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40th President · 1981–1989

Ronald Reagan

The former actor and California governor who cut taxes, rebuilt the military and signed the first treaty to eliminate an entire class of nuclear weapons as the Cold War neared its end.

Portrait of Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan, February 7, 1981Photo: Michael Evans, The White HousePublic domainSource
Born
February 6, 1911Tampico, Illinois
Died
June 5, 2004
Home state
California
Vice president
George H. W. Bush

Life & Offices

Raised in small Illinois towns, Reagan graduated from Eureka College, became a radio sports announcer and then a Hollywood actor, and twice served as president of the Screen Actors Guild. Once a New Deal Democrat, he moved to the right in the 1950s while touring the country as a spokesman for General Electric, and he became a Republican in 1962. His televised 1964 address for Barry Goldwater, “A Time for Choosing,” made him a national conservative voice.

Elected governor of California in 1966 and reelected in 1970, Reagan challenged President Ford for the 1976 nomination and won the presidency in 1980, defeating Jimmy Carter amid high inflation and the Iran hostage crisis. Sixty-nine days into his term he survived an assassination attempt. His program — lower tax rates, slower growth in domestic spending, deregulation, a military buildup and support for the Federal Reserve’s campaign against inflation — was followed by a severe recession in 1981–1982 and then a long expansion.

Reagan called the Soviet Union an “evil empire” and launched the Strategic Defense Initiative, then built a working relationship with Mikhail Gorbachev that produced the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty. His second term was shaken by the Iran–Contra affair. He left office with high approval ratings, disclosed in 1994 that he had Alzheimer’s disease, and died in 2004.

Offices before the presidency

  • President of the Screen Actors Guild (1947–1952, 1959–1960)
  • Governor of California (1967–1975)

Eras: VII. Goldwater and the Conservative Movement · VIII. The Reagan Era

The Record

  • 1981

    Economic Recovery Tax Act

    Built on the Kemp–Roth proposal, the law cut individual income-tax rates by about 23 percent over three years, reduced the top rate from 70 to 50 percent and indexed tax brackets to inflation beginning in 1985.

    Historical Record

  • 1981

    Air traffic controllers’ strike

    When members of the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization struck illegally in August 1981, Reagan gave them 48 hours to return to work and then fired more than 11,000 who did not — a decision that signaled a harder line toward public-sector unions.

    Historical Record

  • 1981–1988

    Supreme Court appointments

    Reagan fulfilled a campaign pledge by appointing Sandra Day O’Connor, the first woman on the Supreme Court, who was confirmed unanimously in 1981. He later elevated William Rehnquist to chief justice and appointed Antonin Scalia and Anthony Kennedy.

    Historical Record

  • 1983

    Social Security Amendments of 1983

    Acting on the recommendations of a bipartisan commission chaired by Alan Greenspan, Reagan and House Speaker Tip O’Neill agreed on changes that raised payroll taxes, gradually increased the retirement age and taxed some benefits to restore the system’s solvency.

    Historical Record

  • 1981–1988

    Military buildup and the Strategic Defense Initiative

    Defense spending rose sharply during Reagan’s first term. In March 1983 he proposed the Strategic Defense Initiative, a research program for defenses against ballistic missiles that critics dubbed “Star Wars.”

    Historical Record

  • 1986

    Tax Reform Act of 1986

    A bipartisan overhaul lowered the top individual rate to 28 percent, collapsed the rate structure into fewer brackets, removed millions of low-income households from the income-tax rolls and closed many shelters and deductions.

    Historical Record

  • 1986

    Immigration Reform and Control Act

    The act offered legal status to roughly 2.7 million immigrants living in the country illegally while making it unlawful for employers to knowingly hire unauthorized workers.

    Historical Record

  • 1987

    Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty

    Signed with Mikhail Gorbachev on December 8, 1987, the treaty eliminated an entire class of U.S. and Soviet ground-launched intermediate-range missiles and provided for on-site inspections to verify compliance.

    Primary Source

  • 1988

    Civil Liberties Act of 1988

    Reagan signed the law apologizing on behalf of the nation for the wartime incarceration of Japanese Americans and providing $20,000 to each surviving detainee.

    Historical Record

Criticism & Debate

Opposing View / Debate

What did the Iran–Contra affair reveal?

In November 1986 it emerged that the administration had secretly sold arms to Iran in hopes of winning the release of American hostages in Lebanon, and that National Security Council staff had diverted proceeds to the Contra rebels in Nicaragua despite congressional restrictions on such aid. In March 1987 Reagan told the nation that although his heart and his best intentions still told him he had not traded arms for hostages, “the facts and the evidence tell me it is not.” Several officials were convicted, though appeals courts overturned the convictions of Oliver North and John Poindexter, and President George H. W. Bush pardoned six others in 1992.

Critics

Critics, including the majority report of the congressional investigating committees, argued that officials deceived Congress, evaded the Boland Amendment’s restrictions and undermined the rule of law, and that Reagan bore ultimate responsibility for a White House that allowed it.

Defenders

Reagan’s defenders emphasize that investigators found no evidence he knew of the diversion of funds, and the committees’ minority report, whose signers included Representative Dick Cheney, argued that Congress had intruded on the president’s constitutional authority over foreign policy.

Sources

  1. Address to the Nation on the Iran Arms and Contra Aid Controversy, March 4, 1987 · The American Presidency Project, UC Santa Barbara
Opposing View / Debate

Did Reagan’s economic program succeed?

Inflation fell from more than 13 percent in 1980 to about 4 percent by the late 1980s, and the economy grew without a recession from late 1982 through the end of his presidency. Federal deficits also grew, and the national debt nearly tripled.

Supporters

Supporters credit lower tax rates and deregulation with unleashing growth and entrepreneurship, argue that the defense buildup helped bring the Cold War to a peaceful end, and note that Congress controlled appropriations.

Critics

Critics argue that the tax cuts disproportionately benefited upper-income households, that the deficits were the predictable result of cutting taxes while raising defense spending, and that Reagan himself signed tax increases in 1982 and 1984 to contain them.

Sources

  1. Ronald Reagan: Domestic Affairs · Miller Center, University of Virginia

Documents

Sources

  1. Ronald Reagan · Miller Center, University of Virginia
  2. Ronald Reagan · White House Historical Association
  3. Ronald Reagan: Presidential Documents · The American Presidency Project, UC Santa Barbara
  4. Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum · National Archives