preview

Ronald Reagan's Failures

Decent Essays

Ronald Reagan, a member of the republican party, served as the 40th president of the united states from 1981-1989. In 1980, Reagan was elected, then inaugurated on January 20, 1981. Surprisingly, from 1937 to 1965 Reagan was an actor. From 1967-75 he was the governor of California (Miller Center). Reagan was a very controversial president who made impressive decisions that aided in ending a war and helped the American economy grow. He also made some poor choices like the Intra-Contra Affair and his plans for the military.
Reagan was just elected president, but that did not mean he did not have a lot of work ahead of him. As soon as he got elected, he had to deal with the collapsing economy. In 1980, the rate of inflation reached 13.5 percent, …show more content…

It is even abnormal for the rate of inflation to reach double digits. In fact, most of the time the rate of inflation stays below 5 percent. In addition to the increasing rate of inflation, the unemployment rates were at 7.6 percent (Marsico 62-63). The nation did not like this because more people were out of jobs, yet the cost of products were continuing to increase. Reagan’s plan was to have Congress embrace financial policies, decrease government spending and reduce its regulation of business. Most people know this plan as Reaganomics. His whole plan relied solely on the Economic Recovery Tax Act, which cut taxes over a three year period. The reason he relied on the recovery tax act was because he wanted the act to help people save money (Marsico 63-64). He wanted people to save money so that they could pay bills and taxes; in the long run, if people save money, it helps the government. Also, it would help people invest in the stock market and …show more content…

Mikhail Gorbachev is a foreign leader who worked with Reagan and also wanted to eliminate communism. If the Soviet Union collapsed, then all influences of communism would stop, which is what Reagan and Gorbachev wanted (Marsico, 84). The nation as a whole agreed that they did not want communism to spread beyond the borders of East Germany and seep into their culture. During the span of 1985-1988 five meetings between the Americans and the Communists negotiated issues of diplomacy. By the early 1980’s the Soviets had built up weaponry which was almost comparable to America’s weaponry, but as the decade went on the Soviets were unable to keep up (Marsico, 84). This inferiority pleased the American people. By 1991 the cold war had concluded. on June 12, 1987, Reagan asked Gorbachev helped to eliminate the oppressive influence that communism had outside of the soviet union (Marsico 85-86). He wanted to stop the influences so that communism would not spread any further than it already had. Standing beside the berlin wall, which separated East and West Germany, Reagan gave a speech which reminded every one of the differences between the two sides. General Secretary Gorbachev” Reagan challenged him, “if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the soviet union and eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization, come here to this gate. Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate, Mr. Gorbachev, Tear down this wall!”

Get Access