Ronald Reagan's Success And Failures

Ronald Reagan, President of the United States from 1981 through 1989, created economic policies throughout his presidency that aimed to pull the United States out of a recession. His policies, called Reaganomics, reduced government spending and reduced tax rates in order to foster economic growth. Reagan also appointed many conservative judges to the Supreme Court and federal courts in order to shift ideologies to the right. Because of this, Reagan was both underrated and overrated as a president.

Ronald Reagan is to this date the oldest serving president, and the effects of his presidency have affected not only the United States of America but most of the world as well. The consensus among historians is that Ronald Reagan left a lasting legacy that was a great one in numerous ways. His Reaganomics improved America’s economy greatly, and secured its future economic prosperity. He also fought communism head on and was able to end it in most parts of the world, but more importantly in Soviet Russia. However, in doing so he got wrapped up in the Iran-Contra Affair, which will forever be tied to his name in a negative regard. Within America, Reagan was able to improve society such as his success in curbing the use of illegal drugs.

Born on February 6, 1911, Ronald Reagan lived an eventful life, but he did not become President of the United States until the age of 65. He picked George H. W. Bush as his running mate in the 1980 republican ticket. The incumbent, Jimmy Carter had no chance of retaining the presidency, the economy was stagnant, and America’s influence in the world was on the decline. Just two months into Reagan’s Presidency, it almost came to an abrupt end with the bullet of a would-be assassin; of course the President survived, and went on to contribute to the end of the cold war. The Contra scandal threatened Reagan’s Presidency, however, but for anyone to say he is overrated, should take a close look at

Reagan had a strong vision for the American future and believed that through hard work, patriotism, and the Lord, we could say “it’s the morning again in America”.14 Reagan stated in his inaugural speech “It is time for us to realize that we’re too great a nation to limit ourselves to small dreams. We have every right to dream heroic dreams, those who say that we’re in a time when there are no heroes; they just don’t know where to look”. Reagan has inspired countless people with his charm, humility, faith, ability to lead, and clear thinking but he was first and foremost, proud to be an

President Ronald Reagan, the man who is accredited with ended the forty six year cold war was elected on Nov. 4, 1980. Reagan won his election with fifty percent of the popular vote over former President Jimmy Carter who had forty one percent. While Reagan as a president is praised for such successes as strengthening the national defense, stimulating growth in the U.S. economically, and as mentioned before he is considered the President who ended the Cold War. President Reagan had achieved many things by the end of his administration, but just as he had many successes his presidency was plagued with shortcomings and a handful of what could be considered flat out failures. The purpose of this writing is to establish and identify the ‘cons’ or failures of the Reagan administration, and provide a brief description of each different aspect of the administration.

Reagan was a religious man, and thought that every student should be given the choice to pray or not in school. He proposed an amendment that stated, “Nothing in this Constitution shall be constructed to prohibit individual or group prayer in public schools or other public institutions” (NY Times). Reagan pushed for opportunity, to give kids a chance to connect with God, but Congress rejected the bill in 1985. On January 28, 1986 the Space Shuttle Challenger broke apart 73 seconds into flight. All seven astronauts were killed and it was a huge devastation to not only the nation, but to Reagan. Reagan said, “The future doesn't belong to the fainthearted; it belongs to the brave. The Challenger crew was pulling us into the future, and we'll continue to follow them” (Address to the Nation). Everyone working at NASA and other companies that continue to drive America into the future are the people that make us who we are, they move us through time with new inventions and innovations to make the life easier for everyone. In 1986 drugs were becoming more and more popular and with everything going for America, why have something so little and controllable as drugs taint it? It is a nationwide problem and that is why Nancy Reagan made it her #1 priority as first lady. Reagan signed a bill that gave $1.7 billion to fund the war on drugs. Drug abuse costs American’s roughly $60 billion a year (PBS) and it is an issue that can be controlled and stopped. With all the losses and bills being passed there is one thing that was and still is always constant...immigration. Reagan passed the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 which made it illegal to hire or recruit illegal immigrants. Reagan wasn’t an abusive and mean person, but he thought that anyone who came to America illegally was either going to be abused

“What do you do when someone offers you drugs?” And I said, “Well, you just say no.” There it was born. Children of many people have been asked to try drugs, People often are curious and want to try something new. Nancy Reagan wanted to help show the youth a way to say no.

The War on Drugs began in increments, first with President Nixon and secondly with President Reagan (Hill, Oliver, Marion, 2012). While under the Nixon administration, the Drug Enforcement Administration was developed due to the thought of how drugs can affect an individual as well as a community. Drugs did not only affect the user and the community, but also the families as well as children. Out of all the presidents, it is documented that President Nixon was one who had discussions about drugs more than any other president (Hill, et al., 2012).

In the late 1960's and early 1970's, the federal government began to increasingly tighten drug laws. In 1972, President Richard Nixon formally declared a "War on Drugs", which continues

He had a hands off style of leadership that was very polarizing when looking back at Carter’s obsessively controlling style of leadership. Ronald was often ignorant of the specifics of the policies he was passing as he left that to his subordinates. He told his subordinates openly what he wanted done and where he wanted the country led and told the public what values he held. Critics claimed this showed he was an inept president, but Reagan successfully played the most important role of president: hold his administration on the broad themes he created. He kept his employees focused on these themes instead of the immediate policies they were passing. He always looked to the future and tried to change it with slow moves. That is until he passed a 25% reduction in individual and corporate income tax rates. Then he deregulated many areas of civilian and corporate life believing it would help the nation find new ways to grow. He also put over half of the judges in the nation in. They were all conservative judges that set about reducing the power of civil legislation. He also was very against abortion as he saw it as a waste of life and at all points tried to weaken it, but he could never completely get rid of it. Sadly, he failed to ever get rid of the massive spending on medicaid and social security which made it so he could never successfully balance

The Reagan years were they overrated or was he underrated as the 40th President of the United States. This report will cover the agendas and accomplishments of Reagan during his tenure as President. Starting from the Hostages coming home to the supply side economy and how he was able to conclude the cold war. Were the actions of President Reagan underappreciated or was he glorified for actions taken while performing the duties of his position.

When President Ronald Reagan first took over the United State in 1981, the country was still suffer from the effect of the Great Depression and the World War II. The economic was so poor that both taxes and the unemployment rate was high, inflation was also a serious problem. The morale of the military was low too, because during the Carter presidency, Carter diminished the military and stop producing many effective weapons. People started to be disappointed with the democrat government. Reagan, a republican, won 51% of the popular vote and 489 electoral votes and finally beat Jimmy Carter on the president election in the 1980. During Reagan's presidency, he did a lot to fix the economics and rebuild the military. Reagan was a success president

Although Ronald Reagan is known for many additions to history, here are his most significant contributions to our nation. First, Reaganomics was one of the biggest programs he implemented while in office. Reaganomics reduced taxes so people had more money to either save or invest. This helped to increase imports and exports and improved the economy for the American people. This also created good jobs, which everyone was so thankful for. Second, Reagan appointed Sandra Day O’Connor to the Supreme Court and left people in awe given that she was the first female Supreme Court Justice. This created more equality and opened the door for other women such as Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Finally, Reagan helped to bring down the Berlin Wall that separated East

This book is a dynamic biography of former President Ronald W. Reagan’s life, both before and after his time in the White House. President Reagan’s excellent character and integrity are especially highlighted, as well as his extensive political wisdom and collected nature, even in high pressure situations. Peggy Noonan, the author of this book, keeps a consistent praising tone for Reagan throughout the novel, and her love and appreciation for the man is obvious. Reagan went on to win the hearts of many Americans with his charming personality and undeniable charisma, qualities of Reagan that even some of his political adversaries have pointed out.

In some extent, he was considered as a weak president who lack of knowledge, but some people who supported him insisted that he was a great president, since he focused on the big picture and he has excellent communicating skills. In terms of the American future, Reagan had a clear vision for America’s future. He and his advisors purposely reduced liberal policies that endured fifty years before. He made government increasingly responsible for the health of the nation’s economy and the social welfare for its people. Moreover, he was a great communicator. He likes using simple words to express simple truths with his straightforwardness, warmth and humor, when he made the public speech to Americans. His communicating skills made his ability to