Post on 18-Jan-2016
Ronald Reagan“The Great Communicator” &
“The Teflon President”
- 40th President (1981-1989)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X39dGQmBEww
Ronald Reagan
• Biography– Born in Midwest– Radio/Actor– President of Screen Actors
Guild– Divorced/Remarried– Governor of California (2 terms)
– President (2 terms)
The Campaign:“Are you better off now than you were four years ago?”
Conservative Agenda:• Cut Taxes• Cut the size of
government• Increase Defense
Spending
Pres. Reagan & Vice-Pres. Bush
The Election of 1980
Hostages in Iran
• Released on January 20, 1981• President Reagan gets the credit
Reagan vs. FDR: a Fundamental Change
• “The only bulwark of continuing liberty is a government strong enough to protect the interests of the people…”
- Franklin D. Roosevelt• “Government is the problem…”
- Ronald Reagan
FDR – Demand Side Economics
• Favors working class over Big Business and the wealthy
FDR’s (Demand Side)
• Provide Government help to the working class (New Deal Programs)
• Working class spends their money at businesses who will prosper
• Businesses provide jobs for working class• The Depression Ends!
Reagan
• Supports Big Business and the wealthy because they are the job creators
• Wants a return to Laissez-Faire
Reaganomics (Supply-Side)
• Gov. policies Help businesses and the wealthy (tax breaks, deregulation, etc.)
• Businesses in turn provide jobs to people• People earn money, so they spend it• Businesses do well and hire
people/provide raises• Recession Ends! (Money Trickles Down)
Reaganomics (Supply-side policy)Give Tax Breaks and Money to the Wealthy and Business Owners
Money “trickles down” to the working class in the form of jobs and raises
FDR’s (Demand-side Policy)
Money “trickles up” to the wealthy and businesses as it is spent
Give money and aid to the working class
Domestic Challenges
• Economy
• Supreme Court Appointments– Sandra Day
O’Connor - First Woman
– Antonin Scalia– Anthony Kennedy
• “War on Drugs”/Crime
Attempted Assassination March 30, 1981
• Assassin – John Hinkley Jr.• “Brady Bill” passes in 1994
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDIVheB5kIM
Foreign Affairs (1981-1984)Stop Communism
• Central America– El Salvador/Nicaragua
• Middle East– Lebanon;
Peacekeeping force targeted during civil war
• Caribbean– Grenada ousting of
Marxist government
U.S. Embassy in Beirut Bombed
The Election of 1984
Foreign Affairs (1985 – 1989)
• U.S./Soviet relations improve.
• Iran-Contra Affair– Selling of weapons to
Iran to fund Contras in Nicaragua – ILLEGAL!
End of the Cold War
Reagan in Berlin, 1987http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjWDrTXMgF8&feature=related
Reagan’s Death and Legacy
• Died June 5, 2004, after long battle with Alzheimer’s
• Legacy: – Safer world, more
prosperous country, end to Cold War threat
– Larger gap between rich and poor, national debt much larger