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Rylee Kopchak
Mr. Widenhofer
AP United States History
May 17, 2017
Ronald Reagan

Ronald Wilson Reagan was born on February 6, 1911, in Tampico Illinois, and he spent

his early childhood moving frequently as his father switched sales jobs. He graduated from

Dixon High School where he was involved in many activities and went on to attend Eureka

College in Illinois, where he played football, ran track, was on the swim team, and acted in

school productions. Ronald Reagan then began his career as a radio announcer and eventually

became a famous Hollywood actor who starred in more than fifty movies over three decades. He

made the transition from the big screen to politics when he gave a televised speech encouraging

Americans to vote for Barry Goldwater, a prominent conservative and Republican presidential

candidate in 1964. The American people responded very positively to his speech, which

catapulted him onto the national political stage. Two years later, Reagan was elected to serve as

the Republican Governor of California, winning by a margin of almost one million votes. After

fighting unsuccessfully to win the republican presidential nomination in 1968 and 1976, Ronald

Reagan was selected to run on the Republican ticket in 1980. Reagan and his running mate

George H.W. Bush won the election in a landslide, with an electoral margin of 489-49, and

Reagan became the nations oldest president at the age of sixty-nine (Ronald Reagan). Ronald

Reagan was an above average president, because he accomplished many of his campaign

promises and achieved great successes in the areas of economics and foreign policy.

Ronald Reagan was known for his charisma and eloquent speeches that helped redefine

American politics in the 1980s. He was often referred to as the Great Communicator and held
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great influence over the people of the United States who thought very fondly of him. In his

inaugural address, Reagan famously stated, In this crisis, government is not the solution to our

problems; government is the problem. (Ronald Reagan). Reagan began what is known as the

Reagan Revolution in which there was a resurgence of conservatism in the United States. He

called for a reduction in government involvement and denounced federal intervention in local

affairs. One of Reagans main goals throughout his tenure as president was economic reform.

He hoped to manage the nations inflation, which grew to double-digits during Jimmy Carters

years in office, and balance the faltering economy. As president, Ronald Reagan sought to make

America reemerge as a strong nation with a stable and thriving economy.

Support for Reagan increased significantly two months after his inauguration when he

was shot by John Hinckley Jr. in Washington, D.C. Reagan quickly recovered from the

assassination attempt and was praised for his resilience and courage. After he entered the White

House, Reagan quickly got to work and proposed solutions to help the United States economy.

His plan for economic reform was known as supply-side economics or Reaganomics, which

argued that tax cuts, undoing excessive government regulation, and limiting spending on social

programs such as Medicare and Social Security would stimulate the economy. This approach

was also known as trickle-down economics. Reagan believed tax relief for the wealthy would

encourage them to invest more and create new jobs. Ronald Reagan was successful in

convincing Congress to approve the 1981 Economic Recovery Tax Act that reduced taxes by

twenty-five percent for all brackets. The Tax Reform Act of 1986 created efficiency gains by

reducing the number of tax brackets to twofifteen percent for the middle class and twenty-

eight percent for the wealthy (Reaganomics). This led to tax relief for all Americans and was

one of the biggest tax cuts in U.S. history. Reagans supply-side economics led to an economic
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upturn in 1983 and helped usher the nation into a period of prosperity throughout Reagans time

in office. The policy of Reaganomics remains controversial and is often criticized, because the

United States suffered a recession from 1981 to 1982 and the gap between the rich and poor

widened. Despite this, inflation decreased significantly from over thirteen percent to around

three percent and unemployment fell to 5.3 percent.

Ronald Reagan also excelled in foreign policyparticularly in improving diplomatic

relations with the Soviet Union. Throughout his campaign and time as president, Reagan

condemned the Soviet Union for their goals of imperialism as an evil empire. As president,

Ronald Reagan did not seek to continue the containment policies of past administrations; instead,

Reagans goal was to reverse and subdue the Soviet Unions communist influence. Despite this,

Reagan was not against peace negotiations with the Soviets. His strategy was to put the United

States in a position of overwhelming strength. Reagan accomplished this by increasing defense

spending to expand the military and further the arms race. Reagan believed that the United

States free-market economy could better handle the financial burden of the arms race, while the

weakening Soviet Union would end up in economic ruin. Reagans approach was successful,

and Soviet leaders agreed to have discussions with the United States regarding an end to the Cold

War. Relations between the United States and the Soviet Union improved significantly when

Mikhail Gorbachev became the new Soviet leader. Gorbachev was committed to reforms and

implemented two important policiesGlasnost and Perestroikathat required the Soviet Union

to decrease the size of its military and focus on its economy. Reagan and Gorbachev met during

four summit meetings and made great progress towards peace. At the third summit meeting in

Washington D.C. in 1987, Gorbachev and Reagan made history by signing the Intermediate-

Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty that prohibited all nuclear missiles from Europe (Presidential
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Leadership in the Cold War). President Reagans Cold War policies were designed to spread

democracy and end the spread of communism. Through his approach, the Reagan administration

prevailed at preserving peace and brought the Cold War to a conclusion.

One of Reagans Cold War programs that proved to be unsuccessful was the Strategic

Defense Initiative (SDI), popularly referred to as Star Wars. The goal of the SDI was to

develop an anti-ballistic missile system to prevent missile attacks. The plan called for orbiting

battle stations in space that could fire laser beams or other forms of concentrated energy to

vaporize intercontinental missiles on liftoff (Kennedy). Star Wars was criticized for its

seemingly abstract and farfetched ideas. In the end, thirty billion dollars was spent on the

Strategic Defense Initiative, and no system to destroy missiles was ever created. Due to military

defense spending on programs such as the SDI, Reagan was unable to achieve his goal of

balancing the budget. Instead, his policies contributed to the largest budget deficits in American

history and led to a tripling of the national debt from one trillion to three trillion dollars. Reagan

defended his administration by stating that Congress refused to pass his proposed budget cuts on

social welfare programs such as Medicare and Social Security that would have counter-balanced

his military spending. Although Reagan did make some poor economic decisions, the United

States returned to a position of power and experienced a period of prosperity throughout

Reagans presidency. He remained extremely popular among the American people. Reagans

popularity was displayed when he won forty-nine out of 50 states and the most ever electoral

votes (525) during his reelection in 1984.

Reagan also faced several other foreign policy issues throughout his time in office: Two

foreign policy problems seemed insoluble to Reagan: the continuing captivity of a number of

American hostages, seized by Muslim extremist groups in bleeding, battered Lebanon and the
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continuing grip on power of the left-wing Sandinista government in Nicaragua (Kennedy).

Because the United States feared the spread of communism in Latin America, the Reagan

administration looked to back a military group known as the contras who fought to overthrow the

revolutionary regime. In 1985, the U.S. took millions of dollars gained from a secret arms sale

to Iran, who was in a territorial war with neighboring Iraq, and routed the money to aid the

contras fighting in Nicaragua. In return, Iran agreed to help free hostages being held by Middle

Eastern terrorists. When news of these secret transactions broke in November of 1986, Reagan

and his administration were tarnished with scandal. The Iran-Contra affair ignited controversy

and obscured Reagans reputation as a great leader in foreign policy. Although the Iran-Contra

affair damaged Reagans presidential rating, it does not overshadow his great achievement in

establishing a new relationship with the Soviet Union.

Domestically, Reagan promised to restore public confidence in the government. In his

first year as president, Reagan won an important victory in what is known as the Air Traffic

Controllers Strike. The Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization (PATCO) had

threatened to stop working and called an illegal strike. When the strikers refused to return to

work, Reagan fired and replaced them with new hires. After solving this issue, Ronald Reagan

emerged as a strong leader who was capable of making tough decisions. In addition, at home

Reagan passed the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986, which strengthened federal efforts to wage war

on drugs. This legislation called to increase tariffs on products that do not cooperate with the

United States efforts to stop drug imports and trafficking. This act also created laws against

money laundering and made it easier for the government to seize assets of drug offenders.

Finally, the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986 instituted mandatory prison sentences for drug

possession (Anti-Drug). During his presidency, Reagan transformed the federal judiciary by
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appointing more than half of all federal judges in the nation and three justices of the Supreme

Court. This included the first ever woman Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day OConnor.

Reagan hoped that by appointing conservative judges, he could make progress in restricting and

repealing Roe v. Wade. Although during his campaign Reagan advocated for a pro-life and an

anti-abortion amendment, he invested few political resources toward obtaining his goal as

president.

In his eight year tenure as President of the United States, Ronald Reagan transformed the

nation through strong leadership. Reagan had many great accomplishments as president

including forging a relationship with the Soviet Union, rolling back government regulations, and

achieving his tax reform goals. Reagan helped halt the spread of communism and expand

democratic ideals as well as free-market ideology. Ronald Reagan also had a monumental

impact on politics in the 1980s, particularly in the Republican Party. Reagan was an effective

communicator of conservative beliefs and was determined to restore traditional ideas. Ronald

Reagan remains as one of the most popular and beloved presidents in history due to his charming

personality and determination to make America the strongest and greatest nation in the world.
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Works Cited

Anti-Drug Abuse Act (1986). Encyclopedia. Encyclopedia.com, 2016. Web. 15 May 2017.

Kennedy, David M. American Pageant. Cengage Learning, 2015. Print.

Presidential Leadership in the Cold War. Reagan.civiced. Center for Civic Education, 2011.

Web. 13 May 2017.

Reaganomics. Ushistory. Ushistory.org, 2016. Web. 14 May 2017.

Ronald Reagan. History. A+E Networks, 2009. Web. 14 May 2017.