Ronald Reagan

Ronald 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) Bel-Air, L.A., California, USA
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, but moved to California in the 1930s. Before entering politics, he was a successful Hollywood and television actor, head of the Screen Actors Guild, and a spokesman for General Electric. He supported Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal and other Democrats in the 1930s and '40s, but by the late 1950s, Reagan had become a conservative Republican. During his work for General Electric Theatre, he developed his articulation of the basic themes that would carry him into, and through, the California Governorship (which he won in 1966), and the Presidency of the United States, which he unsuccessfully sought in 1976, before winning in 1980. He strongly opposed communism and socialism, advocated individual freedom and individual initiative, and fought for free-trade agreements, welfare cutbacks, tax cuts, and a reduction in regulations. He married Jane Wyman in 1940, and they divorced in 1948. In 1952, he married Nancy Davis, with whom he remained for the rest of his life, fifty-two years.

Reagan is often referred to as the Gipper, referring to his performance as George Gipp in the film Knute Rockne, All American and a line he delivered in the role: "Win one for the Gipper." As a youth he was called "Dutch," a nickname given him by his father.

Reagan is credited with revitalizing America's economy, and its morale, after a period of stagflation and high interest rates. Many also feel that Reagan won the Cold War against The Soviet Union and Mikhail Gorbachev, and credit him with the collapse the Berlin Wall, and the collapse of the Soviet Union as well. After being shot by a would-be assassin, Reagan implemented his tax policies, which called for stimulating the economy with large, across-the-board tax cuts. Reagan's persuasive quotable speaking style earned him the sobriquet "The Great Communicator," while his survival of a number of scandals earned him the nickname "The Teflon President." The most serious scandal was the Iran-Contra Affair.

Academics and Historians rate Reagan among the top fifteen American presidents, although he is ranked higher in several public opinion surveys taken a decade or more after he left office (such as a Gallup poll taken in February 2007, which has him listed at number two).

After leaving office, Reagan wrote a best-selling autobiography titled An American Life. In 1994, Reagan disclosed that he was suffering from Alzheimer's Disease, and died ten years later, in 2004, at the age of ninety-three. After a major state funeral in Washington, D.C., his body returned to California, where Ronald Reagan was laid to rest at his Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California. He is the second longest-lived president in U.S. history, just behind Gerald Ford by 45 days.

Early life

Ronald Reagan as a boy in Dixon, Illinois.

Reagan was born in a flat above the local bank building in Tampico, Illinois, on February 6, 1911 to John Edward Reagan (1883–1941), an Irish American Catholic, and Nelle Clyde Wilson (1883–1962), who was of Scottish, Canadian, and English descent. His mother was a member of the Disciples of Christ Church, and she raised her son accordingly. Reagan's father was a problem drinker and sporadically unemployed.

His paternal great-grandfather, Michael Reagan, came to the United States from Ballyporeen, County Tipperary, Ireland, in the 1860s, and the rest of his paternal family also immigrated from Ireland in the 1800s. Prior to his immigration, the family name was spelled Regan. His maternal great-grandfather, John Wilson, immigrated to the United States from Paisley, Scotland, in the 1840s and married Jane Blue, a Canadian from Queens, New Brunswick. Reagan's maternal grandmother, Mary Anne Elsey, was born in Epsom, Surrey, England.

Reagan's family lived in several small Illinois towns and Chicago (briefly) during Reagan's earliest years. In 1920, when Reagan was nine years old, the Reagan 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," Reagan recounted in his autobiography An American Life. "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. I learned to admire risk takers and entrepreneurs, be they farmers or small merchants, who went to work and took risks to build something for themselves and their children, pushing at the boundaries of their lives to make them better. I have always wondered at this American marvel."

In Dixon, Reagan attended Dixon High School, where he developed a gift for storytelling and acting. In 1926, Reagan's 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.

From Radio Announcer to Hollywood star

From the trailer for Cowboy from Brooklyn (1938), one of Reagan's earliest films.

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, getting only the bare outlines of the game from a ticker and relying on his imagination to flesh out the game. Once, during the ninth inning of a game, the wire went dead but Reagan smoothly improvised a fictional play-by-play (in which hitters on both teams fouled off numerous pitches) until the wire was restored. As a Headline radio announcer, Reagan took a screen test that led to a seven-year contract with the Warner Brothers studio. Reagan's clear voice, easy-going manner, and athletic physique made him popular with audiences; the majority of his screen roles were as the leading man, beginning with "B" films and carrying on through "A" films. 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 19 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 considered his best acting work to have been in Kings Row (1942). He played the part of a young man whose legs were amputated. He used a line he spoke in this film, "Where's the rest of me?", as the title for his autobiography. Other notable Reagan films include International Squadron, Tennessee's Partner, Hellcats of the Navy, This Is the Army, The Hasty Heart, Hong Kong, The Winning Team, Bedtime for Bonzo, Cattle Queen of Montana, Storm Warning, The Killers (1964 remake), and Prisoner of War movie. His many leading ladies included Jane Wyman, Priscilla Lane, Ann Sheridan, Viveca Lindfors, Patricia Neal, Barbara Stanwyck, Rhonda Fleming, Ginger Rogers, Doris Day, Nancy Davis, and Angie Dickinson. He has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

On May 25, 1937, Reagan was appointed a second lieutenant in the Officers' Reserve Corps of the Cavalry. He served with Troop B, 322nd Cavalry. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, on April 18, 1942, Lieutenant Reagan was ordered to active duty, but because of his astigmatism was prevented from serving overseas. He was first assigned to the San Francisco Port of Embarkation at Fort Mason, California, as a liaison officer for the Port and Transportation Office. At the request of the Army Air Force, he applied for a transfer from the Cavalry to the Army Air Force. In June 1942, was assigned to the First Motion Picture Unit, which made training and education films for the war effort. Reagan recalled in his first autobiography Where's the Rest of Me that he witnessed inefficiencies in his Army department because bureaucrats wanted to protect their own jobs and budgets. That's when his enthusiasm for government efforts began to wane and his enthusiasm for free markets - and competition - began to rise, he recalled. Reagan remained in Hollywood for the duration of the war.

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

Reagan's film roles became fewer in the late 1950s; he moved to television as a host and frequent performer for General Electric Theater. Reagan appeared in over 50 television dramas. Reagan served as the president of the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) from 1947 until 1952, and again from 1959 to 1960. In 1952, a Hollywood dispute raged over his granting of a SAG blanket waiver to MCA, which allowed it to both represent and employ talent for its burgeoning TV franchises. 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 popular Death Valley Days television series. 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. Reagan portrayed a mob chieftain. This film, the first made-for-TV movie, was originally produced for NBC, but the network's censor found it too violent. Reagan's co-stars were John Cassavetes, Lee Marvin, and Angie Dickinson. Ronald Reagan has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, located at 6374 Hollywood Boulevard.

Marriages

Ronald and Nancy Reagan pose in the White House Blue Room.

Reagan married actress Jane Wyman on January 24, 1940; they had a daughter, Maureen in 1941; an adopted son, Michael in 1945, and a second daughter, Christine, born and died June 26, 1947. They divorced on June 28, 1948. Reagan is the only United States President to date to have been divorced.

Reagan married actress Nancy Davis on March 4, 1952. His best man was William Holden. Their daughter Patti was born on October 21 of the same year. In 1958, they had a second child, Ron.

From the very start of their marriage, Ronald and Nancy Reagan were "soul mates." He often called her "Mommy"; 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."

Early political career

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TV star Ronald Reagan advertising borax

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

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". Among those he allegedly fingered were actors Larry Parks, Howard Da Silva, and Alexander Knox, each of whom was later called before HUAC and subsequently blacklisted in Hollywood. (This information was not revealed until a 2002 Freedom of Information Act request.) FBI files allegedly show that he continually gave the FBI names of people he suspected of communist ties.

Now 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. (Reagan had also majored in economics in college.) After reading 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. Witnessing what he believed to be inefficient and overreaching government programs firsthand, Reagan believed "that liberals were naively leading the country down a road to serfdom."

Following the election of John F. Kennedy, he formally switched parties to become a Republican in 1962 — in time to mount 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."

"I didn't leave the Democratic Party", he claimed. "The party left me." Reagan later 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

In 1966, he was elected the 33rd Governor of California, defeating two-term governor Edmund G. "Pat" Brown, after working with UC Regent Edwin Pauley to crack down on anti-war protesters at UC Berkeley. He was re-elected in 1970, defeating "Big Daddy" Jesse Unruh but chose not to seek a third term. 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. Reagan quickly squelched protest movements of the era. During the People's Park protests in 1969, he sent 2,200 state National Guard troops to the Berkeley campus of the University of California. In a speech in April 1970, he stated, "If it's to be a bloodbath, let it be now. Appeasement is not the answer." Later, in April 1970, 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.

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

He worked with Democratic Assembly Speaker Robert Moretti to reform welfare in 1971. Reagan also opposed the construction of a large federal dam, the Dos Rios, which would have flooded a valley of American Indian ranches. Later, Reagan and his family took a summer backpack trip into the high Sierra to a place where a proposed trans-Sierra highway would be built. Once there, he declared it would not be built. 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, although the decision was quickly overturned by a constitutional amendment. Despite his support for the death penalty, Reagan granted two clemencies and a temporary reprieve during his governorship. As of 2006, no other clemency has been granted to a condemned person in California. The only execution during Reagan's governorship was on April 12, 1967, when Aaron Mitchell was executed by the state in San Quentin's gas chamber. There was not another execution in California until 1992. 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 promoted the dismantling of the public psychiatric hospital system, proposing that community-based housing and treatment replace involuntary hospitalization, which he saw as a violation of civil liberties issue. Critics allege that the community replacement facilities have never been adequately funded, either by Reagan or his successors. Reagan was strongly influenced by the classical liberals. When asked in an interview in 1975 which economists were influential on him, he replied: "Bastiat and von Mises, and Hayek and Hazlitt–I’m one for the classical economists."

Reagan was the first governor to use a corporate business jet for official travel. California received one of the first Cessna Citation jets manufactured. His pilot, Bill Paynter, changed his Democratic voting registration to Republican within six months of meeting Reagan. Paynter often told listeners the Reagan on TV was the same Reagan in person, a man who walked his talk. Reagan stated that he would often ask his flight crew if it would be any inconvenience to change the published flight schedule because he did not want to keep his support staff from being with their families and any family planned events.

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.

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Ronald Reagan on the cover of Time as "Man of the Year", 1980.

1976 presidential campaign

In 1976, Reagan challenged incumbent President Gerald Ford, a moderate. 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 expectations 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. Hammering Ford on the Panama Canal, detente with the Soviet Union, busing of school children, and Henry Kissinger's performance as Secretary of State, Reagan won 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. 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, he received 307 write-in votes in New Hampshire, 388 votes as an Independent on Wyoming's ballot, and an electoral delegate from Washington voted for him in the November election.

1980 presidential campaign

Main article: United States presidential election, 1980

In 1980, Reagan won the Republican nomination for president, handily winning most of the primaries after an early defeat in the Iowa caucuses. In the general election, he received 50.7% of the popular vote while incumbent President Jimmy Carter received 41% and independent John Anderson received 6.7%. During the convention, Reagan proposed a complex power-sharing arrangement with Gerald Ford as Vice President, but nothing came of it. 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. Most analysts argue this weakened Carter's political base, and gave Reagan the opportunity to attack Carter's ineffectiveness. On the other hand, Carter's inability to deal with double-digit inflation and unemployment, lackluster economic growth, instability in the petroleum market leading to gasoline shortages, and the perceived weakness of the U.S. national defense may have had a greater impact on the electorate. Adding to Carter's woes was his use of the "misery index," the sum of the inflation and unemployment rates, during the 1976 election. The misery index had considerably worsened during his term, which Reagan used to his advantage during the campaign. With respect to the economy, Reagan said, "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." His most influential remark was a closing question to the audience, during a time of skyrocketing prices and high interest rates, "Are you better off now than you were four years ago?" (a phrase he would successfully reuse in the 1984 campaign). After he was elected, Reagan was awarded TIME Magazine's "Man of the Year," a title which he would claim again in the next few years.

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.

The Reagan Presidency began in a historic manner. The first major event happened just thirty minutes into his presidency 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 later famously told his wife, "Honey, I forgot to duck" (borrowing Jack Dempsey's line to his wife). On April 12, Nancy Reagan escorted the President home from the hospital.

Federal Air Traffic Controllers' strike

Only a short time into his administration, Federal Air Traffic Controllers went on strike. Reagan held a press conference in the White House Rose Garden, where he stated that if "they 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, notwithstanding the fact that the strike was illegal under federal law. This painted a new picture of Reagan for many Americans.

"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 (derided by opponents as "trickle down 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.

After less than two years in office, Reagan rolled back a large portion of his corporate income tax cuts. Not only did Reagan retreat from proposed cuts in the Social Security budget, but he also appointed the Greenspan Commission, which resolved the solvency crisis through reforms (including acceleration of previously-enacted increases in the payroll tax). Although Reagan achieved a marginal reduction in the rate of expansion of government spending, his overall fiscal policy was expansionary. Social programs grew apace at the behest of the Democrat-controlled Congress. Reagan's fiscal policies soon became known as "Reaganomics", a nickname used by both his supporters and detractors.

President Reagan's tenure marked a time of economic prosperity for most Americans in the United States. GDP growth recovered strongly after the 1982 recession. Unemployment peaked at over 11 percent in 1982, then dropped steadily, and inflation dropped even more significantly (plus wages fell). This economic growth generated greater tax revenue, although the new revenue did not cover an increased federal budget that included a military buildup, and expansions of social programs, in violation of the doctrine of fiscal conservatism. 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 expanded significantly.

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

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 critics who 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, 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. Prior to the submission of the updated figures of the 1981 budget to Congress, Stockman gave a "test" to Reagan, asking him to cut funding from 50 different categories that comprised the entire budget. Stockman asserted that Reagan "failed" the test as he couldn't bring himself to cut funding from any of the programs. 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.

There is disagreement over how much Reagan's policies contributed to the severe recession that took place in 1982, the strong economic expansion that began late in his first term and ran throughout his second term, and the unequal distribution of the benefits of economic growth among the rich and the poor.

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 Reagan' federal budget deficits, 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. Yet, most American's still consider Reagan's economic strategies successful, and are thankful for "Reaganomics".

"War on Drugs"

Reagan's policies in the "War on Drugs" emphasized a comprehensive, five pronged strategy which led to dramatic decreases in adolescent drug use in America. The administration produced the government's first comprehensive drug strategy, which was the product of the combined expertise of every Cabinet and Independent agency. The success of the plan was 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 prevention/education (health consequences of drugs and positive alternatives to drug use). The prevention plan followed a comprehensive approach to every sector of American society. The emphasis was drug-free schools, drug-free transportation, drug-free homes, etc., but the particular emphasis was on parents and youth. Though educational efforts addressing youth were pivotal to the success of the program, educational efforts were aimed at parents with a belief that education should be reinforced in the home and that youth groups would require the support of parents and teachers in order to assure their success. 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.

Critics 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, and various cuts in spending for social programs during his Presidency, some critics regarded Reagan as indifferent to the needs of poor and minority citizens. Nevertheless, some surveys showed that illegal drug use among Americans declined significantly during Reagan's presidency, leading supporters to argue that the policies were successful. The decrease was reported by all national, independent measures including the University of Michigan's National High School Seniors survey, the National Parents Resource Institute on Drug Education, and the National Institute on Drug Abuse's National Household survey.

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. Even today, there are thousands of "Just Say No" clinics around the country, aimed a helping and rehabilitating kids and teens with drug problems.

The 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.

Reagan also nominated a large number of judges to the United States district courts and United States Courts of Appeals: most of these nominations were not controversial, although a handful of candidates were singled out for criticism by civil rights advocates and other liberal critics, resulting in occasional confirmation fights.

Both his Supreme Court nominations and his lower court appointments were in line with Reagan's express 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.

Invasion of Grenada, 1983

Main article: Invasion of Grenada

United States Forces invaded the island of Grenada in 1983, to free kidnapped American hostages. The Monroe Doctrine was cited as justification. Reagan sent the U.S. Military to Grenada to carry out the task. The ordeal was a tough one, but in the end, the American military successfully completed the operation, and all the hostages were returned home.

The invasion, ordered by Reagan commenced at 05:00 on October 25, and was the first major operation conducted by the U.S. military since the Vietnam War. Fighting continued for several days and the total number of American troops reached some 7,000 along with 300 troops from the OECS. The invading forces encountered about 1,500 Grenadian soldiers and about 600 Cubans, most of whom were military engineers.

Official U.S. sources state that the defenders were well-prepared, well-positioned and put up stubborn resistance, to the extent that the U.S. called in two battalions of reinforcements on the evening of October 26. However, the total naval and air superiority of the invading forces — including helicopter gunships and naval gunfire support — proved to be significant advantages. U.S. forces suffered 19 fatalities and 116 injuries. Grenada suffered 45 military and at least 24 civilian deaths, along with 358 soldiers wounded. Cuba had 25 killed in action, with 59 wounded and 638 taken prisoner.

In mid-December, after a new government was appointed by the Governor-General, the U.S. forces withdrew.

1984 presidential campaign

Main article: United States presidential election, 1984

1984 Presidential electoral votes by state.

In the 1984 presidential election, Reagan was re-elected over former Vice President Walter Mondale, winning 49 of 50 states. Reagan's lanslide 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 good 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-a-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 recieves the Tower Report in the Cabinet Room of the White House; 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, considered by some to be one of the largest political scandals in history. 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 appionted a non-partisan, three man commision 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 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. Reagan's 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.

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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 (SDI), a program of state-subsidies for private industry, under the cover of a defense project.

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." Critics of SDI argued that the technological objective was unattainable, that the attempt would likely accelerate the arms race, and that the extraordinary expenditures amounted to a military-industrial boondoggle. 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. When the Polish government suppressed the Solidarity movement in late 1981, Reagan imposed economic sanctions on the People's Republic of Poland.

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." After Soviet fighters downed Korean Airlines Flight 007 on September 1, 1983, he labeled the act an "act of barbarism... [of] inhuman brutality."

On March 3 of 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." He elaborated on June 8 of 1982 to the British Parliament. Reagan argued that the Soviet Union was in deep economic crisis, and stated that the Soviet Union "runs against the tide of history by denying human freedom and human dignity to its citizens."

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 dictatorship in Cuba and complained that he was ignoring human rights in Central America, South America and South Africa. Although Reagan sought an end to apartheid and liberalization of South Africa, he opposed economic sanctions "on grounds that it would diminish influence on the South African government and create economic hardship for the very people in South Africa that the sanctions were ostensibly designed to help."

All This was before a reformer, Mikhail Gorbachev rose to power 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 (Ronald Reagan and His Quest to Abolish Nuclear Weapons), John Lewis Gaddis (The Cold War: A New History), Richard Reeves (President Reagan: The Triumph of Imagination), Lou Cannon (President Reagan: The Role of a Lifetime), and Reagan himself in his autobiography, Ronald Reagan quietly 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. Reagan's advisors, according to Reeves, were aghast.

In his autobiography An American Life, Reagan wrote, "The Pentagon said at least 150 million American lives would be lost in a nuclear war with the Soviet Union - even if we 'won.' For Americans who survived such a war, I couldn't imagine what life would be like. The planet would be so poisoned the 'survivors' would have no place to live. Even if a nuclear war did not mean the extinction of mankind, it would certainly mean the end of civilization as we knew it. No one could 'win' a nuclear war. Yet as long as nuclear weapons were in existence, there would always be risks they would be used, and once the first nuclear weapon was unleashed, who knew where it would end? My dream, then, became a world free of nuclear weapons....But for the eight years I was president I never let my dream of a nuclear-free world fade from my mind."

Reagan wrote that he believed the mutually assured destruction policy formulated by John Kennedy to be morally wrong.

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. (LaFeber 2002, 332) But the size of the Soviet armed forces was not necessarily the result of a simple action-reaction arms race with the United States. (Odom) 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. (LaFeber 2002, 335)

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.

Many US-Soviet experts and administration officials doubted that Gorbachev was serious about winding down the arms race (LaFeber, 2002), 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.

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

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.

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.

The 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 in the White House, 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 Reagan's 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), where they 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.

Ronald Reagan offers a salute to his successor, George H. W. Bush, after Bush's swearing in at the Capitol.

Policies and decisions

Ronald Reagan is credited with pursuing policies that reflected his optimism in individual freedom, promoted individual liberty domestically, and pursued freedom abroad. He lowered tax rates significantly (under Reagan, the top personal tax bracket dropped from 70% to 28% in 7 years), leading to budget deficits and a major reform of the tax system, which eliminated tax loop-holes and raised taxes (but not nearly as high as previously), while reducing the budget deficits.He also reduced excessive 1970s regulations, leading to a booming economy without inflation (but resulting in the expensive Savings and Loan Crisis). 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 the excesses of 1960s and 1970s liberal policies. He reformed Social Security, moderately, to make it solvent many decades longer. Both Ronald and Nancy Reagan greatly escalated the "war on drugs." He also took a hard line against federal air traffic controllers who went on strike in 1981, by firing those who did not return to work.

Reagan ordered the April 14, 1986 bombing of Tripoli and Benghazi in retaliation for an April 5 bombing of a West Berlin nightclub frequented by U.S. servicemen, in which the Libyan government was deemed complicit. Reagan sold arms to foreign allies, such as Taiwan, Israel, Saudi Arabia, and (at that time) Iraq (see Iran-Iraq War). Reagan also provided arms, and other support, to anti-communist groups around the world, such as the Contras and the Mujahideen.

He increasing spending on national defense and applying consistent diplomacy which contributed to the peaceful end of the Cold War - with a win for America. He took a hard line against the Soviet Union by firmly deploying U.S. Pershing II missiles in West Germany in response to the Soviet stationing of SS-20 missiles near Europe, which led to the elimination of that entire weapons class, and he worked to make the world safer from the threat of nuclear war. He skillfully embraced the reformer, Mikhail Gorbachev, and negotiated the INF Treaty, to substantially reduce nuclear arms. He initiated negotiations with the Soviet Union for the treaty that would later be known as START I, which made the world safer from the threat of nuclear war. In 1986, he proposed the Strategic Defense Initiative, a controversial plan to develop a missile defense system that increase America's bargaining power and contributed to the end of the Cold War, while pursuing Reagan's dream of making the planet safer from nuclear war. His supporters credit him with ending the Cold War.

Major legislation approved

During Reagan's two terms in office, he signed a number of famous bills into efect, such as the Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981, and the Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 1982. Reagan was a firm believer in Social Security benefits, for he signed the Social Security Amendments of 1983, as well as the Tax Reform Act of 1986, and the Goldwater-Nichols Act of 1986. Reagan gave amnesty to illegal immigrants living in America when he signed the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986. That same year, he signed the Martin Luther King holiday into law. In 1988, he signed the Civil Liberties Act, which compensated victims of the Japanese American Internment during World War II.

Post presidential years, 1989-2004

(Left to right:) Presidents Gerald Ford, Richard Nixon, George H. W. Bush, Ronald Reagan, and Jimmy Carter at the dedication of the Reagan Presidential Library.

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.

In the fall of 1989, Fujisankei Communications Group of Japan hired him to make two speeches and attend a few corporate functions. Reagan's fee during his nine-day visit was about $2 million, more than he had earned during eight years as President. 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.

The Ronald Reagan 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, and 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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Five presidents and first ladies attended the funeral of Richard Nixon on April 27, 1994, in Nixon's hometown of Yorba Linda, California. From left: Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, George H. W. Bush, Barbara Bush, Ronald Reagan, Nancy Reagan, Jimmy Carter, Rosalynn Carter, Gerald Ford, Betty Ford.

On November 5, 1994, Reagan announced that he had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. Signs of his illness had become apparent during the later years of his presidency. At the 1992 Republican National Convention, Reagan, a man known for his rhetorical talents, had difficulty reading and remembering a speech he was to deliver. He informed the nation of his condition via a hand-written letter shortly after his diagnosis. With his trademark optimism, he stated in conclusion: "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, forcing him to live in quiet isolation. On February 6, 2001, Reagan reached the age of 90 and was, at the time, only the third former U.S. president to reach that age - the other two being John Adams and Herbert Hoover (Gerald Ford later becoming the fourth). Since the former president had a hip operation just three weeks earlier and had been suffering from Alzheimer's disease for seven years, 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

Reagan was a Christian, attending Bel Air Presbyterian Church in his later years.

Reagan's burial site is inscribed with the optimistic words: "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." Reagan said these words at the opening of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.

Reagan had an "Emersonian" belief in personal reliance and an optimistic faith in the goodness of most people, according to his biographer John Patrick Diggins in Ronald Reagan: Fate, Freedom, and the Making of History. Reagan's mother, a member of the Disciples of Christ with an optimistic view of human nature, taught Ronald Reagan a strong sense of faith in the goodness of people, personal responsibility, sobriety and Christian tolerance. 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. "My parents constantly drummed into me the importance of judging people as individuals," Reagan recalled.

"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. These convictions of personal responsibility, individual freedom, and the goodness of people guided Reagan's policies as president.

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 for Christ's divinity, using C.S. Lewis's Trilemma.

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."

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 9, 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 for the next twenty-four hours. 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.

The next 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. Reagan was the first United States president to die in the 21st century.

Legacy

When Ronald Reagan died in June of 2004, he left behind a nation that had been revitalized, and a world free of nuclear war. He was eulogized as one of the greatest Presidents of the 20th Century, and all U.S. Presidents. Reagan's supporters, and even many who are not, state that a large part of America's recent success can be contributed to Ronald Reagan. Today, Ronald Reagan is one of America's most popular presidents. In several recent ratings of American presidents, Ronald Reagan ranked high.

The noted presidential biographer Richard Reeves (Kennedy, Nixon) 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."

Ronald Reagan has become the iconic image of todays Republican Party. Republican politicians frequently call on the philosophies of Reagan when making speeches, or voting on bills. He has become a hero to many of them, and to many ordinary Americans.

Public opinion ratings

The Gallup Organization took a poll in Februray of 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. In 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 (Reagan appeared on a non-circulating dime in 2006). Three years later, 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.

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. On June 26, participating voters selected Reagan as the "Greatest American" during a live television special sponsored by AOL, and broadcast live on the Discovery Channel. 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, in Doral, Florida, a new high school was named after him. Its full name is Ronald W. Reagan High.

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. 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."

Awards and achievements

Congressional Gold Medal awarded to Ronald and Nancy Reagan

Just some of the awards given to Ronald Reagan include:

• Lifetime "Gold" membership in the Screen Actors Guild
• United States Military Academy's Sylvanus Thayer Award
• In 1989, Reagan received a honorary British knighthood, 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.
• Grand Cordon of the Order of the Chrysanthemum, Japan 1989
• Honorary Fellow of Keble College, Oxford England
• Presidential Medal of Freedom, 1993
• 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.

Coinage

Reagan is scheduled to be featured on the $1 coin in 2016 during the Presidential Dollar Coin Program. Congress considered placing Reagan's likeness on a currency; the ten dollar bill became the most likely proposal, but the twenty dollar bill and fifty dollar bill were also considered. Congressional Republicans also proposed the dime, which has the likeness of Franklin D. Roosevelt, but Nancy Reagan rejected the idea.

Ronald and Nancy Reagan dance at one of the 1985 Inaugural Balls.

See also

• Death and state funeral of Ronald Reagan
• "Five Minutes" speech
• Paul Craig Roberts
• Reagan Administration
• Reagan administration scandals
• Republican Senatorial Medal of Freedom
• Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport
• Ronald Reagan Presidential Library
• USS Ronald Reagan (CVN-76)
• Gallup's List of Widely Admired People

Bibliography

References

Biographies

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

• Cannon, Lou. President Reagan: The Role of a Lifetime Public Affairs. (2nd ed 2000) detailed biography
• Cannon, Lou. Governor Reagan: His Rise to Power Public Affairs. detailed biography
• Evans, Thomas W. The Education of Ronald Reagan: The General Electric Years (2006)
• Morris, Edmund. Dutch: A Memoir of Ronald Reagan (1999)
• Pemberton, William E. Exit with Honor: The Life and Presidency of Ronald Reagan (1998) biography by historian
• Reeves, Richard. President Reagan: The Triumph of Imagination (2005) detailed analysis by historian
• Thomas, Tony. The Films of Ronald Reagan (1980)

Domestic issues

• Berman, Larry, ed. Looking Back on the Reagan Presidency (1990), essays by academics
• Brownlee, W. Elliot and Hugh Davis Graham, eds. The Reagan Presidency: Pragmatic Conservatism and Its Legacies (2003)
• Campagna; Anthony S. The Economy in the Reagan Years: The Economic Consequences of the Reagan Administrations Greenwood Press. 1994
• Cannon, Lou. Ronald Reagan: The Presidential Portfolio. Public Affairs. ISBN
• Collins, Chuck, Felice Yeskel, and United for a Fair Economy. "Economic Apartheid in America: A Primer on Economic Inequality and Insecurity." (2000). on tax policies.
• Cook, Daniel M. and Polsky, Andrew J. "Political Time Reconsidered: Unbuilding and Rebuilding the State under the Reagan Administration." American Politics Research(4): 577-605. ISSN 1532-673X Fulltext in SwetsWise. Argues Reagan slowed enforcement of pollution laws and transformed the national education agenda.
• 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.
• Denton Jr., Robert E. Primetime Presidency of Ronald eagan: The Era of the Television Presidency (1988)
• 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 by political scientists
• Greffenius, Steven. The Last Jeffersonian: Ronald Reagan's Dreams of America. June, July, & August Books. 2002.
• Hertsgaard Mark. On Bended Knee: The Press and the Reagan Presidency 1988. criticizes the press
• Haynes Johnson. Sleepwalking through History: America in the Reagan Years (1991)
• Houck, Davis, and Amos Kiewe, eds. Actor, Ideologue, Politician: The Public Speeches of Ronald Reagan (Greenwood Press, 1993)
• Lewis, William F. "Telling America's Story: Narrative Form and the Reagan Presidency", Quarterly Journal of Speech): 280–302
• Jones, Charles O. ed. The Reagan Legacy: Promise and Performance (1988) essays by political scientists
• 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.
• Levy, Peter B. Encyclopedia of the Reagan-Bush Years (1996), short articles
• Meyer, John C. "Ronald Reagan and Humor: A Politician's Velvet Weapon", Communication Studies): 76–88.
• Muir, William Ker. The Bully Pulpit: The Presidential Leadership of Ronald Reagan (1992), examines his speeches
• Patterson, James T. Restless Giant: The United States from Watergate to Bush vs. Gore. (2005), standard scholarly synthesis.
• Salamon Lester M., and Michael S. Lund. eds. The Reagan Presidency and the Governing of America 1985. articles by political scientists
• 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's America 2 Volumes (1997) articles by scholars and officeholders
• 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)
• Shogan, Colleen J. "Coolidge and Reagan: The Rhetorical Influence of Silent Cal on the Great Communicator", Rhetoric & Public Affairs 9.2 online at Project Muse; argues that Coolidge and Reagan shared a common ideological message, which served as the basis for modern conservatism. Even without engaging in explicitly partisan rhetoric, Reagan's principled speech served an important party-building function.
• Strock, James M. Reagan on Leadership: Executive Lessons from the Great Communicator (2001) Study of Reagan's Leadership Approach.
• 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)
• Weatherford, M. Stephen and Mcdonnell, Lorraine M. "Ronald Reagan as Legislative Advocate: Passing the Reagan Revolution's Budgets in 1981 and 1982." Congress & the Presidency(1): 1-29. Fulltext in Ebsco; Argues RR ignored the details but played a guiding role in setting major policies and adjudicating significant trade-offs, and in securing Congressional approval.

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+.
• Dobson, Alan P. "The Reagan Administration, Economic Warfare, and Starting to Close down the Cold War." Diplomatic History(3): 531-556. Fulltext in SwetsWise, Ingenta and Ebsco. Argues Reagan's public rhetoric against the USSR was harsh and uncompromising, giving rise to the idea that his administration sought to employ a US defense buildup and NATO economic sanctions to bring about the collapse of the USSR. Yet many statements by Reagan and Shultz suggest they desired negotiation with the Soviets from a position of American strength, not the eventual demise of the USSR.
• 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.
• Ford, Christopher A. and Rosenberg, David A. "The Naval Intelligence Underpinnings of Reagan's Maritime Strategy." Journal of Strategic Studies(2): 379-409. Fulltext in Ingenta and Ebsco; Reagan's maritime strategy sought to apply US naval might against Soviet vulnerabilities on its maritime flanks. It was supported by a major buildup of US naval forces and aggressive exercising in seas proximate to the USSR; it explicitly targeted Moscow's strategic missile submarines with the aim of pressuring the Kremlin during crises or the early phases of global war. The maritime strategy represents one of the rare instances in history when intelligence helped lead a nation to completely revise its concept of military operations.
• Haftendorn, Helga and Jakob Schissler, eds. The Reagan Administration: A Reconstruction of American Strength? Berlin: Walter de Guyer, 1988. by European scholars
• Jeffrey W. Knopf, "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
• Pach, Chester. "The Reagan Doctrine: Principle, Pragmatism, and Policy." Presidential Studies Quarterly(1): 75-88. Fulltext in SwetsWise and Ingenta; Reagan declared in 1985 that the U.S. should not "break faith" with anti-Communist resistance groups. However, his policies varied as differences in local conditions and US security interests produced divergent policies toward "freedom fighters" in Afghanistan, Nicaragua, Mozambique, Angola, and Cambodia.
• Schweizer, Peter. Victory: The Reagan Administration's Secret Strategy That Hastened the Collapse of the Soviet Union, 1994
• Wills, David C. The First War on Terrorism: Counter-Terrorism Policy during the Reagan Administration. 2004.

Primary sources

• FitzWater, Marlin . Call the Briefing! Bush and Reagan, Sam and Helen, a Decade with Presidents and the Press. 1995. Memoir by press spokesman.
• Michael Deaver and Mickey Herskowitz. Behind the Scenes. 1987. Memoir by a top aide.
• 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)
• Stahl, Lesley. "Reporting Live" (1999) memoir by TV news reporter
• Noonan, Peggy. When Character Was King: A Story of Ronald Reagan (2001) Biography by former Reagan speech writer

External links

• Ronald Reagan films Death Valley Days at Apacheland Studio in Arizona 1964-1966
• Extensive essay on Ronald Reagan and shorter essays on each member of his cabinet and First Lady from the Miller Center of Public Affairs
• White House biography
• RonaldReagan.com - The Official Site
• Biography and gubernatorial inaugural addresses from the CA governors office
• Video & Audio clips
• BBC historic figures
• CNN Biography with speeches
• Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Foundation
• Ronald Reagan Memorial Events
• Ronald Reagan at IMDb
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