OK that's one demerit, but it sure beats the Cuban missile crisis and "duck and cover".
The best thing about Reagan was his genuine and unabashed optimism. It was cool to love America, and it was amazing when we had the "miracle on ice". There was nothing forced or inauthentic about any of it - just a nation for a short while not engaged in self-loathing. That mattered.
I missed the nuclear bomb drills, but we had tornado drills. The warning sirens were just the same. I once heard one and the EBS tone at the same time! I genuinely thought that we were under attack.
Ronald Reagan was the best. Like you said, he was full of hope and optimism, two needed traits that later became scarce, especially after 9/11. His leftist critics said that he was full of other things. Now, some of those same critics praise him while they condemn Donald Trump as "no Ronald Reagan".