Every four years there is an election to elect a new President of the United States. In some cases, if a President is well liked, they may be reelected to serve another term; but may only be in office for two consecutive terms (8 years). One of the few Presidents that held off a total of 8 years was President Ronald Reagan. He was the 40th President to be sworn into office, and at the time was the oldest to ever serve this country. When Reagan took office in 1980, he had many hopes and dreams to turn America into a great nation, and get America back on track. He fulfilled his goals and dreams for America and is highly regarded still to this day. He left office with great shoes to fill, and is looked back on as a great American leader. During his two terms as president, Reagan has had many major accomplishments/events while in office, such as signing of the Economic Recovery Tax Act, the Iran-Contra scandal, and aiding the United States in winning the cold war. Ronald Reagan was born February 6, 1911 in Tampico, Illinois. His father was John Edward “Jack” Reagan, and his mother was Nelle Wilson Reagan. He was born into a happy, well-disciplined family, and had a very happy childhood. Before Reagan held office, Reagan was a radio announcer, and became the voice of Major League Baseball in 1932. Reagan also had a 7-year contract with Warner Brothers, and made about fifty movies. Reagan then put all the fun and games aside, and joined the Army Reserve and was called to active duty shortly after Pearl Harbor. “ He was in the Army from 1942-45 rising to the level of Captain. However, he never took part in combat and stated stateside. He narrated training films and was in the Army Air Force First Motion Picture Unit.” (Martin Kelly, n... ... middle of paper ... ... 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.
"American President: Ronald Wilson Reagan: Impact and Legacy." Miller Center. University of Virginia, n.d. Web. 10 Nov. 2013.
Reagan rose into power after years of turmoil and the American pride was dipping. About a decade before he became president, the war in Viet-Nam was winding down and the troops were returning home to negative demonstrations towards their duty. Then, during the Carter years, America transitioned into a détente policy, which meant that the United States would try to ease the tensions with the Soviet Union by not expanding the military, but not doing anything to acting ease the tension. The idea behind this became known as MAD, mutually assured destruction, (Hannaford) which meant that both the United States and Soviet Union would maintain and even number of nuclear weapons so that if one would fire, the other would be able to fire back equally. Reagan completely disagreed with this philosophy and created a whole new policy when he became president. The foreign policy he established was to create the Reagan Doctrine. According to a speech by Peter Hannaford, the Reagan Doctrine was that America would support democratic movements in any Communist country until that country could enjoy the fruits of freedom (Hannaford). This meant that the United States would help any country who wanted to leave the influence of the Soviet Union and create their own democracy. Also, to counter the Soviet Union and end the Cold War, a race between the United State and Soviet Union to create the best technology and become the world powerhouse, Reagan increased military spending. Ronald Reagan knew that the Soviet Union was unable to keep up the United States in military spending and still having enough funds to fund their own economy to keep it stable. Reagan used this knowledge to convince Congress to increase military budget to build up technology, causing the Soviets decide on what to do. The United States had the funds to continue, but the Soviet Union could not keep up. The breaking point
His father John was a shoe salesman who had a taste for alcohol (Bosch). He had one older brother named Neil. His mother Nelle nicknamed him Dutch as a child. Reagan’s family moved around a lot when he was young before finally choosing to settle in the town where he was born. They moved to Dixon, Illinois when he was a teenager. Reagan got his first job as a lifeguard and worked as one for six years. He attended Eureka College where he studied economics, but did not get very good grades (Bosch). Reagan moved to Iowa after college and became a radio announcer. A few years later, he ended up doing a screen test for Warner Brothers and received a contract. Reagan married a fellow actress Jane Wyman in 1940. They had a daughter and adopted a son together, but divorced in 1948. He was in the Army from 1937-1945. Reagan became president of the Screen Actors Guild in 1947 where he met Nancy Davis, another actress and his future wife (Bosch). They married in 1952 and had two children together. The speech he gave for presidential candidate Barry Goldwater was his first step into the political spotlight. In 1966, he ran for and won the California governorship and was reelected for a second term (Bosch). Ronald Reagan beat out President Jimmy Carter in the 1980
the end, Regan was one of the most influential leaders of the 20th century. Even
A few months after taking office, President Reagan was shot in Washington D.C (Rosenberg). The bullet barely missed his heart (Rosenberg). After surgery...
His extreme effectiveness feeds from decision-making ability that turned the country away from the negative and instable foreign policy of Carter and back to support winning the Cold War and promoting the strength of the US. In the 1970s, because Carter allowed Communism to gain military and territorial advantages, and failed to impose American hegemon and his own power as President. Reagan took office in 1981, “he was determined to rebuild that power, regain for the United States the capability to wage war successfully against the Soviets, to act with impunity against Soviet Third World clients, and to regain its status as the world’s dominant military force.” Reagan handled the Iran hostage Crisis within the hour of assuming the Presidency. Simultaneously, doing what was necessary to free Americans, and to use his power as President to go outside the constitution and congress and secure funding for the Contras to overthrown the Sandinistas in Nicaragua and restore the nation to a pro-American government. Unlike Carter Reagan wanted to make it clear he only cared about protecting American security, and that human rights could be an after
The United States has had several different presidents of which have been in office for 8 years because they have been re-elected by us the citizens. The story of James Earl Carter Jr. or better known as President Jimmy Carter, as every other president the United States has had is different. Jimmy Carter was in office as president of the United States of America for four years only. He was president from 1977 through 1981; during this time period many different event occurred.
I have decided to write my research paper on the topic of Ronald Reagan's Domestic and Foreign Affairs. The reason that I choose this topic was because I have always been personally interested in Ronald Reagan's time in office and the national crisis he had to deal with. Reagan was awesome when it came to foreign policy because he knew how to negotiate with foreign leaders and their countries to get what he wanted. There were several instances during his time in office that he had the chance to use his ability to get the country out of danger. Domestic Affairs is another part of Reagan's presidency that was very important. He was able to take the country, which seemed to be in an economic slump and turn their economic status around. The economic growth of the United States is still holding true today. There is only one question that I wanted to answer with this paper. Was Ronald Reagan an effective leader when it came to domestic and foreign affairs?
...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.
Perhaps one of the most well-known American presidents of the 20th century, Ronald Reagan is considered to be one of the most accomplished presidents of the era. His decisions regarding economic, domestic, and foreign policies had lasting impacts on not only the local scale but also on the international scale. He adhered closely to his values, which guided him to and through his presidency. His staunch code was particularly apparent in foreign policy, especially in his unwavering dedication to the eradication of Communism.
Ronald Reagan was a very popular person before, during, and after his time of presidency. He went from a mere radio announcer, to the head of the United States of America. Ronald had defeated most of the world’s problems with Communism, improved the economy, and handled terrorist threats like a pro. Ronald quickly took America’s heart with his honorable deeds and doings. He was very famous by the time he became deceased. (Ronald Reagan Facts.)
A couple of the heroic values that Reagan possessed were strength and courage. Most people would agree that it took an agglomeration of strength and courage during the cold war era to make his ever famous, “Tear Down This Wall Speech” in Berlin. Ramesh Jaura explains how many people believe this speech made a positive effect toward ending the cold war:
The United States of America’s 40th president, Ronald Wilson Reagan served as our country’s leader from 1981 to 1989. Ronald Reagan was a very strong advocate for freedom. Many and most of his speeches were related to freedom or the concept of freedom was thrown in and mentioned in the speeches. A large part of Reagan’s campaign was freedom. His beliefs on this matter did not all come from morals, Ronald Reagan’s perception of freedom came from his lifestyle of/in Christianity.
Ronald Reagan was born on February 6, 1911 in Tampico, Illinois. Ronald Reagan wasn’t always a politician, before he realized he wanted to go into politics Reagan was an actor. Reagan starred in more than fifty movies and he even became president of the Screen Actors Guild (Bio.com). While president of the Screen Actors Guild Reagan met future wife Nancy (Davis) Reagan. After his acting career Reagan decided that politics was his calling. So to get his political career jumpstarted he ran for governor of California and won. He served as governor of California for two terms before he decided to run for president of the United States. At first he was a liberal but chose to run for president under the Republi...
Ronald Wilson Reagan played an extremely important role in United State history. Reagan did numerous things in his lifetime that affect United States citizens to this day. Ronald Reagan is often remembered as the 40th president of the United States, without being remembered for the important things he did to make this land that we love the way it is today. Reagan considered being a significant historical figure for many reasons. Ronald Reagan is a significant figure in history because he positively changed the country throughout his presidency, he worked to improve the country diligently through times of hardship, and he spoke for the citizens of the United States.