How Did Ronald Reagan Affect The Economy

Ronald Reagan served as the 40th president of the United States. Reagan served two terms in office from 1981 to 1989. He is considered by many to be one of the greatest presidents in American history. At the time, he was the oldest president elected in US history at the age of 69.

For the 1981 presidential election, Reagan and his partner George H.W. Bush faced off against Jimmy Carter and Walter Mondale. Reagan and Bush won the electoral vote 489-49, and won the popular vote by 51%.Ronald and George were sworn into office on January 20th, 1981. In the President’s Inaugural Address, Reagan famously criticized the way the government hurt the economy, saying, “In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problems; government

is the problem.”

Two months after Reagan’s Inauguration, he barely survived an assassination attempt. On March 30th, 1981, a man named John Hinckley Jr. shot President Reagan as he was leaving the Washington Hilton Resort in Washington, D.C. Hinckley was previously known to have psychiatric problems. The bullet hit the President in the lung and barely missed his heart. As he was recovering, Ronald told his wife, “Honey, I forgot to duck.” A few weeks after he was shot, he was back at work in the White House.

Immediately following his election, Reagan began working to restore the economy.

He cut taxes to spur economic growth. This was known as Reaganomics. He also supported increases in military spending, reduced spending for social programs and measures to deregulate business. Within two years, the economy recovered and entered a period of prosperity that lasted through Reagan’s time in office. Many people believed that his work pushed the nation further into debt. Others believed that his intentions and Reaganomics favored the rich and famous. Shortly after his election, Reagan made history by appointing Sandra Day O’Connor as the first woman in the Supreme

Court.

Reagan’s first term in office led to some major changes in the nation, including a massive buildup of weapons and soldiers. It also marked a major escalation of the Cold War against the Soviet Union, which Reagan called “the evil empire”. Reagan and his administration helped with problems all over the world. The Reagan Doctrine allowed America to help African, Asian, and Latin American movements against communism. In 1983, Reagan announced the Strategic Defense Initiative. This was a plan to develop space-based weapons to protect America from Soviet nuclear attacks. In October 1983, a group of suicide bombers attacked the Marine barracks in Beirut, Lebanon, killing 241 Americans. This occured during Lebanon’s civil war. Also in October 1983, Reagan ordered US troops to invade Grenada after Marxist rebels took over the government. Maurice Bishop, the previous leader, had been setting up close relations with Cuba. Marxist Bernard Coard had Bishop assassinated in October 1983, and Coard seized control of the government.

During his second term, Reagan formed a close diplomatic relationship with Mikhail Gorbachev, leader of the Soviet Union. The Americans and Soviets soon agreed to destroy all of their intermediate-range nuclear missiles. That same year, Reagan spoke at Germany’s Berlin Wall, and famously challenged Gorbachev to tear it down. Over two years later, Gorbachev allowed the citizens of Berlin to destroy the wall. Reagan returned to Germany in September 1990 and took several symbolic swings with a hammer at a remaining chunk of the wall. This was only a few weeks before Germany was unified.

In the 1984 election, Reagan won by a landslide and began to serve his second term. After being reelected, Reagan announced that it was “morning again in America”. Reagan defeated Walter Mondale and his running mate Geraldine Ferraro. Ferraro was the first woman to run for vice-president for a major party. Reagan won the popular vote in 49 states. He also got 525 out of 538 electoral votes, which was the highest any president has ever recieved.

During the Iran-Contra Affair, Reagan and the United States government set up a secret arms deal to free American hostages in Lebanon.

The Affair also funded armed conflict in Central America. The public soon found out about this and the deal soon became a controversial political scandal. The Affair was also called “Irangate”. This scandal did not help Reagan and the Reagan Doctrine, because the midterm elections brought in a lot of Democratic members for the Senate and House of Representatives. This created a large “political hurdle”.

After Democrats took control of Congress, they passed the Boland Amendment. This restricted participation in foreign activities for the CIA and DoD. This amendment mainly targeted Nicaragua, where anti-communist Contras were fighting the Sandinista. Reagan claimed that the Contras were “the moral equivalent of the Founding Fathers”. Congress passed the Boland Amendment because the Contras’ main source of funding was through the cocaine trade. Ronald Reagan insisted that the National Security Advisor find a way to help, no matter the

cost.

At the time, the United States had very little support for Middle Eastern countries. Iraq and Iran were at war, and Iranian terrorists held seven American diplomats and private contractors hostage in Lebanon. Reagan asked his advisors to complete what seemed like another impossible task: to bring the hostages home. Iran asked the United States about buying weapons for the war against Iraq, even though there was a trade embargo on Iran at the time. Many of Reagan’s advisors opposed the deal, but Mcfarlane supported it, as the deal would guarantee freedom for the hostages, and it would also provide the United States with a Middle Eastern alliance with Lebanon.

On June 14th, 1985, Trans World Airlines Flight 847 from Athens to Rome is hijacked by Shiite Hezbollah terrorists. The terrorists demanded to be given names of passengers with “Jewish sounding” names. The terrorists were armed with grenades and 9mm. pistols. After the plane landed in Lebanon, the hijackers asked for anyone with Israeli passports. There were none, and there were also no diplomats on board. After realizing this, the terrorists went after the US Navy construction divers on board. Navy diver Robert Stethem was killed and his body was left on the runway. An airline employee was successful in protecting a few Jewish passengers by refusing to give up their identities, and most of the passengers were released. 5 passengers were held hostage for seventeen days, and only one of them was Jewish. Even though the hostages were released unharmed, Reagan vowed that the United States would never negotiate with terrorists