Predictions differ from promises

Re “A promise of unpredictability,” Opinion, Jan. 2

Joseph Ellis offers Ronald Reagan as an example of a president reversing a position he took during a campaign, stating that Reagan called the Soviet Union an “evil empire” and then negotiated an arms agreement with it. However, Reagan’s “evil empire” speech was given in 1983 and can hardly be considered a campaign position.

In his 1980 campaign, Reagan promised to increase military expenditures, end the grain embargo against the Soviet Union and enact tax reductions. He carried out these promises. To be sure, he promised that the tax reductions would not decrease government revenues, and that his policies would eliminate inflation without causing a recession. These claims, however, were more predictions than promises.

Alan Pfeffer

Long Branch, N.J.