Presidency of Ronald Reagan
Presidency of Ronald Reagan January 20, 1981 – January 20, 1989 | |
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Party | Republican |
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Personal life 33rd Governor of California
40th President of the United States Legacy |
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Ronald Reagan's tenure as the 40th president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 1981, and ended on January 20, 1989. Reagan, a Republican from California, took office following his landslide victory over Democrat incumbent president Jimmy Carter and independent congressman John B. Anderson in the 1980 presidential election. Four years later, in the 1984 presidential election, he defeated former Democratic vice president Walter Mondale, to win re-election in a larger landslide. Due to U.S. Constitutional law, Reagan was limited to two terms and was succeeded by his vice president, George H. W. Bush, who won the 1988 presidential election. Reagan's 1980 landslide election resulted from a dramatic conservative shift to the right in American politics, including a loss of confidence in liberal, New Deal, and Great Society programs and priorities that had dominated the national agenda since the 1930s.
Domestically, the Reagan administration enacted a major tax cut, sought to cut non-military spending, and eliminated federal regulations. The administration's economic policies, known as "Reaganomics", were inspired by supply-side economics. The combination of tax cuts and an increase in defense spending led to budget deficits, and the federal debt increased significantly during Reagan's tenure. Reagan signed the Tax Reform Act of 1986, simplifying the tax code by reducing rates and removing several tax breaks, and the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986, which enacted sweeping changes to U.S. immigration law and granted amnesty to three million illegal immigrants. Reagan also appointed more federal judges than any other president, including four Supreme Court Justices.
Reagan's
Historians and political scientists generally
Background
Conservative shift in politics
Even prior to becoming president, Reagan was the leader of a dramatic conservative shift that undercut many of the domestic and foreign policies that had dominated the national agenda for decades.[1][2] A major factor in the rise of conservatism was the growing distrust of government in the aftermath of the Watergate scandal. While distrust of high officials had been an American characteristic for two centuries, Watergate engendered heightened levels of suspicion and encouraged the media to engage in a vigorous search for scandals.[3] An unexpected new factor was the emergence of the religious right as a cohesive political force that gave strong support to conservatism.[4][5]
Other factors in the rise of the conservative movement were the emergence of a "culture war" as a triangular battle among conservatives, traditional liberals, and the New Left, involving such issues as individual freedom, divorce, sexual freedom, abortion, and homosexuality.[6] A mass movement of population from the cities to the suburbs led to the creation of a new group of voters less attached to New Deal economic policies and machine politics.[7] Meanwhile, it became socially acceptable for conservative Southern whites, especially well-educated suburbanites, to vote Republican. Though the civil rights legislation of the 1960s had been a triumphal issue for liberalism and had created a new, pro-Democratic black electorate, it had also destroyed the argument that whites had to vote Democratic to protect segregation in the South.[8] Responding to these various trends, Reagan and other conservatives successfully presented conservative ideas as an alternative to a public that had grown disillusioned with New Deal liberalism and the Democratic Party.[9] Reagan's charisma and speaking skills helped him frame conservatism as an optimistic, forward-looking vision for the country.[10]
1980 election
Reagan, who had served as Governor of California from 1967 to 1975, narrowly lost the 1976 Republican presidential primaries to incumbent President Gerald Ford. With the defeat of Ford by Democrat Jimmy Carter in the 1976 election, Reagan immediately became the front-runner for the 1980 Republican presidential nomination.[11] A darling of the conservative movement, Reagan faced more moderate Republicans such as George H. W. Bush, Howard Baker, and Bob Dole in the 1980 Republican presidential primaries. After Bush won the Iowa caucuses, he became Reagan's primary challenger, but Reagan won the New Hampshire primary and most of the following primaries, gaining an insurmountable delegate lead by the end of March 1980. Ford was Reagan's first choice for his running mate, but Reagan backed away from the idea out of the fear of a "co-presidency" in which Ford would exercise an unusual degree of power. Reagan instead chose Bush, and the Reagan-Bush ticket was nominated at the 1980 Republican National Convention. Meanwhile, Carter won the Democratic nomination, defeating a primary challenge by Senator Ted Kennedy. Polls taken after the party conventions showed a tied race between Reagan and Carter, while independent candidate John B. Anderson had the support of many moderates.[12]
The 1980 general campaign between Reagan and Carter was conducted amid a multitude of domestic concerns and the ongoing Iran hostage crisis. After winning the Republican nomination, Reagan pivoted to the center. Though he continued to champion a major tax cut, Reagan backed off of his support for free trade and the privatization of Social Security, and promised to consider arms control treaties with the Soviet Union. He instead sought to focus the race on Carter's handling of the economy. Mired with an approval rating in the low 30s, Carter also waged a negative campaign, focusing on the supposed risk of war if Reagan took office.[13]
Reagan and Carter met in one presidential debate, held just one week before election day. Reagan delivered an effective performance, asking voters, "Are you better off today than you were four years ago?"[14] In response to a characterization by Carter of his record regarding Medicare, Reagan replied with a phrase that helped define the election and endure in the political lexicon: "There you go again."
Though the race had been widely regarded as a close contest, Reagan won over the large majority of undecided voters.[15] Reagan took 50.7% of the popular vote and 489 of the 538 electoral votes. Carter won 41% of the popular vote and 49 electoral votes, while Anderson won 6.6% of the popular vote. In the concurrent congressional elections, Republicans took control of the Senate for the first time since the 1950s, while Democrats retained control of the House of Representatives.[16]
Administration
Reagan tapped James Baker, who had run Bush's 1980 campaign, as his first chief of staff. Baker, Deputy Chief of Staff Michael Deaver, and Counselor Edwin Meese formed the "troika," the key White House staffers early in Reagan's presidency.[17] Baker quickly established himself as the most powerful member of the troika and the overseer of day-to-day operations, while Meese had nominal leadership of policy development and Deaver orchestrated Reagan's public appearances.[18] Aside from the troika, other important White House staffers included Richard Darman and David Gergen.[19][20][21]
Reagan chose Alexander Haig, a former general who had served as chief of staff to Richard Nixon, as his first secretary of state. Other major Cabinet appointees included Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger, a former Nixon cabinet official who would preside over an increase in defense spending, and Secretary of the Treasury Donald Regan, a bank executive. Reagan selected David Stockman, a young congressman from Michigan, as the Director of the Office of Management and Budget.[22] CIA director William J. Casey emerged as an important figure in the administration, as the CIA would figure prominently into Reagan's Cold War initiatives. Reagan downgraded the importance of the national security advisor, and six different individuals held that position during Reagan's presidency.[23]
Haig left the cabinet in 1982 after clashing with other members of the Reagan administration, and was replaced by another former Nixon administration official,
Baker and Treasury Secretary Regan switched positions at the beginning of Reagan's second term.[27] Regan centralized power within his office, and he took on the responsibilities that had been held by Baker, Deaver, and Meese, the latter of whom succeeded William French Smith as attorney general in 1985.[28] Regan frequently clashed with First Lady Nancy Reagan, and he left the administration in the wake of the Iran–Contra affair and Republican losses in the 1986 mid-term elections. Regan was replaced by former Senate Majority Leader Howard Baker.[29]
Judicial appointments
Supreme Court
Reagan made four successful appointments to the Supreme Court during his eight years in office. In 1981, he successfully nominated Sandra Day O'Connor to succeed Associate Justice Potter Stewart, fulfilling a campaign promise to name the first woman to the Supreme Court. Democrats, who had planned to vigorously oppose Reagan's nominations to the Supreme Court, approved of the nomination of O'Connor. However, the Christian right was astonished and dismayed with O'Connor, who they feared would not overturn the Supreme Court's decision in Roe v. Wade, which had established the constitutional right to have an abortion without undue government interference.[30][31] O'Connor served on the Supreme Court until 2006, and was generally considered to be a centrist conservative.[32]
In 1986, Reagan elevated Associate Justice
Reagan faced greater difficulties in filling the final Supreme Court vacancy, which arose due to the retirement of Lewis F. Powell Jr. Reagan nominated Robert Bork in July 1987, but the nomination was rejected by the Senate in October 1987.[33] Later that month, Reagan announced the nomination of Douglas H. Ginsburg, but Ginsburg withdrew from consideration in November 1987. Finally, Reagan nominated Anthony Kennedy, who won Senate confirmation in February 1988.[33] Along with O'Connor, Kennedy served as the key swing vote on the Supreme Court in the decades after Reagan left office.[34]
Other courts
Reagan appointed a combined total of 368 judges to the United States courts of appeals and the United States district courts, more than any other president. The vast majority of his judicial appointees were conservative white men, and many of the appointees were affiliated with the conservative Federalist Society.[35] Partly because Congress passed a law creating new federal judicial positions in 1984, Reagan had appointed nearly half of the federal judiciary by the time he left office in 1989.[36]
Assassination attempt
On March 30, 1981, only 69 days into the new administration, Reagan, his press secretary
Domestic affairs
Reagan used his White House staff to shape major domestic policies. His Chief of Staff made heavy use of the Office of Policy Development in supervising cabinet action on the Reagan initiatives.[42]
"Reaganomics" and taxation
Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981
Reagan implemented
Republican Congressman Jack Kemp and Republican Senator William Roth had nearly won passage of a major tax cut during Carter's presidency, but Carter had prevented passage of the bill due to concerns about the deficit.[48] Reagan made passage of the Kemp–Roth bill his top domestic priority upon taking office. As Democrats controlled the House of Representatives, passage of any bill would require the support of some House Democrats in addition to the support of congressional Republicans.[49] Reagan's victory in the 1980 presidential campaign had united Republicans around his leadership, while conservative Democrats like Phil Gramm of Texas (who later became a Republican) were eager to back some of Reagan's conservative policies.[50] Throughout 1981, Reagan frequently met with members of Congress, focusing especially on winning support from conservative Southern Democrats.[49] Reagan also benefited from a conservative majority in the House during his first two years as president, with an estimated 230 votes during the 97th Congress, although this changed after the Democratic gains in the 1982 election, with House control switching to liberals within the Democratic caucus.[51]
In July 1981, the Senate voted 89–11 in favor of the tax cut bill favored by Reagan, and the House subsequently approved the bill in a 238–195 vote.[52] The Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981 cut the top marginal tax rate from 70% to 50%, lowered the capital gains tax from 28% to 20%, more than tripled the amount of inherited money exempt from the estate tax, and cut the corporate tax.[49][52] Reagan's success in passing a major tax bill and cutting the federal budget was hailed as the "Reagan Revolution" by some reporters; one columnist wrote that the Reagan's legislative success represented the "most formidable domestic initiative any president has driven through since the Hundred Days of Franklin Roosevelt."[53]
Later tax acts
Faced with concerns about the mounting federal debt, Reagan agreed to raise taxes, signing the
With Donald Regan taking over as Chief of Staff in 1985, the Reagan administration made simplification of the tax code the central focus of its second term domestic agenda.
Government spending
Fiscal Year |
Receipts | Outlays | Surplus/ Deficit |
GDP | Debt as a % of GDP[67] |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1981 | 599.3 | 678.2 | −79.0 | 3,133.2 | 25.2 |
1982 | 617.8 | 745.7 | −128.0 | 3,313.4 | 27.9 |
1983 | 600.6 | 808.4 | −207.8 | 3,536.0 | 32.2 |
1984 | 666.4 | 851.8 | −185.4 | 3,949.2 | 33.1 |
1985 | 734.0 | 946.3 | −212.3 | 4,265.1 | 35.3 |
1986 | 769.2 | 990.4 | −221.2 | 4,526.3 | 38.5 |
1987 | 854.3 | 1,004.0 | −149.7 | 4,767.7 | 39.6 |
1988 | 909.2 | 1,064.4 | −155.2 | 5,138.6 | 39.9 |
1989 | 991.1 | 1,143.7 | −152.6 | 5,554.7 | 39.4 |
Ref. | [68] | [69] | [70] |
Reagan prioritized tax cuts over spending cuts, arguing that lower revenue would eventually require lower spending.
Reagan experienced several legislative successes in his first year in office, but his attempts to cut federal domestic spending after 1981 met increasing congressional resistance.[76] Spending on programs like Supplemental Security Income, Medicaid, the earned income tax credit, and Aid to Families with Dependent Children all increased after 1982. The number of federal civilian employees rose during Reagan's tenure, from 2.9 million to 3.1 million.[77] Reagan's policy of New Federalism, which sought to shift the responsibility for most social programs to state governments, found little support in Congress.[78]
In 1981, OMB Director David Stockman won Reagan's approval to seek cuts to
Deficits
As Reagan was unwilling to match his tax cuts with cuts to defense spending or Social Security, rising deficits became an issue.[84] These deficits were exacerbated by the early 1980s recession, which cut into federal revenue.[85] Unable to win further domestic spending cuts, and pressured to address the deficit, Reagan was forced to raise taxes after 1981.[86] Nonetheless, the national debt more than tripled between fiscal year 1980 and fiscal year 1989, going from $914 billion to $2.7 trillion, while national debt as a percentage of GDP rose from 33 percent in 1981 to 53 percent in 1989. Reagan never submitted a balanced budget during his time in office.[87]
In an effort to lower the national debt, Congress passed the Gramm–Rudman–Hollings Balanced Budget Act, which called for automatic spending cuts if Congress was unable to eliminate deficits through the regular budget-making process.[36] However, Congress found ways around the automatic cuts and deficits continued to rise, ultimately leading to the passage of the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1990.[88]
Economy
Reagan took office in the midst of poor economic conditions, as the country experienced
Labor
In August 1981, the
Deregulation
Reagan sought to loosen federal regulation of economic activities, and he appointed key officials who shared this agenda. According to historian
Savings and loan crisis
After the passage of the Garn–St. Germain Depository Institutions Act, savings and loans associations engaged in riskier activities, and the leaders of some institutions embezzled funds.
Immigration
The 1980s saw the highest rate of immigration to the United States since the 1910s, and the proportion of the foreign-born population reached its highest level since the 1940s.[108] Reagan did not make immigration a focus of his administration, but he came to support a package of reforms sponsored by Republican Senator Alan Simpson and Democratic Congressman Romano Mazzoli, which he signed into law as the Immigration Reform and Control Act in November 1986.[109] The act made it illegal to knowingly hire or recruit illegal immigrants, required employers to attest to their employees' immigration status, and granted amnesty to approximately three million illegal immigrants who had entered the United States before January 1, 1982, and had lived in the country continuously. The bill was also contained provisions designed to enhance security measures at the Mexico–United States border.[110] Upon signing the act at a ceremony held beside the newly refurbished Statue of Liberty, Reagan said, "The legalization provisions in this act will go far to improve the lives of a class of individuals who now must hide in the shadows, without access to many of the benefits of a free and open society. Very soon many of these men and women will be able to step into the sunlight and, ultimately, if they choose, they may become Americans."[111] The bill was largely unsuccessful at halting illegal immigration, and the population of illegal immigrants rose from 5 million in 1986 to 11.1 million in 2013.[110]
Criminal and anti-drug policy
Not long after being sworn into office, Reagan declared more militant policies in the "
Concerns about drug use prompted Congress to pass legislation such as the Comprehensive Crime Control Act of 1984[119] and the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986, the latter of which granted $1.7 billion to fight drugs and established a mandatory minimum penalties for drug offenses.[118] Reagan also signed the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988, which further increased criminal penalties for drug use and established the Office of National Drug Control Policy.[120] Critics charged that Reagan's policies promoted significant racial disparities in the prison population,[118] were ineffective in reducing the availability of drugs or crime on the street, and came at a great financial and human cost for American society.[121] Supporters argued that the numbers for adolescent drug users declined during Reagan's years in office.[116]
Social policies and civil rights
Reagan was largely unable to enact his ambitious social policy agenda, which included a federal ban on
With Reagan's support, conservative Republican Senator Jesse Helms led an effort to prevent the Supreme Court from reviewing state and local laws mandating school prayer, but Republican senators like Lowell Weicker and Barry Goldwater blocked passage of Helms' bill.[123] Reagan campaigned vigorously to restore organized prayer to the schools, first as a moment of prayer and later as a moment of silence.[124] His election reflected an opposition[125] to Engel v. Vitale, which prohibited state officials from composing an official state prayer and requiring that it be recited in the public schools.[126] In 1981, he proposed a constitutional amendment on school prayer,[125] which stated: "Nothing in this Constitution shall be construed to prohibit individual or group prayer in public schools or other public institutions. No person shall be required by the United States or by any state to participate in prayer." In 1984, he again raised the issue to Congress.[127] In 1985, he expressed his disappointment that the Supreme Court ruling still banned a moment of silence for public schools, and said that efforts to reinstitute prayer in public schools were "an uphill battle".[128] In 1987, he renewed his call for Congress to support voluntary prayer in schools.[129]
In 1982, Reagan signed a bill extending the
No civil rights legislation for gay individuals passed during Reagan's tenure. Many in the Reagan administration, including Communications Director Pat Buchanan, were hostile to the gay community, as were many religious leaders who were important allies to the administration.[135] Gay rights and the growing HIV/AIDS emerged as an important matter of public concern in 1985 after it was disclosed that actor Rock Hudson, a personal friend of President Reagan, was receiving treatment for AIDS. As public anxiety over AIDS rose, the Supreme Court upheld a state law that criminalized homosexuality in the case of Bowers v. Hardwick.[136] Though Surgeon General C. Everett Koop advocated for a public health campaign designed to reduce the spread of AIDS by raising awareness and promoting the use of condoms, Reagan rejected Koop's proposals in favor of abstinence-only sex education.[137] By 1989, approximately 60,000 Americans had died of AIDS, and liberals strongly criticized Reagan's response to the HIV/AIDS crisis.[138] On the 1980 campaign trail, Reagan spoke of the gay rights movement:
My criticism is that [the gay movement] isn't just asking for civil rights; it's asking for recognition and acceptance of an alternative lifestyle which I do not believe society can condone, nor can I.[139]
Environmental policy
Reagan's strong preferences for limited federal involvement and deregulation extended to the environment. His main goal was to lessen the burden of regulation on businesses to promote more economic activity in the United States. Because of this policy, Reagan refused to renew the Clean Air Act during his administration.[140] Reagan lessened existing regulations on pollution, cut funding to government environmental agencies, and appointed known anti-environmentalist individuals to key positions presiding over these organizations.[141]
When Reagan took office in 1981, he "attempted to reduce" money that was directed towards studying the burgeoning field of global warming and human-driven climate change.[142] In the early 1980s, the study of the intersection between human activity and climate change was still in its infancy and scientists were far from a consensus on the topic.[143]
In 1987, the Reagan administration signed the Montreal Protocol in an effort to reduce emissions that damage the ozone layer.[144]
Mass surveillance
Citing national security concerns, the president's national security team pressed for more surveillance power early during Reagan's first term. Their recommendations were based upon the premise that the federal government's intelligence and counterintelligence capabilities had been weakened by presidents Carter and Ford.[145] On December 4, 1981, Reagan signed Executive Order 12333. This presidential directive broadened the power of the government's intelligence community; mandated rules for spying on United States citizens, permanent residents, and on anyone within the United States; and also directed the Attorney General and others to create further policies and procedures for what information intelligence agencies can collect, retain, and share.[146]
Foreign affairs
Escalation of the Cold War
Reagan escalated the Cold War, accelerating a reversal from the policy of détente which had begun in 1979 after the
In March 1983, Reagan introduced the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), a defense project that would have used ground- and space-based systems to protect the United States from attack by strategic nuclear ballistic missiles. Reagan believed that this defense shield could make nuclear war impossible.[157] Many scientists and national security experts criticized the project as costly and technologically infeasible, and critics dubbed SDI as "Star Wars" in reference to a popular film series of the same name.[158] Ultimately, the SDI would be canceled in 1993 due to concerns about its cost and effectiveness as well as a changing international situation.[159] However, the Soviets became concerned about the possible effects SDI would have and viewed its development as a violation of the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty.[160] In protest of SDI, the Soviet Union broke off arms control talks, and U.S.-Soviet relations descended to their lowest point since the early 1960s.[161] The Cold War tensions influenced works of popular culture such as the films The Day After and WarGames (both 1983), and the song "99 Luftballons" (1983) by Nena, each of which exhibited the rising public anxiety for the possibility of a nuclear war.[162]
Reagan Doctrine
Under a policy that came to be known as the
Although leading conservatives argued that Reagan's foreign policy strategy was essential to protecting their security interests, critics labeled the initiatives as aggressive and imperialistic, and chided them as "warmongering".
Central America and the Caribbean
The Reagan administration placed a high priority on the Central America and the Caribbean Sea, which it saw as a key front in the Cold War. Reagan and his foreign policy team were particularly concerned about the potential influence of Cuba on countries such as Grenada, Nicaragua, and El Salvador. To counter the influence of Cuba and the Soviet Union, Reagan launched the Caribbean Basin Initiative, an economic program designed to aid countries opposed to Communism. He also authorized covert measures, such as the arming of Nicaragua's Contras, to minimize Cuban and Soviet influence in the region.[175] The administration provided support to right-wing governments throughout Latin America, disregarding humans rights abuses in countries like Argentina and El Salvador.[176]
Tensions rose between the left-wing Grenadan government of Maurice Bishop and the U.S. because Cuban construction workers were building an airfield on the island. On October 16, 1983, pro-Communist forces of Hudson Austin led a coup against Bishop, who was subsequently arrested and executed. Reagan dispatched approximately 5,000 U.S. soldiers to invade Grenada nine days after. After two days of fighting that resulted in the deaths of nineteen Americans, forty-five Grenadans, and twenty-four Cubans, Austin's government was overthrown.[177] Reagan then declared, "Our days of weakness are over. Our military forces are back on their feet and standing tall."[178] While the invasion enjoyed public support in the United States and Grenada,[179][180] it was criticized by the United Kingdom, Canada and the United Nations General Assembly as "a flagrant violation of international law".[181]
Iran–Contra affair
In 1979, a group of left-wing rebels in Nicaragua known as the
During his second term, Reagan sought to find a way procure the release of
The Tower Commission, chaired by former Republican Senator
The investigations into the Iran–Contra scandal continued after Reagan left office, but were effectively halted when President George H. W. Bush pardoned Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger before his trial began.[193] Investigators did not find conclusive proof that Reagan had known about the aid provided to the Contras, but Walsh's report noted that Reagan had "created the conditions which made possible the crimes committed by others" and had "knowingly participated or acquiesced in covering up the scandal."[194]
End of the Cold War
Three different Soviet leaders died between 1982 and 1985, leaving the Soviets with an unstable leadership until Mikhail Gorbachev came to power in 1985.[195] Although the Soviet Union had not accelerated military spending during Reagan's military buildup,[196] their large military expenses, in combination with collectivized agriculture and inefficient planned manufacturing, were a heavy burden for the Soviet economy.[197] Gorbachev was less ideologically rigid than his predecessors, and he believed that the Soviet Union urgently needed economic and political reforms.[195] In 1986, he introduced his twin reforms of perestroika and glasnost, which would change the political and economic conditions of the Soviet Union.[198] Seeking to reduce military expenditures and minimize the possibility of nuclear war, he also sought to re-open negotiations with the United States over arms control.[195]
As his influence on domestic affairs waned during his second term, Reagan increasingly focused on relations with the Soviet Union.[199] Reagan recognized the change in the direction of the Soviet leadership under Gorbachev, and shifted to diplomacy, with a view to encourage the Soviet leader to pursue substantial arms agreements. Reagan's personal mission was to achieve a world free of nuclear weapons, which according to Jack F. Matlock Jr., Reagan's ambassador to Moscow, he regarded as "totally irrational, totally inhumane, good for nothing but killing, possibly destructive of life on earth and civilization."[200] Gorbachev and Reagan agreed to meet at the 1985 Geneva Summit, where they issued a joint statement indicating that neither the U.S. nor the Soviet Union would "seek to achieve military superiority."[201] The two leaders began a private correspondence after the summit, and each became increasingly optimistic about arms control negotiations.[202] Reagan's willingness to negotiate with the Soviets was opposed by many conservatives, including Weinberger; conservative columnist George Will wrote that Reagan was "elevating wishful thinking to the status of a political philosophy."[203]
Various issues, including intelligence operations performed by both countries and tensions in Germany and Afghanistan, threatened to forestall the possibility of an agreement between the United States and the Soviet Union. Nonetheless, both Gorbachev and Reagan agreed to continue arms control negotiations at the October 1986 Reykjavík Summit.[204] At the summit, Gorbachev and Reagan closed in on an agreement to greatly reduce or eliminate the nuclear stockpiles of both the U.S. and the Soviet Union over a ten-year period, but the deal collapsed due to disagreements regarding SDI development.[205] Reagan attacked Gorbachev in a 1987 speech delivered in West Berlin, but negotiations continued.[206] Gorbachev and Reagan broke the impasse by agreeing to negotiate separate treaties on intermediate nuclear forces (such as intermediate-range ballistic missiles) and strategic arms (such as intercontinental ballistic missiles).[207]
With the framework for an agreement in place, Reagan and Gorbachev met at the 1987 Washington Summit.[208] They signed the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF Treaty), which committed both signatories to the total abolition of their respective short-range and medium-range missile stockpiles.[206] The agreement marked the first time that the United States and the Soviet Union had committed to the elimination of a type of nuclear weapon, though it provided for the dismantlement of only about one-twentieth of the worldwide nuclear weapon arsenal. The treaty also established an inspections regime designed to ensure that both parties honored the agreement.[209] In addition to the INF Treaty, Reagan and Gorbachev discussed a potential strategic arms treaty, known as START, but SDI continued to be a major point of contention.[210] In May 1988, the Senate voted 93-to-5 in favor of ratifying the INF Treaty.[211]
Though it was attacked by conservatives like Jesse Helms, the INF Treaty provided a major boost to Reagan's popularity in the aftermath of the Iran–Contra Affair. A new era of trade and openness between the two powers commenced, and the U.S. and the Soviet Union cooperated on international issues such as the Iran–Iraq War.[212] When Reagan visited Moscow for a fourth summit with Gorbachev in 1988, he was viewed as a celebrity by the Soviets. A journalist asked the president if he still considered the Soviet Union the evil empire. "No," he replied, "I was talking about another time, another era."[213] At Gorbachev's request, Reagan gave a speech on free markets at the Moscow State University.[214] In December 1988, Gorbachev effectively renounced the Brezhnev Doctrine, paving the way for democratization in Eastern Europe.[215] In November 1989, ten months after Reagan left office, the Berlin Wall fell. The Cold War was unofficially declared over at the Malta Summit the following month.[216]
Honoring German war dead at Bitburg, Germany
Reagan came under much criticism in 1985 when he was accused of honoring Nazi war criminals at a cemetery in West Germany.[217] In February 1985, the administration accepted an invitation for Reagan to visit a German military cemetery in Bitburg and to place a wreath alongside West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl. Deaver was given assurances by a German head of protocol that no war criminals were buried there. It was later determined that the cemetery held the graves of 49 members of the Waffen-SS. What neither Deaver nor other administration officials initially realized was that many Germans distinguished the regular SS, who typically were composed of Nazi true believers, and the Waffen-SS which were attached to military units and composed of conscripted soldiers.[218]
As the controversy brewed in April 1985, Reagan issued a statement that called the Nazi soldiers buried in that cemetery as themselves "victims", a designation which ignited a stir over whether Reagan had equated the SS men to victims of the Holocaust.[219] Pat Buchanan, Reagan's Director of Communications, argued that the president did not equate the SS members with the actual Holocaust, but as victims of the ideology of Nazism.[220] Now strongly urged to cancel the visit,[221] the president responded that it would be wrong to back down on a promise he had made to Chancellor Kohl. On May 5, 1985, President Reagan and Chancellor Kohl first visited the site of the former Nazi Bergen-Belsen concentration camp and then the Bitburg cemetery where, along with two military generals, they did place a wreath.[222][223]
Middle East
Lebanon
A
Libya bombing
Relations between Libya and the United States under President Reagan were continually contentious, beginning with the
Britain's prime minister,
South Africa
During Ronald Reagan's presidency South Africa continued to use a non-democratic system of government based on racial discrimination, known as
Finding the Reagan Administration unresponsive to its calls for more stringent economic sanctions, anti-apartheid activists undertook a divestment campaign, aimed at moving individuals and institutions to sell their holdings in companies doing business in South Africa. By late 1985, facing escalating public and congressional opposition to his administration's tolerant attitude toward the South African government's policy of apartheid, Reagan made an "abrupt reversal" on the issue and proposed sanctions on the South African government, including an arms embargo.[238] However, these sanctions were seen as weak by anti-apartheid activists,[239] and as insufficient by the president's opponents in Congress, including 81 House Republicans. In August 1986, Congress approved the Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act, which included tougher sanctions. Reagan vetoed the act, but this was overridden by a bipartisan effort in Congress.[240] By 1990, under Reagan's successor George H. W. Bush, the new South African government of F. W. de Klerk was introducing widespread reforms, though the Bush administration argued that this was not a result of the tougher sanctions.[241]
Free trade
During his 1980 presidential campaign, Reagan proposed the creation of a
Age and health
At the time, Reagan was the oldest person to have served as U.S. president.
Early in his presidency, Reagan started wearing a custom-made, technologically advanced hearing aid, first in his right ear[246] and later in his left ear as well.[247] His decision to go public in 1983 regarding his wearing the small, audio-amplifying device boosted their sales.[248]
On July 13, 1985, Reagan underwent surgery to remove a section of his colon due to
Former White House correspondent Lesley Stahl later wrote that in 1986, she and other reporters noticed what might have been early symptoms of Reagan's later Alzheimer's disease. She said that on her last day on the beat, Reagan spoke to her for a few moments and did not seem to know who she was before returning to his normal behavior.[255] However, Reagan's primary physician, John Hutton, has said that Reagan "absolutely" did not "show any signs of dementia or Alzheimer's" during his presidency.[256] His doctors have noted that he began exhibiting Alzheimer's symptoms only after he left the White House.[257]
In January 1987, Reagan underwent surgery for an enlarged prostate that caused further worries about his health. No cancerous growths were found, and he was not sedated during the operation.[258] In July of that year, he underwent a third skin cancer operation on his nose.[259]
On January 7, 1989, Reagan underwent surgery to repair a Dupuytren's contracture of the ring finger of his left hand.[260]
Elections during the Reagan presidency
Congress | Senate | House |
---|---|---|
97th[a] | 53 | 192 |
98th | 54 | 166 |
99th | 53 | 182 |
100th | 46 | 177 |
101st[a] | 45 | 175 |
1982 mid-term elections
In the 1982 mid-term elections, Democrats retained a majority of the House while Republicans retained control of the Senate. Democratic gains in the House put a check on Reagan's policies, as the incoming Congress was significantly less open to Reagan's conservative policies. Despite the Democratic electoral gains, the election represented the first time since the 1928 elections that the Republican Party successfully defended a majority in either chamber of Congress.[261]
1984 re-election campaign
Reagan's approval ratings fell after his first year in office, but they bounced back when the United States began to emerge from recession in 1983.
Reagan, meanwhile, generally declined to offer new legislative proposals for his re-election campaign, instead focusing on events like the U.S.-hosted 1984 Summer Olympics and the 40th anniversary of the Normandy landings.[265] Reagan's ability to perform the duties of president for another term was questioned by some observers, especially after a weak performance in the first presidential debate. His apparent confused and forgetful behavior was evident to his supporters; they had previously known him clever and witty. Rumors began to circulate that he had Alzheimer's disease.[266][267] Reagan rebounded in the second debate, and confronted questions about his age, quipping, "I will not make age an issue of this campaign. I am not going to exploit, for political purposes, my opponent's youth and inexperience," which generated applause and laughter, even from Mondale himself.[268]
Public opinion polling consistently showed a Reagan lead in the 1984 campaign, and Mondale was unable to shake up the race.[269] In the end, Reagan won re-election, winning 49 of 50 states.[270] Mondale carried only his home state of Minnesota and the District of Columbia. Reagan won a record 525 electoral votes,[271] and received 59% of the popular vote to Mondale's 41%.[270] Compared to 1980, Reagan's strongest gains came among white Southern voters, and he also performed particularly well among Catholic voters, voters between the ages of eighteen and twenty-nine, and voters over the age of sixty.[272] In the concurrent congressional elections, Republicans retained control of the Senate and Democrats retained control of the House.
1986 mid-term elections
Senate leaders | House leaders | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Congress | Year | Majority | Minority | Speaker | Minority |
97th | 1981–1982 | Baker | Byrd | O'Neill | Michel |
98th | 1983–1984 | Baker | Byrd | O'Neill | Michel |
99th | 1985–1986 | Dole | Byrd | O'Neill | Michel |
100th | 1987–1988 | Byrd | Dole | Wright | Michel |
101st[a] | 1989 | Mitchell | Dole | Wright | Michel |
In the 1986 mid-term elections, Democrats retained a majority of the House and won control of the Senate for the first time since the 1980 elections. Reagan campaigned hard for congressional Republicans, and an October 1986 New York Times/CBS News Poll had found that Reagan had a 67 percent approval rating. However, Senate Republicans faced a difficult map that year, as they had to defend 22 of the 34 seats up for election. Republican losses in the Senate were concentrated in the South and in the farm states.[273] The Republican loss of the Senate precluded the possibility of further major conservative legislation during the Reagan administration.[274]
1988 presidential election
Reagan remained publicly neutral in the 1988 Republican presidential primaries, but privately supported Vice President Bush over Senator Bob Dole. The 1988 Republican National Convention, which nominated Bush for president, also acted as a celebration of Reagan's presidency.[275] Democrats nominated Michael Dukakis, the liberal Governor of Massachusetts. Following the 1988 Democratic National Convention, Dukakis led the polls by seventeen points, but Bush, aided by the INF Treaty and the strong economy, closed the gap as the election neared. Democrats tried to link Bush to the Iran–Contra Scandal, but Bush claimed that he had not been involved. The GOP effectively cast Dukakis as "soft" on crime and foreign policy issues, seizing on Dukakis's pardon of Willie Horton and his dispassionate response to a question regarding the death penalty. In the 1988 presidential election, Bush soundly defeated Dukakis, taking 53.4 percent of the popular vote and 426 electoral votes.[276] The election saw the lowest turnout of eligible voters in any presidential election since 1948.[277] In the concurrent congressional elections, Democrats retained control of the House and the Senate.[276] In large part due to his handling of relations with the Soviet Union, Reagan left office with an approval rating of sixty-eight percent,[278] matching the approval ratings of Franklin Roosevelt and later Bill Clinton as the highest rating for a departing president in the modern era.[279]
Evaluation and legacy
Since Reagan left office in 1989, substantial debate has occurred among scholars, historians, and the general public surrounding his legacy.[280] Supporters have pointed to a more efficient and prosperous economy as a result of Reagan's economic policies,[281] foreign policy triumphs including a peaceful end to the Cold War,[282] and a restoration of American pride and morale.[283] Proponents also argue Reagan restored faith in the American Dream[284] after a decline in American confidence and self-respect under Jimmy Carter's perceived weak leadership, particularly during the Iran hostage crisis.[285] Reagan remains an important symbol of American conservatism, much in the same way that Franklin Roosevelt continued to serve as a symbol of liberalism long after his own death.[286]
Critics contend that Reagan's economic policies resulted in rising budget deficits,[287] a wider gap in wealth, and an increase in homelessness.[288] Liberals especially disapproved of Reagan's simultaneous tax cuts for the wealthy and benefit cuts for the poor.[289] Some critics assert that the Iran–Contra affair lowered American credibility.[290] In his popular book, The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers, historian Paul Kennedy argued that Reagan's high level of defense would eventually lead to the decline of the United States as a great power.[291] Reagan's leadership and understanding of issues has also been questioned, and even some members of the administration criticized Reagan's passive demeanor during meetings with staff and cabinet members.[292] Richard Pipes, a member of the National Security Council, criticized Reagan as "really lost, out of his depth, uncomfortable" at NSC meetings.[293] Another NSC member, Colin Powell, criticized Reagan's "passive management style [that] placed a tremendous burden on us."[294]
Despite the continuing debate surrounding his legacy, many conservative and liberal scholars agree that Reagan has been one of the most influential presidents since Franklin Roosevelt, leaving his imprint on American politics, diplomacy, culture, and economics through his effective communication, dedicated patriotism and pragmatic compromising.[295] Since he left office, historians have reached a consensus,[296] as summarized by British historian M. J. Heale, who finds that scholars now concur that Reagan rehabilitated conservatism, turned the nation to the right, practiced a considerably pragmatic conservatism that balanced ideology and the constraints of politics, revived faith in the presidency and in American exceptionalism, and contributed to victory in the Cold War.[297] Hugh Heclo argues that Reagan himself failed to roll back the welfare state, but that he contributed to a shift in attitudes that led to the defeat of efforts to further expand the welfare state.[298] Heclo further argues that Reagan's presidency made American voters and political leaders more tolerant of deficits and more opposed to taxation.[299]
In 2017, a C-SPAN survey of scholars ranked Reagan as the ninth greatest president.[300][301] A 2018 poll of the American Political Science Association's presidents and Executive Politics section also ranked Reagan as the ninth greatest president.[302] In terms of the worst mistake made by a sitting president, a 2006 poll of historians ranked the Iran-Contra affair as the ninth worst.[303]
See also
- History of the United States (1980–1991)
- Premiership of Margaret Thatcher
- Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, Simi Valley, California
Explanatory notes
References
Citations
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{{cite news}}
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- ^ Rossinow 2015, p. 173.
- ^ a b "1984 Presidential Election Results". David Leip. Retrieved May 25, 2007.
- ^ "The Reagan Presidency". Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation. Archived from the original on May 17, 2008. Retrieved April 19, 2008.
- ^ Rossinow 2015, pp. 173–174.
- ^ Dionne, E.J. Jr. (1986). "ELECTIONS; DEMOCRATS GAIN CONTROL OF SENATE, DRAWING VOTES OF REAGAN'S BACKERS; CUOMO AND D'AMATO ARE EASY VICTORS; WHAT AWAITS CONGRESS; BROAD G.O.P. LOSSES". The New York Times. Retrieved May 13, 2018.
- ^ Busch, Andrew (1999). Horses in Midstream. University of Pittsburgh Press. pp. 126–135.
- ^ Brands 2015, pp. 697–698.
- ^ a b Patterson 2005, pp. 220–225.
- ^ "National General Election VEP Turnout Rates, 1789–Present". United States Elections Project. Retrieved November 8, 2020.
- ^ Patterson 2005, p. 217.
- ^ "A Look Back At The Polls". CBS News. June 7, 2004. Retrieved May 15, 2015.
- ^ Andrew L. Johns, ed., A Companion to Ronald Reagan (Wiley-Blackwell, 2015).
- ^ Hayward 2010, pp. 635–638.
- ^ Beschloss 2007, p. 324.
- ^ Cannon 2000, p. 746.
- ^ "Ronald Reagan restored faith in America". Retrieved October 7, 2014.
- ^ Lipset, Seymour Martin; Schneider, William. "The Decline of Confidence in American Institutions" (PDF). Political Science Quarterly. Archived from the original (PDF) on August 22, 2016. Retrieved July 18, 2016.
- ^ Rossinow 2015, p. 293.
- ^ Cannon 2001, p. 128.
- ^ Dreier, Peter (February 4, 2011). "Reagan's Real Legacy". The Nation. Retrieved April 7, 2018.
- ^ Patterson 2005, p. 158.
- ^ Gilman, Larry. "Iran-Contra Affair". Advameg. Retrieved August 23, 2007.
- ^ Patterson 2005, p. 202.
- ^ Patterson 2005, pp. 160–161.
- ^ Leffler 2017, p. 349.
- ^ Pemberton 1997, p. 151.
- ^ "American President". Archived from the original on October 11, 2014. Retrieved October 7, 2014.
- JSTOR 25622627.
- ISBN 0-230-60302-5p. 250
- ^ Heclo 2008, pp. 558–560.
- ^ Heclo 2008, pp. 562–563.
- ^ See "S-SPAN 2017 Survey of Presidential Leadership" C-SPAN
- ISBN 9781118607824.
- ^ Rottinghaus, Brandon; Vaughn, Justin S. (February 19, 2018). "How Does Trump Stack Up Against the Best — and Worst — Presidents?". The New York Times. Retrieved May 14, 2018.
- ^ "Scholars rate worst presidential errors". USA Today. AP. February 18, 2006. Retrieved August 31, 2018.
Works cited
- Brands, H.W. (2015). Reagan: The Life. New York: Doubleday.
- Beschloss, Michael (2007). Presidential Courage: Brave Leaders and How They Changed America 1789–1989. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 9780684857053.
- ISBN 1-891620-91-6.
- ISBN 1-891620-84-3.
- Heclo, Hugh (2008). "The Mixed Legacies of Ronald Reagan". Presidential Studies Quarterly. 38 (4): 555–574. JSTOR 41219701.
- Herring, George C. (2008). From Colony to Superpower; U.S. Foreign Relations Since 1776. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-507822-0.
- Leffler, Melvyn P. (2007). For the Soul of Mankind: the United States, the Soviet Union, and the Cold War. Hill and Wang. ISBN 9780809097173.
- ISBN 9780195176162.
- Patterson, James (2005). Restless Giant: The United States from Watergate to Bush v. Gore. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0195122169.
- Pemberton, William E. (1997). Exit with Honor: The Life and Presidency of Ronald Reagan. Routledge.
- Reagan, Ronald (1990). An American Life. New York: Simon and Schuster. ISBN 0-7434-0025-9.
- Rossinow, Douglas C. (2015). The Reagan Era: A History of the 1980s. Columbia University Press. ISBN 9780231538657.
- Weisberg, Jacob (2016). Ronald Reagan. Times Books. ISBN 978-0-8050-9728-3.
- Wilentz, Sean (2008). The Age of Reagan: A History, 1974-2008. HarperCollins. ISBN 978-0-06-074480-9.
- Joint Chiefs of Staff (January 17, 2017). "JP 3-0, Joint Operations" (Report). Homeland Security Digital Library. Archived from the original on March 8, 2022. Retrieved September 27, 2023.
- Tucker, Spencer C. (November 21, 2012). Almanac of American Military History [4 volumes]: [4 volumes]. Bloomsbury Publishing USA. ISBN 978-1-59884-531-0.
Further reading
- Brandt, Karl Gerard. Ronald Reagan and the House Democrats: Gridlock, Partisanship, and the Fiscal Crisis (University of Missouri Press, 2009).
- Brownlee, W. Elliot and Hugh Davis Graham, eds. The Reagan Presidency: Pragmatic Conservatism and Its Legacies (2003)
- Coleman, Bradley Lynn and Kyle Longley, eds. Reagan and the World: Leadership and National Security, 1981–1989 (University Press of Kentucky, 2017), 319 pp. essays by scholars
- Diggins, John Patrick (2007). Ronald Reagan: Fate, Freedom, and the Making of History. New York: W. W. Norton. ISBN 9780393060225.
- Ehrman, John. The Eighties: America in the Age of Reagan. (2005)
- Graff, Henry F., ed. The presidents: A Reference History (3rd ed. 2002)
- Hayward, Steven F. The Age of Reagan: The Conservative Counterrevolution, 1980–1989 (2010), highly favorable
- Hertsgaard, Mark. (1988) On Bended Knee: The Press and the Reagan Presidency. New York, New York: Farrar Straus and Giroux.
- Hill, Dilys M. and Raymond A. Moore, eds. The Reagan Presidency (Palgrave Macmillan, 1990) essays by scholars; 252pp.
- Holzer, Harold. The Presidents Vs. the Press: The Endless Battle Between the White House and the Media—from the Founding Fathers to Fake News (Dutton, 2020) pp. 304–325. online
- La Barca, Giuseppe. International Trade under President Reagan: US Trade Policy in the 1980s (Bloomsbury, 2023). ISBN 978-1-350-27141-8
- Levy, Peter, ed. Encyclopedia of the Reagan-Bush years (1996) online
- Matlock, Jack (2004). Reagan and Gorbachev: How the Cold War Ended. New York: Random House. ISBN 0-679-46323-2.
- Reagan, Nancy. My Turn: The Memoirs of Nancy Reagan (1989), with William Novak. H. W. Brands in Reagan: The Life (2015) on p. 743 says "she wrote one of the most candid and at times self-critical memoirs in recent American political history."
- ISBN 0-7432-3022-1.
- Shultz, George P. Turmoil and Triumph: My Years as Secretary of State (1993), covers 1982–1989.
- Service, Robert. The End of the Cold War: 1985–1991 (2015) excerpt
- Spitz, Bob. Reagan: An American Journey (2018), 880pp; detailed biography.
- Thompson, Kenneth W., ed. Foreign policy in the Reagan presidency: nine intimate perspectives (1993)
- Walsh, Kenneth (1997). Ronald Reagan. New York: Random House Value Publishing. ISBN 0-517-20078-3.
Historiography
- Johns, Andrew L., ed. A Companion to Ronald Reagan (Wiley-Blackwell, 2015). xiv, 682 pp.; topical essays by scholars emphasizing historiography; contents free at many libraries
- Kengor, Paul. "Reagan Among the Professors: His Surprising Reputation". Policy Review 98 (1999): 15+. Reports that "many articles in the top journals have been fair, as have a number of influential books...from respected historians, presidential scholars, and political scientists – people who were not Reagan supporters and are certainly not right-wingers."
External links
- Reagan Library
- in-depth coverage by Miller Center at University Virginia
- Reagan Era study guide, timeline, quotes, trivia, teacher resources