Ronald Reagan Essay Research Paper Ronald Reagan

Ronald Reagan Essay, Research Paper

Ronald Reagan Reagan the Man, the President written by Hedrick Smith was a stirring biography of a man’s life. Ronald Reagan was the fortieth President of the United States. He had a successful career but a term of turmoil also came with it. He was involved in a huge scandal but, his economic policies were full of flaws and this brought his country’s economy down. He was a man who supposedly had no chance of winning the Presidency because he was an actor but dedication helped his cause. He seemingly had bad policies for the poor and the country as a whole. He was concerned with the foreign policy of the country and he had built up the national debt by his arms race with the Soviets. The country was in deep turmoil during and after his term of office. He was born on February 6, 1911 in Tampico Illinois. His father sold shoes while, his son Ronald wanted to be an actor. In the Depression year of 1932 he graduated from nearby Eureka College, a conservative Protestant institution, where he had been active in sports and drama. He worked as a radio announcer until a screen test won him a contract at Warner Brothers in 1937. During the next decade and a half he appeared in fifty films. He was a man of great dedication. This was one of the main reasons why he ran for the Presidency. After, his acting career seemed to slow down he became interested in politics. He was originally a democrat and he admired Franklin Roosevelt ideas but, he began to move toward republicans during the 1950’s and he then joined the Republican Party. In 1962 he was apparently indifferent with government bureaucracy and the concern over Communism’s influence in his union. He reinforced his conservative bond by marrying Nancy Davis who shared his views. He became the Governor of California. He learned much from this stint in office as the Governor. He had difficulty dealing with the Democratic State legislature. As a Governor he was able to put on a hiring freeze on state jobs, but he was not able to obtain legislative support for lowering the taxes or for reducing the cost of the government. After two years he came to terms with the legislature. He learned how to listen and compromise. This is a priceless skill that all presidents need. This became part of his personality and helped him to be a better politician. In 1981 he was elected President. He tried to make immediate effects on the country. He reduced taxes but offset this reduction by cutting government programs. The Economic Recovery Act of 1981 mandated a 25% cut on everyone’s income. In December 1982, unemployment was 10.8% of the labor force. -12 million people were out of work. Among minorities and teenagers it was 24 percent and 20 percent. The Labor Unions also had problems. They did not demand much money or strike because; there were so many people willing to take their jobs. The New Deal created agency that supervised union collective-bargaining elections, putting an effective damper on unionization. Union membership dropped sharply during the Reagan years because, Reagan forced the unions to modify their demands. He did this by making an example of the air traffic controllers, who went on strike despite this the president fired all 11,000 of them. Reagan made it clear also that he was going to make it tough for people who can work but select to live on welfare. He reduced many welfare programs. Because of this, the poor got poorer. After, this it was discovered that families with children were the poor. This sparked the issue of expensive social security. Reagan wanted to cut the social security because; he wanted more money for the government. This was dropped quickly because older voters became upset. Reagan was willing to reduce benefits but he would not relent on his military builds up. He wanted the American forces to be as strong as the Soviets. He proposed an increase in defense spending which eventually happened. The national deficit in 1984 was at 650 billion dollars. This was more then any President to that date. It was 60 billion dollars with Jimmy Carter (thirty-ninth President). Deregulation occurred and many big companies were broken up. AT&T was broken up because it was becoming a monopoly. Also many airline companies were being broke up. There was then a strong environment push by the American people. They were afraid of a bad environment. Reagan obliged to a clean up of toxic dumps and any other volatile areas. Reagan created an aggressive foreign policy. After the Soviets shot down a Korean passenger plane, Reagan stressed the situation between the two superpowers. He planted missiles on NATO land near the Soviet Union. He continued the arms race with the Soviets and he put in place the SDI. This was the Strategic Defense Initiative; it was to counter the Soviet nuclear threat using a laser from satellites onto missiles coming into the American zone. This would shift the advantage between both super powers to the Americans. Anti-American Muslims then challenged him. They planted bombs to kill and wound Americans in assemblies (in Islamic countries). Then they took American hostages in Lebanon. Reagan then was pressured by the people to do something to save them and he eventually did. The President had personal charm, a relaxed manner, and his good looks seemed to help him avoid all conflict by the American people. He was a good communicator and he persuaded people to his side of many situations