Which President of the US was less of a hawk than people supposed?

Ronald Regan. Although he was considered an arch conservative and ardent neoliberal, he took a liberal approach to arms control. It was Regan who drove for a reduction in strategic arms with Mikhail Gorbachev on a walk by Lake Geneva when he asked if the US was attacked by Aliens "would you help us?". Gorbachev replied "No doubt about it" and they two found a starting point to a long arms reduction discussion between the two powers and Regan took the initiative to make an offer of deep cuts in arms levels in Reykjavik less than a year later.