Reagan Alejandro Pena Lasorda (cropped)

Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 to 1975, after having a career in entertainment.

Reagan was born in Tampico, Illinois. He graduated from Eureka College in 1932 and began to work as a sports announcer in Iowa. In 1937, Reagan moved to California, where he found work as a film actor. From 1947 to 1952, Reagan served as the president of the Screen Actors Guild, working to root out alleged communist influence within it. In the 1950s, he moved to a career in television and became a spokesman for General Electric. From 1959 to 1960, he again served as the guild's president. In 1964, his speech "A Time for Choosing" earned him national attention as a new conservative figure. Building a network of supporters, Reagan was elected governor of California in 1966. During his governorship, he raised taxes, turned the state budget deficit into a surplus, and challenged student protesters by ordering in National Guard troops.

After challenging and nearly defeating sitting president Gerald Ford in the 1976 Republican presidential primaries, Reagan easily won the Republican nomination in the 1980 presidential election and went on to defeat incumbent Democratic president Jimmy Carter. At the time of his first inauguration, Reagan was the oldest person to become president of the United States. Early in his presidency, he began implementing new political and economic initiatives. His supply-side economics policies, dubbed "Reaganomics", promoted economic deregulation and reductions in both taxes and government spending. He also survived an assassination attempt, fought public sector labor unions, spurred the war on drugs, and ordered an invasion of Grenada. Reagan was reelected in 1984, defeating Carter's vice president, Walter Mondale, in an electoral landslide.

Foreign affairs dominated Reagan's second term, including the bombing of Libya, the Iran–Iraq War, the Iran–Contra affair, and the ongoing Cold War. In a speech in 1987, four years after he publicly described the Soviet Union as an " evil empire", Reagan challenged Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev to open the Berlin Wall. He transitioned Cold War policy from détente to rollback by escalating an arms race with the Soviet Union while engaging in talks with Gorbachev. The talks culminated in the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, which shrank both countries' nuclear arsenals. By the end of Reagan's presidency, the American economy saw a significant reduction of inflation, and the unemployment rate fell. His cuts in domestic discretionary spending and taxes, as well as his increases in military spending, contributed to a near tripling of the federal debt.

Reagan had planned an active post-presidency, but he disclosed in 1994 that he had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. His public appearances became more infrequent as the disease progressed. In 2004, Reagan died at his home in Los Angeles. His tenure constituted a realignment towards conservatism in the United States, and he is often considered a conservative icon. Evaluations of Reagan's presidency among historians and the general public place him among the upper tier of American presidents.

Early life

Ronald Wilson Reagan was born on February 6, 1911, in an apartment on the second floor second floor of a commercial building in Tampico, Illinois, as the younger son of Nelle Clyde Wilson and Jack Reagan. Nelle, who was of Irish, English, and Scottish descent, lead prayer meetings, ran mid-week prayers at her church when the pastor was out of town, and supported the Social Gospel. She committed to the Disciples of Christ and influenced Reagan to become a Christian. According to Stephen Vaughn, Reagan's values came from his pastor, and the First Christian Church's religious, economic, and social positions "coincided with the words, if not he beliefs of the latter-day Reagan." Jack was an Irish American focused on making money so that he could take care of the family. He nicknamed Reagan "Dutch" for his "fat little Dutchman" appearance and Dutch boy haircut. Neil was Reagan's older brother.

Jack's alcoholism complicated his ability to make money, and the family briefly lived in Chicago, Galesburg, and Monmouth before returning to Tampico. In 1920, Reagan and his family settled in the city of Dixon, which he called "his hometown". They lived in a house near the H. C. Pitney Variety Store Building. In Dixon, Reagan attended Dixon High School, where he developed interests in drama and football. His first job involved working as a lifeguard at the Rock River in Lowell Park. In 1928, Reagan attended Eureka College with Nelle's approval on religious grounds. He was as an "indifferent student" who studied economics and maintained a "C average" grade. He was involved in sports, drama, and campus politics. He was elected student body president and joined a student strike that resulted in the college president's resignation.

Reagan's parents stance on "racial questions" were seemingly unusual when racial segregation was common in many Midwestern communities. His father strongly opposed the Ku Klux Klan and their anti-semitism and anti-black racism. When his college football team was staying at a hotel that would not allow two black teammates to stay there, he invited them to his parents' home nearby in Dixon and his parents welcomed them. Reagan would later express his opposition to racism as a sports announcer, even meeting with black groups in private.

Entertainment career

Radio and film

After graduating from Eureka in 1932, Reagan took a job in Davenport, Iowa as a sports announcer for four football games in the Big Ten Conference. He then worked for WHO radio in Des Moines as an announcer for the Chicago Cubs of Major League Baseball. His specialty was creating play-by-play accounts of games using only basic descriptions that the station received by wire as the games were in progress. In 1936, while traveling with the Cubs to their spring training in California, Reagan took a screen test that led to a seven-year contract with the Warner Bros. studio.

Reagan arrived at Hollywood in 1937 and made his film debut in the B film ''Love Is on the Air'' (1937). After that film, he appeared in 22 films before serving in the military in April 1942 such as ''Dark Victory'' (1939) with Bette Davis and Humphrey Bogart, ''Santa Fe Trail'' (1940), ''Knute Rockne, All American'' (1940), and ''Desperate Journey'' (1942) with co-star Errol Flynn. In ''Kings Row'' (1942), Reagan's character gets his legs amputated and recites the line "Where's the rest of me?"—later used as the title of his 1965 autobiography. Although it was condemned by ''The New York Times'' critic Bosley Crowther, the film made Reagan a star and Warner tripled his weekly pay. Gallup polls from 1941 to 1942 placed him "in the top 100 stars". His rise to stardom was accelerated by his warm relationship with the studio.

World War II interrupted the movie stardom that Reagan would never be able to achieve again. Warner became uncertain about Reagan's ability to generate ticket sales, though he was dissatisfied with the roles he received. As a result, Lew Wasserman, renegotiated his contract with Warner, allowing him to also make films with Universal Pictures and Paramount Pictures as a freelancer. With this, Reagan appeared in '' Louisa'' (1950) and ''Bedtime for Bonzo'' (1951). By 1952, he ended his relationship with Warner although he would appear in a total of 53 films. Reagan's last appearance was in ''The Killers'' (1964).

Military service

When Reagan was working in Iowa, a United States Army Reserve member pitched him to join a local cavalry regiment that still used horses during the branch's decline. Reagan was interested in riding a horse at a young age and, without "a burning desire to be an army officer", he enlisted in April 1937. He was assigned as a private in Des Moines' 322nd Cavalry Regiment and reassigned to second lieutenant in the Officers Reserve Crops. He later became a part of the 323rd Cavalry Regiment in California.

As relations between the United States and Japan worsened, Reagan was ordered for active duty while he was filming ''Kings Row''. Reagan's agent Wasserman and Warner's lawyers successfully sent draft deferments to complete the film in October 1941. However, to avoid accusations of Reagan being a draft dodger, the studio let him go in April 1942. As Reagan reported for duty, the army was using machines as opposed to horses, and he had severe near-sightedness. His first assignment was at Fort Mason as a liaison officer, a role allowed that him to transfer to the United States Army Air Forces (AAF). He would became an AAF public relations officer and be subsequently assigned to the 18th AAF Base Unit in Culver City.

During his time in Culver City, Reagan felt that it was "impossible to remove an incompetent or lazy worker"; J. David Woodard suggests that "the incompetence, the delays, and inefficiencies" annoyed him. Despite this, Reagan participated Provisional Task Force Show Unit in Burbank and continued to make films such as the musical ''This Is the Army'' (1943), though the unit was not involved in its production. Reagan was also ordered to temporary duty in New York City to participate in the sixth War Loan Drive before being reassigned to Fort MacArthur until his discharge on December 9, 1945, as a captain. Throughout his military service, Reagan produced over 400 training films and obtained and kept a copy of a film depicting the horrors of the Holocaust, believing that doubts would someday arise as to whether it had occurred.

Screen Actors Guild presidency

Reagan became a member of the Screen Actors Guild's (SAG) board of directors as an alternate member for Heather Angel in 1941, and resumed the role for Boris Karloff in 1945. He was elected to the position of third vice president in 1946. When President Robert Montgomery resigned on March 10, 1947, Reagan was elected the guild's president in a special election. Reagan's initial tenure as the SAG president saw various labor-management disputes, the Taft–Hartley Act's implementation, and the Hollywood blacklist. On April 10, the Federal Bureau of Investigation interviewed Reagan and he provided them with the names of actors whom he believed to be communist sympathizers. During a hearing held by the House Un-American Activities Committee, Reagan testified that some members who "consistently opposed the policy of the guild board and officers of the guild" were associated with the Communist Party and that he was well-informed on a "jurisdictional strike". When asked if he was aware of communist efforts within the Screen Writers Guild, Reagan called the efforts "hearsay". Reagan would remain SAG president until he resigned on November 10, 1952; Walter Pidgeon succeeded him, but Reagan stayed on the board.

In 1958, MCA Inc. purchased the rights to air certain Paramount-produced films on television, resulting in significant profits that actors were not entitled to receive. The SAG would fight with film producers over residual payments and in November 1959, the board and Wasserman convinced Reagan to replace the resigning Howard Keel as SAG president. In his second stint, Reagan managed to secure the payments for actors whose theatrical films were released from 1948 to 1959 were televised. The producers were initially required to pay the actors fees, but they ultimately settled for pensions instead. However, they were still required to pay residuals for films after 1959. Reagan resigned from the presidency on June 7, 1960 and George Chandler succeeded him. Reagan also left the board.

Marriages and children

Reagan married ''Brother Rat'' (1938) co-star Jane Wyman on January 26, 1940. Together, they had two biological daughters, Maureen in 1941, and Christine, born prematurely and dead the next day in 1947. They adopted one son, Michael, in 1945. In 1948, Wyman filed to divorce Reagan, citing "mental cruelty". Wyman was uninterested in politics, and she would occasionally separate and reconcile with Reagan. Although Reagan was unprepared, they split amicably, and the divorce was finalized in July 1949. Reagan would also remain close to his children. Later that year, Reagan met Nancy Davis after she contacted him in his capacity as the guild's president about her name appearing on a communist blacklist in Hollywood; she had been mistaken for another Nancy Davis. According to Reagan biographer Lou Cannon, Davis chose not to pursue a career in acting, instead staying loyal to Reagan. They married on March 4, 1952 and had two children, Patti in 1952, and Ron in 1958.

Television

Reagan initially refused to work in television as he feared that it would reduce his chances of obtaining roles in film. In addition, he refused to work on Broadway theatre, and after receiving offers to work in nightclubs in 1954, he became the host of the MCA television production ''General Electric Theater'' at his agent's recommendation. The anthology series featured multiple guest stars, and Ronald and Nancy Reagan, who continued to use the stage name Nancy Davis, acted together in three episodes. Television was a new medium, and when asked how Reagan was able to recruit the stars to appear on the show, he said, "Good stories, top direction, production quality." However, the viewership declined in the 1960s and the show was canceled in 1962. In 1965, Reagan became the host another MCA production, ''Death Valley Days''. Through television, he established the "cowboy hero" image he yearned for when he was working with Warner. His time in Hollywood helped pave way for his future in politics.

Early political activities

Reagan began as a Democrat, viewing Franklin D. Roosevelt as "a true hero". He joined left-wing political committees such as the American Veterans Committee and Hollywood Independent Citizens Committee of the Arts, Sciences and Professions (HICCASP) while fighting with the AFL–CIO against right-to-work laws. In 1945, Reagan planned to lead an HICCASP anti-nuclear rally with Helen Gahagan Douglas, but Warner prevented him from going. Regardless, he continued his support for the abolition of nuclear weapons when he was the president of the United States. Reagan also supported President Harry S. Truman in the 1948 presidential election and Douglas for the United States Senate in 1950 although she would lose to Richard Nixon. It was Reagan's belief that communism was a powerful backstage influence in Hollywood that led him to rally his friends against them.

Reagan began shifting to the right when he supported the presidential campaigns of Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1952 and Nixon in 1960. When Reagan was contracted by General Electric (GE), he began giving speeches to all of their employees. His speeches had a positive take on businesses and a negative take on government. Under Lemuel Boulware, the employees were encouraged to vote for business-friendly officials. Boulware opposed communism and believed that "Our free markets and our free persons" were at stake. In 1961, Reagan adapted his speeches into another speech to criticize Medicare. In his view, its legislation would have meant "the end of individual freedom in the United States". In 1962, Reagan was dropped by GE and he formally registered as a Republican. He said, "I didn't leave the Democratic Party. The party left me."

In 1964, Reagan gave a speech for presidential contender Barry Goldwater that was eventually known as "A Time for Choosing". Reagan argued that the Founding Fathers "knew that governments don't control things. And they knew when a government sets out to do that, it must use force and coercion to achieve its purpose" and that "We've been told increasingly that we must choose between left or right." Even though the speeches were not enough to turn around the faltering Goldwater campaign, it increased Reagan's political profile. David S. Broder and Stephen H. Hess called it "the most successful national political debut since William Jennings Bryan electrified the 1896 Democratic convention with his famous 'Cross of Gold' address".

1966 California gubernatorial election

California Republicans lost control of power to Pat Brown and the Democrats in 1958. Brown's reelection over Nixon in 1962 and Goldwater's loss in the 1964 presidential election left the Republicans without a clear pathway to victory. In January 1966, Reagan announced his campaign for the governorship. In his announcement, he repeated his stances on individual freedom and big government. During a meeting with black Republicans in March, he was accused of appealing to white racial resentment and backlash against the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Certain in his own lack of prejudice, Reagan responded resentfully that bigotry was not in his nature before walking out. He returned to the meeting and later argued that certain provisions of the bill infringed on a citizens' right to private property. After the Supreme Court of California struck down the Rumford Act in May, he voiced his support for the bill's repeal, though he later preferred amending it. In the June primary, Reagan resoundingly defeated George Christopher, a moderate who William F. Buckley Jr. thought had portrayed Reagan as extreme.

Facing Governor Brown in the general election, Reagan portrayed himself as a political outsider. Biographer Cannon indicated that many Californians felt that the state civil unrest, as seen in the Watts riots, was linked to crime. He also indicated that the Free Speech Movement, high taxes, unrestrained spending, and lack of accountability were issues that Reagan used against Brown. Furthermore, Republican primary opponent Christopher promised to help unseat Brown, and Reagan was endorsed by Eisenhower and William Scranton, who believed that Reagan could be a presidential contender if he won the governorship. Meanwhile, the press continued to perceive Reagan as "monumentally ignorant of state issues", but with the skills he had developed, the charismatic Reagan benefited on television and in his campaign speeches, compared to the unpleasant governor. Ultimately, Reagan won the election by another resounding amount.

Governor of California (1967–1975)

Governor Brown had spent much of California's funds on new projects, prompting them to use accrual accounting as a way to avoid raising taxes. Consequently, it generated a larger deficit, and after becoming governor on January 2, 1967, Reagan called for reduced government spending and tax hikes to balance the budget. He left his conservative principles on fiscal responsibility behind to work with Democratic State Assembly Speaker Jesse M. Unruh to fulfill Unruh's wish of securing a series of tax increases that raised rates while also cutting property taxes. As a result, the sales tax increased, as did the taxes on banks, corporate profits, and inheritances; even liquor and cigarette taxes saw jumps. According to historian Kevin Starr, Reagan "gave Californians the biggest tax hike in their history—and got away with it." In the 1970 gubernatorial election, Unruh used the property tax cuts and Governor Reagan's tax relief requests against him for benefiting the wealthy. The strategy worked as Reagan would raise taxes once more. By 1973, the budget had a surplus, which Reagan preferred using "to give back to the people" instead of funding more projects.

In 1967, Governor Reagan signed the Mulford Act, which prohibited the public carrying of loaded firearms. On May 2, before the bill was passed, 26 members of the Black Panther Party were arrested after interrupting a debate on the bill in the California State Capitol. The Mulford Act was California's most aggressive piece of gun control legislation, with critics saying that it was "overreaching the political activism of organizations". Hopeful that handgun buyers could reconsider their own actions in the wake of the Panthers' protest, Reagan approved additional legislation on a waiting period of fifteen days. Although the Panthers gained national attention, their membership was stagnant.

After Reagan won the governorship, he and his advisors planned a run for the upcoming Republican presidential nomination. Some of the issues raised in that year's presidential election included law and order and the ongoing Vietnam War, which helped contribute to a Republican victory. Yet, the candidates' views on the war contrasted from each other, with Reagan presented himself as a war hawk in hopes of slowing down the spread of communism. Ultimately, he ran as an unofficial candidate in an attempt to cut into Nixon's southern support and be a compromise candidate if there were to be a brokered convention. By the time of the convention though, Nixon received enough delegate votes to secure the nomination. Reagan's only primary victory came in California, where his name was the only one on the ballot.

Reagan was critical of administrators tolerating student demonstrations at the University of California, Berkeley that had been going on since 1964. On May 15, 1969, he sent the California Highway Patrol and other officers to quell the People's Park protests. This led to one student being shot and killed, and the injuries of numerous police officers and two reporters in the conflict. Governor Reagan then commanded the state National Guard troops to occupy the city of Berkeley for seventeen days to subdue the protesters, which allowed the students to attend class safely. Reagan had also blamed the student's death on the protestors. One year after the incident, Reagan responded to questions about the protests, saying, "If it takes a bloodbath, let's get it over with. No more appeasement." In the same year, more violent protests broke out at the University of California, Santa Barbara, which neither the university or Reagan administration expected. Reagan himself visited Santa Barbara in February, calling the protestors "cowardly little bums" as the National Guard brought the area under control. Nevertheless, other deadly student protests emerged across the United States as the Vietnam War progressed.

During his victorious reelection campaign, Governor Reagan, remaining critical of government, promised to prioritize welfare reform. He was concerned that the state's programs were disincentivizing work and that the growing welfare rolls would lead to an unbalanced budget and even worse, another big tax hike in 1972. At the same time, the Federal Reserve increased interest rates to combat inflation, sending the American economy into a mild recession. Reagan worked with the new speaker, Bob Moretti, to tighten up the eligibility requirements so that the financially needy could continue receiving payments. This was only accomplished after Reagan softened his criticism of the Family Assistance Plan introduced by Nixon, now the president of the United States, who then lifted regulations to shepherd California's experiment. In 1975, the Employment Development Department released a report revealing that the experiment that ran from 1971 to 1974 was unsuccessful.

Reagan left the governorship to Pat's son, Jerry Brown, on January 6, 1975. His tenure as California's governor saw its public schools deteriorate due to a lack of funding, especially the ones in the Los Angeles Unified School District. As for higher education, William Trombley of the ''Los Angeles Times'' believed that the budget cuts Reagan enacted damaged Berkeley's student-faculty ratio and research, and University of California chancellor emeritus Dean McHenry suggested that Reagan's "bark proved worse than his bite." Reagan also used the veto power 943 times without any them being overridden by the legislature. However, he stated that he regretted signing the Family Law Act that granted no-fault divorces and Therapeutic Abortion Act that allowed abortions in the cases of rape and incest due to a mental health provision. Additionally, Reagan strongly supported capital punishment, but his efforts to enforce it were thwarted by ''People v. Anderson'' in 1972.

Seeking the presidency (1975–1981)

1976 Republican primaries

Reagan's 1976 campaign relied on a strategy crafted by campaign managerJohn Sears to win several primaries early to lessen the possibility of President Gerald Ford's likely nomination. Reagan won North Carolina, Texas and California, but the strategy failed as he lost New Hampshire, Florida and his native state of Illinois. The Texas primary lent renewed hope to Reagan when he swept all 96 delegates, with four more awaiting at the state convention. Much of the credit for that victory came from the work of three cochairmen including Ernest Angelo and Ray Barnhart, whom Reagan as president would appoint in 1981 as director of the Federal Highway Administration.

As the Republican National Convention neared, Ford appeared close to victory. Acknowledging the moderate wing, Reagan chose moderate U.S. senator Richard Schweiker as his running mate in the event he was nominated. Ford would prevail, earning 1,187 delegates to Reagan's 1,070. Reagan's concession speech emphasized the dangers of nuclear war and the threat posed by the Soviet Union. In the general election, Reagan received 307 write-in votes in New Hampshire, 388 votes as an independent on Wyoming's ballot, and one electoral vote from a faithless elector in the state of Washington.

Opposition to the Briggs Initiative

In 1978 California state elections, conservative state legislator John Briggs sponsored Proposition 6, which sought to ban gays and lesbians from working in California's public schools. Early opposition was led by LGBT activists and a few progressive politicians, but to many people's surprise, Reagan moved to publicly oppose the measure. He issued an informal letter of opposition to the initiative, told reporters that he was opposed, and wrote an editorial in the ''Los Angeles Herald Examiner'' opposing it. The timing of his opposition was significant and surprised many because he was then preparing another run for president, a race in which he would need the support of conservatives and those moderates who were uncomfortable with homosexual teachers.

Reagan actively courted leaders from the religious right, including Jerry Falwell, who would later form the Moral Majority to fight the culture war issues. As Reagan biographer Lou Cannon wrote, Reagan was "well aware that there were those who wanted him to duck the issue", but "chose to state his convictions." Cannon also wrote that Reagan was "repelled by the aggressive public crusades against homosexual life styles which became a staple of right wing politics in the late 1970s." Reagan's editorial stated, in part, "homosexuality is not a contagious disease like the measles. Prevailing scientific opinion is that an individual's sexuality is determined at a very early age and that a child's teachers do not really influence this."

1980 election

The 1980 presidential election pitted Reagan against incumbent president Jimmy Carter and was conducted amid a multitude of domestic concerns as well as the ongoing Iran hostage crisis. Reagan's campaign stressed some of his fundamental principles: lower taxes to stimulate the economy, less government interference in people's lives, states' rights, and a strong national defense.

Reagan launched his campaign with an indictment of a federal government that he believed had "overspent, overstimulated, and overregulated." After receiving the Republican nomination, Reagan selected one of his opponents from the primaries, George H. W. Bush, as his running mate. Reagan's relaxed and confident appearance during the televised debate on October 28 boosted his popularity and helped to widen his lead in the polls.

On November 4, Reagan won a decisive victory over Carter, carrying 44 states and receiving 489 electoral votes to Carter's 49 in six states and the District of Columbia. He won the popular vote, receiving 50.7 percent to Carter's 41.0 percent, with independent John B. Anderson garnering 6.6 percent. Republicans also won a majority of seats in the Senate for the first time since 1952, even though Democrats retained a majority in the House of Representatives.

According to Bob Herbert of ''The New York Times'', Reagan's campaign was "elbow deep in the same old-race baiting Southern strategy of Goldwater and Nixon."

Presidency (1981–1989)

First inauguration

Reagan was of age when he was sworn into office for his first term on January 20, 1981, making him the oldest first-term president at the time. He held this distinction until 2017 when Donald Trump was inaugurated at the age of . In his inaugural address, he addressed the country's economic malaise, arguing: "In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problems; government is the problem."

Organized prayer

Reagan campaigned vigorously to restore organized prayer to the schools, first as a moment of prayer and later as a moment of silence. His election reflected an opposition to ''Engel v. Vitale'', which prohibited state officials from composing an official state prayer and requiring that it be recited in the public schools. In 1981, he proposed a constitutional amendment on school prayer, which stated: "Nothing in this Constitution shall be construed to prohibit individual or group prayer in public schools or other public institutions. No person shall be required by the United States or by any state to participate in prayer." In 1984, he again raised the issue to Congress. In 1985, he expressed his disappointment that the Supreme Court ruling still banned a moment of silence for public schools, and said that efforts to reinstitute prayer in public schools were "an uphill battle". In 1987, he renewed his call for Congress to support voluntary prayer in schools.

Assassination attempt

On March 30, 1981, Reagan, his press secretary James Brady, Washington police officer Thomas Delahanty, and Secret Service agent Tim McCarthy were struck by gunfire from would-be assassin John Hinckley Jr. outside the Washington Hilton. Although "close to death" upon arrival at George Washington University Hospital, Reagan was stabilized in the emergency room before undergoing emergency exploratory surgery. He recovered and was released from the hospital on April 11, becoming the first American president to survive being shot in an assassination attempt while in office. The attempt had a significant influence on Reagan's popularity; polls indicated his approval rating to be around 73 percent.Leuchtenberg, pp. 597–598 Reagan believed that God had spared his life so that he might go on to fulfill a higher purpose.

Fighting public sector labor unions

In August 1981, the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization (PATCO) went on strike, violating a federal law prohibiting government unions from striking. Declaring the situation an emergency as described in the Taft–Hartley Act, Reagan stated that if the air traffic controllers "do not report for work within 48 hours, they have forfeited their jobs and will be terminated". They did not return, and on August 5, Reagan fired 11,345 striking air traffic controllers who had ignored his order and used supervisors and military controllers to handle the nation's commercial air traffic until new controllers could be hired and trained. The breaking of the PATCO strike demoralized organized labor, and the number of strikes fell dramatically in the 1980s.Patterson, pp. 157–158 Many of the strikes that did occur, including the Arizona copper mine strike of 1983, the 1983 Greyhound bus driver strike, and the 1985–1986 Hormel strike, ended with dismissal of the strikers. With the assent of Reagan's sympathetic National Labor Relations Board appointees, many companies also won wage and benefit cutbacks from unions, especially in the manufacturing sector.Rossinow, p. 87–88 During Reagan's time in office, the share of employees who were part of a labor union dropped from approximately one-fourth of the total workforce to approximately one-sixth of the total workforce.

"Reaganomics" and the economy

Taxation

Reagan implemented neoliberal policies based on supply-side economics, advocating a ''laissez-faire'' philosophy and seeking to stimulate the economy with large, across-the-board tax cuts.Cannon & Beschloss (2001) p. 99. He signed the Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981, which significantly lowered federal income tax rates and required exemptions and brackets to be indexed for inflation starting in 1985. The Tax Reform Act of 1986 simplified the tax code by reducing the number of tax brackets to four and slashing several tax breaks. Citing the economic theories of Arthur Laffer, Reagan promoted the proposed tax cuts as potentially stimulating the economy enough to expand the tax base, offsetting the revenue loss due to reduced rates of taxation, a theory that entered political discussion as the Laffer curve. Reagan's policies proposed that economic growth would occur when marginal tax rates were low enough to spur investment, which would then lead to higher employment and wages. Critics labeled this "trickle-down economics", the belief that tax policies that benefit the wealthy will spread to the poor. Conversely, Milton Friedman and Robert Mundell argued that Reagan's tax policies invigorated America's economy and contributed to the economic boom of the 1990s.

Despite being viewed as an anti-tax hero, Reagan raised taxes eleven times as president, all in the name of fiscal responsibility. He signed the Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 1982 as he was faced with concerns about the mounting federal debt. Many of his conservative supporters condemned the bill, but he argued that his administration would be unable to win further budget cuts without the tax hike. Among other provisions, the bill doubled the federal cigarette tax and rescinded a portion of the corporate tax cuts from the 1981 tax bill. By 1983, the amount of federal tax had fallen for all or most taxpayers, but most strongly affected the wealthy. According to Paul Krugman, "Over all, the 1982 tax increase undid about a third of the 1981 cut; as a share of GDP, the increase was substantially larger than Mr. Clinton's 1993 tax increase." As deficits continued to be an issue, Reagan signed another tax hike bill, the Deficit Reduction Act of 1984.

Deficits

Rising deficits became an issue as Reagan was unwilling to match his tax cuts with cuts to defense spending or Social Security. These deficits were exacerbated by the early 1980s recession, which cut into federal revenue. Nonetheless, the national debt more than tripled between fiscal year 1980 and fiscal year 1989; and national debt as a percentage of the gross domestic product (GDP) nearly doubled. Reagan never submitted a balanced budget during his time in office. The United States borrowed heavily both domestically and abroad in order to cover newly spawned federal budget deficits. Reagan described the tripled debt the "greatest disappointment" of his presidency.Cannon & Beschloss (2001), p. 128. Robert Solow cited the deficits as a major reason why his successor, Bush, reneged on his campaign promise by raising taxes.

Inflation and unemployment

Reagan took office in the midst of stagflation. The economy briefly experienced growth early in his first year in office before it plunged into a recession in July 1981. Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker sought to fight inflation by pursuing a "tight money" policy of high interest rates to restrict lending and investment, reduce inflation, raise unemployment and temporarily reduce economic growth. Unemployment reached a high of nearly 11 percent in 1982.Brands, pp. 317–319 That same year, the United States began its then-longest peacetime expansion, emerging from the recession the next year,Brands, pp. 452–453 but not all shared equally in the economic recovery, and economic inequality and the number of homeless individuals both increased during the 1980s. Fearful of damaging confidence in the economic recovery, Reagan nominated Volcker to a second term in 1983.Brands, pp. 668–671 Inflation dropped to approximately 3.5 percent in 1985, while the unemployment rate fell to about 5 percent in 1988. In 1987, Reagan appointed Alan Greenspan to succeed Volcker. Greenspan raised interest rates in another attempt to curb inflation, setting off the 1987 stock market crash although the markets recovered in the following weeks.

Government spending

Reagan's policy of "peace through strength" resulted in an increase in defense spending between 1981 and 1985. He opposed government intervention and cut the budgets of non-military programs including Medicaid, food stamps, federal education programs, and the Environmental Protection Agency. He protected entitlement programs such as Social Security and Medicare, but his administration attempted to purge many people with disabilities from the Social Security disability rolls. He also froze the minimum wage, slashed federal assistance to local governments, cut the budget for public housing and Section 8 rent subsidies in half, and eliminated the Community Development Block Grant.

Deregulation

Reagan sought to loosen federal regulation of economic activities, and he appointed key officials who shared this agenda. According to historian William Leuchtenburg, by 1986, the Reagan administration eliminated almost half of the federal regulations that had existed in 1981. The 1982 Garn–St. Germain Depository Institutions Act deregulated savings and loan associations and allowed banks to provide adjustable-rate mortgages. After the bill's passage, savings and loans associations engaged in riskier activities, and the leaders of some institutions embezzled funds. The administration's stance toward the industry contributed to the savings and loan crisis.

Civil rights

The Reagan administration was often criticized for inadequately enforcing, if not actively undermining, civil rights legislation. In 1982, he signed a bill extending the Voting Rights Act for 25 years after a grassroots lobbying and legislative campaign forced him to abandon his plan to ease that law's restrictions. He also signed legislation establishing a federal Martin Luther King holiday, though he did so with reservations. In March 1988, he vetoed the Civil Rights Restoration Act of 1987, but his veto was overridden by Congress. Reagan had argued that the legislation infringed on states' rights and the rights of churches and business owners.

Early in his presidency, Reagan appointed Clarence M. Pendleton Jr. as the first African American to chair the United States Commission on Civil Rights. Pendleton tried to steer the commission into a conservative direction in line with Reagan's views on social and civil rights policy during his tenure from 1981 until his sudden death in 1988. Pendleton soon aroused the ire of many civil rights advocates and feminists when he ridiculed the comparable worth proposal as being "Looney Tunes".

War on drugs

In response to concerns about the increasing crack epidemic, Reagan began the war on drugs campaign in 1982, a policy led by the federal government to reduce the illegal drug trade. Though Nixon had previously declared war on drugs, Reagan advocated more aggressive policies. He said that "drugs were menacing our society" and promised to fight for drug-free schools and workplaces, expanded drug treatment, stronger law enforcement and drug interdiction efforts, and greater public awareness.

In 1986, Reagan signed the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986 to fund the war on drugs and specify a mandatory minimum penalty for drug offenses. The bill was criticized for promoting significant racial disparities in the prison population, and critics also charged that the policies did little to reduce the availability of drugs on the street while resulting in a tremendous financial burden for Americans. Defenders of the effort point to success in reducing rates of adolescent drug use which they attribute to the Reagan administration's policies; according to Herbert Kleber, marijuana use among high school seniors declined from 33 percent in 1980 to 12 percent in 1991. First Lady Nancy Reagan made the war on drugs her main priority by founding the "Just Say No" drug awareness campaign to discourage children and teenagers from engaging in recreational drug use by offering various ways of saying "no". Nancy Reagan traveled to 65 cities in 33 states, raising awareness about the dangers of drugs, including alcohol.

Escalation of the Cold War

Reagan escalated the Cold War, accelerating a reversal from the policy of détente that began during Carter's presidency, following the Saur Revolution and subsequent Soviet invasion. He ordered a massive buildup of the United States Armed Forces and implemented new policies that were directed towards the Soviet Union; he revived the B-1 Lancer program that had been canceled by the Carter administration, and he produced the MX missile. In response to Soviet deployment of the SS-20, Reagan oversaw NATO's deployment of the Pershing missile in West Germany. In 1982, Reagan tried to cut off Moscow's access to hard currency by impeding its proposed gas line to Western Europe. It hurt the Soviet economy, but it also caused ill will among American allies in Europe who counted on that revenue; Reagan retreated on this issue.

In March 1983, Reagan introduced the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), a defense project that would have used systems from the ground and space to protect the United States from an attack by strategic nuclear ballistic missiles. Reagan believed that this defense shield could make nuclear war impossible. There was much disbelief surrounding the program's scientific feasibility, leading opponents to dub the SDI "Star Wars" and argue that its technological objective was unattainable. The Soviets became concerned about the possible effects SDI would have; leader Yuri Andropov said it would put "the entire world in jeopardy".Beschloss, p. 294.

Soviet denunciation

In a 1982 address to the British Parliament, Reagan said, "the march of freedom and democracy will leave Marxism–Leninism on the ash heap of history." On March 3, 1983, he predicted that communism would collapse. In a speech to the National Association of Evangelicals five days later, Reagan called the Soviet Union " an evil empire".Cannon (1991, 2000), pp. 314–317. He labeled them a failure with its demise being a godsend for the world before explaining his strategy of an arms buildup that would leave the Soviets far behind, with no choice but to negotiate arms reduction. Finally, he praised liberal democracy and promised that such a system eventually would triumph over Soviet communism.

After Soviet fighters downed Korean Air Lines Flight 007 on September 1, 1983, which included U.S. Representative Larry McDonald, Reagan labeled the act a "massacre" and declared that the Soviets had turned "against the world and the moral precepts". His administration suspended all Soviet passenger air service to the United States and dropped several agreements being negotiated with the Soviets, wounding them financially. As a result of the shootdown, and the cause of the flight's going astray thought to be inadequacies related to its navigational system, Reagan announced on September 16 that the Global Positioning System would be made available for civilian use, free of charge, once completed in order to avert similar navigational errors in the future.Pellerin, ''United States Updates Global Positioning System Technology: New GPS satellite ushers in a range of future improvements''.

Reagan Doctrine

The Reagan administration provided overt and covert aid to anti-communist resistance movements in an effort to "rollback" Soviet-backed communist governments in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. However, in a break from the Carter administration's policy of arming Taiwan under the Taiwan Relations Act, Reagan also agreed with the communist government in China to reduce the sale of arms to Taiwan.

President Reagan deployed the Special Activities Division to Afghanistan and Pakistan. They were instrumental in training, equipping and leading Afghan mujahideen forces against the Soviet Army. Reagan's Covert Action program has been given credit for assisting in ending the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, though some of the United States funded armaments introduced then would later pose a threat to American troops in the war in Afghanistan. The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) began sharing information with the Iranian government it was secretly courting. In one instance, in 1982, this practice enabled the government to identify and purge communists from its ministries and to virtually eliminate the pro-Soviet infrastructure in Iran.

Although leading conservatives argued that Reagan's foreign policy strategy was essential to protecting their security interests, critics labeled the initiatives as aggressive and imperialistic, and chided them as "warmongering". Reagan was also heavily criticized for backing anti-communist leaders accused of severe human rights violations, including Efraín Ríos Montt, who was accused of genocide for massacres of members of the Ixil people and other indigenous groups. Reagan had said that Montt was getting a "bum rap", and described him as "a man of great personal integrity". Previous human rights violations had prompted the United States to cut off aid to the Guatemalan government, but the Reagan administration unsuccessfully appealed to Congress to restart military aid. However, the administration successfully provided nonmilitary assistance such as the United States Agency for International Development.

Lebanese Civil War

With the approval of Congress, Reagan sent forces to Lebanon in 1983 to reduce the threat of the Lebanese Civil War. The American peacekeeping forces in Beirut, a part of a multinational force during the war, were attacked on October 23. The barracks bombing killed 241 American servicemen and wounded more than 60 others by a suicide truck bomber. Reagan sent in to shell Syrian positions in Lebanon before withdrawing all marines from Lebanon. The international peacekeeping force was withdrawn from Lebanon in 1984. In reaction to the role Israel and the United States played in the Lebanese Civil War, a Shia militant group known as Hezbollah began to take American hostages, holding eight Americans by the middle of 1985. The Reagan administration's attempts to release these hostages would be a major component of the Iran–Contra affair.

Invasion of Grenada

On October 25, 1983, President Reagan ordered American forces to invade Grenada, where a 1979 coup d'état had established a Soviet-Cuban supported Marxist–Leninist government led by Maurice Bishop. A week before the invasion, Bishop was overthrown and executed following a coup d'état by Bernard Coard. A formal appeal from the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States led to the intervention of American forces; Reagan also cited a regional threat posed by a Soviet-Cuban military build-up in the Caribbean nation and concern for the safety of several hundred American medical students at St. George's University as adequate reasons to invade. This invasion was the first major military operation conducted by the United States since the Vietnam War. Several days of fighting commenced, resulting in a American victory, with 19 American fatalities and 116 wounded American soldiers. In mid-December, after a new government was appointed by the governor-general, American forces withdrew. While the invasion enjoyed public support in the United States and Grenada, it was criticized by the United Kingdom, Canada, and the United Nations General Assembly as "a flagrant violation of international law".

1984 election

Reagan accepted the Republican nomination at the party's convention in Dallas, Texas. He proclaimed that it was " morning again in America", regarding the recovering economy and the dominating performance by the American athletes at the 1984 Summer Olympics on home soil, among other things.

Reagan's opponent in the general election was former vice president Walter Mondale. Following a weak performance in the first presidential debate, Reagan's ability to win another term was questioned. Reagan rebounded in the second debate; confronting questions about his age, he quipped: "I will not make age an issue of this campaign. I am not going to exploit, for political purposes, my opponent's youth and inexperience". This remark generated applause and laughter, even from Mondale himself.

That November, Reagan won a landslide reelection victory, carrying 49 of the 50 states. Mondale won only his home state of Minnesota and the District of Columbia. Reagan won 525 of the 538 electoral votes, the most of any presidential candidate in U.S. history. In terms of electoral votes, Roosevelt's 1936 victory over Alf Landon, in which he won 98.5 percent or 523 of the then-total 531 electoral votes, was the most-lopsided presidential election. Reagan won 58.8 percent of the popular vote to Mondale's 40.6 percent.

Reagan was sworn in as president for the second time on January 20, 1985. At the time, the 73-year-old Reagan was the oldest person to take the oath of office, though the 78-year-old Joe Biden surpassed this record in 2021.

Response to the AIDS epidemic

According to AIDS activist organizations such as ACT UP and scholars such as Don Francis and Peter S. Arno, the Reagan administration largely ignored the AIDS crisis, which began to unfold in the United States in 1981. They also said that AIDS research was chronically underfunded during Reagan's administration and requests for more funding by doctors at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention were routinely denied.

In 1984, according to Reagan's White House physician John Hutton, Reagan thought of AIDS as though "it was the measles and would go away". However, the death of his friend Rock Hudson changed Reagan's view, approaching Hutton for more information on the disease.Cannon (1991, 2000), p.731. In a September 1985 press conference, a few months after Hudson's announcement that he had the disease, Reagan responded to a AIDS related question: "This is a top priority with us, yes, there's no question about the seriousness of this and the need to find an answer." Deroy Murdock of the ''National Review'' responded to the charge of the underfunding of AIDS by saying that AIDS spending under President Reagan rose from $8 million in 1982 to $2.3 billion by 1989, when more than 100,000 people had been diagnosed with AIDS in the United States and more than 59,000 of them had died of it.

By 1986, Reagan asked his surgeon general C. Everett Koop to draw up a report on the AIDS issue. Koop drew the ire of many evangelical conservatives, both in and out of the Reagan administration, by stressing the importance of sex education including condom usage in schools. Attitudes such as these helped galvanize gay rights activists; large demonstrations followed such as ACT UP's march in New York City in 1987. When President Reagan gave his first prepared speech on the epidemic, six years into his tenure, 36,058 Americans had been diagnosed with AIDS, and 20,849 had died of it.

Addressing apartheid

From the late 1960s onward, the American public grew increasingly vocal in its opposition to the apartheid policy of the white-minority government of South Africa, and in its insistence that the United States impose economic and diplomatic sanctions on South Africa. The strength of the anti-apartheid opposition surged during Reagan's first term in office as its component disinvestment from South Africa movement, which had been in existence for quite some years, gained critical mass following in the United States, particularly on college campuses and among mainline Protestant denominations. President Reagan was opposed to divestiture because, as he wrote in a letter to Sammy Davis Jr., it "would hurt the very people we are trying to help and would leave us no contact within South Africa to try and bring influence to bear on the government". He also noted the fact that the "American-owned industries there employ more than 80,000 blacks" and that their employment practices were "very different from the normal South African customs".

As an alternative strategy for opposing apartheid, the Reagan administration developed a policy of constructive engagement with the South African government as a means of encouraging it to move away from apartheid gradually. It was part of a larger initiative designed to foster peaceful economic development and political change throughout southern Africa. This policy however, engendered much public criticism and renewed calls for the imposition of stringent sanctions. In response, Reagan announced the imposition of new sanctions on the South African government, including an arms embargo in late 1985. These sanctions were seen as weak by anti-apartheid activists and as insufficient by the president's opponents in Congress. In August 1986, Congress approved the Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act, which included tougher sanctions. Reagan vetoed the act, but the veto was overridden by Congress. Afterward, Reagan reiterated that his administration and "all America" opposed apartheid, and said, "the debate... was not whether or not to oppose apartheid but, instead, how best to oppose it and how best to bring freedom to that troubled country." Several European countries, as well as Japan, also imposed their sanctions on South Africa soon after.

Libya bombing

Relations between Libya and the United States under President Reagan were continually contentious, beginning with the 1981 Gulf of Sidra incident; by 1982, Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi was considered by the CIA to be, along with Soviet Union leader Leonid Brezhnev and Cuban leader Fidel Castro, part of a group known as the "unholy trinity" and was also labeled as "our international public enemy number one" by a CIA official. These tensions were later revived in early April 1986 when a bomb exploded in a Berlin discothèque, resulting in the injury of 63 American military personnel and death of one serviceman. Stating that there was "irrefutable proof" that Libya had directed the "terrorist bombing", Reagan authorized the use of force against the country. In the late evening of April 15, 1986, the United States launched a series of airstrikes on ground targets in Libya.

British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher allowed the United States Air Force to use Britain's air bases to launch the attack, on the justification that the United Kingdom was supporting America's right to self-defense under Article 51 of the Charter of the United Nations. The attack was, according to Reagan, designed to halt Gaddafi's "ability to export terrorism", offering him "incentives and reasons to alter his criminal behavior". After the attacks began, Reagan addressed the nation, stating, "When our citizens are attacked or abused anywhere in the world on the direct orders of hostile regimes, we will respond so long as I'm in this office." The attack was condemned by many countries; by a vote of 79 in favor to 28 against with 33 abstentions, the United Nations General Assembly adopted resolution 41/38, which condemned the attack and deemed it a violation of the Charter and international law.

Iran–Contra affair

President Reagan authorized CIA director William J. Casey to arm the Contras, fearing that Communists would take over Nicaragua if it remained under the leadership of the Sandinistas. Congress passed the 1982 Boland Amendment, prohibiting the CIA and United States Department of Defense from using their budgets to provide aid to the Contras. Still, the Reagan administration raised funds for the Contras from private donors and foreign governments. When Congress learned that the CIA had secretly placed naval mines in Nicaraguan harbors, Congress passed a second Boland Amendment that barred granting any assistance to the Contras.

Reagan decided to procure the release of seven American hostages held by Hezbollah by selling American arms to Iran, then engaged in the Iran–Iraq War, in hopes that Iran would pressure Hezbollah to release the hostages. Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger and Secretary of State George Shultz both opposed the arrangement, leaving it to National Security Advisor Robert McFarlane and John Poindexter. The Reagan administration sold over 2,000 missiles to Iran without informing Congress; Hezbollah released four hostages but captured an additional six Americans. On the initiative of Oliver North, the administration redirected the proceeds from the missile sales to the Contras.Weisberg, pp. 129–134 The transactions became public knowledge by early November 1986. Reagan initially denied any wrongdoing, but on November 25, he announced that Poindexter and North had left the administration and that he would form the Tower Commission to investigate the transactions. A few weeks later, Reagan asked a panel of federal judges to appoint a special prosecutor who would conduct a separate investigation.

The Tower Commission released a report in February 1987 that confirmed that the administration had traded arms for hostages and sent the proceeds of the weapons sales to the Contras. The report laid most of the blame on North, Poindexter, and McFarlane, but it was also critical of Chief of Staff Donald Regan and other White House staffers. Investigators did not find conclusive proof that Reagan had known about the aid provided to the Contras, but the report noted that Reagan had "created the conditions which made possible the crimes committed by others" and had "knowingly participated or acquiesced in covering up the scandal." The affair damaged the administration and raised questions about Reagan's competency and the wisdom of conservative policies. The administration's credibility was also badly damaged on the international stage as it had violated its own arms embargo on Iran.Brands, pp. 653, 674

Soviet decline and thaw in relations

Ascension of Gorbachev

Three different Soviet leaders died between 1982 and 1985, leaving the Soviet Union with an unstable leadership until Mikhail Gorbachev came to power in 1985. Although the Soviets did not accelerate military spending in response to Reagan's military buildup, their enormous military expenses, in combination with collectivized agriculture and inefficient planned manufacturing, were a heavy burden for the Soviet economy. At the same time, the prices of oil, the primary source of Soviet export revenues, fell to one third of the previous level in 1985. These factors contributed to a stagnant economy during Gorbachev's tenure.

Initial meetings

Reagan's foreign policy towards the Soviets entailed both carrots and sticks. Reagan appreciated Gorbachev's revolutionary change in the direction of the Soviet policy and shifted to diplomacy, intending to encourage him to pursue substantial arms agreements. They held four summit conferences between 1985 and 1988. 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. The critical summit was in Reykjavík in 1986, where they met alone with translators but no aides. To the astonishment of the world, and the chagrin of Reagan's most conservative supporters, they agreed to abolish all nuclear weapons. Gorbachev then asked the end of SDI, to which Reagan said no, claiming that it was defensive only, and that he would share the secrets with the Soviets. No deal was achieved.

Berlin Wall Speech

Reagan spoke at the Berlin Wall on June 12, 1987, to challenge Gorbachev to open it, saying, "General Secretary Gorbachev, 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!" In November 1989, the Berlin Wall fell, as did the inner German border, due to the Peaceful Revolution in East Germany. Authorities began allowing citizens to pass freely through border checkpoints and began dismantling the wall the following June; its demolition was completed in 1992.

Treaties

Reagan and Gorbachev met again at the 1987 Washington Summit to sign the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF Treaty); their signatories committed to the total abolition of their respective short-range and medium-range missile stockpiles. The treaty marked the first time that the United States and the Soviet Union had committed to the elimination of a type of nuclear weapon. It also established an inspections regime designed to ensure that both parties honored the agreement. In addition to the INF Treaty, Reagan and Gorbachev discussed the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, but the SDI continued to be a major point of contention. In May 1988, the U.S. Senate voted 93–5 in favor of ratifying the treaty, providing a major boost to Reagan's popularity in the aftermath of the Iran–Contra affair. A new era of trade and openness between the two powers commenced, and the United States and Soviet Union cooperated on international issues such as the Iran–Iraq War. When Reagan visited the 1988 Moscow Summit, he was viewed as a celebrity by the Soviets. A journalist asked the president if he still considered the Soviet Union the evil empire to which he replied, "No, I was talking about another time, another era." At Gorbachev's request, Reagan gave a speech on free markets at Moscow State University.

Supreme Court nominations

On July 7, 1981, Reagan announced that he planned to appoint Sandra Day O'Connor as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, replacing the retiring Justice Potter Stewart. He had pledged during his 1980 presidential campaign that he would appoint the first woman to the court. On September 21, O'Connor was confirmed by the U.S. Senate with a vote of 99–0. In September 1986, Reagan nominated incumbent Associate Justice William Rehnquist to succeed the retiring Warren E. Burger as chief justice of the United States. Then, following Rehnquist's confirmation, the president named Antonin Scalia to fill the consequent associate justice vacancy. Reagan's final opportunity to fill a vacancy arose in mid-1987 when Associate Justice Lewis F. Powell Jr. announced his intention to retire. Reagan initially chose Robert Bork to succeed Powell, but Bork's nomination faced strong opposition by civil and women's rights groups and Senate Democrats. The nomination was rejected by a roll call vote of 42–58 after a contentious Senate debate in October. Soon afterward, Reagan announced his intention to nominate Douglas H. Ginsburg to that seat, though Ginsburg withdrew himself from consideration before his name was submitted to the Senate. Anthony Kennedy was subsequently nominated and confirmed as Powell's successor.

Post-presidency (1989–2004)

After leaving office on January 20, 1989, the Reagans purchased a home in Bel Air, Los Angeles, in addition to Rancho del Cielo in Santa Barbara. They regularly attended Bel Air Church and made public appearances including at the dedication and opening of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in 1991. On April 13, 1992, Reagan was assaulted by Richard Springer, an anti-nuclear protester, while accepting an award from the National Association of Broadcasters in Las Vegas, though Reagan was not injured. Reagan later gave a well-received speech at the 1992 Republican National Convention. He continued to speak publicly in favor of the Brady Bill, a constitutional amendment requiring a balanced budget, and the repeal of the 22nd Amendment. His final public speech occurred on February 3, 1994, during a tribute to him in Washington, D.C.; his last major public appearance was at the funeral of Richard Nixon on April 27, 1994.

Alzheimer's disease

In August 1994, Reagan was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, an incurable neurodegenerative disease which destroys brain cells and ultimately causes death.Reagan, Nancy (2002), pp. 179–180. In November of that year, he revealed the diagnosis through a handwritten letter. Letters of support from well-wishers then poured into his home, but there was also speculation over how long Reagan had demonstrated symptoms of mental degeneration. Reagan's son Ron said he had suspected early signs of his father's dementia as early as 1984, but later clarified that he did not believe his father was actually inhibited by Alzheimer's while in office, only that "the disease was likely present in him" for years prior to the diagnosis. Nancy, citing what doctors told her, asserted that her husband falling from a horse in July 1989 hastened the onset of Alzheimer's, although acute brain injury has not been conclusively proven to accelerate Alzheimer's or dementia. Reagan's White House physician, Daniel Ruge, said it was possible that the accident affected Reagan's memory.

Lay observations that Reagan suffered from Alzheimer's while still in office have been widely refuted by medical experts. All four of Reagan's White House physicians maintained they never had any concerns, "even with the hindsight of" his diagnosis while he was in office. They were all familiar with the disease, but not experts in Alzheimer's specifically. An outside specialist who reviewed both Reagan's public and medical records agreed with the conclusion that he displayed no signs of dementia back then, as did Lawrence Altman, upon reviewing his medical records and interviewing his doctors and other staff members, former aides, and friends in spite of Reagan experiencing occasional memory lapses, especially with names. Reagan's doctors said that he first began exhibiting overt symptoms of the illness in late 1992 or 1993.

As the years went on, the disease slowly destroyed Reagan's mental capacity. He was able to recognize only a few people including Nancy. Yet, he continued to walk through parks and on beaches, playing golf, and until 1999, often going to his office in nearby Century City. In January 2001, Reagan fell at his Bel Air home and broke his hip. The fracture was repaired the following day and Reagan returned home later that week with difficult physical therapy. Eventually, his family decided that he would live in quiet semi-isolation with Nancy, who became a stem-cell research advocate, asserting that it could lead to a cure for Alzheimer's.

Death and funeral

Reagan died of pneumonia, complicated by Alzheimer's disease, at his home in Los Angeles, in the afternoon of June 5, 2004. President George W. Bush called Reagan's death "a sad hour in the life of America". Three days later, a brief family funeral was held at Reagan's his presidential library. On June 9, his body was flown to Washington, D.C. to lie in state in the Capitol rotunda with a state funeral conducted in the Washington National Cathedral on June 11, the day Bush declared Reagan's death a national day of mourning. Eulogies were given by former British Prime Minister Thatcher, former Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, and both former President George H. W. Bush and President George W. Bush. Many other world leaders attended, including Gorbachev and Prince Charles, representing his mother Queen Elizabeth II. Reagan, then the longest-lived American president at 93 years and 120 days, was interred at his library.

Legacy

Reagan's legacy is the subject of substantial debate among scholars, historians, and the general public. Supporters have pointed to a more efficient and prosperous economy as a result of his economic policies, foreign policy triumphs including a peaceful end to the Cold War, and a restoration of American pride and morale. Proponents say that he had an unabated and passionate love for the United States which restored faith in the American Dream after a decline in American confidence and self-respect under Carter's perceived weak leadership, particularly during the Iran hostage crisis, as well as his gloomy, dreary outlook for the future of the United States during the 1980 election. Critics point out that Reagan's economic policies resulted in rising budget deficits and the national debt, a wider gap in wealth, and an increase in homelessness, and that the Iran–Contra affair lowered American credibility.

Opinions of Reagan's legacy among the country's leading policymakers and journalists differ as well. Edwin Feulner, president of The Heritage Foundation, said that Reagan "helped create a safer, freer world" and that his economic policies "took an America suffering from 'malaise'... and made its citizens believe again in their destiny." Mark Weisbrot, co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, contended that Reagan's "economic policies were mostly a failure" and Howard Kurtz of ''The Washington Post'' opined that Reagan was "a far more controversial figure in his time than the largely gushing obits on television would suggest".

Despite the debate, many conservative and liberal scholars agree that Reagan has been the most influential president since Roosevelt, leaving his imprint on American politics, diplomacy, culture, and economics through his effective communication and pragmatic compromising. As summarized by British historian M. J. Heale, since Reagan left office, historians have reached a broad consensus that he rehabilitated conservatism, turned the nation to the right, practiced a considerably pragmatic conservatism that balanced ideology and the constraints of politics, revived faith in the presidency and American exceptionalism

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