The 1980s was a decade of reform. A decade when technology was improving and people were reinventing themselves all over the United States. Ronald Reagan was the President at this time from January 20th 1981 until January 20th 1989. Which was actually most of the decade, and between the years Reagan made extravagant and questionable changes for the government and economy. These questionable changes even caused was between two other countries. Drugs even became a problem when crack cocaine was the drug of choice. AIDs was also a complication during this decade being the leading epidemic. The purpose of this essay will be to explain the political and social issues of the 1980s, the following are just a few examples.
President Ronald Reagan became
…show more content…
Reagan himself trying to undo the damage done by the “ Great Society”, Reagan administration also had a profound effect on American life in the 80s. There was a decline in activism. The general mood reflected off a belief that earlier movements had gone to far and it was time to draw morals and a political line including the damage of the social security system from bankruptcy. All examples of how the President made huge changes in politics. On the other hand, like once stated before the President did have some questionable choices. Examples, near the end of the hearings into the Iran-Contra Affair, President Reagan admits to a policy that went astray, but denied knowledge of the funds to the Contras. On January 20th 1989, President Reagan’s reign came to an end. The presidency was known as the Reagan Revolution with successes in economic growth and political realignment. Reagan was the first President since Dwight D. Eisenhower to serve two full terms. While there was some difficulty in the beginning of the presidency with that nation debt increasing. The good outweighs the bad. Concluding, one of Reagan’s famous quotes …show more content…
Crack cocaine was the drug of choice at this time simply because it was cheap, plentiful and hideously addictive. Surprisingly Hollywood glorified the drug, persuading teens to hop on the bandwagon. The Acquited Immunodeficiency Syndrome better known as AIDs originated in Haiti, during the 80s people in America were not familiar with the epidemic. No one had any clue regarding things like how the disease was transmitted.
In conclusion, while AIDs was so misunderstood back then , today we know a little more than we used too about the disease. As for drugs, crack cocaine is not so much the drug of choice, or even so easily persuaded. And as for presidency and politics we have not had any more problems with presidents funding for wars in other
Ronald Reagan, like many other presidents, had his successes and his failures while in office. He led the nation with a conservative agenda that a lot of critics disagreed with. Some of his actions can be called a success or a failure depending on who is looking at it. His successes included the tax cuts of 1981, appointing the first woman to the United States Supreme Court, reduced the amount of nuclear arms by signing a deal with the Soviet Union, made progress towards the end of the Cold War, got the Soviet Union to leave Afghanistan, released the Air Traffic Controllers who went on strike, the rescue mission in Grenada, the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986, and the Strategic Defense Strategy Initiative of 1983. His failures included the Marines
Though these acts helped America during an economic downturn, they had consequences which are still being felt today. During Reagan’s presidency, the distribution of wealth shifted unfairly towards individuals with higher incomes and has not shifted back since.... ... middle of paper ... ... Though he was the cause of much pain and suffering, one should not forget that he was the one to maneuver us out of a situation we had never been in.
One of the most important aspects of Reagan’s time in office was his domestic policy. He knew to have a successful presidency and create a strong, the people of the United States needed to be cared for. His first goal was to turn the economy around from the stagflation it encounter in the Carter era. Stagflation is very similar to inflation. The main difference is that inflation is the result of a quick economic growth while causes the value of money to decrease with now economic growth. To accomplish the turn around, Reagan introduce his economic policy which became known as Reaganomics. Reaganomics was based in supply side economics. This economic theory says that lowering taxes through tax cuts increases revenue by allowing more money
The election of 1980 brought the re-nominated Democratic candidate, Jimmy Carter, against the newly nominated Republican candidate, Ronald Reagan. While Carter ran a rather “gloom and doom” campaign, Reagan came into the election upbeat and with high hopes of rebuilding the military. Americans, weary of the liberal government, elected Ronald Reagan. Reagan came into the Presidency wanting to restore United States leadership in world affairs w...
When President Reagan took office, the U.S. was on the back end of the economic prosperity World War 2 had created. The U.S. was experiencing the highest inflation rates since 1947 (13.6% in 1980), unemployment rates reaching 10% in 1982, and nonexistent increases GDP. To combat the recession the country was experiencing, President Reagan implemented the beginning stages of trickle down economics – which was a short-term solution aimed to stimulate the economy. Taxes in the top bracket dropped from 70% to 28% while GDP recovered. However, this short-term growth only masked the real problem at hand.
President Ronald Reagan had a huge impact on our country and the rest of the world while serving as the 40th president of the United States of America. Our country exhibited peace through strength to nations everywhere. The American people prospered economically with less government intervention. Crime rates dropped dramatically and family values were restored. Ronald Wilson Reagan will go down in history as a great president of the United States of America.
“Just Say No!” A statement that takes us deep into yet another decade in the history of the United States which was excited by controversies, social issues, and drug abuse. The topic of this statement is fueled by the growing abuse of cocaine in the mid 1980s. I shall discuss the effects of the crack cocaine epidemic of the mid 1980s from a cultural and social stand point because on that decade this country moved to the rhythms and the pace of this uncanny drug. Cocaine took its told on American society by in the 1980s; it ravaged with every social group, race, class, etc. It reigned over the United States without any prejudices. Crack cocaine was the way into urban society, because of its affordability in contrast to the powdered form. In society the minorities were the ones most affected by the growing excess of crime and drug abuse, especially African Americans; so the question was “Why was nearly everybody convicted in California federal court of crack cocaine trafficking black?” (Webb: Day 3). The growing hysteria brought forth many questions which might seem to have concrete answers, but the fact of the matter is they are all but conspiracy in the end, even though it does not take away the ambiguity and doubt. I will take on only a few topics from the vast array of events and effects this period in time had tended to. Where and who this epidemic seemed to affect more notably, and perhaps how the drugs came about such territories and people. What actions this countries authority took to restore moral sanity, and how it affected people gender wise.
migration throughout all of Europe and even America (Forsyth). Efforts to contain both diseases were entirely unsuccessful. AIDS is now an international problem as was
McNeil suggests, there are still epidemics out there which have not developed human to human status yet. For example, AIDS is identified in 1981, which is after the publication of Plagues and Peoples. Because of AIDS relevancy to this book, McNeil writes a Preface in 1997 including his thoughts on the epidemic. Humans only thought that scientific medicine "had finally won decisive victory over disease germs" (9). With the discovery of the AIDS virus a social change occurred in American and similar societies.
...s of economic and political initiatives that became known as "the Reagan revolution." His accomplishments of winning the Cold War without firing a shot, recovering the American economy known as Reaganomics and his “Star Wars” predicament, his two terms during presidency did not go unseen. He restored the traditional spirit of can-do optimism to the American people, making him a President that cannot be forgotten.
Introduction Reagan, Ronald Wilson (1911- ),the 40th president of the United States (1981-1989), enforced the policies that reversed a general direction of movement toward greater government involvement in economic and social regulation. Reagan as the younger of two sons, was born in Tampico, Illinois and spent most of his childhood in Dixon, Illinois. After studying at Eureka College,a small Disciples of Christ college near Peoria, Illinois, he majored in economics, and became the president of the student body, a member of the football team, and captain of the swimming team. He had special drawings toward acting, but after the graduation in 1932 the only job available related to show business was as a local radio sportscaster. In 1936 he became a sportscaster for station WHO in Des Moines, Iowa. A year latter, Reagan went to Hollywood and began an acting career that spanned more than 25 years. He played in more than 50 films, including "Knute Rockne"-All American (1940), "King's Row" (1942), and "Bedtime for Bonzo" (1951). Early political career Reagan's first political activities were associated with his responsibilities as a union leader. As union president, Reagan tried to remove suspected Communists from the movie industry. When the U.S. House Committee. Began an investigation in 1947 on the influence of Communists in the film industry, Reagan took a strong anti-Communist stand testifying before the committee. Reagan emerged on the national political scene in 1964 when he made fervent television speech supports for the Republican presidential candidate, United States Senator Barry Goldwater from Arizona. Although the election was lost, Reagan's speech brought in money and admiration from Republicans around the country. After the speech a group of Republicans in California persuaded Reagan to run for governor of California in 1966. Reagan appealed to traditional Republican voters. He defeated Edmund G. (Pat) Brown, Sr., Democrat, by almost a million votes. The election of 1980 Reagan spent years making political friends at party fund-raising dinners around the country. In the election of 1980 for the president, the candidates were Carter and Reagan. The contrast between the television personalities of two candidates was very important to people. Carter’s nervous manner had never been popular to people, while Reagan’s charm and happy face was a call for return to patriotism, which appealed to the public. Many voters believed that Reagan was forceful leader who could get their lives in shape and who could restore prosperity at home.
We are going to first look at President Reagan's vision, the plan that he used to fulfill his vision, and the leadership involved in moving his vision forward. Next, we are going to look at his ethics and what influenced them. Additionally, we will look at the impacts that his vision and his ethics had on bringing down the Berlin wall. Finally, we are going to look at how he impacted the world that we live in today, his impacts upon me, and my leadership skills. We know that President Reagan was a visionary leader, and ethical, we will now examine his vision.
Previous to reading Allen White’s Reagan’s AIDS Legacy/ Silence Equals Death article, I did not genuinely understand the impact that Reagan had in the lives of homosexuals and AIDS victims in America during the 1980’s. From the article, I now understand why Reagan was very much hated by Prior, Louis, and Belize in Angels in America, written by Tony Kushner.
The medical community had much trouble in the progress of researching the disease. In the beginning and for a period of time, the disease had no name. This was partly because no one really wanted to announce that a new disease had been discovered. After being dubbed “GRID”, an acronym singling out gays, it was changed when it was finally discovered that AIDS could be transmitted though blood transfusions and IV drug use. There was also an amazing display of medical misconduct as the head of one laboratory in the US engaged in a competition-like struggle with a lab in Paris in the research of the disease. When he finally agreed to collaborate with the French, he announced discoveries ahead of time and took all the credit for himself. This led to a long legal action that delayed much of the research of AIDS and caused many people to “die of red tape.”
... years in office. Even when President Reagan, didn’t make wise decisions, he took full blame for them, which made the American population trust him and gain more popularity. With his many major accomplishments in helping the American people, and putting them first, really helped in his favor. Reagan has built up the US military to what it is now because he believed that we needed to “restore America's ability to defend itself and fulfill its responsibilities as a trustee of freedom and peace in the world” (Wild Thing, January 21, 2006). President Reagan is man that has a heart and soul with America, and will fight for our freedoms and rights for as long as his lives. In 1994, President Reagan got Alzheimer’s disease, left public life, and died on June 5, 2004 from pneumonia. Reagan is still looked up to and is considered one of the greatest Presidents of all time.