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Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was the 40th President of the United States (1981–1989), and the 33rd Governor of the state of California (1967–1975). At age 69, he was the oldest person ever elected President. Before entering politics, Reagan was a popular motion picture actor, head of the Screen Actors Guild, and a motivational speaker. He was an "FDR Democrat" in the 1930s and 1940s but became a Republican in the 1960s. He served two terms as governor of California. His persuasive speaking style earned Reagan the title "The Great Communicator." After the failure of Barry Goldwater's presidential campaign in 1964, Reagan became the dominant figure in the American conservative movement. In 1976, Reagan made an unsuccessful bid for the Republican Presidential nomination against incumbent Gerald Ford. By 1980, the national "malaise" inhabiting President Jimmy Carter's term eventually led to a groundswell of support for the Republican heir-apparent Reagan, which culminated in his nomination and subsequent election to the Presidency. As president he escalated the Cold War with the Soviet Union, then negotiated massive arms reductions with the Soviets in the late 1980s. By 1989 the Soviet empire collapsed, Reagan was hailed as a hero in Eastern Europe, and the United States was the sole superpower. In its abandonment of the then-currently prevailing policy of Soviet containment known as detente, Reagan's approach to foreign affairs was controversial, but it ultimately led to a preeminent role for the United States on the world stage. His economic and foreign policies have formed the base of American conservatism since 1980. Reagan defeated President Carter to win the election of 1980; his lopsided victory in a three-candidate race ushered in the first Republican-controlled U.S. Senate in 26 years, and significantly reduced the Democratic majority in the House of Representatives. His economic policy of supply-side economics, commonly referred to as "Reaganomics," is noted for its implementation of a 25% cut in the income tax, a reduction in interest rates, increased military spending, and an alarming rise in the national debt. After two years, a recession began to set in, but the economy recovered robustly in 1983 and he was reelected in a 49-state landslide in 1984. He did not succeed in significantly changing social policies, such as welfare spending and abortion rights, but he did create a more conservative federal judiciary through appointments to the United States Supreme Court and other federal courts. He was toughly skeptical of the ability of the federal government to remedy socioeconomic problems. Broadly speaking, his solution was to lower taxes and limit government regulation in order to allow the self-correcting "invisible hand" of the free market to assert itself. On inauguration day 1981, he said "Government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem." Many political and social commentators have credited him with restoring a brisk new psychological optimism to an America that had remained awash in sullen negativity following the scars of the Watergate scandal, the American defeat in Vietnam, and a late 1970s economy racked by spiraling inflation and interest rates. His ability to survive and even escape blame for economic troubles, reverses in Congress, foreign crises, and his own administration's scandals earned him the nickname, "The Teflon President." In foreign policy, his administration was noted for its boldness. Reagan uncategorically identified the Soviet Union as an "evil empire" and authorized a vast buildup of military might, mandating that the Soviets commit funds and other resources they barely retained. The Berlin Wall, and with it ultimately the Soviet Bloc, collapsed in November of 1989, shortly after he left office. Historians have not yet formed a consensus; some consider Reagan the leading architect of the Soviet demise in 1991, while others believe the distinegration was inevitable; Reagan simply hastened the day. He was the only U.S. President to be shot by an assassin (on March 30, 1981) while in office and survive. After suffering from Alzheimer's disease for at least a decade, he died in 2004 at age 93 in Bel-Air, California. His death and funeral evoked a national outpouring of profound grief and gratitude. Early life Reagan was born on February 6, 1911, in an apartment above a small bakery in Tampico, Illinois. He was the second of two sons born to John Edward Reagan (1883–1941), an Irish American Catholic, and Nellie Clyde Wilson (1883–1962), who was of Scottish, Canadian and English descent and his older brother was Neil Reagan (1908–1996). His paternal great-grandfather, Michael Reagan, came to the United States from Ballyporeen, County Tipperary, Ireland, in the 1860s, and the rest of his paternal family immigrated from Ireland in the 1800s as well.* Prior to his immigration, the family name was spelled Regan. His maternal great-grandfather, John Wilson, immigrated to the United States from Paisley, Scotland, in the 1840s and married Jane Blue, a Canadian from Queens, New Brunswick. Reagan's maternal grandmother, Mary Anne Elsey, was born in Epsom, Surrey, England.* During his childhood, Reagan attended Mount Lebanon school district. There, he developed a gift for storytelling and acting. These abilities led to his selection as one of the freshman speakers during the late-night meeting prior to the student strike at Eureka College. In 1932, after graduating from Eureka (B.A. in economics and sociology), Reagan worked at radio stations WOC in Davenport, Iowa, and then WHO in Des Moines as an announcer for Chicago Cubs baseball games, getting only the bare outlines of the game from a ticker and relying on his imagination to flesh out the game. Once, during the ninth inning of a game, the wire went dead but Reagan smoothly improvised a fictional play-by-play (in which hitters on both teams fouled off numerous pitches) until the wire was restored. Hollywood In 1937, when in California to cover spring training for the Chicago Cubs as a Headline radio announcer, Reagan took a screen test that led to a seven-year contract with the Warner Brothers studio. Reagan's clear voice, easy-going manner, and athletic physique made him popular with audiences; the majority of his screen roles were as the leading man in B movies. His first screen credit was the starring role in the 1937 movie Love Is On the Air. By the end of 1939, he had appeared in 19 films. Before Santa Fe Trail in 1940, he played the role of George "The Gipper" Gipp in the film Knute Rockne, All American. From this role he acquired the nickname the Gipper, which he retained the rest of his life. Reagan considered his best acting work to have been in Kings Row (1942). He played the part of a young man whose legs were amputated. He used a line he spoke in this film, "Where's the rest of me?", as the title for his autobiography. Other notable Reagan films include International Squadron, 'Tennessee's Partner, Hellcats of the Navy, This Is the Army, and Bedtime for Bonzo. He has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Reagan was commissioned as a reserve officer in the Army in 1935. In November 1941, Reagan was called up but disqualified for combat duty because of his astigmatism. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, Lieutenant Reagan was activated and assigned to the First Motion Picture Unit in the United States Army Air Forces, which made training and education films, where his acting experience could be put to work. He remained in Hollywood for the duration of the war. Reagan's film roles became fewer in the late 1950s; he moved to television as a host and frequent performer for General Electric Theater. Reagan appeared in over 50 television dramas. Reagan served as the president of the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) from 1947 until 1952, and again from 1959 to 1960. In 1952, a Hollywood dispute raged over his granting of a SAG blanket waiver to MCA, which allowed it to both represent and employ talent for its burgeoning TV franchises. He went from host and program supervisor of General Electric Theater to producing and claiming an equity stake in the TV show itself. At one point in the late 1950s, Reagan was earning approximately $125,000 per year (he would have made $800,000 in 2006). His final regular acting job was as host and performer on Death Valley Days. Reagan's final big-screen appearance came in the 1964 film The Killers, a remake of an earlier version, based on a short story by Ernest Hemingway. Reagan portrayed a mob chieftain. This film, the first made-for-TV movie, was originally produced for NBC, but the network's censor found it too violent. Reagan's co-stars were John Cassavetes, Lee Marvin, and Angie Dickinson. In total Reagan boasts a fairly prodigious credit history of 102 activities ranging from Cowpoke to a cameo appearance in Spies Like Us. Marriages Reagan married actress Jane Wyman on January 24, 1940; they had a daughter, Maureen in 1941; an adopted son, Michael in 1945, and a second daughter, Christine, born and died June 26, 1947. They divorced on June 28, 1948. Reagan is the only United States President to date to have been divorced. Reagan remarried on March 4, 1952, to actress Nancy Davis. Their daughter Patti was born on October 21 of the same year. In 1958, they had a second child, Ron. Early political career
Governor of California In 1966, he was elected the 33rd Governor of California, defeating two-term Pat Brown; he was re-elected in 1970, defeating Jesse Unruh, but chose not to seek a third term. Ronald Reagan was sworn in as governor of California on January 3, 1967. In his first term, he froze government hiring but also approved tax hikes to balance the budget. Reagan quickly controlled protest movements of the era. During the People's Park protests in 1969, he sent 2,200 state National Guard troops onto the Berkeley campus of the University of California. In a speech in April 1970, he stated, "If it's to be a bloodbath, let it be now. Appeasement is not the answer." He worked with Democratic Assembly Speaker Bob Moretti to reform welfare in 1971. Reagan also opposed the construction of a large federal dam, the Dos Rios, which would have flooded a valley of American Indian ranches. Later, Reagan and his family took a summer backpack trip into the high Sierra to a place where a proposed trans-Sierra highway would be built. Once there, he declared it would not be built. One of Reagan's greatest frustrations in office concerned capital punishment. He had campaigned as a strong supporter; however, his efforts to enforce the state's laws in this area were thwarted when the Supreme Court of California issued its People v. Anderson decision, which invalidated all death sentences issued in California prior to 1972, although the decision was quickly overturned by a constitutional amendment. Despite his support for the death penalty, Reagan granted two clemencies and a temporary reprieve during his governorship. As of 2006, no other clemency has been granted to a condemned person in California. The only execution during Reagan's governorship was on April 12, 1967, when Aaron Mitchell was executed by the state in San Quentin's gas chamber. There was not another execution in California until 1992. When the Symbionese Liberation Army kidnapped Patty Hearst in Berkeley and demanded the distribution of food to the poor, Reagan suggested that it would be a good time for an outbreak of botulism. After the media reported on the comment, he apologized. Reagan promoted the dismantling of the public psychiatric hospital system, proposing that community-based housing and treatment replace involuntary hospitalization, which he saw as a violation of civil liberties issue. The community replacement facilities have never been adequately funded, either by Reagan or his successors. Reagan was strongly influenced by the classical liberals. When asked in an interview in 1975 which economists were influential on him, he replied: "Bastiat and von Mises, and Hayek and Hazlitt–I’m one for the classical economists." * Reagan was the first governor to use a corporate business jet for official travel. California received one of the first Cessna Citation jets manufactured. His pilot, Bill Paynter, changed his Democratic voting registration to Republican within six months of meeting Reagan. Paynter often told listeners the Reagan on TV was the same Reagan in person, a man who walked his talk. Reagan would often ask his flight crew if it would be any inconvenience to change the published flight schedule because he did not want to keep his support staff from being with their families and any family planned events. Presidential campaigns 1976 Presidential Campaign Reagan's first attempt to gain the Republican presidential nomination in 1968 was unsuccessful. Reagan's candidacy was late to start and was part of a broader "Stop Nixon" campaign that also included then-New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller. Reagan took some 600-odd delegates but Richard Nixon soon took the nomination and Reagan asked the convention to nominate Nixon unanimously. In 1976, Reagan challenged incumbent President Gerald Ford, a moderate Republican. Reagan quickly established himself as the conservative candidate in the race and conservative organizations like the American Conservative Union was critical in sustaining his candidacy. Relying on an early strategy crafted by campaign manager John Sears of winning a few key primaries to knock President Ford out of the running, the strategy quickly fell apart when poor management of expectations and an ill-timed speech promising to shift responsibilty of federal services to the states without any promises on funding sources caused Reagan to lose New Hampshire and later Florida. Reagan found himself cornered and desperately needed a primary win or else likely be forced to withdraw from the race. Reagan made his critical stand in the North Carolina primary. Hammering President Ford on the Panama Canal, detente with the Soviet Union and Henry Kissinger's performance as Secretary of State, Reagan won the state 53% to 47%. Reagan now had some momentum and won the major states of Texas and California, while losing Ohio, Tennessee, Kentucky and Michigan. Reagan fared well in state conventions but as the Kansas City Convention neared, Ford looked close to winning the nomination, thanks to delegates in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania thought to be controlled by forces of liberal Republican and Vice President Nelson Rockefeller. To combat this, Reagan chose moderate Republican and Pennsylvania Senator Richard Schweiker to be his running mate if nominated. Nevertheless Ford won, taking 1,187 delegates to Reagan's 1,070. Reagan gave a stirring speech, discussing the dangers of nuclear war and the moral threat represented by the Soviet Union. 1978 Opposition to Californias Briggs Initiative The Briggs Initiative, which for a time was winning in polls conducted prior to the election with about 61% of voters supporting it while 31% opposed. The extreme right state legislator John Briggs was pushing Prop 6, the ballot initiative describing it as an initiative that would "would defend your children from homosexual teachers." Meanwhile, in San Francisco, Supervisor Dan White, was leading the campaign for the passage of the Briggs Initiative. It was the first attempt to restrict gay and lesbian rights through a ballot measure. However, it is historically significant that the polls changed in the opponents favor when former Governor Ronald Reagan, later President opposed the measure. Reagan opposed the ballot initiative sponsored by religious conservatives that would have barred homosexuals from teaching in the public schools. As legend has it, Reagan penned an editorial for a major California newspaper in which he opposed the initiative. The timing is significant because he was then preparing to run for president, a race in which he would need the support of conservatives and moderates who felt very uncomfortable with homosexual teachers, nevertheless Reagan chose to state his convictions. However, in the fall of 2006, a committee of Log Cabin Republicans spearheaded by Trustee Kevin Norte began researching the legend of the Reagan editorial and the Briggs Initiative and utilized the services of a student worker, Grant Grays, at the Tretter Collection in GLBT Studies at the University of Minnesota Libraries. Grays discovered that there was no editorial penned by Reagan but rather he sent a letter to a pro-Briggs Initiative group in which he opposed the initiative. The entire text of Reagan's letter of opposition was never printed in the public media. The most extensive excerpts from his statement were reprinted in the San Francisco Chronicle of September 24, 1978 where it was revealed that the future President opposed the Briggs Initiative. Reagan's letter also allegedly stated, “Whatever else it is, 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.” If true, this was a remarkably progressive thing for a politician, especially a conservative one about to run for president, to say in 1978. In the end the Briggs Initiative was defeated by over one million votes and would have prevented gay men and lesbians from being public school teachers in California. Even John Briggs' home territory, the conservative Orange County, rejected the measure. Without Reagan's personal, forceful opposition to Briggs it's likely the measure would have passed. There is, however, no public acknowledgement of Reagan's historic stance on the Briggs Initiative at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California. 1980 presidential campaign
1984 presidential campaign In the 1984 presidential election, Reagan was re-elected over former Vice President Walter Mondale, winning 49 of 50 states (Mondale carried only his home state of Minnesota and the District of Columbia). Reagan received nearly 60% of the popular vote. His chances of winning were not harmed when, at the Democratic National Convention, Mondale accepted the party nomination with a speech that was regarded as a self-inflicted mortal wound to his presidential aspirations. In it, Mondale remarked "Mr. Reagan will raise taxes, and so will I. He won't tell you. I just did." Reagan accepted the Republican nomination in Dallas, Texas, on a wave of good feeling bolstered by the recovering economy and the dominating performance by the U.S. athletes at the Los Angeles Olympics that summer. He became the first American President to open a summer Olympic Games held in the U.S. Despite a weak performance in the first debate, Reagan recovered in the second and was considerably ahead of Mondale in polls taken throughout much of the race. Reagan's landslide win in the 1984 presidential election is often attributed by political commentators to be a result of his conversion of the "Reagan Democrats," the traditionally Democratic voters who voted for Reagan in that election. Presidency Economy
The AIDS epidemic President Reagan was criticized for the slow response of his Administration and other authorities to the HIV-AIDS epidemic. Reagan was silent on the issue until after the illness of movie star and national icon Rock Hudson became public news in late July 1985, by which time 12,067 Americans had been diagnosed with AIDS, and 6,079 had died. Under Reagan $5.7 billion was spent on AIDS and HIV, with large amounts going to the National Institutes of Health. This was significantly more than the federal government spends on cancer research, which kills far more people than AIDS and HIV, though some argued that it was still not enough. In September 1985, Reagan said: "Including what we have in the budget for 1986, it will amount to over a half a billion dollars that we have provided for research on AIDS, in addition to what I'm sure other medical groups are doing. And we have $100 million in the budget this year; it'll be $126 million next year. So this is a top priority with us. Yes, there's no question about the seriousness of this and the need to find an answer." By 1986, Reagan had endorsed a large prevention and research effort and declared in his budget message that AIDS "remains the highest public health priority of the Department of Health and Human Services." In 1984, he was the first President to invite an openly homosexual couple, Ted Graber and Archie Case, to spend the night in the White House. However, in a rare public pronouncement on the topic of AIDS, Reagan stated his belief that morality and science conflate to make abstinence the best method to prevent the disease. Reagan opposed civil rights legislation that included sexual orientation and efforts to repeal sodomy laws. Controversy surrounding the discovery of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) was intense after American researcher Robert Gallo and French scientist Luc Montagnier both claimed to have discovered it. The controversy was settled by an agreement between Reagan and French President François Mitterrand, which gave equal credit to both men and their teams. Abortion As governor in 1970, Reagan signed into law California's liberal abortion rights legislation, before Roe v Wade was decided. However, he later took a strong stand against abortion. He published the book Abortion and the Conscience of a Nation, which decried what Reagan saw as disrespect for life, promoted by the practice of abortion. However, two of the three Supreme Court justices he selected, Sandra Day O'Connor and Anthony Kennedy, voted to uphold Roe v. Wade. Other matters Although Reagan's second term was mostly noteworthy for matters related to foreign affairs, he supported significant pieces of legislation on domestic matters. In 1982, Reagan signed legislation reauthorizing the Voting Rights Act of 1965 for another 25 years, even though he had opposed such an extension during the 1980 campaign. The number of pages added to the Register each year declined sharply at the start of the Ronald Reagan presidency, breaking a steady and sharp increase since 1960. The increase in the number of pages added per year resumed an upward, though less steep, trend after Reagan left office. The "war on drugs" during his presidency involved Nancy Reagan's high-profile "Just Say No" series of messages. In 1983 and again in 1984, Reagan was heard to say -- by Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir of Israel and by Simon Wiesenthal and Rabbi Martin Hier of Los Angeles -- that he personally filmed the Auschwitz death camps; he was in a film unit in Hollywood that processed raw footage for newsreels, but he was not in Europe during the war. Cold War
Confrontation Reagan forcefully confronted the Soviet Union, marking a sharp departure from the détente observed by his predecessors Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, and Carter. Under the assumption that the Soviet Union could not then outspend the US government in a renewed arms race, he accelerated increases in defense spending begun during the Carter Administration and strove to make the Cold War economically and rhetorically hot. The Administration oversaw a military build-up that represented a policy named "peace through strength". The U.S. set a new policy toward the Soviet Union with the goal of winning the Cold War by using a strategy outlined in NSDD-32 (National Security Decisions Directive). The directive outlined Reagan's plan to confront the USSR on three fronts: decrease Soviet access to high technology and diminish their resources, including depressing the value of Soviet commodities on the world market; increase American defense expenditures to strengthen the U.S. negotiating position; and force the Soviets to devote more of their economic resources to defense. Around the world the U.S. used the Vietnam War example, by financially and diplomatically supporting anticommunist movements trying to overthrow Communist regimes. This included support for the Afghani insurgents and Poland's Solidarity movement. Economic Front Reagan argued that the American economy was on the move again; with the rapid computerization of the economy, high technology was the driving force. But the Soviets lagged far behind even South Korea when it came to high technology, and slipped further every year. Reagan made the Soviet predicament far worse by forbidding high tech exports to the Soviets from the U.S. or its allies. For a while the decline was masked by high prices for Soviet oil exports, but that advantage collapsed in the early 1980s. In November 1985, the oil price was $30/barrel for crude, in March 1986 it had fallen to $12, as the Soviet economy lost billions in revenues. The economic race with the West required radical reforms, which Gorbachev imposed. He hoped his new policies of glasnost and perestroika would revitalize the Soviet economy, but instead of new solutions he heard new complaints. Among European leaders, his main ally and undoubtedly his closest friend was Margaret Thatcher, who as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom supported Reagan's policies of deterrence against the Soviets. Military Buildup and Treaties/Negotiations Reagan's military build-up, coupled with his fierce anti-Soviet rhetoric, contributed to Soviet near-panic reaction to a routine NATO exercise in November 1983, ABLE ARCHER 83. Though the threat of nuclear war ended abruptly with the end of the exercise, this historically obscure incident illustrates the possible negative repercussions of Reagan's "standing tall" to a nuclear power. Some historians, among them Beth B. Fischer in her book The Reagan Reversal, argue that the ABLE ARCHER 83 near-crisis had a profound effect on President Reagan, and it forced him from a policy of confrontation towards the Soviet Union to a policy of rapprochement. Although the U.S. negotiated arms-reduction treaties such as the INF Treaty and START Treaty with the U.S.S.R., it also aimed to increase strategic defense. A controversial plan, named the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), was proposed to deploy a space-based defense system to make the U.S. invulnerable to nuclear weapon missile attack, by means of a network of armed satellites orbiting the Earth. Critics dubbed the proposal "Star Wars" and argued that SDI was unrealistic, a violation of ABM treaties, and as a weapon that defends the U.S. if it strikes first, would inflame the arms race. Supporters responded that even the threat of SDI would force the Soviets into unsustainable spending to maintain parity. In fact, the Soviets both attempted to follow suit with their own program and attempted to reign in, or at least slow down the growing U.S. military advantage with a program of arms reduction treaties. Ultimately they proved more successful with the latter approach, since trying to keep up with the U.S. in military spending and research and development severely damaged an already shaky Soviet economy. This is considered, by some, to be one of the major contributing factors to the fall of the Soviet Union. End of the Cold War What some US scholars call the "orthodox view" of the end of the Cold War is that "the Soviet Union's capitulation and the Cold War victory for the forces of freedom and democracy were ultimately due to the relentless application of the West's military superiority and the dynamism of its ideas and economic system. These factors revealed communism's moral illegitimacy and highlighted its economic stagnation." Salla and Summy, p 3 It is broadly endorsed by both Republicans (who emphasize Reagan's role), and by Democrats (who emphasize the containment policies of Truman, Kennedy, Johnson and Carter). Some of European leaders of the time give credit to Reagan for the application of these ideals. For example Lech Wałęsa, leader of the Solidarity movement in Poland, said in 2004, "When talking about Ronald Reagan, I have to be personal. We in Poland took him so personally. Why? Because we owe him our liberty. This can't be said often enough by people who lived under oppression for half a century, until communism fell in 1989." * Helmut Kohl, chancellor of West Germany, said, "He was a stroke of luck for the world. Two years after Reagan called on Mikhail Gorbachev to tear down the wall, he noted, it fell and 11 months later Germany was reunified. We Germans have much to thank Ronald Reagan for." Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern said, "President Reagan was a determined opponent of Communism and he played an important role in bringing an end to Communism and to the artificial division of Europe imposed after the Second World War." Václav Havel, who became the Czech president in 1989, said, "He was a man of firm principles who was indisputably instrumental in the fall of Communism." * On March 11 1990 Lithuania, led by newly elected Vytautas Landsbergis, declared independence from the Soviet Union and was followed by other Soviet Republics and by 1991, the Soviet Union was officially dissolved. In her videotaped eulogy for his funeral, Margaret Thatcher said, "Ronald Reagan won the Cold War without firing a shot." Other U.S. involvement Support for anti-communist groups including armed insurgencies against communist governments was referred to by his supporters as the Reagan Doctrine. Following this policy, the U.S. funded groups the administration called "freedom fighters", such as the mujahideen in Afghanistan, the Contras in Nicaragua, and, with the white government of South Africa, Jonas Savimbi's rebel forces in Angola —all of which were fighting Soviet or Cuban backed Marxist governments. The U.S. increased military funding for anti-communist action in Central America The U.S. also helped fund central European anti-communist groups such as the Polish Solidarity movement. Reagan took a hard line against the pro-Vietnamese communist regime in Cambodia by paradoxically working with communist-run China which was providing support to Khmer Rouge communist guerillas who were fighting the Vietnamese. Illegal funding of the Contras in Nicaragua led to the Iran-Contra Affair, while overt support led to a World Court ruling against the United States in Nicaragua v. United States. The United States refused to obey the ruling of the International Court of Justice and refused to pay the fine. President Reagan denied any knowledge of his Administation's illegal arming and funding of the Contras. Funding for the Contras was also obtained through the sale of weaponry to Iran. When this latter practice was discovered, it was referred to as the Iran-Contra affair. The U.S. took a strong stance against the Lebanese Hezbollah terrorist organization, which was taking American citizens hostage and attacking civilian targets after Israel entered Lebanon in the 1982 Lebanon War. It similarly took a strong stance against Palestinian terrorists in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. More disputed was Reagan's consideration of the Salvadoran FMLN and Honduran guerrilla fighters as terrorists. Reagan also considered the anti-apartheid ANC armed wing known as Umkhonto we Sizwe (Spear of the Nation) as a terrorist organization. Reagan offered controversial support to the rightist El Salvador government throughout his term; he feared a takeover by the FMLN during the El Salvador Civil War which had begun in the late 1970s. The war left 75,000 people dead, 8,000 missing and one million homeless; some one million El Salvadoreans, fleeing the war and government backed right-wing death squads, immigrated to the United States. He backed attempts at introducing democratic elections with mixed success. U.S. involvement in Lebanon followed a limited-term United Nations mandate for a multinational force. A force of 800 Marines was sent to Beirut to evacuate PLO forces. The September 16, 1982 massacre of hundreds of Palestinian civilians in Beirut prompted Reagan to form a new multinational force. Intense diplomatic efforts resulted in a peace agreement between Lebanon and Israel. U.S. forces were withdrawn shortly after the October 23, 1983 bombing of a barracks in which 241 Marines were killed. Reagan called this day the saddest day of his presidency and of his life. In 1983, a communist coup occurred on the small island nation of Grenada. On October 25, 1983, two days after the Beirut bombing, the United States invaded Grenada. Iran-Iraq War Initially neutral in the Iran-Iraq War, the U.S. became increasingly involved. The U.S. supported both nations at various times — "Too bad they both can't lose," Henry Kissinger said — but mainly sided with Iraq, believing that Iranian leader Ayatollah Khomeini threatened regional stability more than Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. U.S. officials feared that an Iranian victory would embolden Islamic fundamentalists in the Arab states, perhaps leading to the overthrow of secular governments—and damage to Western corporate interests—in Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Kuwait. After initial Iraqi military victories were reversed and an Iranian victory appeared possible in 1982, the American government initiated Operation Staunch to attempt to cut off the Iranian regime's access to weapons (notwithstanding their later shipment of weapons to Iran in the Iran-Contra Affair). The U.S. provided intelligence information and financial assistance to the Iraqi military regime. The U.S. also allowed the shipment of "dual use" materials, that could be used for chemical and biological weapons, ostensibly for agriculture, medical research, and other civilian purposes, but they were diverted for use in Saddam's weapons of mass destruction programs. On April 18 1988 Reagan authorized Operation Praying Mantis, a one-day naval strike against Iranian naval ships, boats, and command posts in retaliation for the mining of a U.S. guided missile frigate. One day later, Reagan sent a letter to the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President Pro Tempore of the Senate. *USS Simpson (FFG-56) is mentioned in firing on Iranian F-4 Phantom II Fighters built by the United States. In 1986, the U.S. also sold arms to Iran to fund Contra rebels in Nicaragua, leading to the Iran-Contra scandal. Reagan professed ignorance of the plot's existence and quickly called for an Independent Counsel to investigate. Ten officials in the Reagan Administration were convicted, and others were forced to resign. Secretary of Defense Casper Weinberger was indicted for perjury and later received a presidential pardon from George H.W. Bush, days before the trial was to begin. In 2006, historians ranked the Iran-Contra affair as the ninth-worst mistake by a U.S. president. State visits In 1985 Reagan visited the Kolmeshohe Cemetery near Bitburg at the urgent request of Chancellor Helmut Kohl of West Germany, to pay respects to the soldiers interred there. Controversy arose because 49 of the graves contained the remains of men who had served in the Waffen-SS. The cemetery also contained remains of about 2,000 other German soldiers who had died in both World Wars, but no Americans. Some Jewish and veterans' groups opposed this visit. Reagan went because of his need to support Kohl and ratify the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. Reagan also visited the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, where he cited Anne Frank and ended his speech with the words, "Never again." "The Great Communicator"
Assassination attempt On March 30, 1981, Reagan, his press secretary James Brady, and two others were shot by John Hinckley, Jr.. Missing Reagan’s heart by less than one inch, the bullet instead struck his left lung, which likely spared his life. Reagan joked, "I hope you're all Republicans" to his surgeons (though they were not, Dr. Joseph Giordano replied, "We're all Republicans today"). Reagan later famously told his wife, "Honey, I forgot to duck" (borrowing Jack Dempsey's line to his wife the night he was beaten by Gene Tunney for the heavyweight championship). Reagan had been scheduled to visit Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on the day of the shooting. He told a nurse, "All in all, I'd rather be in Philadelphia," a reference to the W.C. Fields' tagline (which was itself a reference to an old vaudeville joke among comedians: "I would rather be dead than play Philadelphia"). * Major legislation approved Administration and Cabinet
Supreme Court appointments Reagan nominated the following jurists to the Supreme Court of the United States: Criticism A frequent objection by his critics was that his personal charm also permitted him to say nearly anything and yet prevail, a quality that earned him the nickname "The Teflon President" (nothing sticks to him). His denial of awareness of the Iran-Contra scandal was belied his signing a secret presidential "finding" describing the deal as "arms-for-hostages." Critics objected to his comparison of the contras to the Founding Fathers and to the French Resistance, which suggests that he viewed the Sandinistas as Communists who were akin to an occupying power. The United States was found guilty of having supported terrorism in Nicaragua by the International Court of Justice (Nicaragua v. United States) during Reagan's presidency. Despite a United Nations General Assembly resolution demanding compliance, the U.S. never paid the required fine and since 1991 relations with Nicaragua were friendly. Economic inequality was increasing steadily after 1973 as the New Deal goal equalitarianism faded from the political agenda. Reagan's efforts to cut welfare and income taxes became common flashpoints between critics who charged that this primarily benefited the wealthy in America, branding these policies as "Trickle-down economics", and the business community that said penalizing it penalized all American job seekers. The deregulation of the banking industry before Reagan took office, meant savings and loan associations were given the flexibility to invest their depositors' funds in commercial real estate. Many savings and loan associations began making risky investments. As a result, the Federal Home Loan Bank Board, the federal agency that regulates the industry, tried to clamp down on the trend. In so doing, however, the Board clashed with the policy of permitting the deregulation of many industries, including the thrift industry. The resulting savings and loan scandal bailout ultimately cost the government $150 billion. See also Savings and Loan crisis Some Jewish leaders criticized Reagan for deciding to visit a cemetery in Bitburg, Germany, after they discovered that 49 Waffen SS men are buried, and for stating that young Waffen SS men, who were drafted into services in the later years of the war, were victims, just as were the Jews murdered in Nazi concentration camps Reagan's foreign policy drew intense criticism from liberals who predicted nuclear war was imminent. Socialists in Europe often disparaged Reagan as a war-monger. In Britain, though Reagan had the strong support of Margaret Thatcher, he was routinely attacked for his foreign policies. Left-wing critics denounced his opposition to Castro's dictatorship in Cuba and complained that he was ignoring human rights in Central and South America, and South Africa. Reagan's support of apartheid South Africa was sharply attacked by African American leaders. Although Reagan sought an end to apartheid and liberalization of South Africa, he opposed economic sanctions "on grounds that it would diminish influence on the South African government and create economic hardship for the very people in South Africa that the sanctions were ostensibly designed to help" Scandals and controversies The Reagan Administration saw several controversies unfold in their ranks which resulted in several staff convictions. The most well known, the Iran-Contra Affair. Ten members of the Administration were convicted of charges ranging from lying to Congress to lying about income to the IRS. However, Reagan survived the scandal after expressing regret for the incident. Several other controversies also occurred during Reagan's presidency; one involved staff members of the Department of Housing. Contributors to the Administration's campaign were rewarded with funding for low income housing development without the customary background checks, and lobbyists, such as former Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) head James G. Watt, were rewarded with lobbying fees for assisting campaign contributors with receiving government loans and guarantees. Six staff members were convicted. Also involving the (EPA), grants from the Superfund to clean up toxic waste sites were being released to enhance the election prospects of local politicians aligned with the Administration. Assistant Administrator Rita Lavelle was convicted of various charges. Scandals impacted the Administration throughout the entire eight years. Reagan aides Michael Deaver and Lyn Nofziger were convicted of lobbying offenses though Nofziger's conviction was later overturned. Controversy arose prior to and during Reagan's visit to Bitburg. Religious beliefs Reagan was a Christian from his childhood and frequently addressed Christian groups. As an adult, he attended services at Bel Air Presbyterian Church. In a March 1978 letter to a Methodist minister who was skeptical about Christ's divinity—and accused Reagan of a "limited Sunday school level theology"—Reagan argued strongly for Christ's divinity, using C.S. Lewis's Trilemma. Post presidential years
Alzheimers Disease On November 5, 1994, Reagan announced that he had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. He informed the nation of his condition via a hand-written letter. With his trademark optimism, he stated in conclusion: "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." * As the years went on, the disease slowly destroyed his mental capacity, forcing him to live in quiet isolation. By late 2003, Reagan had begun to enter the final, fatal stage of Alzheimer’s disease. Death Reagan died of pneumonia on June 5, 2004 at 1:09 PM PDT at his home in Bel-Air, California. After a major state funeral in Washington that drew leaders from around the world, he was buried at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California. Legacy The Gallup Organization recently took a poll on the most popular Presidents in U.S. history. Ronald Reagan was chosen by 87% of Americans polled, followed by John F. Kennedy, Dwight D. Eisenhower and Franklin D. Roosevelt. Ronald Reagan continues to be named year after year by Gallup and other polling organizations as one of the United States' most popular Presidents. Job approval rating According to ABC News,• by date: Nicknames Reagan is often referred to as the Gipper, referring to his performance as George Gipp in the film Knute Rockne, All American, often along with his popular line "Win one for the Gipper." As a youth he was called "Dutch," a nickname given him by his father. As President, supporters dubbed him "The Great Communicator," and more recently "The Great Liberator," referring to policies which they contend led to the defeat of communism in the Cold War. His Secret Service codename was "Rawhide." Conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh refers to Reagan as "Ronaldus Magnus", Latin for "Ronald the Great". Detractors sometimes referred to Reagan as "Ronald Ray-Gun," a term coined in the introduction to the song Drug Store Truck Drivin' Man sung by Joan Baez and Jeffrey Shurtleff at the 1969 Woodstock Festival. He was also "the Teflon President" because criticisms supposedly never stuck to him or lessened his popularity. Honors
Awards and Achievements
Coinage Many coin redesign advocates have called for Reagan to be placed on the dime, in lieu of Franklin D. Roosevelt (whose profile was chosen for the dime in honor of his founding of the March of Dimes charity). In 2003, Congressional Republicans proposed this, but it was abandoned after Nancy Reagan rejected the idea. * For a short period of time, they called for him to be placed on the penny. The penny is no longer possible because a permanent redesign is planned for 2010, and Abraham Lincoln will remain on the coin. The dime has not been redesigned, and there are no plans to redesign it; however, it has not been ruled out. There have also been calls for Reagan to be placed in addition to/in lieu of the dime, on the ten dollar bill or twenty dollar bill. The twenty was redesigned, and there are no plans to change the former President on it. The new ten was released on March 2, 2006, and Alexander Hamilton is still prominently featured on the bill. Reagan is scheduled to be featured on the $1 coin in 2016 during the Presidential Dollar Coin Program. Reagan documentaries Ronald Reagan As Played by Other Actors Among the actors who have portrayed him include: Trivia See also Bibliography Biographies Domestic issues |
