Everything about Ronald Reagan totally explained
Ronald Wilson Reagan (
February 6 1911 –
June 5 2004) was the fortieth
President of the United States (1981–1989) and the thirty-third
Governor of California (1967–1975). Born in
Illinois, Reagan moved to
Los Angeles, California in the 1930s, where he became an
actor, president of the
Screen Actors Guild (SAG), and a spokesman for
General Electric (GE). His start in politics occurred during his work for GE; originally a member of the
Democratic Party, he switched to the
Republican Party in 1962. After delivering
a rousing speech in support of
Barry Goldwater's
presidential candidacy in 1964, he was persuaded to seek the California governorship, winning
two years later and
again in 1970. He was defeated in his run for the
Republican presidential nomination in 1968 as well as
1976, but won both the nomination and election in
1980.
As president, Reagan implemented new political initiatives as well as economic policies, advocating a
limited government and economic
laissez-faire philosophy, but the extent to which these ideas were implemented is debatable. The
supply side economic policies, dubbed "
Reaganomics", included
substantial tax cuts implemented in 1981. After surviving an
assassination attempt and ordering
controversial military actions in
Grenada, he was
re-elected in a landslide victory in 1984.
Reagan's second term was marked by the ending of the
Cold War, as well as a number of
administration scandals, notably the
Iran-Contra Affair. The president ordered a massive military buildup in an arms race with the
Soviet Union, forgoing the previous strategy of
détente. He publicly portrayed the USSR as an "
evil empire" and
supported anti-Communist movements worldwide. Despite his rejection of détente, he negotiated with
Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev to shrink both countries' nuclear arsenals. Reagan left office in 1989; in 1994 the former president
disclosed that he'd been diagnosed with
Alzheimer's disease. He
died ten years later at the age of ninety-three, and ranks
highly among former U.S. presidents in terms of approval rating.
Early life
Ronald Reagan was born in an
apartment above the
local bank building in
Tampico,
Illinois on
February 6,
1911 to John "Jack" Reagan and
Nelle Wilson Reagan. the nickname stuck with Ronald throughout his youth. After his election as president, residing in the upstairs White House private quarters, Reagan would quip that he was "living above the store again".
According to
Paul Kengor, author of
God and Ronald Reagan, Reagan had a particularly strong faith in the goodness of people, which stemmed from the optimistic faith of his mother, Nelle, and the
Disciples of Christ faith, For the time, Reagan was unusual in his opposition to racial discrimination, and recalled a time in
Dixon when the local inn wouldn't allow black people to stay there. Reagan brought them back to his house, where his mother invited them to stay the night and have breakfast the next morning.
Following the closure of the Pitney Store in late 1920, the Reagans moved to Dixon; the midwestern "small universe" had a lasting impression on Ronald. He attended
Dixon High School, where he developed interests in acting, sports, and storytelling. After high school, Reagan attended
Eureka College, where he was a member of the
Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity, majored in economics and sociology, and was very active in sports.
Entertainment career
Radio and film
After graduating from Eureka in 1932, Reagan worked at radio stations
WOC in
Davenport, Iowa, and
WHO in
Des Moines as an announcer for
Chicago Cubs baseball games. While traveling with the Cubs in California, Reagan took a screen test in 1937 that led to a seven-year contract with
Warner Brothers studios. His first screen credit was the starring role in the 1937 movie
Love Is on the Air, and by the end of 1939 he'd already appeared in 19 films. Before the film
Santa Fe Trail in 1940, he played the role of
George "The Gipper" Gipp in the film
Knute Rockne, All American; from it, he acquired the lifelong nickname "the Gipper". Reagan's favorite acting role was in 1942's
Kings Row, but his performance didn't meet with universal approval: one reviewer felt that Reagan had made "only casual acquaintance with the [character]". Reagan also acted in
Tennessee's Partner,
Hellcats of the Navy,
This Is the Army,
Dark Victory,
Bedtime for Bonzo,
Cattle Queen of Montana, and
The Killers (his final film) in a 1964 remake.
Military service
After completing fourteen home-study Army Extension Courses, Reagan enlisted in the Army Enlisted Reserve on
April 29 1937, as a private assigned to Troop B, 322nd
Cavalry at
Des Moines, Iowa.
Reagan was ordered to active duty for the first time on
April 18 1942. Due to his nearsightedness, he was classified for limited service only, which excluded him from serving overseas. His first assignment was at the San Francisco Port of Embarkation at
Fort Mason, California, as a liaison officer of the Port and Transportation Office. On
January 14 1943 he was promoted to First Lieutenant and was sent to the Provisional Task Force Show Unit of
This Is The Army at
Burbank, California. He returned to
Fort MacArthur, California, where he was separated from active duty on
December 9 1945.
Television and SAG president
Reagan landed fewer film roles in the late 1950s and moved to television as the host of
General Electric Theater, earning approximately $125,000 per year (About $1,000,000 in 2008 dollars), until he was fired by General Electric in 1962. His final work as a professional actor was as host and performer from 1964 to 1965 on the television series
Death Valley Days. The adoption of conflict-of-interest bylaws in 1947 led the SAG president and six board members to resign; Reagan was nominated in a special election for the position of president and subsequently elected. Strongly opposed to communism, he reaffirmed his commitment to democratic principles, stating, "As a citizen, I'd hesitate to see any political party outlawed on the basis of its political ideology. However, if it's proven that an organization is an agent of foreign power, or in any way not a legitimate political party—and I think the government is capable of proving that—then that's another matter... But at the same time I never as a citizen want to see our country become urged, by either fear or resentment of this group, that we ever compromise with any of our democratic principles through that fear or resentment." and married on
January 26 1940, at the
Wee Kirk o' the Heather church in
Glendale, California. Together they'd two children,
Maureen (1941–2001) and Christine (born and died
June 26 1947), and adopted a third,
Michael (born 1945). Reagan and Wyman divorced on
June 28 1948 (finalized in 1949) following arguments about Reagan's political ambitions,
Nancy Davis
Reagan met actress
Nancy Davis (born 1921) in 1949 after she contacted him in his capacity as president of the Screen Actors Guild to help her with issues regarding her name appearing on a communist blacklist in Hollywood (she had been mistaken for another Nancy Davis). She described their meeting by saying, "I don't know if it was exactly love at first sight, but it was pretty close." They had two children:
Patti (born 1952) and
Ron (born 1958).
Observers described the Reagans' relationship as close, real, and intimate. During his presidency they were reported as frequently displaying their affection for one another; one press secretary said, "They never took each other for granted. They never stopped courting." He once wrote to her, "whatever I treasure and enjoy... all would be without meaning if I didn’t have you." When he was in the hospital after the assassination attempt in 1981, she slept with one of his shirts to be comforted by his scent. In
a letter to U.S. citizens written in 1994, Reagan wrote "I have recently been told that I'm one of the millions of Americans who will be afflicted with
Alzheimer's disease... I only wish there was some way I could spare Nancy from this painful experience,"
Early political career
A registered
Democrat and admirer of
Franklin D. Roosevelt, Reagan supported the
New Deal before shifting rightwards out of a desire for a more limited federal government, endorsing the presidential candidacies of
Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1952 and 1956 as well as
Richard Nixon in 1960. Following the election of
John F. Kennedy, Reagan formally switched to the
Republican Party in 1962, saying "I didn't leave the Democratic Party. The party left me."
Two years after switching parties, Reagan joined the campaign of conservative presidential contender
Barry Goldwater. Speaking on Goldwater's behalf, Reagan revealed his ideological motivation in a famed speech given on
October 27,
1964: "The
Founding Fathers knew a government can't control the economy without controlling people. And they knew when a government sets out to do that, it must use force and coercion to achieve its purpose. So we've come to a time for choosing." The address soon became known as the "
Time for Choosing" speech, and is considered the event that launched Reagan's political career.
Governor of California, 1967–1975
California Republicans were impressed with Reagan's political views and charisma after his "Time for Choosing" speech, and nominated him for
Governor of California in 1966. In Reagan's campaign, he emphasized two main themes: "to send the welfare bums back to work", and in reference to burgeoning anti-war and anti-establishment
student protests at the
University of California at Berkeley, "to clean up the mess at Berkeley". He was elected, defeating two-term governor
Edmund G. "Pat" Brown, and was sworn in on
January 3 1967. In his first term, he froze government hiring and approved tax hikes to balance the budget.
Shortly after the beginning of his term, Reagan tested the
presidential waters in 1968 as part of a "Stop Nixon" movement, hoping to cut into Nixon's Southern support and be a compromise candidate if neither Nixon nor second-place
Nelson Rockefeller received enough delegates to win on the first ballot at the
Republican convention. However, by the time of the convention Nixon had 692 delegate votes, 25 more than he needed to secure the nomination, followed by Rockefeller with Reagan in third place. Reagan then called out 2,200
state National Guard troops to occupy the city of Berkeley for two weeks in order to crack down on the protesters.
Early in 1967, the national debate on abortion was beginning. Democratic California state senator
Anthony Beilenson introduced the "Therapeutic Abortion Act", in an effort to reduce the number of "back-room abortions" performed in California. About two million abortions would be performed as a result, most because of a provision in the bill allowing abortions for the well-being of the mother.
Reagan was re-elected in 1970, defeating "Big Daddy"
Jesse Unruh, but chose not to seek a third term. One of Reagan's greatest frustrations in office concerned
capital punishment, which he strongly supported.
Reagan's terms as governor helped to shape the policies he'd pursue in his later political career as president. By campaigning on a platform of sending "the welfare bums back to work", he spoke out against the idea of the welfare state. He also strongly advocated the Republican ideal of less government regulation of the economy, including that of undue federal taxation.
1976 presidential campaign
In 1976, Reagan challenged incumbent President
Gerald Ford in a bid to become the Republican Party's candidate for president. Reagan soon established himself as the conservative candidate with the support of like-minded organizations such as the
American Conservative Union which became key components of his political base, while President Ford was considered a more moderate Republican.
Reagan's campaign relied on a strategy crafted by campaign manager
John Sears of winning a few primaries early to seriously damage the lift-off of Ford's campaign, such as his victories in North Carolina, Texas, and California, but the strategy disintegrated. Reagan ended up losing New Hampshire and later Florida.
As the party's
1976 convention in
Kansas City, Missouri neared, Ford appeared close to victory. Acknowledging his party's moderate wing, Reagan chose moderate Republican Senator
Richard Schweiker of
Pennsylvania as his
running mate. Nonetheless, Ford narrowly won, with 1,187 delegates to Reagan's 1,070. in which Ford lost to the Democratic challenger
Jimmy Carter.
1980 presidential campaign
The 1980 presidential campaign between Reagan and incumbent President
Jimmy Carter was conducted during domestic concerns as well as the ongoing
Iran hostage crisis. His campaign stressed some of his fundamental principles: lower taxes to stimulate the economy, less government interference in peoples' lives,
states' rights, and a strong national defense.
Republicans captured the Senate for the first time since 1952, and
gained 34 House seats, but the Democrats retained a majority.
Presidency, 1981–1989
During his Presidency, Ronald Reagan pursued policies that reflected his personal belief in individual freedom, brought changes domestically, both to the
U.S. economy and expanded military, and contributed to the end of the
Cold War. The "Reagan Revolution", proponents claimed, would reinvigorate American morale, and reduce the people's reliance upon government. The Reagan administration systematically attempted to purge tens of thousands of people
from the Social Security disability roles.
First term, 1981–1985
In his
first inaugural address on
January 20,
1981, which Reagan himself wrote, he addressed the country's economic malaise arguing: "Government isn't the solution to our problems; government is the problem." To date, Reagan is the oldest man elected to the office of the presidency.
The Reagan Presidency began in a dramatic manner: as Reagan was giving his inaugural address,
52 U.S. hostages, held by Iran for 444 days were set free.
Assassination attempt
On
March 30,
1981, Reagan, his press secretary
James Brady, and two others were struck by gunfire from a would-be assassin,
John Hinckley, Jr. Missing Reagan’s heart by less than one inch the bullet instead pierced his left lung, causing it to collapse. Though they were not, Dr. Joseph Giordano replied, "Today, Mr. President, we're all Republicans," and when Nancy Reagan came to see him he famously told her, "Honey, I forgot to duck" (using defeated boxer
Jack Dempsey's quip).
Air traffic controllers' strike
Only a short time into his administration
Federal air traffic controllers went on strike, violating a regulation prohibiting government unions from striking. Declaring the situation an emergency as described in the 1947
Taft Hartley Act, Reagan held a press conference in the
White House Rose Garden, where he stated that if the air traffic controllers "do not report for work within 48 hours, they've forfeited their jobs and will be terminated". Despite fear from some members of his cabinet over a potential political backlash, on August 5, Reagan fired 11,345 striking air traffic controllers who had ignored his order to return to work,
busting the union. According to Charles Craver, a labor law professor at George Washington University Law School, the move gave Americans a new view of Reagan, who "sent a message to the private employer community that it would be all right to go up against the unions." and
unemployment at 7.5%. Reagan implemented policies based on
supply-side economics and advocated a
laissez-faire philosophy. seeking to stimulate the economy with large, across-the-board
tax cuts. Reaganomics was the subject of debate with supporters pointing to improvements in certain key economic indicators as evidence of success, and critics pointing to large increases in federal budget deficits and the national debt. His policy of "
peace through strength" (also described as "firm but fair") resulted in a record peacetime defense buildup including a 40% real increase in defense spending between 1981 and 1985.
During Reagan's presidency federal
income tax rates were lowered significantly, although
FICA payroll tax rates increased to maintain
Social Security funding. Real
gross domestic product (GDP) growth recovered strongly after the 1982 recession and grew during his eight years in office at an annual rate of 3.4% per year. Unemployment peaked at 10.8% percent in December 1982—higher than any time since the Great Depression then dropped during the rest of Reagan's presidency. The net effect of all Reagan-era tax bills was a 1% decrease in government revenues.
The policies proposed that economic growth would occur when marginal tax rates were low enough to spur investment, which would then lead to increased economic growth, higher employment and wages. Critics labeled this "
trickle-down economics"—the belief that tax policies that benefit the wealthy will create a "trickle-down" effect to the poor. Questions arose of whether Reagan's policies benefitted the wealthy more than those living in poverty, and Reagan was seen as indifferent to many poor and minority citizens. It is also suggested, by a minority of Reaganomics critics, that the policies partially influenced the
stock market crash of 1987, but there's no consensus regarding a single source for the crash. In accordance with Reagan's less-government intervention views, his administration purged many people from the Social Security disability roles. In order to cover newly-spawned federal budget deficits, the
United States borrowed heavily both domestically and abroad, raising the
national debt from $700 billion to $3 trillion. Reagan described the new debt as the "greatest disappointment" of his presidency.
Judiciary
During his 1980 campaign, Reagan pledged that, if given the opportunity, he'd 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.
In 1987 when Associate Justice
Louis Powell retired, Reagan nominated conservative jurist
Robert Bork to the high court. Within 45 minutes of Bork's nomination, Senator
Ted Kennedy, a Democrat of
Massachusetts, strongly condemned Bork, declaring, "Robert Bork's America is a land in which women would be forced into back-alley abortions" and "blacks would sit at segregated lunch counters".
The comments stunned the Reagan White House; though conservatives considered Kennedy's accusations slanderous smears, the attacks went unanswered for two and a half months. Bork's nomination was rejected 58-42;
Anthony Kennedy was eventually confirmed in his place.
Reagan appointed many leading conservative academics to the intermediate United States Courts of Appeals, including Bork,
Ralph K. Winter, Jr.,
Richard Posner, and
Frank Easterbrook.
Lebanon and Grenada, 1983
American peacekeeping forces in
Beirut, a part of
a multinational force (MNF) during the
Lebanese Civil War who had been earlier deployed by Reagan, were attacked on
October 23 1983. The
Beirut barracks bombing, in which 241 American servicemen were killed by suicide bombers, was the deadliest single-day death toll for the United States Marine Corps since the
Battle of Iwo Jima, and the deadliest single-day death toll for the United States military since the first day of the
Tet offensive. Reagan called the attack "despicable", pledged to keep a military force in Lebanon, and planned to target the Sheik Abdullah barracks in
Baalbek, Lebanon, which housed
Iranian Revolutionary Guards believed to be training
Hezbollah fighters, but the mission was later aborted by Defense Secretary
Caspar Weinberger. On
February 7 1984, President Reagan ordered the Marines to begin withdrawal from Lebanon.
On
October 25,
1983, only two days later, U.S. forces invaded
Grenada, where a 1979
coup d'état had established a
Marxist-Leninist government aligned with the Soviet Union and Cuba. On
October 13 1983, a faction led by Deputy Prime Minister
Bernard Coard seized power. A formal appeal from the
Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) led to the intervention of U.S. forces; President Reagan also cited the regional threat posed by a Soviet-Cuban military build-up in the Caribbean and concern for the safety of several hundred American medical students at St. George's University as adequate reasons to invade. In the first major operation conducted by the U.S. military since the
Vietnam War, troops invaded and several days of fighting commenced, leading to a U.S. victory, with 19 American fatalities and 116 wounded American soldiers. In mid-December, after a new government was appointed by the Governor-General, U.S. forces withdrew.
Reagan's opponent in the
1984 presidential election was former Vice President
Walter Mondale. With questions about Reagan's age, and a weak performance in the first presidential debate, many wondered if he was up to the task of being president for another term. Reagan rebounded in the second debate, and confronted questions about his age, stating, "I won't make age an issue of this campaign. I'm not going to exploit, for political purposes, my opponent's youth and inexperience," which generated applause and laughter from members of the audience, and even from Mondale himself.
In the
1984 presidential election, Reagan was re-elected, winning 49 of 50 states. and received 58.8% of the popular vote to Mondale's 40.6%.
Second term, 1985–1989
Reagan was sworn in as president for the second time on
January 20,
1985, in a private ceremony at the
White House. The public ceremony took place in the
Capitol Rotunda the next day, because
January 20 fell on a Sunday, thus no public celebration was held.
January 21 was one of the coldest days on record in
Washington, D.C., and due to the low temperatures and large snowfall the night before, inaugural celebrations were held inside the Capitol.
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. At the time, the president was 76 years old.
In 1985, Reagan visited a
German military cemetery in
Bitburg to lay a wreath with West German Chancellor
Helmut Kohl. It was determined that the cemetery held the graves of 49 members of the
Waffen-SS. Reagan issued a statement that called the Nazi soldiers buried in that cemetery "victims", which ignited a stir over whether Reagan had equated the SS men to
Holocaust victims;
Pat Buchanan, Director of Communications under Reagan, argued that the notion was false. Now strongly urged to cancel the visit, the president responded that it would be wrong to back down on a promise he'd made to Chancellor Kohl. He attended the ceremony where two military generals laid a wreath.
The Reagan administration was criticized for its slow response to the growing
HIV-
AIDS epidemic. As thousands became infected with the virus, President Reagan didn't increase funding to try and discover cures, rather he downplayed the situation and only acknowledged that it was an issue of concern at the
May 31,
1987 Third International Conference on AIDS in Washington.
On
October 27,
1986, Reagan signed a drug enforcement bill that budgeted $1.7 billion dollars to fund the War on Drugs and specified a mandatory minimum penalty for drug offenses. The bill was criticized for promoting significant racial disparities in the prison population, because of the differences in sentencing for
crack and powder
cocaine. Defenders of the effort point to success in reducing rates of adolescent drug use.
First Lady Nancy Reagan made the War on Drugs one of her main priorities by founding the "
Just Say No" drug awareness campaign, which aimed to discourage children and teenagers from engaging in
recreational drug use by offering various ways of saying "no". Mrs. Reagan traveled to 65 cities in 33 states, raising awareness about the dangers of drugs and alcohol.
Challenger disaster
The disintegration of the
Space Shuttle Challenger on
January 28,
1986 proved a pivotal moment in Reagan's presidency. The shuttle had left
Kennedy Space Center in
Florida at 11:38
EST, and disintegrated 73 seconds after lift off. All seven
astronauts aboard, including
Christa McAuliffe, the first teacher in space, were killed.}}
Historians and commentators largely lauded Reagan's speech;
Libya bombing
Relationships between
Libya and the United States under President Reagan were continually contentious, beginning with the
Gulf of Sidra incident in 1981. These tensions were later revived in early April 1986, when a bomb exploded in a Berlin discotheque, resulting in the injuries of 63 American military personnel and one death of a serviceman. The attack was designed to halt Libyan leader
Muammar Gaddafi’s ability to export terrorism, offering him "incentives and reasons to alter his criminal behavior."
Immigration
In 1986, Reagan signed the
Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA). The act made it illegal to knowingly hire or recruit
illegal immigrants, required employers to attest to their employees' immigration status, and granted
amnesty to approximately 3 million illegal immigrants who entered the United States prior to
January 1,
1982 and had lived in the country continuously. Critics of the act claim that its laws subjecting employers to sanctions were without teeth and that it failed to stem illegal immigration. Upon signing the act at a ceremony held beside the newly refurbished
Statue of Liberty, Reagan said, "The legalization provisions in this act will go far to improve the lives of a class of individuals who now must hide in the shadows, without access to many of the benefits of a free and open society. Very soon many of these men and women will be able to step into the sunlight and, ultimately, if they choose, they may become Americans."
Iran-Contra Affair
In 1986, a scandal shook the administration stemming from the use of proceeds from covert arms sales to
Iran to fund
Contra insurgents in
Nicaragua, which had been specifically outlawed by an act of Congress. The
Iran-Contra affair became the largest
political scandal in the United States during the 1980s. The International Court of Justice, whose jurisdiction to decide the case was disputed, ruled that the U.S. had violated international law in Nicaragua due to its obligations not to intervene in the affairs of other states.
President Reagan professed ignorance of the plot's existence. He appointed two Republicans and one Democrat (
John Tower,
Brent Scowcroft and
Edmund Muskie, known as the "Tower Commission") to investigate the scandal. The commission couldn't find direct evidence that Reagan had prior knowledge of the program, but criticized him heavily for his disengagement from managing his staff, making the diversion of funds possible. A separate report by Congress concluded that "If the president didn't know what his national security advisers were doing, he should have." The scandal resulted in fourteen indictments within Reagan's staff, and eleven convictions.
Many Central Americans criticize Reagan for his support of the Contras, saying he was an anti-communist zealot, blinded to human rights abuses, while many others say he "saved Central America".
Daniel Ortega,
Sandinistan president of
Nicaragua from 1979 to 1990, said that he hoped God would forgive Reagan for his "dirty war against Nicaragua". Reagan ordered a massive buildup of the
United States Military In response to Soviet deployment of the
SS-20, Reagan oversaw
NATO's deployment of the
Pershing II missile in West Germany.
One of Reagan's more controversial proposals was the
Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), a defense project Reagan believed that this defense shield could make nuclear war impossible, but disbelief that the technology could ever work led opponents to dub SDI "Star Wars" and argue that the technological objective was unattainable. For those reasons,
David Gergen, former aide to President Reagan, believes that in retrospect, SDI hastened the end of the Cold War.
In a famous address on
June 8,
1982 to the
British Parliament, Reagan called the Soviet Union an "
Evil Empire" that would be consigned to the "ash heap of history". On
March 3,
1983, he predicted that communism would collapse, stating, "communism is another sad, bizarre chapter in human history whose last pages even now are being written." After Soviet fighters downed
Korean Air Lines Flight 007 on
September 1,
1983, Reagan labeled the act a "massacre" and declared that the Soviets had turned "against the world and the moral precepts which guide human relations among people everywhere." The Reagan administration responded to the incident by suspending all Soviet passenger air service to the United States, and dropped several agreements being negotiated with the Soviets, hurting them financially. These events occurred before a reformer,
Mikhail Gorbachev, rose to power in the Soviet Union in 1985. To confront the USSR's serious economic problems, Gorbachev implemented new policies for openness and reform:
glasnost and
perestroika.
Reagan displayed humor throughout his presidency, including one notable joke regarding the Cold War. As a sound check prior to his weekly
radio address in August 1984, Reagan made the following gaffe as a way to test the microphone: "My fellow Americans, I'm pleased to tell you today that I've signed legislation that will outlaw Russia forever. We begin bombing in five minutes."
End of the Cold War
By the early 1980s, the USSR had built up a military arsenal and army surpassing that of the United States. Previously, the U.S. had relied on the qualitative superiority of its weapons to essentially frighten the Soviets, but the gap had been narrowed. After President Reagan's military buildup, the Soviet Union didn't further dramatically build up its military; the enormous military expenses, in combination with
collectivized agriculture and inefficient
planned manufacturing, were a heavy burden for the
Soviet economy. which resulted in a three times drop of oil prices in 1985; oil was the main source of Soviet export revenues.
Ronald Reagan recognized the change in the direction of the Soviet leadership with Gorbachev, and shifted to diplomacy, with a view to encourage the Soviet Leader to pursue substantial arms agreements. 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 allow for more democracy and free speech, this would lead to reform and the end of Communism.
Speaking at the
Berlin Wall, on
June 12,
1987, Reagan :
Prior to Gorbachev visiting Washington, D.C. for the third summit in 1987, the Soviet Leader announced his intention to pursue significant arms agreements. The timing of the announcement led Western diplomats to state that Gorbachev was offering major concessions to the United States on the levels of conventional forces, nuclear weapons, and policy in Eastern Europe;
When Reagan visited Moscow for the fourth summit in 1988, 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." At Gorbachev’s request, Reagan gave a speech on free markets at the
Moscow State University.
In his autobiography
An American Life, Reagan expressed his optimism about the new direction that they charted, his warm feelings for Gorbachev, and his concern for Gorbachev's safety because he 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?" The Berlin Wall was
torn down starting in 1989 and two years later the Soviet Union collapsed.
Post-presidential years, 1989–2004
For the first five years after the end of Reagan's presidency in 1989, the Reagans traveled from their
Bel Air home to the
Reagan Ranch in
Santa Barbara every few months. They regularly attended
Bel Air Presbyterian Church and occasionally made appearances on behalf of the Republican Party, including a well-received speech at the
1992 Republican National Convention. Previously that same year, the former president established the
Ronald Reagan Freedom Award with the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation; He continued to publicly speak in favor of a
line-item veto, a
constitutional amendment requiring a
balanced budget, and the repeal of 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., and his last major public appearance was at the funeral of fellow Republican President
Richard Nixon on
April 27,
1994.
Presidential Library and Museum
On
November 4,
1991, the
Ronald Reagan Presidential Library was dedicated and opened to the public. At the dedication ceremonies, five presidents were all in attendance, as well as six first ladies, marking the first time five presidents were in the same location together. The library is the largest of the presidential libraries; notable exhibits include ones on the Reagan's ranch, a full-scale replica of the Oval Office, the limousine that President and Mrs. Reagan used while in the White House, and the actual Boeing 707,
Air Force One, that served President Reagan during his eight years in office. On
June 11,
2004, after a
state funeral in Washington, D.C., President Reagan was interred on the property, and on
May 3,
2007, the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation hosted the first 2008 Republican presidential candidates debate at the Library, with Mrs. Reagan in attendance.
Alzheimer's disease
In July 1989, the Reagans took a trip to
Mexico, where Reagan was thrown off a horse and taken to a hospital for tests. The Reagans returned to the U.S. and visited the
Mayo Clinic where they were told President Reagan had a head concussion and a
subdural hematoma, and was subsequently operated on. writing, "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."
After his diagnosis, there was considerable speculation over whether Reagan had demonstrated symptoms of mental degeneration while in office. Former
CBS White House Press Corps Lesley Stahl recalls in her book
Reporting Live, an "unsettling" interview with the president where "a vacant Reagan barely seemed to realize anyone else was in the room", and that before he "reemerged into alertness" she recalls that "I had come
that close to reporting that Reagan was senile." Reagan would also encounter occasional difficulty recalling names and titles, notably while meeting with
Japanese Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone wherein he repeatedly referred to his Vice President as "Prime Minister Bush." Reagan's doctors, however, note that he only began exhibiting overt symptoms of the illness in late 1992, several years after he'd left office. His former staff also defended him; Chief of Staff
James Baker considered "ludicrous" the idea of Reagan sleeping during cabinet meetings.
As the years went on, the disease slowly destroyed his mental capacity and his family decided that he'd live in quiet isolation. On
February 6,
2001, Reagan reached the age of 90, becoming the third former president to do so (the other two being
John Adams and
Herbert Hoover). Reagan's public appearances became much less frequent with the progression of the disease. Nancy Reagan told CNN's
Larry King that very few visitors were allowed to see her husband because she felt that "Ronnie would want people to remember him as he was." Since his diagnosis and death, Mrs. Reagan has become a
stem-cell research advocate, urging
Congress and President
George W. Bush to support federal funding for embryonic stem-cell research, something President Bush opposes. Mrs. Reagan has said that she believes that it could lead to a cure for Alzheimer's.
Death
Reagan died at his home in Bel-Air, California on
June 5,
2004. President
George W. Bush declared
June 11 a
National Day of Mourning, and came in from around the world. Reagan's body was taken to the Kingsley and Gates Funeral Home in Santa Monica, California later in the day, where well-wishers paid tribute by laying flowers and American flags in the grass. On
June 7, his body was removed and taken to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, where a brief family funeral service was held. His body lay in repose in the Library lobby until
June 9; over 100,000 people viewed the coffin.
On June 9, Reagan's body was flown to Washington D.C. where he became the tenth United States president to
lie in state. In the thirty-four hours that it lay there, 104,684 people filed past the coffin.
On June 11, a
state funeral was conducted in the
Washington National Cathedral, and presided over by President George W. Bush. Eulogies were given by former British Prime Minister
Margaret Thatcher, former Canadian Prime Minister
Brian Mulroney, and both Presidents Bush. Also in attendance were
Mikhail Gorbachev, and many world leaders, including British Prime Minister
Tony Blair, German Chancellor
Gerhard Schröder, Italian Prime Minister
Silvio Berlusconi, and interim presidents
Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan, and
Ghazi al-Yawer of Iraq.
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 Reagan was interred. He is the second longest-lived president in U.S. history and was the first United States president to die in the 21st century. His was the first state funeral in the United States since that of President
Lyndon B. Johnson in 1973.
His burial site is inscribed with the words he delivered at the opening of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library:
Legacy
Reagan's legacy is mixed, with supporters pointing to a more efficient and prosperous economy and a peaceful end to the Cold War. Critics argue that his economic policies caused huge budget deficits, quadrupling the United States national debt,
Edwin Feulner, Ph.D., President of the
Heritage Foundation, said that Reagan "helped create a safer, freer world" and said of his economic policies: "He took an America suffering from 'malaise'... and made its citizens believe again in their destiny." However,
Mark Weisbrot, co-Director of the
Center for Economic and Policy Research, said that Reagan's "economic policies were mostly a failure", and Howard Kurtz of
The Washington Post stated that Reagan was "a far more controversial figure in his time than the largely gushing obits on television would suggest".
Cold War
The Cold War was a major political and economic endeavor for over four decades, but the confrontation and depleted relations between the two superpowers decreased dramatically by the end of Reagan's presidency. The significance of Reagan's role in
ending the Cold War has spurred contentious and opinionated debate. That Reagan had some role in contributing to the downfall of the Soviet Union is collectively agreed, but the extent of this role is continuously debated,
He was notable amongst post-World War II presidents as being convinced that the Soviet Union could be defeated rather than simply negotiated with, but labeled him as "a
hawk" in the 1980s. Margaret Thatcher, former
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, said of Reagan, "he warned that the Soviet Union had an insatiable drive for military power... but he also sensed it was being eaten away by systemic failures impossible to reform." She later stated, "Ronald Reagan had a higher claim than any other leader to have won the Cold War for liberty and he did it without a shot being fired." Said
Brian Mulroney, former
Prime Minister of Canada: "He enters history as a strong and dramatic player [inthe Cold War]." Former
President Lech Wałęsa of
Poland acknowledged, "Reagan was one of the world leaders who made a major contribution to communism's collapse."
Republican party
Since leaving office, Reagan has become an iconic influence within the Republican party. His policies and beliefs have been frequently invoked by
Republican presidential candidates following his presidency. The
2008 Republican presidential candidates were no exception, for they frequently aimed to liken themselves to him during the primary debates, even imitating his campaign stategies; His daughter Patti Davis quipped, "Where is
Lloyd Bentsen when you need him? 'I knew Ronald Reagan... senator (or governor), you're no Ronald Reagan.'"
Popularity
Reagan didn't have the highest approval ratings as president, but his popularity has increased since 1989. A
Gallup Organization February 2001 poll asked respondents to name the greatest president in U.S. history; Reagan came in first, capturing 18% of the vote. In February 2007, another Gallup poll ranked him as number two with 16% of the vote after
Abraham Lincoln. He ranked third with a 72% approval rating in a
Rasmussen Reports July 2007 poll on presidents who served after
World War II, fifth in an ABC 2000 poll of the public, and ninth in another Rasmussen 2007 poll of Americans. In a
Siena College survey of over 200 historians, however, Reagan ranked sixteenth out of 42.
Reagan's ability to connect with the American people earned him the laudatory moniker "The Great Communicator." Of it, Reagan said "I won the nickname the great communicator. But I never thought it was my style that made a difference — it was the content. I wasn't a great communicator, but I communicated great things." Reagan earned the nickname "the Teflon President" as well, which meant that public perceptions of him were not tarnished by the negative aspects of his administration. According to Congresswoman
Patricia Schroeder and reporter
Howard Kurtz, the epithet referred to Reagan's ability to "do almost anything [wrong]
Reagan received an
honorary British knighthood,
The Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath in 1989. This entitled him to the use of the post-nominal letters GCB, but didn't entitle him to be known as "Sir Ronald Reagan." Only two American presidents have received the honor—Reagan and George H.W. Bush. Reagan was also named an honorary Fellow of
Keble College, Oxford. Japan awarded him the
Grand Cordon of the Order of the Chrysanthemum in 1989; he was the second American president to receive the award, but the first to have it given to him for personal reasons (
Dwight D. Eisenhower received it as a commemoration of US-Japanese relations).
On
January 18,
1993, Reagan's former Vice-President and sitting President George H.W. Bush awarded him the
Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest honor that the United States can bestow. Reagan was also awarded the
Republican Senatorial Medal of Freedom, the highest honor bestowed by Republican members of the Senate.
On Reagan's 87th birthday, in 1998, Washington National Airport was renamed
Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport by a bill signed into law by President Clinton. That same year, the
Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center was dedicated in Washington, D.C. He was among 18 included in
Gallup's List of Widely Admired People of the 20th Century, from a poll conducted of the American people in 1999; two years later, the
USS Ronald Reagan was christened by Nancy Reagan and the
United States Navy. It is one of few Navy ships christened in honor of a living person, and the first
aircraft carrier to be named in honor of a living former president.
Congress authorized the creation of the
Ronald Reagan Boyhood Home National Historic Site in Dixon, Illinois in 2002, pending federal purchase of the property. On
May 16 of that year, Nancy Reagan accepted the
Congressional Gold Medal, the highest civilian honor bestowed by Congress, on behalf of the president and herself.
Following Reagan's death, the
United States Postal Service issued a President Ronald Reagan commemorative postage stamp in 2005. Later in the year,
CNN, along with the editors of
Time magazine, named him the "most fascinating person" of the network's first 25 years;
Time listed Reagan one of the 100 Most Important People of the 20th Century as well. The
Discovery Channel asked its viewers to vote for
The Greatest American in an unscientific poll on
June 26,
2005; Reagan received the honorary title.
In 2006, California Governor
Arnold Schwarzenegger and First Lady
Maria Shriver inducted Reagan into the
California Hall of Fame, located at
The California Museum for History, Women, and the Arts. The following year, Polish President
Lech Kaczyński posthumously awarded Reagan the highest Polish distinction, the
Order of the White Eagle, saying that Reagan inspired the Polish people to work for change and helped to unseat the repressive communist regime; Kaczyński said it “would not have been possible if it wasn't for the tough-mindedness, determination, and feeling of mission of President Ronald Reagan." Reagan backed the nation of
Poland throughout his presidency, supporting the anti-communist
Solidarity movement, along with
Pope John Paul II.
Footnotes
Further Information
Get more info on 'Ronald Reagan'.
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