Ronald Wilson Reagan
From Conservapedia
| Ronald Wilson Reagan | |
|---|---|
| |
| 40th President of the United States | |
| Term of office January 20, 1981 - January 20, 1989[1] | |
| Political party | Republican |
| Vice President | George H. W. Bush |
| Preceded by | Jimmy Carter |
| Succeeded by | George H. W. Bush |
| Born | February 6, 1911 Tampico, Illinois, USA |
| Died | June 5, 2004 Bel Air, California |
| Spouse | Jane Wyman Nancy Davis Reagan |
| Religion | Presbyterian |
Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911- June 5, 2004), United States President and considered by some to be one of the greatest American Presidents, was the 40th President of the United States of America severing two terms from 1981 to 1989, following Democrat Jimmy Carter and preceding Republican George H. W. Bush. Ronald Reagan is credited with leading America peacefully through the Cold War, lowering taxes, promoting a free economy, and helping bring about the end of communism in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. His signature phrase was "trust, but verify," which he used nearly every time be dealt with the communist Soviet Union
In one of his most famous challenges to Soviet communism in Europe, Reagan gave a speech in front of the Brandenburg Gate in West Berlin in which he said, "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall." Reagan's economic policies became known as "Reaganomics" based on the idea that tax cuts will spur savings and investment. Reagan was strongly opposed to the concept of big government, advocating a reduction in the size and budget of the federal government. During his terms in office, he faced a divided Congress split between Republican and Democratic control for six of his eight years as President. Reagan was known for forging alliances with the Democratic Speaker of the House, Tip O'Neill, among others, to effectively pass legislation.
Contents |
Early Life
Reagan was born and raised in Illinois and attended Eureka College, where he quickly developed a reputation as a "jack of all trades", excelling in the areas of athletics and theater. In his first year at Eureka, where Reagan earned a degree in economics, the president of the college tried to cut back the faculty. Reagan immediately helped organize a student strike. Reagan enlisted in the military during World War II, but his eyesight was not good enough for combat duty. He used his acting skills to make military training films and promote the sale of War Bonds.[2]
Reagan became a radio sports announcer, and then a famous actor, leading the Screen Actors Guild. Ironically, Reagan was thus the only president to lead a labor union, traditionally considered bastions of liberalism. Reagan himself was a registered Democrat well into the 1950s, but as head of the Screen Actors Guild he fought against Communist infiltration. Peggy Noonan wrote, "Even in his zeal to purge the communist influence from Hollywood, he fought those who engaged in witch hunts and defended those who had been falsely accused of involvement." Reagan met his second wife, actress Nancy Davis, when she came to Reagan for help as she was concerned because another actress with the same name ended up on the "black list."[3][4]
Governor of California
In 1966, he was elected the 33rd Governor of California, succeeding Pat Brown. In 1970, he was re-elected. But in 1974, he chose not to seek a third term and was succeeded by Jerry Brown. Events and achievements during his terms included:
- Called in the National Guard to restore order when People's Park protesters began attacking police, and restored order to California's chaotic university campuses.[5] Reagan authorized the use of violent force against the peaceful protesters in Berkeley,[6] saying, "If there has to be a bloodbath, then let's get it over with."[7] In the resulting chaos, police fired buckshot into the crowd, fatally wounding one bystander and blinding another, and injuring hundreds of others.
- Led a comprehensive and far-reaching revision of California's massive public assistance programs, actually increasing benefits to the truly needy.
- Worked well with the Democrats to forge consensus on a variety of issues.
- Opposed the Dos Rios Dam.
Presidency (1981-1989)
In 1968, Reagan was a late candidate for president in the Republican primaries. However, Richard Nixon easily won that nomination. In 1976, Reagan challenged Gerald Ford for the Republican nomination, before withdrawing his name from consideration. Reagan knew if he continued, he would take the nomination away from Ford, and forever be branded as a Party spoiler. This he did not want, so he signaled his wish to be removed from consideration, and gave a very effective speech at the convention in support of Ford. Then, in 1980, he beat George H. W. Bush in the Republican primaries, and went on to oppose Jimmy Carter (incumbent) in the general election with George Herbert Walker Bush as his running mate. A poor economy and the incumbent's failing to deal with several international crises aided Reagan. As he put it, "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." In the general election he received 50.75% of the popular vote, beating Jimmy Carter by almost 10%, and also won 90.9% of the electoral vote. Riding his strong showing, the Republicans won enough seats in the United States Senate to take control of that chamber for the first time in decades. The results were a shock as polling had been showing a close contest heading into the day of the election.
Once in office, Reagan showed he was playing hardball. When the Federal Air Traffic Controllers struck illegally, Reagan gave them 48 hours before he fired all who hadn't gone back to work (11,359).
In 1984, Reagan won 49 out of 50 states' electoral votes, and the largest public vote in almost 100 years, 58.77%. During his second term, he helped end the Cold War with the help of Margaret Thatcher and some assistance from Pope John Paul II and Mikhail Gorbachev by recognizing the weakness of the Soviet economy, and spent them out of existence by not being able to compete with defense spending.[8]
March 30, 1981 there was an unsuccessful assassination attempt on President Reagan at the Washington Hilton Hotel in Washington, D.C. John Hinckley, Jr. shot Reagan and injured 3 others. Reagan survived and was able to recover quickly.
Domestic policy
Economy
- Reduce the growth of government spending.
- Reduce the marginal tax rates on income from both labor and capital.
- Reduce government regulation of the economy.
- Control the money supply to reduce inflation.
Fueled by an over spending Congress that steadfastly refused Reagan's budget proposals, the national debt increased 160% during his two terms in office. However, the economic growth that resulted from tax cuts made deficits as a percentage of GDP lower than what they had been in during the previous decade of stagflation. The period of high inflation and unemployment when Reagan took office was over after eight years of his Presidency. In 1986 Reagan signed the Tax Reform Act, which obtained an overhaul of the income tax code and eliminated many deductions and exempted millions of people with low incomes. The income tax rates of the top personal tax bracket dropped from 70% to 28% in 7 years. At the end of his administration, the Nation was enjoying its longest recorded period of peacetime prosperity without recession or depression.[10]
Supreme Court Appointments
Ronald Reagan had maintained the promise he made in his 1980 presidential campaign to appoint the first women to the U.S. Supreme Court. On July 7, 1981, President Reagan nominated Superior Court judge Sandra Day O'Connor as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, replacing the retiring Potter Stewart. There were some concerns by social conservatives and Pro-Life groups over whether she would overturn Roe v. Wade. Nevertheless, she was confirmed by the Senate by a 99–0 vote on September 21 and took her seat September 25.
In 1987, Reagan nominated Washington circuit judge, former Solicitor General and former acting Attorney General Robert Bork to replace retiring Supreme Court Justice Lewis Powell. Senate Liberals attacked Bork as being too conservative. Senator Ted Kennedy (D-Massachusetts), criticized him, saying,
"Robert Bork's America is a land in which women would be forced into back-alley abortions, blacks would sit at segregated lunch counters, rogue police could break down citizens' doors in midnight raids, schoolchildren could not be taught about evolution, writers and artists could be censored at the whim of the Government, and the doors of the Federal courts would be shut on the fingers of millions of citizens for whom the judiciary is -- and is often the only -- protector of the individual rights that are the heart of our democracy."[11]
Kennedy had voted for Bork's appointment to the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit just a few years before.
On October 23, 1987, the U.S. Senate rejected Bork's confirmation on a 42-58 vote. Anthony Kennedy was then nominated for the seat, where he was confirmed on a 97-0 vote.
War on Drugs
As President, Reagan declared a "war on drugs", which would be policies put forward by the United States and other countries to reduce illegal drug trade. In 1986, President Reagan signed the very prominent Anti-Drug Abuse Act which granted $97 million to build new prisons, $200 million for drug education and $241 million for treatment. Overall, $1.7 billion to fight the drug crisis.[12] First Lady Nancy Reagan started a slogan, "Just Say No" to drug use. The term was used in television advertising, and today there are many "Just Say No" drug clinics. As a result of the policies, marijuana use went from thirty-three percent of high-school seniors in 1980 to twelve percent in 1991.[13]
Foreign policy
Reagan's 1983 Strategic Defense Initiative became popularly known as "Star Wars", the name given to it by critics because they thought it was pure fantasy like the popular George Lucas films. This plan was never fully instituted. Although billions of dollars was spent on development, no space-based missile defense was tested successfully during Reagan's terms in office. However, technologies were developed from the program that had practical uses in society. For instance lasik eye surgery came about through developments generated by the SDI program.
While many academics claim SDI gave the United States a large amount of leverage in its standoff with the Soviet Union, many political scientists and historians believe that Star Wars played a secondary role in the calculus of Soviet policy-making, where internal structural problems were paramount. However, it should be noted that the threat the Soviet Union felt from the initiative was instrumental in making them step-up negotiations, according to many involved with diplomacy at the time and can be seen by following Gorbachev's repeated public insistences that the SDI program be discontinued. Henry Kissinger wrote: I know it's an axiomatic view of the Left around the world that missile defense is sinful, and that it's desirable to keep each nation as vulnerable as possible. But that's a debatable premise. The U.S. must defend itself against whoever has missiles that would threaten the United States. And you don't have to be able to name an enemy.[14]
Reagan was president at the time of the shooting down of Korean Airlines Flight 007. He termed the shootown of an innocent straying passenger plane with 269 passengers and crew, including Congressman Larry McDonald, a "massacre" and the ensuing rage over the tragedy both world-wide and in the U.S. provided support for the deployment of cruise and Pershing ll missiles in West Europe- just six minutes flying time from Moscow.
Upon his death, Margaret Thatcher commented: As Prime Minister, I worked closely with Ronald Reagan for eight of the most important years of all our lives. We talked regularly both before and after his presidency. And I have had time and cause to reflect on what made him a great president. Ronald Reagan knew his own mind. He had firm principles - and, I believe, right ones. He expounded them clearly, he acted upon them decisively. When the world threw problems at the White House, he was not baffled, or disorientated, or overwhelmed. He knew almost instinctively what to do. When his aides were preparing option papers for his decision, they were able to cut out entire rafts of proposals that they knew 'the Old Man' would never wear. When his allies came under Soviet or domestic pressure, they could look confidently to Washington for firm leadership. And when his enemies tested American resolve, they soon discovered that his resolve was firm and unyielding. Yet his ideas, though clear, were never simplistic. He saw the many sides of truth. Yes, he warned that the Soviet Union had an insatiable drive for military power and territorial expansion; but he also sensed it was being eaten away by systemic failures impossible to reform. Yes, he did not shrink from denouncing Moscow's 'evil empire'. But he realized that a man of goodwill might nonetheless emerge from within its dark corridors. So the President resisted Soviet expansion and pressed down on Soviet weakness at every point until the day came when communism began to collapse beneath the combined weight of these pressures and its own failures. And when a man of goodwill did emerge from the ruins, President Reagan stepped forward to shake his hand and to offer sincere cooperation. Nothing was more typical of Ronald Reagan than that large-hearted magnanimity - and nothing was more American.[15]
Soviet Union
Shortly after taking office in 1981 Reagan issued National Security Decision Directive 11-82, (NSDD 11-82), that explicitly made U.S. defense spending a form of economic warfare against the Soviets. The directive was known more unofficially as the Reagan Initiative.
The United States would "exploit and demonstrate the enduring economic advantages of the West to develop a variety of [arms] systems that are difficult for the Soviets to counter, impose disproportionate costs, open up new areas of major military competition and obsolesce previous Soviet investment or employ sophisticated strategic options to achieve this end. Reagan's Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), or "Star Wars" as the media referred to it, was a costly high tech research and development program designed to make arms spending a "rising burden on the Soviet economy."[16] The Reagan Initiative was also concerned with aiding nations in active conflict with the Soviet Union. One such group was the mujahideen of Afghanistan who were given anti-aircraft missiles to fight the Soviet invaders.
A report by the CIA of the critical domestic economic problems and social discontent Soviet CPSU General Secretary Gorbachev provided a look what the sources of his principal dilemma-the very reforms needed to deal with the problems would threaten preservation of the nomenklatura and put at risk Gorbachev’s ability to maintain the power to bring about Perestroika.[17] Gorbachev requested a Summit with Reagan in Reykjavik in October 1986 to discuss the stresses competition from the Reagan’s defense posture was having on Soviet military spending and economy, and Gorbachev’s ability to carryout his plans of restructuring Communist control. Gorbachev told the Politburo in preparation for the Summit, "Our goal is to prevent the next round of arms race. If we do not do this ... will pulled into an arms race beyond our power, and we will lose this race, for we are presently at the limit of out capabilities."[18]
By the late 80s, the Soviet Union began unilateral force cuts and troop withdrawals from Eastern Europe, and by May 1989 an unprecedented series of disclosures by senior Soviet officials revealed actual reductions in defense spending for the 1986-1990 and 1991-1995 Five Year Plan periods.[19] Genrikh Grofimenko, a former adviser to Leonid Brezhnev, said "Ninety-nine percent of the Russian people believe that [the US] won the Cold War because of your president's insistence on SDI".[20]
Containment and the Iranian initiative
The objective of the plan was fourfold:
- Take steps to restore good relations with the Islamic Republic of Iran which was becoming increasingly hostile to the West;
- Take measures to convince Iran that Israel could become a friend and ally;
- Insurance against Iraq becoming too strong which would become a threat to Kuwait or Saudi Arabia;
- Provide funding for other operations to continue the policy of containment in the Western Hemisphere, most notably Nicaragua, and the violence the Soviet/Cuban/Nicaragua connection was creating in El Salvador and Honduras.
There were humanitarian aspects to the proposal as well; (1) the Iran-Iraq War had stalemated for nearly six years and Reagan was advised that he was in the unique position as President to help facilitate bringing a senseless war with much suffering to an end; (2) the suffering of the people of the Central American Republics at the hands of Soviet-inspired subversion which had in the decade of the '80s established a beachhead in North America; (3) Iran perhaps could be persuaded to use its good offices to influence hostage takers in Lebanon who had held several Western prisoners, many of them Christian Missionaries, for several years.
Reports had filtered back to Reagan that children as young as nine years old had been used by Iran to clear minefields.[21] In weighing Iraq's delicate Sunni/Shia balance and the growing threat of Iranian-sponsored terrorism, the NSC staff and Casey recognized the dangers of an Iraqi collapse as well as the urgent need to dissuade Iran from continuing its ruthless and inhumane tactics.[22]
The Boland amendment, a Vietnam era-style Congressional impingement on the legitimate foreign policy prerogatives of the Executive via the power of the purse, was used to deny Reagan's recommitment to the Truman Doctrine which had been adhered to by every President, Democratic and Republican alike since Truman, with the exception of President Carter whose human rights policy had brought one of the active belligerents, the Ayatollah Khomeini, to power[Citation Needed]. In three of the active Soviet fronts, Afghanistan, Nicaragua, and El Salvador, some Congressional Democratic leaders were openly sympathetic to Soviet foreign policy.[23][24] So the decision was made to fund Containment of Soviet objectives on an active front in North America with sales of TOW missiles to Iran. Israel provided the TOWs because the Boland Amendment forbade direct US funding and it was a welcome opportunity for Israel to build bridges to a much needed friend in the Middle East.
The operation was known as the "Iran-Contra affair." After word got out about the operation in November 1986, investigations were made, leading to the convictions of several members of the Reagan administration. President Reagan himself testified before the Tower Commission that he had poor recollection of the details of the operation due in part to the heavy pain medications he had been on in that period.
Cold War victory
Reagan is credited for ending the Cold War in victory for the United States. Historian Tony Judt in Postwar credits Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, while the political scientist Jan Kubik presents a viewpoint that credits Pope John Paul II.[25] Other historians contend structural weaknesses within the Communist bloc meant Reagan's actions were inconsequential to the end of communism. This is the view adopted by Russians themselves, and many political historians, citing perestroika and glasnost as beginning an inevitable slow fading of central power, and a collapse by irreconcilable differences between the central Soviet Politburo and the constituent republics, especially the Ukraine.[26] In the end, the consensus seems to point to all of the above, that hastened the demise of the Soviet Union; Internal factors, religious pressure brought by the Pope, Gorbachev's "Perestroika" and the united front of Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher, leading NATO and the West to embed a missile defense system in Western Europe, and the economic superiority of Capitalism, which simply out-spent and out-performed that of the Communist one. One thing that cannot be quantified is Reagan's ability to give hope, his never-ending optimism that good would indeed triumph over evil. Many see that as key to bringing extra confidence to those locked behind the "Iron Curtain" to press even harder for reforms.
Columnist Cal Thomas wrote about it like this: He proved he was right about the big things. Faced with editorial denunciations at home and massive demonstrations in Europe against his plan to put missiles there to offset a Soviet threat, Reagan went ahead and did it anyway. The Soviets could not keep pace with the buildup or Reagan's proposed missile defense system (derided by critics as "Star Wars"). When those critics could not bring themselves to admit they were wrong, they unpersuasively claimed the Soviet Union fell under its own weight. More accurately, Reagan pushed it onto "the ash heap of history," with the able assistance of British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and Pope John Paul II. What Reagan did more than anything else - and it will be his lasting legacy - is replace despair with hope. Most people, even his detractors, felt a glow from being in his presence. He was the kindest, most gracious president I have met, and I have met them all since JFK. In his presence you felt he was interested in you and not himself. He was a good man.[27]
Brian Mulroney, the Canadian Prime Minister, said of Reagan: "Some in the West during the early 1980s believed communism and democracy were equally valid and viable. This was the school of "moral equivalence." In contrast Ronald Reagan saw Soviet communism as a menace to be confronted in the genuine belief that its squalid underpinning would fall swiftly to the gathering winds of freedom. Provided, as he said, that NATO and the industrialized democracies stood firm and united. They did. And we know now who was right."[28]
- Former Reagan speech writer Peggy Noonan paid tribute to the fallen president in a recent Wall Street Journal editorial. In it, Noonan noted: "Ronald Reagan told the truth to a world made weary by lies. He believed truth was the only platform on which a better future could be built. He shocked the world when he called the Soviet Union ‘evil,’ because it was, and an 'empire,' because it was that, too. He never stopped bringing his message to the people of the world, to Europe and China and in the end the Soviet Union. And when it was over, the Berlin Wall had been turned into a million concrete souvenirs, and Soviet communism had fallen. But of course, it didn’t fall. It was pushed. By Mr. Know Nothing Cowboy Gunslinger Dimwit. All presidents should be so stupid."[29]
Post-presidency
Family
Reagan married actress Jane Wyman in 1940 and together they had three children: Maureen Reagan, Michael Reagan, and Christine Reagan. Christine was prematurate and died in infancy. Maureen has passed away from cancer and Michael is a famous conservative talk show host. Reagan's marriage to Jane ended in divorce in 1948. In 1952 he married Nancy Davis his wife until the time of his death. Together they had two children, Patti Davis and Ron Reagan Jr both of whom are still living.
Miscellaneous Facts
- Reagan was the first and only labor leader and former President of an AFL-CIO union ever elected US President.
- Reagan was the first and only divorced president.
- Reagan was a lifeguard for seven years growing up, and was said to have saved 77 people.[30]
- Reagan was the first president to break the so-called "Curse of Tippecanoe", ie, the first president elected in a twenty year cycle who did not die in office (although an attempt was made on his life in 1981).
- At 69, Reagan was the oldest man elected to the presidency for a first term.
- The Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum is located in Simi Valley, California.[31]
- Reagan's 1994 announcement that he had Alzheimer's Disease brought large amounts of public attention to the disease.
- Reagan loved jelly beans.[32] The blueberry flavor was made in his honor. Jelly Belly even created a Ronald Reagan portrait out of jelly beans.
- His speech writer Peggy Noonan is a columnist for the Wall Street Journal.
- After his death, some of his closest supporters wished to put him on the $10 bill[33]
- Reagan was known affectionately to some as "The Gipper," harking back to a film where he was cast as All-American George Gip.[34]
Quotes
- "The house we hope to build is not for my generation but for yours. It is your future that matters. And I hope that when you are my age, you will be able to say as I have been able to say: We lived in freedom. We lived lives that were a statement, not an apology." - January 20, 1981
- "...peace is the highest aspiration of the American People. We will negotiate for it, sacrifice for it, we will never surrender for it, now or ever." - January 20, 1981
- "We have every right to dream heroic dreams. Those who say that we're in a time when there are no heroes, they just don't know where to look." - January 20, 1981
- "I've learned in Washington, that that's the only place where sound travels faster than light." - December 12, 1983
- "The challenge of statesmanship is to have the vision to dream of a better, safer world and the courage, persistence, and patience to turn that dream into reality." - March 8, 1985
- "I have only one thing to say to the tax increasers: Go ahead, make my day." —March 13, 1985, in a speech threatening to veto legislation raising taxes.[35]
- "A leader, once convinced a particular course of action is the right one, must have the determination to stick with it and be undaunted when the going gets rough." - December 5, 1990
- "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." —Speech at the Berlin Wall, June 12, 1987[36]
- "...I know it's hard when you're up to your armpits in alligators to remember you came here to drain the swamp." - February 10, 1982
- "There is no question that we have failed to live up to the dreams of the founding fathers many times and in many places. Sometimes we do better than others. But all in all, the one thing we must be on guard against is thinking that because of this, the system has failed. The system has not failed. Some human beings have failed the system." - June 21, 1973
- "The work of volunteer groups throughout our country represents the very heart and soul of America. They have helped make this the most compassionate, generous, and humane society that ever existed on the face of this earth." - Oct. 16, 1973
- "In America, our origins matter less than our destination, and that is what democracy is all about." - August 17, 1992[37]
- "It is freedom itself that still hangs in the balance, and freedom is never more than one generation from extinction." - Commencement address to The Citadel, 1993
See also
Further reading
see Bibliography for much more detailed guide.
- Berman, Larry, ed. Looking Back on the Reagan Presidency (1990), essays by academics
- Busch, Andrew E.; "Ronald Reagan and the Defeat of the Soviet Empire" in Presidential Studies Quarterly. Vol: 27. Issue: 3. 1997. pp 451+. online edition by conservative
- Cannon, Lou. President Reagan: The Role of a Lifetime Public Affairs. (2nd ed 2000) 948 pp. best full-length biography online edition
- Cannon, Lou. Governor Reagan: His Rise to Power detailed biography
- Hayward, Steven F. The Age of Reagan, 1964-1980: The Fall of the Old Liberal Order (2001)
- Berman William C. America's Right Turn: From Nixon to Bush. (1994).
- 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 online edition, by conservative
- Cannon, Lou. Ronald Reagan: The Presidential Portfolio. (2001) online edition
- Draper, Theodore. A Very Thin Line: The Iran-Contra Affair (1991)
- Ehrman, John. The Eighties: America in the Age of Reagan. (2005), by conservative historian
- Garthoff, Raymond. Detente and Confrontation: American-Soviet relations from Nixon to Reagan (1994), by liberal
- Griscom Tom. "Core Ideas of the Reagan Presidency." In Thompson, ed., Leadership, 23-48.
- Hulten Charles R. and Isabel V. Sawhill, eds. The Legacy of Reaganomics: Prospects for Long-Term Growth. (1994).
- Jones, Charles O. ed. The Reagan Legacy: Promise and Performance (1988) essays by political scientists
- 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
- Langston, Thomas S. "Reassessing the Reagan Presidency," Presidential Studies Quarterly, Vol. 34, 2004 online edition
- Levy, Peter B. Encyclopedia of the Reagan-Bush Years (1996), short articles online edition
- Matlock, Jack. Reagan and Gorbachev: How the Cold War Ended. (2004) by the conservative US ambassador to Moscow
- 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.
- Patterson, James T. Restless Giant: The United States from Watergate to Bush vs. Gore. (2005), standard scholarly synthesis of the era
- Pemberton, William E. Exit with Honor: The Life and Presidency of Ronald Reagan (1998) short, favorable biography by historian online edition
- Reagan Ronald. An American Life. (1990). his second autobiography
- Reeves, Richard. President Reagan: The Triumph of Imagination (2005) detailed analysis by historian
- Sullivan, George.Mr. President (1997). for middle schools
- Schmertz, Eric J. et al eds. Ronald Reagan's America 2 Volumes (1997) articles by scholars and officeholders vol 1 onlinevol 2 online
- Schweizer, Peter. Reagan's War: The Epic Story of His Forty Year Struggle and Final Triumph Over Communism (2002), by conservative
- 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.
- Wilentz, Sean. The Age of Reagan: A History, 1974-2008 (2008), major narrative history by liberal historian who says Reagan transformed America
notes
- ↑ http://home.comcast.net/~sharonday7/Presidents/AP060301.htm
- ↑ http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/06/05/reagan.obit/index.html
- ↑ The Biggest Role of Nancy's Life
- ↑ [1]
- ↑ http://police.berkeley.edu/about_UCPD/ucpdhistory.html#anchor178048
- ↑ University of California, Berkeley - Police Department. History Topic: People's Park August 2006
- ↑ San Francisco Chronicle, early morning edition, May 15 1969
- ↑ Demise of the Brezhnev Doctrine and the Dismantling of the Warsaw Treaty Organization, " The party leadership gradually came to understand that the sustaining of domestic perestroika in the USSR was endangered by the inability of an inefficient economy to carry the burdens of excessive overseas military spending in the form of the Warsaw Pact".
- ↑ http://www.econlib.org/library/Enc/Reaganomics.html
- ↑ http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/rr40.html
- ↑ http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B0DE5DF1E3EF936A35754C0A961948260
- ↑ http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/drugs/cron/
- ↑ http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/drugs/interviews/kleber.html
- ↑ [2]
- ↑ [3]
- ↑ Peter Schweizer , Reagan's War: The Epic Story of His Forty Year Struggle and Final Triumph Over Communism, New York: Doubleday, 2002.
- ↑ CIA Assessments of the Soviet Union: Chapter 5, Enter Gorbachev , Douglas J. MacEachin, CIA Publications, 1996.
- ↑ Notes of Politburo Meeting 4 October 1986, Gorbachev's instructions for the group preparing for Reykjavik
- ↑ Christopher Wilkinson NATO Review, Soviet Defense Spending, NATO's Economics Directorate No. 2 - April 1991, Vol. 39 p. 16-22
- ↑ Peter Schweizer, Reagan’s War.
- ↑ Iran-Iraq War (1980-1988), Iraqi Retreats, 1982-84, Globalsecurity.org, retrieved 20 March 2007.
- ↑ NSDD 139, 5 April 1984.
- ↑ One Weekend in April, A Long Time Ago ... What John Kerry thought about the Sandinista in Nicaragua, Hugh Hewitt, The Weekly Standard, 09/09/2004.
- ↑ Kerry: 'I'm Proud I Stood Against Reagan Carl Limbacher and NewsMax.com Staff, 7 June 2004.
- ↑ [4]
- ↑ David Remnick, "Lenin's Tomb
- ↑ [5]
- ↑ [6]
- ↑ [7]
- ↑ http://edition.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2004/reagan/stories/bio.part.one/index.html
- ↑ http://www.reaganfoundation.org/visitorguide/hours_directions.asp
- ↑ http://www.jellybelly-uk.com/pages/q&a/trivia.shtml
- ↑ http://money.cnn.com/2004/06/08/news/economy/reagan_hamilton/index.htm
- ↑ [8]
- ↑ http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3638320/
- ↑ http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3638320/
- ↑ http://www.reaganfoundation.org/reagan/quotes/default.asp
Bibliography
Biographies
- Benze, Jr. James G. Nancy Reagan: On the White House Stage (2005), excerpt and text search
- Benze James G. "Nancy Reagan: China Doll or Dragon Lady?" Presidential Studies Quarterly 20 (fall 1990): 777-90
- Cannon, Lou. President Reagan: The Role of a Lifetime Public Affairs. (2nd ed 2000) 948 pp. full-length biography online edition
- D'Souza, Dinesh. Ronald Reagan: How an Ordinary Man Became an Extraordinary Leader (1999), popular. excerpt and text search
- Evans, Thomas W. The Education of Ronald Reagan: The General Electric Years (2006) excerpt and text search
- Morris, Edmund. Dutch: A Memoir of Ronald Reagan (1999), includes fictional material excerpt and text search
- Pemberton, William E. Exit with Honor: The Life and Presidency of Ronald Reagan (1998) short biography by historian online edition
- Reeves, Richard. President Reagan: The Triumph of Imagination (2005) detailed analysis by historian
- Sullivan, George.Mr. President (1997). for middle schools
Reagan before 1981
- Brennan Mary C. Turning Right in the Sixties: The Conservative Capture of the GOP. University of North Carolina Press, 1995
- Burbank, Garin. "Governor Reagan and California Welfare Reform: the Grand Compromise of 1971." California History 1991 70(3): 278-289. Issn: 0162-2897
- Burbank, Garin. "Governor Reagan's Only Defeat: The Proposition 1 Campaign in 1973." California History 72 (winter 1993-94): 360-73.
- Burbank, Garin. "Speaker Moretti, Governor Reagan, and the Search for Tax Reform in California, 1970-1972" The Pacific Historical Review Vol. 61, No. 2 (May, 1992), pp. 193-214 online in JSTOR
- Cannon, Lou. Governor Reagan: His Rise to Power Public Affairs. detailed biography excerpt and text search
- 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.
- DeGroot, Gerard J. "'A Goddamned Electable Person': the 1966 California Gubernatorial Campaign of Ronald Reagan." History 1997 82(267): 429-448. Issn: 0018-2648 Fulltext: in Swetswise, Ingenta and Ebsco
- DeGroot, Gerard J. "Ronald Reagan and Student Unrest in California, 1966-1970." Pacific Historical Review 1996 65(1): 107-129. Issn: 0030-8684 Fulltext: in Jstor
- Drew, Elizabeth. Portrait of an Election: The 1980 Presidential Campaign. 1981.
- Ferguson, Thomas and Joel Rogers, eds. The Hidden Election: Politics and Economics in the 1980 Presidential Campaign, 1981.
- Germond, Jack W. and Jules Witcover. Blue Smoke & Mirrors: How Reagan Won & Why Carter Lost the Election of 1980. 1981. Detailed journalism.
- Hayward, Steven F. The Age of Reagan, 1964-1980: The Fall of the Old Liberal Order (2001)
- Hamilton Gary G., and Nicole Woolsey Biggart. Governor Reagan, Governor Brown: A Sociology of executive Power. (1984).
- Moore, Glen. "Ronald W. Reagan's Campaign for the Republican Party's 1968 Presidential Nomination." Proceedings and Papers of the Georgia Association of Historians (1992) 12[i.e., 13]: 57-70. Issn: 0275-3863
Politics and Domestic issues
- Aldrich, John H., and David W. Rohde. Change and Continuity in the 1984 Elections. (1987)
- Amaker Norman C. Civil Rights and the Reagan Administration. Urban Institute Press, 1988
- Berman, Larry, ed. Looking Back on the Reagan Presidency (1990), essays by academics
- Berman William C. America's Right Turn: From Nixon to Bush. Johns Hopkins University Press, 1994.
- Birnbaum Jeffrey H., and Alan S. Murray. Showdown at Gucci Gulch: Lawmakers, Lobbyists, and the Unlikely Triumph of Tax Reform. 1987.
- Boskin Michael J. Reagan and the Economy: The Successes, Failures, and Unfinished Agenda. ICS Press, 1987.
- Brownlee, W. Elliot and Hugh Davis Graham, eds. The Reagan Presidency: Pragmatic Conservatism and Its Legacies (2003)
- 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 online edition
- Cannon, Lou. Ronald Reagan: The Presidential Portfolio. Public Affairs. (2001) online edition
- 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.
- Derthick Martha, and Paul J. Quirk. The Politics of Deregulation. Brookings Institution, 1985
- Detlefsen, Robert R. Civil Rights under Reagan Institute for Contemporary Studies, 1991 online edition
- Eads George C., and Michael Fix, eds. The Reagan Regulatory Strategy: An Assessment. Urban Institute Press, 1984
- Ehrman, John. The Eighties: America in the Age of Reagan. (2005)
- Evans Rowland, and Robert Novak. The Reagan Revolution. 1991.
- 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. Wake Us When It's Over: Presidential Politics of 1984. 1985.
- Marshall R. Goodman; Managing Regulatory Reform: The Reagan Strategy and Its Impact Praeger Publishers, 1987 online edition
- Greider William. The Education of David Stockman and Other Americans. 1982. Stockman was Reagan's budget chief
- Griscom Tom. "Core Ideas of the Reagan Presidency." In Thompson, ed., Leadership, 23-48.
- Hulten Charles R. and Isabel V. Sawhill, eds. The Legacy of Reaganomics: Prospects for Long-Term Growth. C.: Urban Institute Press, 1994.
- Johnson, Haynes. Sleepwalking through History: America in the Reagan Years (1991) online edition
- Jones, Charles O. ed. The Reagan Legacy: Promise and Performance (1988) essays by political scientists
- Karier, Thomas. Great Experiments in American Economic Policy: From Kennedy to Reagan (1997) online edition
- Laham, Nicholas. The Reagan Presidency and the Politics of Race: In Pursuit of Colorblind Justice and Limited Government 1998. online edition
- Levy, Peter B. Encyclopedia of the Reagan-Bush Years (1996), short articles online edition
- Minarik Joseph J. Making America's Budget Policy. From the 1980s to the 1990s. M. E. Sharpe, 1990.
- Palmer, John L., and Isabel V. Sawhill. The Reagan Record, 1984. economics and sociology
- Patterson, James T. Restless Giant: The United States from Watergate to Bush vs. Gore. (2005), standard scholarly synthesis.
- Rayack; Elton. Not So Free to Choose: The Political Economy of Milton Friedman and Ronald Reagan (1987) hostile critiqueonline edition
- Sahu, Anandi P. and Ronald L. Tracy; The Economic Legacy of the Reagan Years: Euphoria or Chaos? Praeger Publishers, 1991 online edition
- Salamon Lester M., and Michael S. Lund. eds. The Reagan Presidency and the Governing of America 1985. articles by political scientists
- Schmertz, Eric J. et al eds. Ronald Reagan's America 2 Volumes (1997) articles by scholars and officeholders vol 1 onlinevol 2 online
- 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 (2005) 32:1 pp 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.
- Baucom Donald R. The Origins of SDI, 1944-1983. University Press of Kansas, 1992.
- Bell Coral. The Reagan Paradox: American Foreign Policy in the 1980s. Rutgers University Press, 1989.
- Beschloss Michael R., and Strobe Talbott. At the Highest Levels: The Inside Story of the End of the Cold War. 1993
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Garthoff, Raymond L. The Great Transition: American-Soviet Relations and the End of the Cold War (1994), detailed narrative by a hostile critic online edition
- Haftendorn, Helga and Jakob Schissler, eds. The Reagan Administration: A Reconstruction of American Strength? Berlin: Walter de Guyer, 1988. by European scholars
- Hall, David Locke. The Reagan Wars: A Constitutional Perspective on War Powers and the Presidency Westview Press, 1991 online edition
- 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
- Lagon, Mark P. The Reagan Doctrine: Sources of American Conduct in the Cold War's Last Chapter (1994) online edition
- LeoGrande, William M. Our Own Backyard: The United States in Central America, 1977-1992 (1998)
- Matlock, Jack. Reagan and Gorbachev: How the Cold War Ended. (2004) by the US ambassador to Moscow excerpt and text search
- Pach, Chester. "The Reagan Doctrine: Principle, Pragmatism, and Policy." Presidential Studies Quarterly 2006 36(1): 75-88. Issn: 0360-4918 online edition
- Salla, Michael E. and Ralph Summy, eds. Why the Cold War Ended: A Range of Interpretations (1995). online edition
- Schmertz, Eric J. et al eds. Ronald Reagan and the World (1997) articles by scholars and officeholders
- Shultz, George P. Turmoil and Triumph My Years As Secretary of State (1993)
- Schweizer, Peter. Reagan's War: The Epic Story of His Forty Year Struggle and Final Triumph Over Communism (2002)
- Suri, Jeremi. "Explaining the End of the Cold War: A New Historical Consensus?" Journal of Cold War Studies - Volume 4, Number 4, Fall 2002, pp. 60-92 in Project Muse
- Thomas W. Walker; Reagan Versus the Sandinistas: The Undeclared War on Nicaragua (1987) online edition
- Wallison, Peter J. Ronald Reagan: The Power of Conviction and the Success of His Presidency. (2003). 282 pp.
- Wills, David C. The First War on Terrorism: Counter-Terrorism Policy during the Reagan Administration. 2004.
Rhetoric, media and values
- Aden, R. C. "Entrapment and Escape: Inventional Metaphors in Ronald Reagan's Economic Rhetoric." Southern Communication Journal 54 (1989): 384-401
- 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) online edition
- Diggins, John Patrick. Ronald Reagan: Fate, Freedom, and the Making of History (2007) Reagan as follower of Emerson, by leading historian of ideas
- Jane Feuer; Seeing through the Eighties: Television and Reaganism Duke University Press, 1995 online edition
- FitzWater, Marlin . Call the Briefing! Bush and Reagan, Sam and Helen, a Decade with Presidents and the Press. 1995. Memoir by Reagan's press spokesman.
- Goodnight, G. Thomas. "Ronald Reagan's Re-formulation of the Rhetoric of War: Analysis of the 'Zero Option,' 'Evil Empire,' and 'Star Wars' Addresses." Quarterly Journal of Speech 72 (1986): 390-414.
- 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
- Hoeveler, J. David. Watch on the Right: Conservative Intellectuals in the Reagan Era. University of Wisconsin Press, 1991.
- Houck, Davis, and Amos Kiewe, eds. Actor, Ideologue, Politician: The Public Speeches of Ronald Reagan (Greenwood Press, 1993) W. Houck&dcontributors=Davis+W.+Houck online edition
- 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.
- Lewis, William F. "Telling America's Story: Narrative Form and the Reagan Presidency", Quarterly Journal of Speech): 280–302
- Longley, Kyle, Jeremy D. Mayer, Michael Schaller, and John W. Sloan. Deconstructing Reagan: Conservative Mythology and America’s Fortieth President, (M.E. Sharpe, 2007. xviii, 150 pp. isbn 978-0-7656-1591-6.)
- Meyer, John C. "Ronald Reagan and Humor: A Politician's Velvet Weapon", Communication Studies 41 (1990): 76-88.
- Moore, Mark P. "Reagan's Quest for Freedom in the 1987 State of the Union Address." Western Journal of Communication 53 (1989): 52-65.
- 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
- Ormanm John. Comparing Presidential Behavior: Carter, Reagan, and the Macho Presidential Style Greenwood Press, 1987 online edition
- Ritter, Kurt W. Ronald Reagan: The Great Communicator. Greenwood, 1992. online edition
- 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.
- 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. online edition
- 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.
- Michael Weiler and W. Barnett Pearce; Reagan and Public Discourse in America University of Alabama Press, 1992 online edition
- Wills, Garry. Reagan's America: Innocents at Home. (1987)
Primary sources
- Council of Economic Advisors, Economic Report of the President (annual 1947- ), complete series online; important analysis of current trends and policies, plus statistcial tables
- Reagan Ronald, and Richard G. Hubler. Where's the Rest of Me? (1965). first autobiography
- Reagan Ronald. An American Life. (1990). second autobiography excerpt and text search
- Reagan Ronald. The Creative Society: Some Comments on Problems Facing America. 1968.
- Reagan Ronald. Abortion and the Conscience of the Nation. 1984.
- Reagan Ronald. Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Ronald Reagan. 1981-1989. 8 vols. Washington, D.C.: GPO, 1982-91.
- Reagan, Ronald. Reagan, In His Own Hand: The Writings of Ronald Reagan That Reveal His Revolutionary Vision for America (2001) excerpt and text search
- Skinner, Kiron K. et al, eds. Reagan's Path to Victory: The Shaping of Ronald Reagan's Vision: Selected Writings (2004), 450 radio talks from late 1970s
- Reagan, Nancy. My Turn: The Memoirs of Nancy Reagan (1989)
- Reagan Maureen. First Father, First Daughter: A Memoir. 1989.
- Reagan Michael and Joe Hyams. On the Outside Looking In. 1988.
Primary sources by Reagan aides
- Anderson, Martin. Revolution: The Reagan Legacy (1990)
- Haig, Alexander. Inner Circles: How America Changed the World (1994). Haig was Secretary of State 1981-82
- Deaver, Michael, and Mickey Herskowitz. Behind the Scenes. 1987. Memoir by a top aide.
- Meese Edwin. With Reagan: The Inside Story. Regnery Gateway, 1992.
- Niskanen William A. Reaganomics: An Insider's Account of the Policies and the People. Oxford University Press, 1988.
- Regan Donald T. For the Record. From Wall Street to Washington. 1988; Treasury Secretary and Chief of Staff
- Shultz, George P. Turmoil and Triumph My Years As Secretary of State 1993) Schulz was Secretary of State 1982-89
- Stahl, Lesley. "Reporting Live" (1999) memoir by TV news reporter
- Stockman David A. The Triumph of Politics: How the Reagan Revolution Failed. 1986. Stcokman was Budget Director in 1981-82
- Thompson Kenneth W., ed. Foreign Policy in the Reagan Presidency: Nine Intimate Perspectives. University Press of America, 1993.
- Thompson Kenneth W., ed. Leadership in the Reagan Presidency: Seven Intimate Perspectives. 1992.
- Thompson Kenneth W., ed. Leadership in the Reagan Presidency, Part II: Eleven Intimate Perspectives. University Press of America, 1993.
- Weinberger, Caspar. In the Arena: A Memoir of the 20th Century (1991), by the Defense Secretary
Government documents
- Council of Economic Advisors. Economic Report of the President, (annual, 1981-1988), detailed analysis of economic issues
- U.S. Census Bureau, Statistical Abstract of the United States annual compilation of over 1000 tables of data.
References
External Links
- Time Magazine Article on The All-American President
- White House Official Page
- The Passing of a Conservative - by Alfred Regnery
- Reagan's Presidential Library
- Actor Bio At IMDB
- Official Memorial
- USS Ronald Reagan CVN 76 official website
- Quotations by Ronald Reagan
- Reagan 2020 Reagan 2020 is the Internet's most comprehensive resource on Ronald Reagan.
- "Our Philosophy of Government" Speech by President Ronald Reagan, March 2, 1981
- Abortion and the Conscience of the Nation While president, Ronald Reagan penned this article for The Human Life Review, unsolicited.
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