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Reagan Middle School. Special Education Advisory Committee. Pennington Traditional School » Middle School » Social Studies » Mr. Mancuso Social Studies. Here at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute, our education programs are dedicated to cultivating the next generation of citizen-leaders. Each year we work with thousands of teachers, and tens of thousands of students from across the country to help foster engaged and informed citizens.

Ronald Wilson Reagan served as the 40th President of the United States from Jan. 20, 1981 to Jan. 19, 1989. He won the Nov. 4, 1980 presidential election, beating Democratic incumbent Jimmy Carter with 50.7% of the votes, and won his second term by a landslide of 58.8% of the votes.

Reagan’s proponents point to his accomplishments, including stimulating economic growth in the US, strengthening its national defense, revitalizing the Republican Party, and ending the global Cold War as evidence of his good presidency.

His opponents contend that Reagan’s poor policies, such as bloating the national defense, drastically cutting social services, and making missiles-for-hostages deals, led the country into record deficits and global embarrassment. Read more background…

Pro & Con Arguments

Pro 1

Character:

Reagan’s charm, geniality, and ability to connect with average citizens as well as world leaders earned him the nickname “The Great Communicator.” Through his speeches and actions, Reagan restored the confidence of the American public in the office of the president. Decades after he left office, Reagan’s legacy remained strong with admirers wanting to add his portrait to Mount Rushmore and to US currency. [6]

Crime:

On Oct. 2 1982, Reagan launched a “War on Drugs” that helped reduce the high rate of casual drug use lingering from the 1970s. [7] He increased funding for the drug war from $1.5 billion in 1981 to $2.75 billion in 1986. [8] Reagan also signed eight major Executive Orders related to crime and justice as well as five major crime bills: Comprehensive Crime Control Act of 1984, Sentencing Reform Act of 1984, National Narcotics Leadership Act of 1984, Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986, and Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988. [9]

Defense:

Reagan strengthened the weak, ineffectual, and vulnerable military which Carter left behind. The Reagan administration funded research and development of weapons systems, including stealth technology and precision weaponry, later used in both Persian Gulf wars. Reagan’s largest peacetime defense buildup in history, which included larger training ranges and military pay increases, helped invigorate the American military from its Vietnam War-era despondency. [10]

Economy:

Reagan’s economic policies, such as a reduction in government spending and regulation and cuts in taxes, resulted in an unprecedented 92-month long economic boom, from Nov. 1982 to July 1990, with expansion and growth in the GDP (+36%), employment (+20 million jobs), and the Dow Jones Industrial Average (+15%). [11]

Education:

After “A Nation at Risk”, a negative report on the nation’s educational system, was released in Apr. 1983, President Reagan increased the budget for the Department of Education by $6 billion over the next three years.[12] During the Reagan Administration, state education aid increased 20%, or almost $35 billion and, in 1988, it comprised a nearly 50% slice of revenue from all sources for education. [13]

Environment:

Between 1982 and 1988, Reagan signed 43 bills designating more than 10 million acres of federal wilderness areas in 27 states. This acreage accounted for nearly 10% of the National Wilderness Preservation System at the time. Reagan had signed more wilderness bills than any other president since the Wilderness Act was enacted in 1964. [14]

Foreign Policy:

Reagan helped bring an end to the 46-year-old Cold War, through a combination of hostile, anti-communist rhetoric and a massive arms buildup followed by skillful diplomacy and disarmament. On Nov. 9, 1989, just over two years after his famous Brandenburg Gate speech, the Berlin Wall fell, marking the end of communism in Germany. [15] On Dec. 15, 1991, after four bilateral summits with Reagan, General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev dissolved the Soviet Union. [2][16]

Health:

On Apr. 7, 1986, Reagan signed the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA) into law. As of Sep. 30, 2010, COBRA is still in effect and gives some workers who lose their health benefits, for example in situations such as job loss or reduction in hours worked, the right to choose to continue health benefits provided by their employer’s group health plan. [17]

Labor:

When Reagan followed through on his Aug. 3, 1981 threat to fire 12,176 striking air traffic controllers (PATCO), he held the controllers to their signed affidavit stating that they would not “participate [in any strike] while an employee of the Government of the United States.” [18] Reagan brought in military air traffic controllers as replacements to ensure there was no disruption of a major public service. [19] His actions helped curtail future frivolous strikes as they plummeted from an average of 300 each year in the decades before the PATCO strike to fewer than 30 in 2006. [20]

Science/Technology:

Reagan was a big supporter of the National Aeronautics & Space Administration (NASA). In his 1984 State of the Union Address, Reagan announced plans for what came to be the International Space Station. [64] On Jan. 30, 1987, Reagan also announced that he planned to fund the building of the Superconducting Super Collider, a $4.5 billion dollar particle accelerator used for high energy physics research. [21][22]

Social Policy:

To “finally break the poverty trap,” as Reagan stated in his 1987 State of the Union Address, he signed the Family Support Act on Oct. 12, 1988. [5] The Act required states to establish and operate a Job Opportunities and Basic Skills program (JOBS) to assure needy families with children obtain the training and employment necessary to avoid long-term welfare. [23] Reagan also helped save Social Security by passing the Social Security Reform Act of 1983. It provided extra revenue dedicated to securing the solvent future of Social Security. [24]

Taxes:

Through massive tax cuts, Reagan helped restore an economy that had both high inflation and unemployment left over from the 1970s. As he brought taxation down from 70% to 28%, Reagan proved that reducing excessive tax rates stimulates growth, increases economic activity, and boosts tax revenues. Government revenues from income tax rose from $244 billion in 1980 to $446 billion in 1989. [25]

Other:

Reagan helped to reduce inefficiencies in the federal bureaucracy. When Reagan took office, it took seven weeks to get a Social Security card and 43 days to get a passport. By the time he left office, both could be had in 10 days. [26]

Character:

Reagan’s hands-off leadership style manifested into an inability to control his administration from potentially illegal activities, e.g. the “Iran-Contra” scandal. [27] His “troika,” the nickname given to Chief of Staff James Baker, Deputy Chief of Staff Michael Deaver, and Counselor Edwin Meese, made many of Reagan’s key administrative decisions for him. [28]

Crime:

In a Sep. 28, 1981 speech to the International Chiefs of Police, Reagan claimed that people who commit violent crimes “are not desperate people seeking bread for their families; crime is the way they’ve chosen to live.” [30] This attitude failed to address the stark realities underlying crime, namely the national culture of poverty and discrimination. Violent crime nationwide increased 21% from 1981-1989. [31] The “War on Drugs” wasted billions of dollars and escalated drug-related crime. [32][33]

Defense:

Reagan increased the defense budget for an unprecedented six consecutive years. This spending produced an unsustainable bubble in the defense industry that led to decades of restructuring. By the early 1990s the defense industry had too many factories and too many workers to support with its smaller budgets. For example, in the early 1980s there were 50 large defense suppliers to the US government. By 2004 there were five. [34][35]

Economy:

Reagan pledged during his 1980 campaign for president to balance the federal budget, but never submitted a balanced budget in his eight years in office. In 1981, the deficit was $79 billion and, in 1986, at the peak of his deficit spending, it stood at $221 billion. The federal debt was $994 billion when he took office in 1981 and grew to $2.9 trillion when his second term ended in 1989. [36] Reagan also added more trade barriers than any other president since Hoover in 1930. US imports that were subject to some form of trade restraint increased from 12% in 1980 to 23% in 1988. [37]

Education:

In his two terms in office, Reagan slashed federal aid to schools by more than $1 billion, and he cut the Department of Education budget by 19%. [4] One of Reagan’s campaign promises was to abolish the Department of Education, which he considered a “bureaucratic boondoggle.” After intermittent attempts to fulfill this promise, he gave up in 1983 due to lack of Congressional support. [38]

Environment:

As a president who said “trees cause more pollution than automobiles do,” Reagan issued leases for oil, gas, and coal development on tens of millions of acres of national lands. Reagan’s appointee to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Anne Gorsuch, tried to gut the 1972 Clean Water Act, cut EPA funding by 25%, and mismanaged a $1.6 billion program to clean up hazardous waste dumps. [39][40]

Foreign Policy:

Reagan broke his own vows not to make deals with terrorists or states that aided them. In the “Iran-Contra” scandal, Reagan’s administration bypassed congressional restrictions on aiding Nicaragua’s Contra guerilla fighters, in part by diverting money to them from the sale of missiles to Iran. [27] Reagan also initiated military involvement in Libya, Grenada, El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Lebanon. [6]

Health:

Reagan almost completely ignored the growing AIDS epidemic. Although the first case of AIDS was discovered in the early 1980s, Reagan never publicly addressed the epidemic until May 31, 1987 when he spoke at an AIDS conference in Washington, DC. By that time, 36,058 Americans had been diagnosed with the disease and 20,849 had died. [41]

Labor:

On Aug. 3, 1981, Reagan ordered 12,176 striking air traffic controllers (PATCO) back to their jobs, disregarding the workers’ complaints of stress, staff shortages, and outdated equipment. PATCO was one of the few unions that had endorsed Reagan in the 1980 election. Reagan repaid them by giving them only 48 hours to cancel the strike and banning them from federal service for life. The ban was not lifted until 1993 by President Bill Clinton. [42]

Science/Technology:

Reagan’s over-ambitious space-based laser strategic defensive system, the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) or “Star Wars,” proved to be too technically complex and expensive to complete. [26] From its inception in 1983 to its demise in 1993, the program cost taxpayers $33 billion dollars. [43]

Social Policy:

Reagan believed that widespread freeloading plagued welfare and social programs. As Reagan slashed spending in his first term on programs such as food stamps and subsidized housing, the poverty rate climbed from 12% to 15% and unemployment rose from 7% to 11%. [44]

Taxes:

Reagan’s “voodoo” economic policy, where tax cuts were believed to somehow generate tax revenues, failed to account for his administration’s excessive spending which increased from $591 billion in 1980 to $1.2 trillion in 1990. [45][46] Reagan both increased and cut taxes. In 1980, middle-income families with children paid 8.2% in income taxes and 9.5% in payroll taxes. By 1988 their income tax was down to 6.6%, but payroll tax was up to 11.8%, a combined increase in taxes. [24] Reagan pushed through Social Security tax increases of $165 billion over seven years. [47]

Other:

Reagan opposed many important civil rights measures that further alienated him and the Republican Party from African-Americans. On Mar. 16, 1988, Reagan vetoed the Civil Rights Restoration Act. He was opposed to extending provisions of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. He initially opposed making Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday a national holiday. He was also loyal to apartheid South Africa, considering that country a friend and ally. [2][48]

Did You Know?
1. When Ronald Reagan was first elected on Nov. 4, 1980 at the age of 69, he was the oldest man ever to be elected President of the United States. He broke his own record with his reelection on Nov. 6, 1984 at age 73. [1]
2. On Mar. 30, 1981, 69 days into Reagan's first term, John Hinckley, Jr. attempted to assassinate the President outside the Washington Hilton hotel. Reagan was shot under his left arm, the bullet lodging in his lung and stopping within an inch of his heart. [2]
3. Ronald Reagan appointed the first woman to the Supreme Court by nominating Sandra Day O'Connor to replace Justice Potter Stewart. O'Connor was confirmed by Congress on Sep. 21, 1981 by a vote of 99-0. [3]
4. In his two terms as President, Reagan cut the budgets of the Department of Housing and Urban Development (by 40%), the Department of Commerce (by 32%), the Department of Agriculture (by 24%), the Department of Education (by 19%), and the Department of Transportation (by 18%). He never cut the budgets for the Departments of Defense, Health and Human Services, Justice, or State. [4]
5. The federal debt was $994 billion when Reagan took office in 1981, and grew to $2.9 trillion when his second term ended in 1989. [36]

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Ronald Reagan

Presidency
- Foreign affairs

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Alternative Title: Ronald Wilson Reagan

Ronald Reagan, in full Ronald Wilson Reagan, (born February 6, 1911, Tampico, Illinois, U.S.—died June 5, 2004, Los Angeles, California), 40th president of the United States (1981–89), noted for his conservativeRepublicanism, his fervent anticommunism, and his appealing personal style, characterized by a jaunty affability and folksy charm. The only movie actor ever to become president, he had a remarkable skill as an orator that earned him the title “the Great Communicator.” His policies have been credited with contributing to the demise of Soviet communism.

When was Ronald Reagan born?

Ronald Reagan was born on February 6, 1911, in Tampico, Illinois.

When did Ronald Reagan die?

Ronald Reagan died on June 5, 2004, in Los Angeles, California.

Where did Ronald Reagan go to school?

Ronald Reagan attended Eureka College in Eureka, Illinois, where he played gridiron football and was active in the drama society but earned only passing grades. A popular student, he was elected class president in his senior year.

What was Ronald Reagan best known for?

Ronald Reagan rose to prominence initially as a film actor, appearing in more than 50 films, notably including Knute Rockne—All American (1940), Kings Row (1942), and The Hasty Heart (1950). Reagan later served as governor of California from 1967 to 1975, before being elected the 40th president of the United States in 1980.

How did Ronald Reagan change the world?

Ronald Reagan is largely credited with the demise of Sovietcommunism during the 1980s. As president, he worked to reduce the threat of war between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R., to convince Soviet leaders that cooperation with the U.S. would serve Soviet interests, and to encourage openness and democracy in the U.S.S.R.

Was Ronald Reagan a good president?

An assessment of Ronald Reagan’s legacy as U.S. president should take into account his administration’s domestic policies and its record in foreign affairs, including the Iran-Contra Affair. Brief summaries of Reagan’s accomplishments are available at ProCon.org.

Early life and acting career

Ronald Reagan was the second child of John Edward (“Jack”) Reagan, a struggling shoe salesman, and Nelle Wilson Reagan. Reagan’s nickname, “Dutch,” derived from his father’s habit of referring to his infant son as his “fat little Dutchman.” After several years of moving from town to town—made necessary in part because of Jack Reagan’s alcoholism, which made it difficult for him to hold a job—the family settled in Dixon, Illinois, in 1920. Despite their near poverty and his father’s drinking problem, Reagan later recalled his childhood in Dixon as the happiest period of his life. At Eureka College in Eureka, Illinois, Reagan played gridiron football and was active in the drama society but earned only passing grades. A popular student, he was elected class president in his senior year. Graduating in 1932 with a bachelor’s degree in economics and sociology, he decided to enter radio broadcasting. He landed a job as a sportscaster at station WOC in Davenport, Iowa, by delivering entirely from memory an exciting play-by-play description of a Eureka College football game. Later he moved to station WHO in Des Moines, where, as sportscaster “Dutch Reagan,” he became popular throughout the state for his broadcasts of Chicago Cubs baseball games. Because the station could not afford to send him to Wrigley Field in Chicago, Reagan was forced to improvise a running account of the games based on sketchy details delivered over a teletype machine.

In 1937 Reagan followed the Cubs to their spring training camp in southern California, a trip he undertook partly in order to try his hand at movie acting. After a successful screen test at Warner Brothers, he was soon typecast in a series of mostly B movies as a sincere, wholesome, easygoing “good guy.” (As many observers have noted, the characters that Reagan portrayed in the movies were remarkably like Reagan himself.) During the next 27 years, he appeared in more than 50 films, notably including Knute Rockne—All American (1940), Kings Row (1942), and The Hasty Heart (1950). In 1938, while filming Brother Rat, Reagan became engaged to his costar Jane Wyman, and the couple married in Hollywood two years later. They had a daughter, Maureen, in 1941 and adopted a son, Michael, a few days after his birth in 1945. Their marriage ended in divorce in 1948. Reagan was the first president to have been divorced.

Commissioned a cavalry officer at the outbreak of World War II, Reagan was assigned to an army film unit based in Los Angeles, where he spent the rest of the war making training films. Although he never left the country and never saw combat, he and Wyman cooperated with the efforts of Warner Brothers to portray him as a real soldier to the public, and in newsreels and magazine photos he acted out scenes of “going off to war” and “coming home on leave.” After leaving Hollywood, Reagan became known for occasionally telling stories about his past—including stories about his happiness at “coming back from the war”—that were actually based on fictional episodes in movies. Some of Reagan’s detractors pointed to such lapses to suggest that he lacked a basic interest in the truth and that he had trouble distinguishing between reality and fantasy.

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Reagan had absorbed the liberal Democratic opinions of his father and became a great admirer of Franklin Roosevelt after his election in 1932. Reagan’s father eventually found work as an administrator in a New Deal office established in the Dixon area, a fact that Reagan continued to appreciate even after his political opinion of Roosevelt had dramatically changed.

From 1947 to 1952 Reagan served as president of the union of movie actors, the Screen Actors Guild. He fought against communist infiltration in the guild, crossing picket lines to break the sometimes violent strikes. (Such violence and chaos were abhorrent to Reagan, and, when police and students clashed in Berkeley in May 1969, Reagan, as governor of California, called out the National Guard to restore order.) Much to the disgust of union members, he testified as a friendly witness before the House Un-American Activities Committee and cooperated in the blacklisting of actors, directors, and writers suspected of leftist sympathies. Although Reagan was still a Democrat at the time (he campaigned for Harry Truman in the presidential election of 1948), his political opinions were gradually growing more conservative. After initially supporting Democratic senatorial candidate Helen Douglas in 1950, he switched his allegiance to Republican Richard Nixon midway through the campaign. He supported Republican Dwight Eisenhower in the presidential elections of 1952 and 1956, and in 1960 he delivered 200 speeches in support of Nixon’s campaign for president against Democrat John F. Kennedy. He officially changed his party affiliation to Republican in 1962.

Reagan met Nancy Davis (Nancy Reagan), a relatively unknown actress, at a dinner party in 1949, and the two were married in a simple ceremony in 1952, at which actor William Holden was best man. The Reagans appeared together in the war movie Hell Cats of the Navy in 1957. Nancy Reagan’s conservative political views encouraged her husband’s drift to the right.

After his acting career began to decline in the 1950s, Reagan became the host of a television drama series, General Electric Theater, as well as spokesman for the General Electric Company. In the latter capacity he toured GE plants around the country, delivering inspirational speeches with a generally conservative, pro-business message. Eventually, however, his speeches became too controversial for the company’s taste, and he was fired as both spokesman and television host in 1962.

Quick Facts

born: February 6, 1911
Tampico, Illinois

died: June 5, 2004 (aged 93)
Los Angeles, California

title / office

presidency of the United States of America, United States (1981-1989)
governor, California (1967-1975)

political affiliation

role in

notable family members

spouse Jane Wyman
spouse Nancy Reagan

related facts and data

did you know?

The second time he was elected president Reagan won 525 of the 538 electoral votes, which is the largest number ever won by a candidate.
Ronald Reagan submitted the first request for a trillion-dollar budget during his presidency, in 1987.
Ronald Reagan was nicknamed 'The Great Communicator'.
Ronald Reagan gave his first policy speech regarding AIDS in 1987 after the death of a friend from HIV/AIDS, about 7 years and 20,000 deaths into the AIDS crisis.