No praise for Gorbachev

The Opinion page column "An Appreciation of Gorbachev," Dec. 19, suggests that Mikhail Gorbachev may have been a visionary.

Mr. Gorbachev was forced to any vision he had by the stark reality that there was no other possible solution to the mess in which he and his three predecessors placed the USSR.

Gorbachev was given the Nobel Peace Prize, while at the same time he continued the cold war. The Peace Prize should have gone to former President Ronald Reagan, the one person who had the foresight to build our military, offensively as well as defensively, to the point that Gorbachev could not match us and still feed his people. John M. Jeffery, Chatham, Mass.

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