Ronald Reagan Evil Empire Essay

Referring to it as the “Evil Empire,” Ronald Reagan was determined to stop the Soviet Union from spreading Communism and end the Cold War. Since the end of WWII in 1945, the United States and the Soviet Union had been engaged in a power struggle known as the Cold War. Having long opposed the Soviet Union and its Communist government, Reagan was prepared to talk about reducing the number of nuclear arms each country possessed. In response, Gorbachev suggested they each cut their supplies of certain large weapons in half, but he later called for the complete elimination of nuclear weapons within 10 years. However, there was a catch: Gorbachev wanted the United States to stop researching a missile defense system Reagan had proposed in 1983, known

as the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI). Remaining headstrong, Reagan refused because he had promised America he would develop SDI and he would not be the one to leave his country open to a Soviet air attack.

Soon after, Reagan wanted to meet again because he knew they had made progress and could possibly make a world changing agreement. Eventually, the two leaders had a general agreement to reduce their nuclear weapons by 50 percent (Bugan 7-8; 96). Ronald Reagan explained, ”It is the Soviet Union that runs against the tide of history.... [It is] the march of freedom and democracy which will leave Marxism-Leninism on the ash heap of history as it has left other tyrannies which stifle the freedom and muzzle the self-expression of the people,” (“Reagan’s Westminster Speech”). After Reagan left office, the arms cuts did come and the Cold War came to an end and finally, Marxism-Leninism laid on the ash heap of

history.
During his run for presidency against Jimmy Carter, Reagan, who considered out-of-control inflation the nation’s most prominent economic problem, proposed a revolutionary plan for dealing with the economy, known more commonly as Reaganomics.

Regan, along with budget director David Stockman, had the idea that a lighter tax burden would free up more money for investment, which would then increase productivity and stimulate economic growth (“The Ronald Reagan Administrations”). Reaganomics was an economic policy that emphasized the downsizing of government and of costly government-supported social programs whose actions permitted reductions in taxation. Upon the start of Reagan’s presidency, economic problems had been growing for almost two decades and resulted in inflation, where the interest rates were approaching 20% and unemployment was rising. His main action was to instigate a thirty percent tax cut across the board; 10 percent per year over a three year span. Many of his advisors pointed out the contradictions in his proposal, but he held his opinion and argued that his policies would make people more productive, would substantially reduce the unemployment rate, and would result in bringing increased revenue to the federal government, despite the tax reductions. The immediate impact of Reaganomics was devastating to the poorer members of American society and Reagan’s critics accused him of being indifferent to the problems of the poor. Although the United States had

slumped into a recession, inflation was cooled due to the recession and by 1983, the economy began to significantly improve (Shuman). Through his perseverance and confidence in his policies, Reagan boosted the economy through his supply-side economic system, Reaganomics.
Taking a bold risk, Ronald Reagan fired nearly 13 thousand members of the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Union when they went on strike. The PATCO strike was considered one of the toughest and most influential battles in the history of United States organized labor (Van Horn). Over time, the position of American trade unions had steadily weakened, partly due to the unemployment rate rising to 11 percent because of a severe economic recession. (“The Ronald Reagan Administrations”). From 1968 up until the strike, the group was involved in six serious disruptions of air transportation services (Van Horn). On August 3, 1981, PATCO began the first massive labor force strike of its kind against the Federal Aviation Administration, but Reagan stood up and order the controllers to go back to work or risk being fired. Without hesitation, Reagan fired the striking controllers and replaced more than 10,000 of them and also banned them from ever working as controller again. PATCO filed for bankruptcy protection in 1981 and was decertified in 1982, marking the first time that the federal government had destroyed a union (Van Horn). Reagan’s courageous leadership prevented a strike threatening to bring civil aviation to a standstill throughout the nation.