After researching Ronald Reagan’s policies for my position paper, I wanted to do a more in-depth analysis of his life, presidency, and impact on our country.
Reagan began his career in an unconventional way compared to most presidents. After graduating from college in Illinois, his first job was as a radio announcer. He then went on to star in multiple movies in the 30s and 40s, and he even married an actress.
Surprisingly, in his early years, he identified as a democrat. However, his views slowly shifted to the conservative side, and he soon became elected as Governor of California running against democrat Edmund Brown Senior. After unsuccessful bids for the Republican presidential nomination, he finally won in 1980. During his election, Reagan attracted conservative wealthy financial supporters, evangelical Christians, and neoconservatives who ultimately helped him win the 1980 presidential election. Ronald Raegan’s victory over Jimmy Carter led to a significant shift towards conservatism, and the era was dubbed “The Reagan Revolution”.
The main domestic changes Reagan instated were his conservative economic policies. The presidents prior to Reagan attempted numerous different methods to help the economy in previous years, all of which had issues. So, when Reagan came along, he wanted to fix the unemployment and inflation issues with “Reaganomics”. In short, Reaganomics entailed cutting taxes on the investing class so they could spend more, helping boost the economy, and the money would eventually trickle down to the middle and lower classes. However, his increase in military spending put the country in deep debt.
In terms of foreign affairs, he built up a massive military defense. Reagan formed the Strategic Defense Initiative, which protected the United States from Soviet Missile attack. Reagan also sent troops to Lebanon to maintain peace, and he also led an invasion in the Caribbean. This was all part of his strategy to help anticommunist movements across the world.
In 2004, Ronald Reagan died in his Los Angeles home after suffering Alzheimer's disease in his later years. In the end, while many of his decisions were controversial, Reagan’s presidency had a huge impact on the Republican party and politics today.
Sources:
Fun Fact: It is true that Reagan first married the actress Jane Wyman, who he had two children with. However, the couple experienced a bitter divorce in 1948. When he served as president of the Screen Actors Guild, he met his future wife, actress Nancy Davis, after she sought his help when she was blacklisted for being a communist sympathizer (this was going on during the McCarthyism era). Though he was hesitant to marry her at first, he finally caved, and the couple married in 1952 and went on to have two children of their own.
ReplyDeleteSources:
https://www.whitehouse.gov/about-the-white-house/presidents/ronald-reagan/
https://www.biography.com/us-president/ronald-reagan
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Ronald-Reagan
I liked your blog post and how you included the fact that Reagan wasn't always a Republican, I think it's interesting that he shifted his mindset from a democrat. I also like how you added information about his non-political life like when he used to act. One fun fact is that the last movie he performed in was "The Killers", where he acted his first role of being the villain.
ReplyDeletesource - https://constitutioncenter.org/blog/10-interesting-facts-on-president-ronald-reagans-birthday
I find it very interesting how you chose to talk about Reagan's foreign affairs and domestic changes. I then became curious about the Reagan administration's relation to women's rights. Apparently, his administration focused on undoing feminist changes, by resisting the Equal Rights Amendment and trying to end legal abortion through his “gag rule” which blocked U.S. federal funding for non-governmental organizations that provide abortion counseling or referrals, advocate to decriminalize abortion, or expand abortion services. This was done as a response to the growth of conservative anti-feminism in the ‘80s in which “liberate us from the liberators” became a rallying cry.
ReplyDelete