The Ronald Reagan Presidency

The Ronald Reagan Presidency

William L. Gibson II

HIS 340

Jay Keever

14 March 2011

In the history of the presidency, Ronald Reagan was one of the most conservative president’s in United States history and has been remembered as such. His record on the environment, defense, and economic policies were very much in line with their portrayal. Reagan enter office as an ideologue who promised a conservative revolution, vowing to slash the size of government, radically scale back entitlements, and deploy the powers of the presidency in pursuit of socially and culturally conservative goals. He sought to reshape government policies along conservative lines. One may say that Reagan solidified conservative Republican strength. Conservative principles dominated Reagan’s foreign and domestic policies. So therefore in this paper I will evaluate the conservative principles that dominated Reagan’s foreign and domestic policies along with their positive and negative effects on American Society in the 1980’s.

Domestic Policy

Ronald Wilson Reagan became the 40th President of the Unites States of America after a landslide victory over the incumbent Jimmy Carter in the 1980 presidential election. He was sworn into office on January 20, 1981. Reagan came into the presidency with a straightforward and well-articulated domestic agenda. He promised to cut taxes, curb government spending, and balance the federal budget or at least reduce the deficit. After noting the severity of the nation's economic crisis, Reagan declared that "government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem." He took pains to reassure Americans that he did not want to "do away with government." Rather, he sought "to make it work—work with us, not over us; to stand by our side, not ride on our back."(www.millercenter.org) So President Reagan along with his advisors made the economy their first priority from the outset. He proposed a three-year, 30-percent reduction in...