first  reduction of the nuclear age which he credited to the increase in , and opened the friendliest Dia Logue with the russians since world War ii even though he came to office calling the soviet Union an evil  but he also ran up the biggest deficits in the nation s history and left office with a National debt in 10  one Point joblessness Rose to the highest Levels since the late 1930s an scores of american businesses were driven to the Wall by foreign Competition. Both poverty and homelessness in creased As social and housing programs contracted. And the balance of International Trade tipped so sharply against the United states that it became a debtor nation for the first time since world War i. He sent troops to Lebanon and 241 of them were blown up by terrorists. Like Walter r. Mears his predecessor he was unable to free americans kidnapped in the Middle East and his associates were caught trying to Trade arms to Iran for hostages. His efforts against the panamanian military dictator and the marxist govern ment of Nicaragua failed and put him into constant conflict with Congress. With this list of credits and debits the final verdict on the Reagan presidency will have to wait until the Domestic and foreign policy changes he installed have been tested and judged by succeeding generations of voters politicians and finally historians. The first judgments of presidencies Seldom Are lasting. Harry Truman was regarded As a failed president when he left in 1953. Since then his standing among politicians has risen and historians appear to be reassessing his standing. Three of the seven presidents since Truman Lyndon Johnson Richard Nixon and Jimmy Carter left office with some major accomplishments but also with major defeats on their record that Many contemporary observers considered More important. All have avid supporters an scornful detractors whose judgments Are based on the still heated personal Mem ories of the years those presidents led the country. And like Reagan they too must wait for the cooler verdict of history. United press International no change Likely to be Bush years byword vice president George bus stretched Back in his office chair at ease As he reflected on the Power and the problems awaiting him when the v word is erased from his title and i m presi Dent i m the one who s calling the  with exhilaration tempered by this deficit looming Over everything Bush takes office at noon Friday convince there is neither a need nor a mandate for dramatic change to put his imprint on the White House. Automatically that happens he said with the Transfer of Power from Ronald Reagan s presidency to his. As keynotes to the Bush Era the last eight years Are Likely to weigh far More heavily than the first Hundred Days. I be been a part of this administration and it in t like there is a need for Radical change the president elect said in an interview in his office across a narrow private Street from the Whitehouse. His transition teams have gone throughout the government to prepare for the new administration but it s Dif Ferent not like those he met As Cia director in 1 976 when Jimmy Carter s Tion in a democratic Congress. Change it " different too from the teams we sent rallying Forth in 1980 to go out and undo All the bad things that we had campaigned  in contrast Bush believes his administration needs to Correct one big problem the Federal deficit then build on some tremendous successes of the Reagan years. That s at least the approach that i going to bring to the Job he said sip Ping a cup of Tea. People understood that when they were voting. They weren t looking for a Radical  that last thought was a refrain throughout the conversation. Bush said he envisions no single theme for his first Hundred Days no Cen Ter piece drive like the one that won approval of president Reagan s tax Cut eco nomic plan in 1981. The initial month usually Are the strongest season in a first term and the most promising for con Gressional acceptance of proposals from a new administration. That for a Republican president the one who s going to set the Agenda. A by a happen that address Friday happens at the time when i put my hands be to the air and say that oath. It happens reasons. I be been a part of what we have Bush said the successes and problem been doing what this president the pre of presidential leadership will continue sent president has accomplished " the tie to Reagan was on his Mindas he performed one of his last vice presidential duties presiding Over the kind of antiquated Drill in which Congress counted the electoral votes that mad him president. 19 be identified with Reagan for a Short time but in a while six months fro now that will be identified with  i was thinking. Well this is history for All the problems that willbe on his new desk on saturday morning Bush said he is excited about the task and eager to confront the Agenda.  if it weren t for this deficit looming ally interesting because this is a Contin Over everything else leave All the rest of nation hopefully building. There s going the problems in there i d feel like Ato be change but hopefully a building on Spring Colt he said what s  inevitably then comes the question of How this new president can put his imprint on an administration he heralds editor s note Walter r. Mears vice president and columnist for the associated press has reported on Washington and National politics for More than 25 years As a continuation of what Reagan began. The opinions expressed a columns Myle message people be yourself and cartoons on this Page represent those coie pm j Roade my mind up As of the authors and Are in no Way to Bepo Sals from vice president to do my Job one Way. But considered As representing l " goes double i m not vice president i m president. The stars and stripes seeking a i m the one who s calling the shots. I m states government the views of the United