Scott Walker Doubles Down on Ronald Reagan Firing Air Traffic Controllers

The Wisconsin governor continues to make the case that he has enough foreign policy experience to be president.

Scott Walker, governor of Wisconsin, speaks to a reporter as he arrives for the Chad Airhart Blue Jean Bash fundraiser in West Des Moines, Iowa, U.S., on Saturday, May 16, 2015. Walker declined to say whether he would participate in the Iowa Straw Poll in August if he does become a candidate.
Photographer: Bloomberg/Bloomberg via Getty Images

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By John McCormick

May 17, 2015 at 4:18 PM UTC

This article is for subscribers only.

For a Republican thinking about running for president, it's almost always good to talk about Ronald Reagan, the man many of the party faithful view as the best modern commander-in-chief.

Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker did just that Sunday on CBS's Face the Nation when asked about what some have labeled as a gaffe he made in February. That's when he told a Club for Growth gathering in Florida that the most significant foreign policy decision of his lifetime was Reagan's decision to bust a 1981 strike of air traffic controllers, firing some 11,000 of them.