Ronald Reagan

Ronald Wilson Reagan
40th President of the United States
In office January 20 1981 – January 20 1989
Vice President	George H. W. Bush
Preceded by	Jimmy Carter
Succeeded by	George H. W. Bush
33rd Governor of California
In office 3 January 1967 – 7 January 1975
Lieutenant	Robert Finch (1967 - 1969) Ed Reinecke (1969 - 1974) John L. Harmer (1974 - 1975)
Preceded by	Edmund G. "Pat" Brown, Sr.
Succeeded by	Edmund G. "Jerry" Brown, Jr.
Personal details
Born	February 6, 1911 Tampico, Illinois, USA
Died	June 5, 2004(2004-06-05) (aged 93)
Political party	Republican
Spouse(s)	(1) Jane Wyman (married 1940, divorced 1948) (2) Nancy Davis Reagan (married 1952)
Signature

Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was the 40th President of the United States (1981 – 1989) and the 33rd Governor of California (1967 – 1975). Reagan was born and raised in Illinois and moved to California in the 1930s. Before entering politics, he was a Hollywood actor, President of the Screen Actors Guild, and a spokesman for General Electric. Previously a New Deal Democrat, Reagan became a conservative Republican in 1962. During his work for General Electric Theatre, he began to articulate the political themes that would carry him into the California Governorship, which he won in 1966, and the Presidency of the United States, which he narrowly lost a bid for in 1976 before winning in 1980.

Reagan is credited with revitalizing America's economy and morale after a period of economic stagflation and a recession, through his economic policies. Coined "Reaganomics," they consisted of large tax cuts, moderate deregulation, robust job creation, reductions in inflation, but soaring budget deficits. Reagan was reelected by a landslide in 1984, after surviving an assassination attempt. Reagan survived a few scandals during his presidency, the most notable being the Iran-Contra Affair in 1986.

Reagan insituted massive defense spending in an arms race with the Soviet Union through his policy of "peace through strength." He rejected détente and confronted Communism, famously portraying the Soviet Union as an "Evil Empire" and bolstering anti-Communist movements worldwide. Reagan negotiated with Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev to shrink both countries' nuclear arsenals and help bring a peaceful end to the Cold War.

After leaving office, in 1994, Reagan disclosed that he had been afflicted with Alzheimer's Disease, and died ten years later at the age of ninety-three.

Early life

Ronald Reagan as a boy Dixon, Illinois.

Reagan was born in a flat above the local bank building in Tampico, Illinois. During his youth, Reagan's family briefly lived in several small Illinois towns, and Chicago. In 1920, when Reagan was nine years old, his family settled in the small town of Dixon, Illinois. The Midwestern "small universe" made a lasting impression on Reagan "where I learned standards and values that would guide me the rest of my life," he said. "I learned that hard work is an essential part of life – that by and large, you don't get something for nothing – and that America was a place that offered unlimited opportunity to those who did work hard." Reagan attended Dixon High School, where he developed a passion for storytelling and acting. In 1926, his first job was that of a lifeguard at the Rock River in Lowell Park, near Dixon. He was credited with saving 77 lives during the seven summers he worked there. After High School, Reagan attended Eureka College, where he majored in economics and sociology. He was a member of the Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity, and was very active in sports.

Entertainment career

Radio and film

In 1932, after graduating from Eureka, Reagan worked at radio stations WOC in Davenport, Iowa, and then WHO in Des Moines as an announcer for Chicago Cubs baseball games. As a radio announcer, Reagan took a screen test that led to a seven-year contract with the Warner Brothers studio. Reagan secured roles in "B" films and later in more significant pictures. His first screen credit was the starring role in the 1937 movie Love Is on the Air. By the end of 1939, he had appeared in nineteen films. Before Santa Fe Trail in 1940, he played the role of George "The Gipper" Gipp in the film Knute Rockne, All American. From this role he acquired the nickname the Gipper, which he retained the rest of his life. Reagan was not generally considered a great actor; in reference to Reagan's role in Kings Row (1942), a film reviewer felt Reagan had made "only casual acquaintance with the [character]" Other films in which Reagan was cast include Tennessee's Partner, Hellcats of the Navy, This Is the Army, The Winning Team, Bedtime for Bonzo, Cattle Queen of Montana, The Killers (1964 remake), and Prisoner of War movie.

World War II

On May 25, 1937, Reagan was appointed a second lieutenant in the Officers' Reserve Corps of the Cavalry, serving with Troop B, 322nd Cavalry. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, Reagan was prevented from serving overseas due to nearsightedness, and remained in Hollywood for the duration of the war. At the request of the Army Air Force, he applied for a transfer from the Cavalry to the Army Air Force. In June 1942, he was assigned to the First Motion Picture Unit, which made training and education films for the war effort. Reagan claims in his autobiography Where's the Rest of Me that bureaucratic inefficiencies in his Army department weakened his enthusiasm for government and increased his interest in free market forces.

Television

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Television star Ronald Reagan advertising borax.

Reagan landed fewer film roles in the late 1950s, and moved to television as a host and frequent performer for General Electric Theater. He went from host and program supervisor of General Electric Theater to producing and claiming an equity stake in the TV show itself. At one point in the late 1950s, Reagan was earning approximately $125,000 per year ($800,000 in 2006 dollars). His final work as a professional actor was as host and performer from 1964 to 1965 on the television series Death Valley Days. Reagan's final big-screen appearance came in the 1964 film The Killers, a remake of an earlier version, based on a short story by Ernest Hemingway. He was cast as a mob chieftain. This film was the first made-for-TV movie. Ronald Reagan has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, located at 6374 Hollywood Boulevard.

SAG President

Reagan was first elected to the Board of Directors of the Screen Actors Guild in 1941, serving as an alternate. Following World War II, he resumed service and became 3rd Vice President in 1946. The adoption of conflict-of-interest bylaws in 1947 led the SAG president and six Board members to resign; Reagan was nominated in a special election for the position of SAG President by fellow Board member Gene Kelly and was elected. Reagan would subsequently be elected by the membership to seven additional one-year terms, from 1947-1952 and in 1959. Reagan led SAG through eventful years that were marked by labor-management disputes, the Taft-Hartley Act, the House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC) hearings and the Hollywood blacklist era. In 1947, as SAG President, Reagan testified before HUAC regarding the influence of Communists in the motion picture industry. Although staunchly opposed to Communism, Reagan also reaffirmed his

Ronald Reagan visiting Nancy Reagan on the set of her movie Donovan's Brain, 1953.

committment to democratic principles, stating, "As a citizen, I would hesitate to see any political party outlawed on the basis of its political ideology. However, if it is proven that an organization is an

agent of foreign power, or in any way not a legitimate political party -- and I think the government is capable of proving that -- then that is another matter." In conclusion, Reagan said, "I never as a citizen want to see our country become urged, by either fear or resentment of this group, that we ever compromise with any of our democratic principles through that fear or resentment. I still think that democracy can do it."

Marriages and children

In 1938, Reagan co-stared in the film Brother Rat with actress Jane Wyman. They married on January 26, 1940, at the Week Kirk O'Heather Church in Forest Lawn, California. Together they had three children: Maureen Reagan (1941 – 2001), Michael Reagan (b.1945), and Christine Reagan (born and died June 26, 1947). Reagan and Wyman divorced on June 28, 1948 following arguments about Reagan's political ambitions. Reagan is the only United States President to have been divorced.

Reagan met actress Nancy Davis in 1949, after Davis contacted Reagan (then President of the Screen Actors Guild) to help her with issues regarding her name appearing on a communist blacklist (Davis was mistaken for another Nancy Davis). They married on March 4, 1952 at the Little Brown Church in the San Fernando Valley, Los Angeles, California. Ronald and Nancy Reagan had two children: Patti Davis (b.1952) and Ron Reagan (b.1958)

From the very start of their marriage, Ronald and Nancy Reagan were "soul mates." He often called her "Mommy" and she called him "Ronnie". This deep relationship was with the Reagans throughout all of their married life. While President and First Lady, the Reagans frequently displayed their affection for each other in public, and in private. Even when the President was debilitated by Alzheimer's Disease, Nancy Reagan reaffirmed their love for each other, stating: "We were very much in love, and still are." President Reagan's death in June 2004 ended what Charlton Heston called "the greatest love affair in the history of the American Presidency."

Early political career

Reagan was originally a Democrat, a supporter of the New Deal, and was a lifelong admirer of Franklin D. Roosevelt's leadership skills. In the late 1940s, Reagan was still a visible speaker defending President Harry S. Truman, but his political loyalties soon shifted to the Republican Party.

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Reagan delivers his famed "A Time for Choosing" speech on behalf of Republican Candidate Barry Goldwater in 1964.

His first major political role was as President of the Screen Actors Guild (SAG), the labor union that represented most Hollywood actors. In this position, he testified before the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) on suspected communist influence in the motion picture industry. The Screen Actors Guild, he claimed, was being infiltrated by communists. In private he and his first wife, Jane Wyman, met with FBI agents in 1947 to name "suspected subversives." A 2002 Freedom of Information Act request revealed that those he allegedly named included actors Larry Parks, Howard Da Silva, and Alexander Knox, each of whom was later called before HUAC and subsequently blacklisted in Hollywood. FBI files allegedly show that he continued to give the FBI names of people he suspected of communist ties.

A staunch anti-Communist, Reagan supported the presidential candidacies of Dwight D. Eisenhower (1952, 1956) and Richard Nixon (1960) while remaining a registered Democrat. Through these years, Reagan read about American history, the Founding Fathers, and free market economics, including Nobel Prize-winner Friedrich Hayek's The Road to Serfdom. Reagan came to believe that socialism was a threat to the American way of life and that liberals were naively leading the country down a road to serfdom.

Following the election of John F. Kennedy, Reagan formally switched parties, becoming a Republican in 1962 and joining the 1964 bandwagon of conservative Presidential contender Barry Goldwater. Speaking on Goldwater's behalf, Reagan revealed his ideological motivation: "The Founding Fathers knew a government can't control the economy without controlling people. And they knew when a government set out to do that, it must use force and coercion to achieve its purpose. So we have come to a time for choosing." This speech became known as the "Time for Choosing" speech.

"I didn't leave the Democratic Party", he claimed. "The party left me." Reagan explained in his autobiography An American Life that Franklin D. Roosevelt warned that welfare programs could destroy the work ethic like "a narcotic," and that Roosevelt liquidated the temporary welfare programs designed to aid the country through the Great Depression once the Depression had passed (though the programs would be revived after his death). Reagan implied that Roosevelt would have also disapproved of the change in the Democratic Party.

Governor of California, 1967–1975

Ronald and Nancy Reagan celebrate Reagan's gubernatorial victory at the Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles, California.

After Reagan's "Time for Choosing" speech, California Republicans became impressed with Reagan's political views and charisma. They nominated him for Governor of California in 1966, and he was elected, defeating two-term governor Edmund G. "Pat" Brown. In Reagan's campaign, he emphasized two main themes, "to send "the welfare bums back to work," and in reference to burgeoning anti-war and anti-establishement student protests at the University of California at Berkeley, "to clean up the mess at Berkeley." Ronald Reagan was sworn in as governor of California on January 3, 1967. In his first term, he froze government hiring but also approved tax hikes to balance the budget.

Shortly thereafter, Reagan first tested the Presidential waters in 1968 as part of a "Stop Nixon" movement which included those from the party's left led by then-New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller. Reagan managed to win the pledges of some 600 delegates, but Nixon quickly steamrolled to the nomination; Reagan urged the convention to nominate Nixon unanimously.

Reagan entered into high profile conflicts with the protest movements of the era. During the People's Park protests in 1969, he worked with UC Regent Edwin Pauley to crack down on anti-war protesters at UC Berkeley; Reagan sent 2,200 state National Guard troops to the campus. In a speech in April 1970, he stated, "If it's to be a bloodbath, let it be now. Appeasement is not the answer."

A young man who was aiding police was accidentally shot during a riot in Isla Vista, California. Reagan then blamed the death of the young man on the rioters. When the Symbionese Liberation Army kidnapped Patty Hearst in Berkeley and demanded the distribution of food to the poor, Reagan suggested that it would be a good time for an outbreak of botulism. After the media reported on the comment, he apologized.

Reagan was re-elected in 1970, defeating "Big Daddy" Jesse Unruh, but chose not to seek a third term. One of Reagan's greatest frustrations in office concerned capital punishment. He had campaigned as a strong supporter; however, his efforts to enforce the state's laws in this area were thwarted when the Supreme Court of California issued its People v. Anderson decision, which invalidated all death sentences issued in California prior to 1972. The decision was later overturned by a constitutional amendment. The only execution during Reagan's governorship was on April 12, 1967, when Aaron Mitchell was killed by the state in San Quentin's gas chamber. There weren't any more executions in California until 1992, but as Governor he signed a new death penalty status in 1974.

1976 presidential campaign

Ronald Reagan shakes hands with Gerald Ford at the 1976 Republican National Convention, after Reagan narrowly lost the Presidential nomination. To Reagan's left are Bob Dole and Nancy Reagan; at his right are Nelson Rockefeller, Susan Ford, and Betty Ford.

In 1976, Reagan challenged incumbent President Gerald Ford, who was considered a comparatively centrist or moderate Republican. Reagan soon established himself as the conservative candidate; like-minded organizations such as the American Conservative Union became the key components of his political base. He relied on a strategy crafted by campaign manager John Sears of winning a few primaries early to seriously damage the liftoff of Ford's campaign, but the strategy quickly disintegrated. Poor management of the campaign, and an ill-timed speech promising to shift responsibility for federal services to the states without identifying any clear funding mechanism, caused Reagan to lose New Hampshire and later Florida. Reagan found himself cornered, desperately needing a win to stay in the race.

Reagan's stand in the North Carolina primary was a do-or-die proposition.He attacked Ford about the Panama Canal, détente with the Soviet Union, and Henry Kissinger's performance as Secretary of State, which led to him defeating Ford 53% to 47%. He used that bit of momentum to add the major states of Texas and California, but then fell back from losing efforts in Ohio, Tennessee, Kentucky, and Michigan. As the party's convention in Kansas City neared, Ford appeared close to victory, thanks to New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania delegates ostensibly under the control of Ford's liberal Vice President Rockefeller. Acknowledging the strength of his party's moderate and liberal wing, Reagan balanced his ticket by choosing as his running mate moderate Republican Senator Richard Schweiker of Pennsylvania. Nonetheless, Ford squeaked by with 1,187 delegates to Reagan's 1,070; the evident strength of the conservatives behind Reagan led Ford to drop the more liberal Vice President Nelson Rockefeller as running-mate in favor of Kansas Senator Bob Dole. Reagan's concession speech was a stirring exhortation, emphasizing the dangers of nuclear war and the moral threat posed by the Soviet Union. Although Reagan lost the nomination, in the November election he received 307 write-in votes in New Hampshire, 388 votes as an Independent on Wyoming's ballot, and a single electoral vote from a Washington State "faithless elector." Ford went on to lose the 1976 presidential election to the Democratic challenger Jimmy Carter.

1980 presidential campaign

Main article: United States presidential election, 1980

Reagan campaigns with Nancy in South Carolina, 1980.

In 1980, Reagan won the Republican nomination for president, handily winning most of the primaries after an early defeat in the Iowa caucuses. During the convention, Reagan unsuccessfully attempted to negotiate an unusual power-sharing arrangement that would entice former President Gerald Ford to be the Vice Presidential nominee. Instead, Reagan selected his opponent in the primaries, George H. W. Bush, who had extensive international experience.

The presidential campaign, led by William J. Casey, was conducted in the shadow of the Iran hostage crisis; every day during the campaign the networks reported on Carter's unavailing efforts to free the hostages. On the domestic front, Reagan attacked Carter's inability to deal with double-digit inflation, soaring interest rates and high unemployment, plus lackluster economic growth. Reagan hammered away at the theme that America's military had fallen behind the Soviet Union, and that détente was a failure. With respect to the economy, Reagan quipped, "I'm told I can't use the word depression. Well, I'll tell you the definition. A recession is when your neighbor loses his job; depression is when you lose your job. Recovery is when Jimmy Carter loses his."

Reagan's showing in the televised debates boosted his campaign. He seemed more at ease, deflecting President Carter's criticisms with remarks like "There you go again." One of his most influential remarks was a closing question to the audience: during a time of skyrocketing prices and high interest rates, he asked, "Are you better off now than you were four years ago?" (a phrase he would successfully reuse in the 1984 campaign).

Reagan swept to a landslide, carrying 44 states with 489 electoral to only 49 for Carter, representing 6 states and the District of Columbia. Reagan won 50.7% of the popular vote while Carter took 41% and independent John Anderson (a liberal Republican) received 6.7%. Reagan Democrats were blue collar Democrats who voted for Reagan, helping him carry historic Democratic strongholds like Michigan, New York, and Massachusetts. Thanks in large part to the enthusiastic Republican campaign and Reagan's coattails, twelve Democrats were defeated in Senate races, which the GOP captured for the first time since 1952, with the margin of 54-46. The GOP gained 34 House seats, but the Democrats retained a majority of 242-192.

Presidency, 1981–1989

Main article: Reagan Administration

The Reagan Cabinet
OFFICE	NAME	TERM
President	Ronald Reagan	1981–1989
Vice President	George H. W. Bush	1981–1989
State	Alexander M. Haig	1981–1982
	George P. Shultz	1982–1989
Treasury	Donald Regan	1981–1985
	James A. Baker III	1985–1988
	Nicholas F. Brady	1988–1989
Defense	Caspar Weinberger	1981–1987
	Frank C. Carlucci	1987–1989
Justice	William F. Smith	1981–1985
	Edwin A. Meese III	1985–1988
	Richard L. Thornburgh	1988–1989
Interior	James G. Watt	1981–1983
	William P. Clark, Jr.	1983–1985
	Donald P. Hodel	1985–1989
Commerce	Malcolm Baldrige	1981–1987
	C. William Verity, Jr.	1987–1989
Labor	Raymond J. Donovan	1981–1985
	William E. Brock	1985–1987
	Ann Dore McLaughlin	1987–1989
Agriculture	John Rusling Block	1981–1986
	Richard E. Lyng	1986–1989
HHS	Richard S. Schweiker	1981–1983
	Margaret Heckler	1983–1985
	Otis R. Bowen	1985–1989
Education	Terrell H. Bell	1981–1984
	William J. Bennett	1985–1988
	Lauro Cavazos	1988–1989
HUD	Samuel R. Pierce, Jr.	1981–1989
Transportation	Drew Lewis	1981–1982
	Elizabeth Hanford Dole	1983–1987
	James H. Burnley IV	1987–1989
Energy	James B. Edwards	1981–1982
	John S. Herrington	1985–1989

First term, 1981–1985

The Reagans wave from the limousine taking them down Pennsylvania Avenue, to the White House, right after the President's inauguration.

During his Presidency, Ronald Reagan pursued policies that reflected his optimism in individual freedom, promoted individual liberty domestically, and pursued freedom abroad. Addressing the economic malaise he inherited, in his inaugural address he argued, "Government is not the solution to our problems. Government is the problem." The Reagan Presidency began in a historic manner. The first major event happened just thirty minutes into the administration on January 20, 1981. As he was delivering his inaugural address, fifty-two American hostages, held by Iran for 444 days, were set free.

Assassination attempt

Main article: Reagan assassination attempt

On March 30, 1981, only sixty-nine days into the new administration, Reagan, his press secretary James Brady, and two others were struck by gunfire from a deranged would-be assassin, John Hinckley, Jr.. Missing Reagan’s heart by less than one inch, the bullet instead pierced his left lung, which likely spared his life. In the operating room, Reagan joked to the surgeons, "I hope you're all Republicans" (though they were not, Dr. Joseph Giordano replied, "Today, Mr. President, we're all Republicans"). Reagan famously told his wife, "Honey, I forgot to duck" (using defeated boxer Jack Dempsey's quip). On April 12, Nancy Reagan escorted the President home from the hospital.

Federal air traffic controllers' strike

Main article: 1981 Air Traffic Controllers' Strike
Only a short time into his administration, Federal air traffic controllers went on strike, violating a regulation prohibiting government unions from striking. Declaring the situation an emergency as described in the 1947 Taft Hartley Act, Reagan held a press conference in the White House Rose Garden, where he stated that if the air traffic controllers "did not return to work within forty-eight hours, they have forfeited their jobs, and will be terminated." On August 5, 1981, Reagan fired 11,359 striking air traffic controllers who had ignored his order to return to work, one of the biggest setbacks to the power of organized labor in many years.

"Reaganomics" and the economy

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Ronald Reagan's Official Portrait that hangs in the White House.

Main article: Reaganomics

When Ronald Reagan entered office, the American economy faced the highest rate of inflation since 1947, and this was considered the nation's principal economic problem. Reagan was considered a small-government conservative and supported income tax cuts, cuts to domestic government programs and deregulation, but no one knew what concrete steps he meant to take, or whether the House (controlled by Democrats) would support him.

When President Reagan returned from the hospital, he focused on reviving the economy which was exhibiting stagflation (a high rate of inflation combined with an economic recession). Partially based on supply-side economics, Reagan's policies sought to stimulate the economy with large across-the-board tax cuts. The cuts were to be coupled with commensurate reductions in social welfare spending. Reagan also anticipated that economic growth would offset projected revenue losses from lower marginal tax rates. Reagan's fiscal policies soon became known as "Reaganomics".

President Reagan's tenure marked a time of economic prosperity for most Americans in the United States. Tax rates were lowered significantly under Reagan, with the top personal tax bracket dropping from 70% to 28% in 7 years, and GDP growth recovered strongly after the 1982 recession. Unemployment peaked at over 11 percent in 1982, then dropped steadily, plus inflation significantly decreased. During Reagan's eight years in office, the economy grew at a robust annual rate of 3.8% per year. He appointed the Greenspan Commission, which resolved the solvency crisis through reform, including accelerating previously-enacted increases in the payroll tax.

The Reagans await the arrival of Prime Minister Malcom Fraser at the North Portico at the White House.

This economic growth generated by the huge budget deficits created jobs and booming growth but enormous increases in the national debt, from $1 trillion to $3 trillion. Federal tax receipts more than doubled from the depths of the severe 1981 recession to 1989, rising from $130.2Bn to $$263.7Bn. The result was greater deficit spending and a dramatic increase in the national debt, which tripled in unadjusted dollar terms during Reagan's presidency. The U.S. trade deficit also expanded significantly.

He reappointed Fed Chairman Paul Volcker and steadfastly supported the Fed's anti-inflation actions, despite political risks from the ensuing recession, which ended the high inflation that damaged the economy under his predecessors. Reagan appointed the monetarist Alan Greenspan to succeed Volker as Chairman of the Federal Reserve. He preserved the core New Deal safeguards, such as the SEC, FDIC, GI Bill and Social Security, while rolling back what he viewed as the excesses of 1960s and 1970s liberal policies. He reformed Social Security, to make it solvent many decades longer.

Critics from the left charged that Reagan was unconcerned with income inequality and its effects, abandoning the egalitarian ideals that had come to be standard stated policy goals since the New Deal era. Reagan's efforts to cut welfare and income taxes became common flash points for both critics and supporters. Critics charged that this primarily benefited the wealthy in America, deriding these policies as "Trickle-down economics". Reagan's former director of the Office of Management and Budget,

Reagan gives a televised address from the Oval Office, outlining his plan for Tax Reduction Legislation in July of 1981.

David Stockman, stated that Reagan was deliberately left "out of the loop" by cabinet members, when the true economic decisions were made. He believed that Reagan did not know where he stood on economic policy and said he was forced to coach him prior to speeches and press conferences on what to say. He later characterized the Reagan administration as giving the "the greatest free lunch fiscal policy" to Americans through his economic policies. Stockman was fired by Reagan after a disagreement (unrelated to Stockman's claims), and many have speculated that this may have been his way of exacting revenge against the President. Stockman's claims are considered by most to be untrue.

The deregulation of the banking industry before Reagan took office meant savings and loan associations were given the flexibility to invest their depositors' funds in commercial real estate. Many savings and loan associations began making risky investments. As a result, the Federal Home Loan Bank Board, the federal agency that regulates the industry, tried to clamp down on the trend. In so doing, however, the Board clashed with the policy of permitting the deregulation of many industries, including the thrift industry. The resulting savings and loan scandal bailout ultimately cost the government $150 billion.

In order to cover federal budget deficits created by the fact that Reagan never submitted a balanced budget to Congress or called for sacrifice, along with increased spending by Congress (controlled by Republicans and then Democrats), the United States borrowed heavily both domestically and abroad, and by the end of Reagan's second term the national debt held by the public rose from 26 percent of Gross Domestic Product in 1980 to 41 percent in 1989, the highest level since 1963. By 1988, the debt totaled $2.6 trillion. The country owed more to foreigners than it was owed, and the United States moved from being the world's largest international creditor to the world's largest debtor nation.

The Reagans wave from Air Force One as they arrive in Atlanta, Georgia in 1986.

Although there is some disagreement over how much Reagan's policies contributed to the unequal distribution of the benefits of economic growth among the rich and the poor, supporters would argue that by dealing skillfully with Congress, Reagan obtained legislation to stimulate economic growth, curb inflation, increase employment, and strengthen national defense. He embarked upon a course of cutting taxes and Government expenditures. In 1986 Reagan obtained an overhaul of the income tax code, which eliminated simplified the tax code, eliminated some deductions, raised taxes slightly, and exempted millions of people with low incomes.

Looking at Reaganomics from a beneficial point of view, many scholars agree that Reagan's tax policies and emphasis on deregulation invigorated America's economy. According to the Cato Institute, the American Economy performed better during the Reagan years, than during the pre- and post- Reagan years. At the end of his administration, the Nation was enjoying its longest recorded period of peacetime prosperity without recession or depression.

"War on Drugs"

Not long after being sworn into office, Reagan declared more militant policies in the "War on Drugs". His policies emphasized a comprehensive, five pronged strategy, which led to dramatic decreases in adolescent drug use in America. The success of the plan was the implementation of policies, such as : "zero tolerance," addressing drug use, not just abuse (as had been addressed by previous administrations), and a strong emphasis on the health consequences of drugs. The prevention plan followed a comprehensive approach to every sector of American society, meaning drug-free schools, drug-free transportation, drug-free homes, etc., but the particular emphasis was on parents and youth. It was this effort that caused the immediate downturn of drug use by adolescents in America, which had eluded previous administrations, and has not been achieved in subsequent administrations.

On October 27, 1986, President Reagan signed an enormous omnibus drug bill into law, which granted $1.7 billion dollars to fight the crisis. It ensured a mandatory minimum penalty for drug offenses, which was somwhat controversial. He was attacked, with critics saying that the minimum penalty promoted significant racial disparities in the prison population, because of the differences in sentencing for crack vs. powder cocaine.

Many critics also charged that the policies did little to actually reduce the availability of drugs or crime on the street, while resulting in a great financial and human cost for American society. Due to this policy, some critics regarded Reagan as indifferent to the needs of poor and minority citizens. Nevertheless, surveys showed that illegal drug use among Americans declined significantly during Reagan's presidency, leading supporters to argue that the policies were successful..

Reagan's First Lady, Nancy, even took on the War on Drugs as her main cause, by founding the "Just Say No" anti-drug association. Still today, there are thousands of "Just Say No" clinics around the country, aimed at helping and rehabilitating kids and teens with drug problems.

Judiciary

Reagan meets with Sandra Day O'Connor, the first female Supreme Court Justice, whom he appointed.

During his 1980 campaign, Reagan pledged that if given the opportunity, he would appoint the first female Supreme Court Justice. That opportunity came in his first year in office when he nominated Sandra Day O'Connor to fill the vacancy created by the retirement of Justice Potter Stewart. In his second term, Reagan elevated William Rehnquist to succeed Warren Burger as Chief Justice, and named Antonin Scalia to fill the vacant seat. All of these appointments were confirmed by the Senate with relative ease. However in 1987 Reagan lost a significant political battle when the Senate rejected the nomination of Robert Bork. Anthony Kennedy was eventually confirmed in his place.

Both his Supreme Court nominations and his lower court appointments were in line with Reagan's philosophy that judges should interpret law as enacted and not "legislate from the bench". By the end of the 1980s, a conservative majority on the Supreme Court had put an end to the perceived "activist" trend begun under the leadership of Earl Warren. Critics pointed out that the conservatives justices were equally activist, but showed sympathy to corporate America. However, general adherence to the principle of stare decisis along with minority support, left most of the major landmark case decisions (such as Brown, Miranda, and Roe v. Wade) of the previous three decades still standing as binding precedent.

Lebanon and Grenada, 1983

Main article: Invasion of Grenada

American peacekeeping forces in Beirut, with a multinational force during the Lebanese Civil War, were attacked on October 22, 1983. The Beirut barracks bombing, resulting in heavy casualties, in which 241 American servicemen were killed by suicide bombers. It was the deadliest single-day death toll for the United States Marine Corps since the Battle of Iwo Jima, and the deadliest single-day death toll for the United States military since the first day of the Tet offensive. Reagan called the attack a "despicable act," pledged to keep a military force in Lebanon, and assembled his national security team with plans to target the Sheik Abdullah barracks in Baalbek, Lebanon, which housed Iranian Revolutionary Guards believed to be training Hezbollah fighters. Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger aborted the mission, however, reportedly because of his concerns that it would harm U.S. relations with other Arab nations. Besides a few shellings, there was no serious American retaliation.

Three days later, US forces invaded Grenada, where a 1979 coup d’état had established a Marxist-Leninist aligned with the Soviet Union and Cuba. The Grenadan government began military expansion and construction of an international airport with Cuban assistance. On October 13, 1983, a faction led by Deputy Prime Minister Bernard Coard seized power. A formal appeal from the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) led to the intervention of U.S. forces; President Reagan also cited the regional threat posed by a Soviet-Cuban military build-up in the Caribbean and concern for the safety of several hundred American medical students at St. George's University. On October 25, 1983, in the first major operation conducted by the U.S. military since the Vietnam War, several days of fighting commenced, and led to U.S. victory, with 19 American fatalities and 116 wounded, 45 Grenadan military and at least 24 civilian deaths, and 358 soldiers wounded, and 25 Cuban soldiers killed in action, with 59 wounded and 638 mostly military engineers taken prisoner.In mid-December, after a new government was appointed by the Governor-General, U.S. forces withdrew.

In Lebanon, meanwhile, the Marines were moved offshore where they could not be targeted. On February 7, 1984, President Reagan ordered the Marines to begin withdrawal from Lebanon. This was completed on February 26; the rest of the MNF was withdrawn by April.

1984 presidential campaign

Main article: United States presidential election, 1984

1984 Presidential electoral votes by state. Reagan (red) won every state, with the exception of Minnesota and Washington, D.C.

In the 1984 presidential election, Reagan was re-elected over former Vice President Walter Mondale, winning 49 of 50 states. Reagan's landslide victory saw Mondale carry only his home state of Minnesota (by 3800 votes) and the District of Columbia. Reagan received nearly 60% of the popular vote. His chances of winning were not harmed when, at the Democratic National Convention, Mondale accepted the party nomination with a speech that was regarded as a self-inflicted mortal wound to his presidential aspirations. In it, Mondale remarked "Mr. Reagan will raise taxes, and so will I. He won't tell you. I just did."

Reagan accepted the Republican nomination in Dallas, Texas, on a wave of positive feeling bolstered by the recovering economy and the dominating performance by the U.S. athletes at the Los Angeles Olympics that summer. He became the first American President to open a summer Olympic Games held in the United States.

Despite a weak performance in the first debate, Reagan recovered in the second and was considerably ahead of Mondale in polls taken throughout much of the race. Reagan's landslide win in the 1984 presidential election is often attributed by political commentators to be a result of his conversion of the "Reagan Democrats", the traditionally Democratic voters who voted for Reagan in that election.

Second term, 1985–1989

Ronald Reagan is sworn in for a second term as President in the Capitol Rotunda.

Reagan was sworn in as President for the second time on January 21, 1985, in the Rotunda of the United States Capitol Building. The 20th of January fell on a Sunday, so no public celebration was held until the next day, which was the coldest day on record in Washington, D.C. Because of that, inaugural celebrations were held inside the Capitol. Reagan's Second Term consisted mostly of Foreign Affairs.

On July 13, 1985, Reagan underwent surgery to remove polyps from his colon, causing the first-ever invocation of the Acting President clause of the 25th Amendment. On January 5, 1987, Reagan underwent surgery for prostate cancer which caused further worries about his health, but which significantly raised the public awareness of this "silent killer."

In 1985, Ronald and Nancy Reagan visited a cemetery in Bitburg, Germany, where Reagan was to lay a wreath. Some Jewish leaders criticized him for deciding to visit the cemetery, after they discovered that 49 Waffen SS men were buried there, and for stating that the German soldiers buried there, who were drafted into services in the later years of the war, were victims, just as were the Jews murdered in Nazi concentration camps. In 1983, and again in 1984, Reagan told prominent Israelis and American Jews — notably Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir of Israel, Simon Wiesenthal, and Rabbi Martin Hier of Los Angeles — of his personal experience vis-à-vis the Holocaust, saying "I was there"; he was in a film unit in Hollywood that processed raw footage they received from Europe for newsreels, but he was not in Europe itself during the war. This incident has often been used to describe Reagan as either confused or lying about his role in WWII, but no claims have been confirmed.

Reagan was criticized for the slow response of his Administration to the HIV-AIDS epidemic, until after the illness of movie star and national icon Rock Hudson became public news in late July 1985, by which time 12,067 Americans had been diagnosed with AIDS, and 6,079 had died. The White House was accused of ignoring an epidemic that had primarily affected gay men; many believing that it took Hudson's death to legitimize the need for action.

The Iran-Contra Affair

Main article: Iran-Contra Affair

Main article: Reagan administration scandals

President Reagan receives the Tower Report in the Cabinet Room of the White House in 1987.

In 1986, the Reagan Administration was found to have illegally sold arms to Iran to fund Contra rebels in Nicaragua. The Iran-Contra Affair was the largest political scandal in the United States during the 1980s. Large volumes of documents relating to the scandal were destroyed or withheld from investigators by Reagan Administration officials. President Reagan professed ignorance of the plot's existence and quickly called for an Independent Counsel to investigate. Reagan's denial of awareness of the scandal belied his signing a secret presidential "finding" describing the deal as "arms-for-hostages". Critics objected to his comparison of the contras to the Founding Fathers and to the French Resistance, which suggests that he viewed the Sandinistas as Communists who were akin to an occupying power. The International Court of Justice, in its ruling on Nicaragua v. United States, found that the US had been involved in the "unlawful use of force" in Nicaragua due to its treaty obligations and the customary obligations of international law not to intervene in the affairs of other states. The US had not accepted the court's jurisdiction and did not argue the merits of its case, nor did the court accept the intervention on the behalf of the U.S. by El Salvador, to whose defense the US claimed it was coming by its actions in Nicaragua. Despite a United Nations General Assembly resolution demanding compliance, the U.S. never paid the required fine and since 1991, relations with Nicaragua were friendly.

Reagan appointed a non-partisan, three-man commission to review the scandal, called the Tower Commission. Headed by John Tower, the other two members were Edmund Muskie and Brent Scowcroft. In the end, ten officials in the Reagan Administration were convicted, and others were forced to resign. Secretary of Defense Casper Weinberger was indicted for perjury and later received a presidential pardon from George H.W. Bush, days before the trial was to begin. In 2006, historians ranked the Iran-Contra affair as one of the ten worst mistakes by a U.S. president.

The Cold War

Reagan escalated the Cold War with the Soviet Union, leaving behind the policy of détente used by his predecessors Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, and Jimmy Carter. The Reagan Administration implemented a new policy towards the Soviet Union through NSDD-32 (National Security Decisions Directive) to confront the USSR on three fronts: decrease Soviet access to high technology and diminish their resources, including depressing the value of Soviet commodities on the world market; increase American defense expenditures to strengthen the U.S. negotiating position; and force the Soviets to devote more of their economic resources to defense. Most visible was the massive American military build-up.

The administration revived the B-1 bomber program that had been canceled by the Carter administration and began production of the MX "Peacekeeper" missile. In response to Soviet deployment of the SS-20, Reagan oversaw NATO's deployment of the Pershing II missile in West Germany to gain a stronger bargaining position to eventually eliminate that entire class of nuclear weapons. His position was that if the Soviets did not remove the SS-20 missiles without a concession from the US, America would simply introduce the Pershing II missiles for a stronger bargaining position, and both missiles would be eliminated. His proposed "zero-option" in 1981 to rid Europe of intermediate-range nuclear weapons was derided as "warmongering."

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Reagan addresses the British Parliament in London. In this speech, he famously called the Soviet Union an "Evil Empire."

One of Reagan's more controversial proposals was the Strategic Defense Initiative, or SDI, a defense project. The program would essentially send missles into space with could intercept missiles being fired anywhere in America. Reagan believed this defense shield could make nuclear war impossible, but the unlikelihood that the technology could ever work led opponents to dub SDI "Star Wars," and argued that the technological objective was unattainable. Supporters responded that SDI gave Reagan a stronger bargaining position. Indeed, Soviet leaders became genuinely concerned, and SDI ended up playing a major role in ending the Cold War. Today, the legacy of SDI can be seen with the development of the Patriot, THAD, and AEGIS missile systems – a layered approach to SDI, brought back into light by North Korea's development of nuclear missiles and threats against the United States.

Reagan supported anti-communist groups around the world. In a policy which became known as the Reagan Doctrine, his administration funded "freedom fighters" such as the Contras in Nicaragua, the Mujahideen in Afghanistan, RENAMO in Mozambique, and UNITA in Angola. The interruption of direct military aid by the Boland Amendment between 1982 and 1984 and the subsequent rearrange of funding to third-parties, culminating in the Iran-Contra Affair of 1986-1987.

Reagan argued that the American economy was on the move again while the Soviet economy had become stagnant. For a while, the Soviet decline was masked by high prices for Soviet oil exports, but that crutch collapsed in the early 1980s. In November 1985, the oil price was $30/barrel for crude, in March 1986 it had fallen to $12.

Reagan's militant rhetoric inspired dissidents in the Soviet Union, but also startled allies and alarmed critics. In a famous address on June 8, 1982, he called the Soviet Union an "evil empire" that would be consigned to the "ash heap of history." He elaborated on June 8, 1982, to the British Parliament, stating that the Soviet Union "runs against the tide of history by denying human freedom and human dignity to its citizens."

After Soviet fighters downed Korean Airlines Flight 007 on September 1, 1983, he labeled the act an "act of barbarism... [of] inhuman brutality." In 1985, Hezbollah terrorists bombed a building in Beirut housing U.S. and French members of a Multinational Force in Lebanon, killing 241 American Marines. Reagan labeled the act as "despicable" and pledged to keep a military force in Lebanon. On March 3, 1983, Reagan predicted that Communism would collapse: "I believe that communism is another sad, bizarre chapter in human history whose — last pages even now are being written."

Reagan's foreign policies were criticized variously as aggressive, imperialist, putting the world at risk of nuclear war, and (towards the end of his administration) as too conciliatory to the Soviet Union. In Britain, though Reagan had the strong support of Margaret Thatcher, he was routinely attacked for his foreign policies. Left-wing critics denounced his opposition to Fidel Castro's government in Cuba and complained that he was ignoring human rights in Central America, South America, and South Africa.

All this was before a reformer, Mikhail Gorbachev rose to power in the Soviet Union in 1985. Reagan later wrote in his autobiography An American Life that he did not see the profound changes that would occur in the Soviet Union after Gorbachev rose to power. To confront the Soviet Union's serious economic problems, Gorbachev implemented bold new policies for openness and reform called glasnost and perestroika.

End of the Cold War

Reagan and Gorbachev at their first (of four) summit meetings. They ended up becoming close friends, and peacefully ending the Cold War.

According to several scholars and Reagan biographers, including Paul Lettow, John Lewis Gaddis, Richard Reeves, Lou Cannon, and Reagan himself in his autobiography, Ronald Reagan worked to make the world safer from the threat of nuclear war, and earnestly desired the abolition of all nuclear weapons. He proposed to Gorbachev that if a missile shield could be built, all nukes be eliminated and the missile shield technology shared, the world would be much better off.

By the late years of the Cold War, Moscow had built up a military that consumed as much as twenty-five percent of the Soviet Union's gross national product at the expense of consumer goods and investment in civilian sectors. But the size of the Soviet armed forces was not necessarily the result of a simple action-reaction arms race with the United States. Instead, Soviet spending on the arms race and other Cold War commitments can be understood as both a cause and effect of the deep-seated structural problems in the Soviet system, which accumulated at least a decade of economic stagnation during the Brezhnev years (see Economy of the Soviet Union). Soviet investment in the defense sector was not necessarily driven by military necessity, but in large part by the interests of massive party and state bureaucracies dependent on the sector for their own power and privileges. As a result, of the USSR's horrible economy, Gorbachev offered major concessions to the United States on the levels of conventional forces, nuclear weapons, and policy in Eastern Europe.

Ronald Reagan speaks at the Berlin Wall, and challenges Mikhail Gorbachev to "Tear Down This Wall!"

Many US-Soviet experts and administration officials doubted that Gorbachev was serious about winding down the arms race, but Ronald Reagan recognized the real change in the direction of the Soviet leadership, and Reagan shifted to skillful diplomacy, using his sincerity and charm to personally push Gorbachev further with his reforms.

Gorbachev agreed to meet Reagan in four summit conferences around the world. The first, in Geneva, Switzerland, the second in Reykjavík, Iceland, the third, held in Washington, D.C., along with the fourth summit, in Moscow, Russia. Reagan believed that if he could persuade the Soviets to look at the prosperous American economy, they would embrace free markets and a free society. Gorbachev, facing severe economic problems at home, was swayed.

Speaking at the Berlin Wall, on June 12, 1987, Reagan pushed Gorbachev even further: "General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization: Come here to this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!"

The East-West tensions that had reached intense new heights earlier in the decade rapidly subsided through the mid-to-late 1980s. In 1988, the Soviets officially declared that they would no longer intervene in the affairs of allied states in Eastern Europe. In 1989, Soviet forces withdrew from Afghanistan.

Reagan and Gorbachev built a close relationship. Gorbachev was awarded the first Ronald Reagan Freedom Award, The Nobel Peace Prize, and Time Magazine’s Man of the Decade. Reagan and Gorbachev signed the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty in 1987 (they finalized it a year later) at the White House, which eliminated an entire class of nuclear weapons.. The INF Treaty followed the vision of Reagan's zero option. Reagan has received great credit for standing his ground on the zero option to achieve much more ambitious progress against the opposition of the nuclear freeze advocates of the early-mid 80s.

Reagan and Gorbachev sign the INF Treaty at the White House in 1987.

When Reagan visited Moscow, he was viewed as a celebrity by Russians. 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."

Reagan's Secretary of State, George Shultz, a former economics professor at Stanford, privately instructed Gorbachev on free market economics. At Gorbachev’s request, Reagan gave a speech on free markets at Moscow University.

In his autobiography An American Life, Reagan expressed his optimism about the new direction they charted, his warm feelings for Gorbachev, and his concern for Gorbachev's safety because Gorbachev pushed reforms so hard: "I was concerned for his safety," Reagan wrote. "I've still worried about him. How hard and fast can he push reforms without risking his life?" Events would unravel far beyond what Gorbachev originally intended. In 1990, in thanks partly to Reagan's efforts, the Berlin Wall was torn down, and a year later, the Soviet Union officially collapsed.

Close of the Reagan Era

In 1988, Reagan's Vice President, George H. W. Bush, was elected President of the United States. On January 11, 1989, Reagan addressed the nation for the last time on television from the Oval Office, nine days before handing over the presidency to George H. W. Bush. On the morning of January 20, 1989, Ronald and Nancy Reagan escorted the Bushes to the Capitol Building, where Bush took the Oath of Office. The Reagans then boarded a Presidential helicopter, and flew to Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland. There, they boarded the Presidential Jet (in this instance, it was not called Air Force One), and flew home to California – to their new home in the wealthy suburb of Bel Air in Los Angeles. Reagan was the oldest president to serve (at 77), surpassing Dwight Eisenhower, who was 70 when he left office in 1961.

Post-presidential years, 1989–2004

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The Reagans view the "Christmas Around the World" exhibit at the Reagan Library shortly after Reagan announced he was suffering from Alzheimer's Disease.

Ronald and Nancy Reagan would enjoy the private life for the next five years, traveling from their Bel-Air, California home, to the Reagan Ranch in Santa Barbara every few months. Reagan made occasional appearances on behalf of the Republican Party, including a well-received speech at the 1992 Republican National Convention. He publicly spoke in favor of a line-item veto, a constitutional amendment requiring a balanced budget, and repealing the 22nd Amendment, which prohibits a President from serving more than two terms. Reagan's final public speech was on February 3, 1994, during a tribute in Washington, D.C. His last public appearance was at the funeral of fellow Republican President Richard Nixon on April 27, 1994.

In 1992, President Reagan established the Ronald Reagan Freedom Award with the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation. The award, the highest given by the Reagan Foundation, is presented on a regular basis to one person in the world who has "made monumental and lasting contributions to the cause of freedom worldwide," and who "embodies President Reagan's lifelong belief that one man or woman truly can make a difference." The first recipient was former leader of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev, and the most recent was former United States President George H.W. Bush. When President Reagan was diagnosed with Alzheimer's Disease, Nancy Reagan took on the role of presenting the award on behalf of her husband.

Presidential Library and Museum

Main article: Ronald Reagan Presidential Library

On November 4, 1991, The Ronald Reagan Presidential Library was opened to the public. At the opening ceremonies, four former presidents, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Reagan, and the current president, George H. W. Bush, were all in attendance, as well as five former first ladies, Lady Bird Johnson, Pat Nixon, Betty Ford, Rosalynn Carter, and Nancy Reagan, plus the current First Lady, Barbara Bush. Currently, the library is the largest of all of the Presidential Libraries. Notable exhibits include ones on the Reagan's Ranch, a full scale replica of the Oval Office, and the actual Boeing 707, Air Force One, that served President Reagan during his eight years in office. On June 11, 2004, after a major state funeral in Washington, D.C., President Reagan was interred on the property.

Alzheimer's disease

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A rare photo of Reagan shows him sitting in his Century City, California office on July 3, 1996, during a visit from Bob and Elizabeth Dole.

On November 5, 1994, Reagan informed the nation via a hand-written letter that he had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's Disease. With his trademark optimism, he stated: "I now begin the journey that will lead me into the sunset of my life. I know that for America there will always be a bright dawn ahead. Thank you, my friends. May God always bless you."

As the years went on, the disease slowly destroyed his mental capacity, and he and Nancy decided he would live in quiet isolation. On February 6, 2001, Reagan reached the age of 90, becoming the third former President to reach that age – the other two being John Adams and Herbert Hoover. Just three weeks before, Reagan had undergone hip replacement surgery; because of this and his Alzheimer's disease, his 90th birthday was a low-key celebration with his family at his home in Bel-Air. Nancy Reagan told CNN's Larry King that very few visitors were allowed access to her husband because she felt that "Ronnie would want people to remember him as he was."

Religious beliefs and philosophy

Reagan was a Christian, attending Bel Air Presbyterian Church in his later years. His burial site is inscribed with the optimistic words he delivered at the opening of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library:

I know in my heart that man is good. That what is right will always eventually triumph. And there’s purpose and worth to each and every life.

According to one of his biographers, John Patrick Diggins, Reagan had an "Emersonian" belief in personal reliance and an optimistic faith in the goodness of most people. Reagan's mother, a member of the Disciples of Christ with an optimistic view of human nature, taught Ronald Reagan a strong sense of personal responsibility, sobriety, Christian tolerance, and faith in the goodness of God's creation. Reagan recalled in his autobiography An American Life that "my mother always taught us: 'Treat thy neighbor as you would want your neighbor to treat you,' and 'Judge everyone by how they act, not what they are.'" He was appalled by discrimination, stating "My parents constantly drummed into me the importance of judging people as individuals."

"Every individual is unique, but we all want freedom and liberty, peace, love and security, a good home, and a chance to worship God in our own way; we all want the chance to get ahead and make our children's lives better than our own," Reagan wrote in An American Life. These optimistic convictions of individual freedom guided Reagan's policies as president. French President François Mitterrand, who very much liked Reagan (but disagreed on issues), reflected that Reagan "has two religions: free enterprise and God - the Christian God."

In a March 1978 letter to a Methodist minister who was skeptical about Christ's divinity—and accused Reagan of a "limited Sunday school level theology"—Reagan argued strongly, using C.S. Lewis's Trilemma.

Death

Main article: Death and state funeral of Ronald Reagan

Ronald Reagan's tomb at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California.

Reagan died at his home in Bel Air, California, at 1:00 PM PST on June 5, 2004. A few hours after Reagan died, Mrs. Reagan released a statement saying: "My family and I would like the world to know that President Ronald Reagan has passed away after 10 years of Alzheimer's Disease at 93 years of age. We appreciate everyone's prayers." Reagan's body was taken to the Kingsley and Gates Funeral Home in Santa Monica later in the day, where well-wishers paid tribute by laying flowers and American Flags in the grass. On June 7, Reagan's body was removed and taken to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, where a brief family funeral service was held. His body laid in repose in the library lobby until June 9. In that amount of time, 108,000 people came to pay their respects to President Reagan.

Ronald Reagan's casket, on a horse-drawn caisson, being pulled down Constitution Avenue to the Capitol Building.

Later that day, Reagan's casket was removed, and flown to Washington D.C., where he became the 10th United States President to lie in state in the Rotunda of the Capitol Building. In the twenty four hours it lied there, 105,000 people filed past the coffin, paying their respects.

On June 11, a major state funeral was conducted in the Washington National Cathedral, and presided over by President George W. Bush. Eulogies included those from former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, former Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, and both Presidents Bush. The service drew leaders and dignitaries from around the world, including the last General Secretary of the Communist Party of the former Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev. After the funeral service, the Reagan entourage was flown back to California — to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library — where another service was held, and President Ronald Reagan was interred. He is the second longest-lived president in U.S. history, 45 days behind Gerald Ford, and was the first United States president to die in the 21st century.

Legacy

The noted biographer Richard Reeves summarized in President Reagan: The Triumph of Imagination that Reagan understood

...how to be President, who knows that the job is not to manage the government but to lead a nation. In many ways, a quarter century later, he is still leading. As his vice president, George H.W. Bush, said after Reagan was shot and hospitalized in 1981: 'We will act as if he were here.' He is a heroic figure if not always a hero. He did not destroy communism, as his champions claim, but he knew it would self-destruct and hastened the collapse. No small thing. He believed the Soviet Union was evil and he had contempt for the established American policies of containment and détente. Asked about his own Cold War strategy, he answered: 'We win. They lose!' Like one of his heroes, Franklin D. Roosevelt, he has become larger than life.

When Ronald Reagan died in June 2004, he left behind a nation revitalized and a world free from the threat of total nuclear war. He was eulogized as one of the greatest Presidents. George W. Bush, who presided over the state funeral, called Reagan "a modest son of America" and said "Ronald Reagan always told us the best was yet to come.... We know that's true for him, too. His work is done."

Reagan's supporters, and even many who are not, believe that much of America's success today can be contributed to Ronald Reagan, including a more efficient and more prosperous economy (Reagan's advocacy of free markets), a peaceful end to the Cold War with a win for America and the world (Reagan's "peace through strength" policies and diplomacy with Gorbachev), a world safer from the threat of nuclear war (Reagan's quest to make the world safe from nukes), and a rhetorical reaffirmation of individual liberty as America's most fundamental principle. Critics argue that his economic policies caused huge deficits, tripling the United States national debt, increased pollution, inadvertently bringing the Taliban to power in Afghanistan, widening gap between the rich and poor, and creating a hostility towards the disadvantaged. Today, Ronald Reagan is one of America's most popular presidents. In several recent ratings of American presidents, Ronald Reagan ranked high.

Public opinion ratings

The Gallup Organization took a poll in February 2007 asking respondents to name the greatest president in U.S. history. Ronald Reagan came in second. He ranked fifth in an ABC poll of the public in 2000. He was named the greatest president since World War II by a Quinnipiac poll of the public in 2006, and he ranked sixth in a C-SPAN poll of viewers in 1999. On June 26, 2005, the Discovery Channel asked Americans to vote for The Greatest American. Reagan received the honorary title.

According to ABC News, by date:

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The US Postal Service commemorated Reagan with a postage stamp in 2005, and again in 2006.

Date	Event	Approval (%)	Disapproval (%)
March 30 1981	Shot by Hinckley	73	19
January 22 1983	High unemployment	42	54
April 26 1986	Libya bombing	70	26
February 26 1987	Iran-Contra affair	44	51
January 20 1989	End of presidency	–
n/a	Career Average	57	39
July 30 2001	(Retrospective)	64	27

Honors

Further information: List of things named after Ronald Reagan

As a very popular former President, Reagan is honored by many monuments and objects named in his likeness. In a 1995, poll of 2,307 coin collectors by the Littleton Coin Company, Reagan was ranked as the figure most likely to appear on a future U.S. coin. On February 6, 1998, Washington National Airport was renamed Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport by a bill signed into law by President Clinton. Three years later, the USS Ronald Reagan was christened by Nancy Reagan and the United States Navy. It is one of few ships christened in honor of a living person, and the first to be named in honor of a living former President.

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The USS Ronald Reagan.

In 2005, Reagan was given two posthumous honors. On May 14, CNN, along with the editors of TIME, named him the "most fascinating person" of the network's first 25 years. TIME also named Reagan one of the 100 Most Important People of the 20th Century. In Gallup's List of Widely Admired People, Reagan was ranked the 15th most admired person in the 20th century.

These and other honors were, as one reporter noted, "a final win for the Gipper."

In 1999, in San Antonio, Texas, a new high school was named after him, Ronald Reagan High School, and in 2002, Congress authorized the creation of Ronald Reagan Boyhood Home National Historic Site in Dixon, Illinois, pending federal purchase of the property. In 2004, the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority voted to rename Interstate 88, which was formerly called the East-West Tollway, in his memory. In 2006, a new high school in Doral, Florida was named after him. Its full name is Ronald W. Reagan High.

On May 5, 1998, President Bill Clinton dedicated the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center in Washington, D.C.'s Federal Triangle. The building hosts large events in the Washington, D.C. area.

On FOX News Channel's show, Hannity's America, (hosted by conservative Sean Hannity), there is a segment titled "What Would Reagan Do?" The segment looks at issues facing the world today, and compares them to the ones President Reagan faced during his Presidency.

When Reagan died, a record number of people turned out to say their goodbyes to the late President. More than 200,000 people filed past Reagan's casket in both California and Washington, D.C. Even more lined the motorcade routes, holding signs and American flags, and waving to Nancy Reagan.

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Ronald Reagan receives the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor given in the United States. It was awarded to him by President George H.W. Bush in 1993.

Vice-President Dick Cheney said this at Reagan's memorial service: "In this national vigil of mourning, we show how much America loved this good man, and how greatly we will miss him."

Reagan received a number of awards, both in his pre and post Presidential years. After he was elected President, Reagan received a lifetime "Gold" membership in the Screen Actors Guild, as well as the United States Military Academy's Sylvanus Thayer Award. In 1989, Reagan received an honorary British knighthood, The Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath. This entitled him to the use of the post-nominal letters GCB but did not entitle him to be known as "Sir Ronald Reagan". He, Dwight D. Eisenhower, and George H.W. Bush are the only American Presidents to have received the honor. While in England, he was named an honorary Fellow of Keble College, Oxford. Also in 1989, the nation of Japan awarded Reagan the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Chrysanthemum. The highest honor the United States can give, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, was awarded to Ronald Reagan in 1993, by then-President George H.W. Bush. Reagan was also awarded the Republican Senatorial Medal of Freedom, which is the highest honor bestowed by the Republican members of the Senate. On May 16, 2002, Nancy Reagan accepted the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest civilian honor bestowed by Congress, on behalf of the President and herself.

See also

• USS Ronald Reagan (CVN-76)
• Gallup's List of Widely Admired People

References

Biographies

For a more detailed bibliography see Ronald Reagan: Bibliography

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The Reagans attend a PBS Special Broadcasting Play in Santa Ynez, California.

• Benze, Jr. James G. Nancy Reagan: On the White House Stage (2005), University Press of Kansas
• Cannon, Lou. Governor Reagan: His Rise to Power Public Affairs. detailed biography
• Cannon, Lou. President Reagan: The Role of a Lifetime Public Affairs. (2nd ed 2000) 948 pp. full-length biography
• Evans, Thomas W. The Education of Ronald Reagan: The General Electric Years (2006)
• Morris, Edmund. Dutch: A Memoir of Ronald Reagan (1999), includes fictional material
• Reeves, Richard. President Reagan: The Triumph of Imagination (2005) detailed analysis by historian

Politics and Domestic issues

• Berman, Larry, ed. Looking Back on the Reagan Presidency (1990), essays by academics
• Busch, Andrew E. Reagan's Victory: The Presidential Election of 1980 and the Rise of the Right, (2005) online review by Michael Barone
• Campagna; Anthony S. The Economy in the Reagan Years: The Economic Consequences of the Reagan Administrations Greenwood Press. 1994
• Dallek, Matthew. The Right Moment: Ronald Reagan's First Victory and the Decisive Turning Point in American Politics. (2004). Study of 1966 election as governor.
• Ehrman, John. The Eighties: America in the Age of Reagan. (2005)
• Ferguson Thomas, and Joel Rogers, Right Turn: The Decline of the Democrats and the Future of American Politics 1986.
• Germond, Jack W. and Jules Witcover. Blue Smoke & Mirrors: How Reagan Won & Why Carter Lost the Election of 1980. 1981. Detailed journalism.
• Greenstein Fred I. ed. The Reagan Presidency: An Early Assessment 1983, essays by political scientists
• Hayward, Steven F. The Age of Reagan, 1964-1980: The Fall of the Old Liberal Order (2001)
• Jones, Charles O. ed. The Reagan Legacy: Promise and Performance (1988) essays by political scientists
• Levy, Peter B. Encyclopedia of the Reagan-Bush Years (1996), short articles
• Patterson, James T. Restless Giant: The United States from Watergate to Bush vs. Gore. (2005), standard scholarly synthesis.

Foreign affairs

• Arnson, Cynthia J. Crossroads: Congress, the Reagan Administration, and Central America Pantheon, 1989.
• Busch, Andrew E.; "Ronald Reagan and the Defeat of the Soviet Empire" in Presidential Studies Quarterly. Vol: 27. Issue: 3. 1997. pp 451+.
• Draper, Theodore. A Very Thin Line: The Iran-Contra Affair (1991)
• Fitzgerald, Frances. Way Out There in the Blue: Reagan, Star Wars and the End of the Cold War. political history of S.D.I. (2000). ISBN.
• Haftendorn, Helga and Jakob Schissler, eds. The Reagan Administration: A Reconstruction of American Strength? Berlin: Walter de Guyer, 1988. by European scholars
• Knopf, Jeffrey W. "Did Reagan Win the Cold War?" Strategic Insights, Volume III, Issue 8 (August 2004)
• Kyvig, David. ed. Reagan and the World (1990), scholarly essays on foreign policy
• Salla; Michael E. and Ralph Summy, eds. Why the Cold War Ended: A Range of Interpretations Greenwood Press. 1995.
• Schmertz, Eric J. et al eds. Ronald Reagan and the World (1997) articles by scholars and officeholders
• Schweizer, Peter. Reagan's War: The Epic Story of His Forty Year Struggle and Final Triumph Over Communism (2002)
• Shultz, George P. Turmoil and Triumph My Years As Secretary of State 1993)
• Wallison, Peter J. Ronald Reagan: The Power of Conviction and the Success of His Presidency. Westview Press, 2003. 282 pp.

Rhetoric, media and values

• Dallek, Robert. Ronald Reagan: The Politics of Symbolism. (1999)
• Denton Jr., Robert E. Primetime Presidency of Ronald Reagan: The Era of the Television Presidency (1988)
• Greffenius, Steven. The Last Jeffersonian: Ronald Reagan's Dreams of America. June, July, & August Books. 2002.
• Houck, Davis, and Amos Kiewe, eds. Actor, Ideologue, Politician: The Public Speeches of Ronald Reagan (Greenwood Press, 1993)
• Jones, John M. "'Until Next Week': The Saturday Radio Addresses of Ronald Reagan" Presidential Studies Quarterly. Volume: 32. Issue: 1. 2002. pp 84+.
• Kengor, Paul. God and Ronald Reagan: A Spiritual Life Regan Books, 2004. ISBN.
• Kiewe, Amos, and Davis W. Houck. A Shining City on a Hill: Ronald Reagan's Economic Rhetoric, 1951-1989. 1991.
• Muir, William Ker. The Bully Pulpit: The Presidential Leadership of Ronald Reagan (1992), examines his speeches
• Noonan, Peggy. When Character Was King: A Story of Ronald Reagan (2001) memoir by a Reagan speechwriter
• Ritter, Kurt W. Ronald Reagan: The Great Communicator. Greenwood, 1992.
• Stuckey, Mary. Getting Into the Game: The Pre-Presidential Rhetoric of Ronald Reagan. Praeger, 1989
• Stuckey, Mary. Playing the Game: The Presidential Rhetoric of Ronald Reagan. Praeger, 1990.
• Thomas, Tony. The Films of Ronald Reagan (1980)
• Troy, Gill. Morning in America: How Ronald Reagan Invented the 1980s (2004). Study of Reagan's image.
• Wills, Garry. Reagan's America: Innocents at Home. (1987)

Primary sources

• Reagan, Nancy. "My Turn: The Memoirs of Nancy Reagan" (1989)
• Reagan, Ronald. An American Life: The Autobiography (1990)
• Reagan, Ronald. Reagan, In His Own Hand: The Writings of Ronald Reagan That Reveal His Revolutionary Vision for America (2001)

By aides

• Anderson, Martin. Revolution: The Reagan Legacy (1990)
• Deaver, Michael and Mickey Herskowitz. Behind the Scenes. 1987. Memoir by a top aide.
• Haig, Alexander. Inner Circles: How America Changed the World (1994)

External links

• White House biography
• RonaldReagan.com - The Official Site
• Extensive essay on Ronald Reagan and shorter essays on each member of his cabinet and First Lady from the Miller Center of Public Affairs
• Full audio of 14 Reagan speeches via the Miller Center of Public Affairs (UVa)
• Extensive collection of Oral History Transcripts on the Reagan Administration from the Miller Center of Public Affairs (UVa)
• Biography and gubernatorial inaugural addresses from the CA governors office
• Video & Audio clips
• BBC historic figures
• CNN Biography with speeches
• Ronald Reagan at IMDb
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