Caspar Weinberger, who was the defense secretary under the great Ronald Reagan, has died at age 88.

The great defense secretary was a key player in the destruction of the Soviet Union, leading a $1 trillion military buildup that drove the monstrous communist regime — responsible for 40 million dead — straight into the ground. He was a low key man who made a high historic impact. He never spoke in a fiery or blunt manner, as Donald Rumsfeld might. He just spoke softly and carried the biggest of any big stick.

He was a great supporter of Freedom Fighters in Central America, and led an honorable post-political life as a wise statesman who wrote fine columns about world events and served as the Chairman of the Forbes magazine board. I thought so highly of him.

One of the great revolutionaries of the 1980s, he did his part to destroy tyrants, using novel methods of economic warfare to shake out bad systems that are economically unsustainable. He knew this, and his era gave us so much knowledge of the emerging concept of democratic revolution. He did it because he really believed in democracy and freedom.

Here is what the great Ronald Reagan had to say about him as he presented him with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor:

Yes, Cap has been the point man in the effort to rebuild our nation’s defenses, and he has assembled an unparalleled record of achievement. But I bet if you were to ask him what his proudest achievement was he would say restoring morale in our Armed Forces and bringing back pride in our country’s uniform. And Cap can take a lot of the credit for the fact that, as one base commander said to me, the young men and women coming into our military are some of the smartest, best-educated, most highly motivated he had ever seen.

But Cap’s tenacity comes from another source as well: a recognition of the tragic reality of a world divided, a world torn between those who believe in freedom and cherish the value and dignity of each individual human soul and forces implacably hostile to those ideals.

Now, Caspar Weinberger has gone to his eternal reward.

Rest in peace, Caspar Weinberger: democratic revolutionary, freedom fighter and great American.

UPDATE: The brilliant Herb Meyer, who led President Reagan’s President’s Foreign Intelligence Board, knew Cap Weinberger well and has written a beautiful tribute to the great man on The American Thinker. It’s an absolute must-read here.

UPDATE: Academic Elephant has a fine mishmash of posts and ideas and links here. And the Thinking Pachyderm notes this BEAUTIFUL tribute to Cap Weinberger on this link here that will be sure to move you. Cap was so great.

UPDATE: Eric has kindly sent me a fine link to a British tribute to Weinberger and it’s full of interesting new information I never knew about him here.

UPDATE: A Chicago radio talk-show doyenne has a lovely tribute to Cap Weinberger, with her own personal account of meeting the man, here.