As some of the other comments have noted, Ronald Reagan is both over and underrated, depending on the political persuasion of the analyst. While Reagan was not the perfect second coming of Pericles (the famed philosopher king of Athens) as many of his advocates like to believe, he was not the confused and inept grandfather that his opponents like to portray. An objective analysis suggests that Reagan should be credited for ending the economic morass by reducing the draconian tax burden (even most modern Democrats do not advocate a return to those rates) and regaining control over inflation, increasing public morale by using positive messages and interjecting some Teddy Roosevelt energy, and accelerating the end of the Cold War by essentially calling the Soviet bluff. On the downside, Reagan did make some poor personnel decisions for his early administration (eg James Watt), but many presidents do. Of course Reagan had replaced most (if not all) of these people by his second term. The bottom line is that Reagan is both under and overrated, depending on who is making the call.
