if there's ever going to be an honest short history of Reagan . . . It's going to include that with bluster and a military build-up, he made for a dangerous 1983. He then made peace with the Soviets late in his presidency. And he supported a military regime in Guatemala which reached the level of genocide, including with military aid, including saying the Guatemalan president was getting a bum rap. All in the first paragraph. I mean, that would be the beginning of an honest biography.
Reagan has shades of, only Nixon could go to China. When he and Gorbachev negotiated the ban on intermediate range weapons in Europe around 1987(?), a lot of conservatives were against it. There's even a book called, The Rebellion of Ronald Reagan.