Domestic policy of the Ronald Reagan administration: Difference between revisions - Wikipedia

Article Images

Line 1:

{{Short description|none}}

[[File:Official Portrait of President Reagan 1981.jpg|thumb|215px|right|President [[Ronald Reagan]]]]

This article discusses the domestic policy of the [[Ronald Reagan]] [[Presidency of Ronald Reagan|administration]] from 1981 to 1989. Reagan's policies stressed conservative economic values, starting with his implementation of [[supply-side economics|supply-side]] economic policies, dubbed as "[[Reaganomics]]" by both supporters and ~~detractors~~detracters. His policies also included the [[Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981|largest tax cut in American history]] as well as increased [[Military budget of the United States|defense spending]] as part of his [[Reagan Doctrine|Soviet strategy]]. However, he significantly raised (non-income) taxes four times due to economic conditions and reforms, but the tax reforms instituted during presidency brought top marginal rates to their lowest levels since 1931, such that by 1988, the top US marginal tax rate was 28%.<ref>{{cite news |last=Gibbs |first=Nancy |title=The All-American President: Ronald Wilson Reagan (1911-2004) |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,994446-9,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081012154006/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,994446-9,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=October 12, 2008 |access-date=November 23, 2012 |newspaper=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |date=June 14, 2004}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://taxfoundation.org/article/us-federal-individual-income-tax-rates-history-1913-2013-nominal-and-inflation-adjusted-brackets |title=U.S. Federal Individual Income Tax Rates History, 1862-2013 |publisher=The Tax Foundation |access-date=March 21, 2014 |archive-date=November 25, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161125105933/http://taxfoundation.org/article/us-federal-individual-income-tax-rates-history-1913-2013-nominal-and-inflation-adjusted-brackets |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Notable events included his firing of nearly 12,000 striking air traffic control workers and appointing the first woman to the [[United States Supreme Court|Supreme Court]] bench, [[Sandra Day O'Connor]]. He believed in [[federalism]] and [[free markets]], passed policies to encourage development of [[Privately-owned enterprise|private business]], and routinely criticized and defunded the [[public sector]]. Despite his support for [[limited government]], he greatly accelerated the nation's [[War on Drugs]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.reagan.utexas.edu/archives/reference/pressketch.html |title=The Reagan Presidency |publisher=Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation |access-date=March 21, 2008 |archive-date=May 17, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080517013218/http://www.reagan.utexas.edu/archives/reference/pressketch.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Line 41 ⟶ 42:

These policies were labeled by some as "[[trickle-down economics]]",<ref name= "Historical Record">{{cite book |last1=Danziger |first1=S.H. |first2=D.H. |last2=Weinburg |title="The Historical Record: Trends in Family Income, Inequality, and Poverty" in ''Confronting Poverty: Prescriptions for Change'' |year=1994}}</ref> though others argue that the combination of significant tax cuts and a massive increase in [[Cold War]] related defense spending resulted in large budget deficits,<ref name= "Trickle-Down Economics">{{cite web |url=http://www.faireconomy.org/research/TrickleDown.html |title=Trickle-Down Economics: Four Reasons why it Just Doesn't Work |last=Etebari |first=Mehrun |date=July 17, 2003 |publisher=faireconomy.org |access-date=March 31, 2007}}</ref> an expansion in the U.S. trade deficit,<ref name= "Trickle-Down Economics"/> as well as the [[Black Monday (1987)|stock market crash of 1987]], while also contributing to the [[Savings and Loan crisis]].<ref name="The S&L Crisis">{{cite web |url=http://www.fdic.gov/bank/historical/s&l/ |title=The S&L Crisis: A Chrono-Bibliography |access-date=April 8, 2007 |publisher=Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation}}</ref> The ultimate cost of the Savings and Loan crisis is estimated to have totaled around US$150 billion, about $125 billion of which was consequently and directly subsidized by the U.S. government. [[John Kenneth Galbraith]] called it "the largest and costliest venture in public misfeasance, malfeasance and larceny of all time".<ref>{{cite book |last=Galbraith |first=John Kenneth |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Bp7QgHig7DYC&pg=PP1 |title=The Culture of Contentment |publisher=Houghton Mifflin Company |year=1992 |isbn=978-0-395-66919-8}}</ref>

In order to cover new federal budget deficits, the United States borrowed heavily both domestically and abroad, raising the national debt from $997 billion to $2.85 trillion,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.treasurydirect.gov/govt/reports/pd/histdebt/histdebt_histo4.htm |title=Historical Debt Outstanding |publisher=U.S. Treasury Department |access-date=September 8, 2010 |archive-date=February 6, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120206164959/http://www.treasurydirect.gov/govt/reports/pd/histdebt/histdebt_histo4.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref> and the United States moved from being the world's largest international creditor to the world's largest debtor nation.<ref name= "U.S. Debt">{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A26402-2004Jun8.html |title=Reagan Policies Gave Green Light to Red Ink |access-date=May 25, 2007 |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=June 9, 2004}}</ref> Reagan described the new debt as the "greatest disappointment" of his presidency.<ref name="Cannon128">Cannon, Lou (2001) p. 128</ref>

Reagan's support for an increased defense budget at the height of the [[Cold War]] was supported by Congressional Democrats and Republicans. However, Congress was reluctant to follow Reagan's proposed cuts in domestic programs. In accordance with Reagan's less-government intervention views, many domestic government programs were cut or experienced periods of reduced funding during his presidency.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica |title=Ronald Reagan: Presidency – Domestic policies |url=http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/492882/Ronald-W-Reagan/214230/Domestic-policies |access-date=August 21, 2008}}</ref> These included [[Social Security (United States)|Social Security]], [[Medicaid]], [[Food Stamps]], and federal education programs.<ref name="budgetc">{{cite news |last=Rosenbaum |first=David E |title=Reagan insists Budget Cuts are way to Reduce Deficit |work=The New York Times |date=January 8, 1986 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/01/08/us/reagan-insists-budget-cuts-are-way-to-reduce-deficit.html}}</ref> Though Reagan protected entitlement programs, such as Social Security and [[Medicare (United States)|Medicare]],<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.reagan.utexas.edu/archives/reference/pressketch.html |title=The Reagan Presidency |publisher=Reagan Presidential Foundation |access-date=August 4, 2008 |archive-date=May 17, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080517013218/http://www.reagan.utexas.edu/archives/reference/pressketch.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> in one of the most widely criticized<ref name="ss"/> actions of the administration, the administration attempted to purge tens of thousands of allegedly disabled people from the Social Security disability roles, who the administration alleged were not truly disabled.<ref name="ss">{{cite news |last=Pear |first=Robert |title=U.S. to Reconsider Denial of Benefits to Many Disabled |date=April 19, 1992 |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/04/19/us/us-to-reconsider-denial-of-benefits-to-many-disabled.html}}</ref> Funding for government organizations, including the [[United States Environmental Protection Agency|Environmental Protection Agency]], were also reduced.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.epa.gov/history/topics/epa/15e.htm |title=Views from the Former Administrators |date=November 1985 |access-date=August 21, 2008 |publisher=Environmental Protection Agency |work=EPA Journal}}</ref> He cut the EPA's budget by 22%, and his director of the EPA, [[Anne M. Burford]], resigned over alleged mismanagement of funds.<ref>{{cite news |last=Sullivan |first=Patricia |newspaper=The Washington Post |title=Anne Gorsuch Burford, 62, Dies; Reagan EPA Director |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A3418-2004Jul21.html |access-date=July 31, 2008 |date=July 22, 2004}}</ref> Tax breaks and increased military spending created a larger budget deficit, which led Reagan to approve two tax increases, aiming to preserve funding for Social Security.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ssa.gov/OACT/ProgData/taxRates.html |title=Social Security & Medicare Tax Rates |publisher=Social Security Administration |date=December 23, 2002 |access-date=August 15, 2007}}</ref> By 1988, it was reported that funding for the social safety net was down by 6 percent compared to two years prior.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1988/11/27/safety-net-strands-thinner-under-reagan/74e881aa-072a-4e41-96a2-0e2f3744689c/|title='SAFETY NET' STRANDS THINNER UNDER REAGAN| archive-date=December 22, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221222192325/https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1988/11/27/safety-net-strands-thinner-under-reagan/74e881aa-072a-4e41-96a2-0e2f3744689c/}}</ref>

Speaking of Reagan himself, [[Donald Regan]], the President's former [[United States Secretary of the Treasury|Secretary of the Treasury]], and later [[White House Chief of Staff|Chief of Staff]], criticized him for his lack of understanding economics: "In the four years that I served as Secretary of the Treasury, I never saw President Reagan alone and never discussed economic philosophy or fiscal and monetary policy with him one-on-one. … The President never told me what he believed or what he wanted to accomplish in the field of economics."<ref>Regan, Donald T. (1988), p. 142</ref> However, Reagan's chief economic adviser [[Martin Feldstein]], argued the opposite: "I briefed him on Third World debt; he didn't take notes, he asked very few questions. … The subject came up in a cabinet meeting and he summarized what he had heard perfectly. He had a remarkably good memory for oral presentation and could fit information into his own philosophy and make decisions on it."<ref>Lee, Susan. 1996. Hands Off: Why the Government is a Menace to Economic Health. Simon & Schuster. p. 223</ref>

Line 49 ⟶ 50:

===Oil policy===

At the beginning of his presidency, Reagan ended the [[price controls]] on domestic [[oil]] which had been started by [[Richard Nixon]]; they had contributed to both the [[1973 Oil Crisis]] and the [[1979 Energy Crisis]].<ref name="mises">{{cite news |last=Brandly |first=Mark |title=Will We Run Out of Energy? |work=Ludwig von Mises Institute |date=May 20, 2004 |url=http://www.mises.org/story/1519 |access-date=November 6, 2008}}</ref><ref name="heritage">{{cite news |last=Lieberman |first=Ben |title=A Bad Response To Post-Katrina Gas Prices |work=Heritage Foundation |date=September 1, 2005 |url=http://www.heritage.org/Research/EnergyandEnvironment/wm827.cfm |access-date=November 6, 2008}}</ref> The price of oil subsequently dropped, and the 1980s did not see the gasoline lines and fuel shortages that the 1970s had.<ref name="heritage"/> Reagan also attempted to make good on his 1980 campaign promise to repeal the [[Windfall profit tax|"Windfall Profit Tax"]] that Carter and Congress enacted in 1980 on domestic oil production; he was able to do so in 1988, when Congress agreed that it had increased dependence on foreign oil.<ref name="tax history">{{cite web | last = Thorndike| first = Joseph J.| title = Historical Perspective: The Windfall Profit Tax – Career of a Concept| work = TaxHistory.org| date = November 10, 2005| url = http://www.taxhistory.org/thp/readings.nsf/cf7c9c870b600b9585256df80075b9dd/edf8de04e58e4b14852570ba0048848b| access-date = November 6, 2008 }}</ref> The tax was not a tax on profits, but an [[excise tax]] on the difference between a statutory "base price" and the market price.<ref>{{cite report |title=The Crude Oil Windfall Profit Tax of the 1980s: Implications for Current Energy Policy |first=Salvatore |last=Lazzari |page=5 |publisher=Congressional Research Service |id=CRS Report RL33305 |url=https://liheapch.acf.hhs.gov/pubs/oilwindfall.pdf#page=5}}</ref>

Reagan also stopped aggressive pushing of new auto efficiency ~~standard~~standards by the Carter administration, descended on alternative energy researches started by Carter administration. However, fuel efficiency in cars and light trucks driven by Americans still increased by a larger amount between 1980 and 1990 compared to previous decades or the decades since.<ref>{{cite web |author=Bureau of Transportation Statistics |title=Average Fuel Efficiency of U.S. Cars and Light Trucks |url=http://www.bts.gov/publications/national_transportation_statistics/html/table_04_23.html |access-date=December 21, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110106123406/http://www.bts.gov/publications/national_transportation_statistics/html/table_04_23.html |archive-date=January 6, 2011 |url-status=dead |df=mdy-all }}</ref>

===Legacy===

Some economists seem to think that Reagan's tax policies invigorated America's economy, such as [[Nobel Prize]] winner [[Milton Friedman]], who wrote that the Reagan tax cuts were "one of the most important factors in the boom of the 1990s". Similarly, fellow Nobel Prize–winning economist [[Robert A. Mundell]] wrote that the tax cuts made the U.S. economy the motor for the world economy in the 1990s, on which the great revolution in information technology was able to feed.<ref name="Reagan's Economic Legacy">{{cite magazine |url=http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/04_25/b3888032_mz011.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040614215626/http://businessweek.com/magazine/content/04_25/b3888032_mz011.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=June 14, 2004 |title=Reagan's Economic Legacy |access-date=July 1, 2007 |magazine=[[BusinessWeek]]}}</ref>

Other economists argue that the deficits slowed economic growth during the following administration<ref name="Recession of the Early 1990s">{{cite book |title=Exploding Deficits, Declining Growth: The Federal Budget and the Aging of America |publisher=Committee for Economic Development |date=March 2003 |isbn=0-87186-149-6 |url=http://www.ced.org/docs/report/report_deficit.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070203170129/http://ced.org/docs/report/report_deficit.pdf |archive-date=February 3, 2007}}</ref> and was the reason that Reagan's successor, [[George H. W. Bush]], [[Read my lips: no new taxes|reneged on a campaign promise]] and raised taxes. Nobel Prize–winning economist [[Robert Solow]] stated, "As for Reagan being responsible [for the 1990s boom], that's far-fetched. What we got in the Reagan years was a deep recession and then half a dozen years of fine growth as we climbed out of the recession, but nothing beyond that.<ref name="Reagan's Economic Legacy2">{{cite magazine |title=Reagan's Economic Legacy |url=http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/04_25/b3888032_mz011.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040614215626/http://businessweek.com/magazine/content/04_25/b3888032_mz011.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=June 14, 2004 |magazine=[[BusinessWeek]] |access-date=July 1, 2007}}</ref>

Another Reagan legacy was the expansion of the [[alternative minimum tax]].<ref>{{cite news |url=http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/a/alternative_minimum_tax/index.html |title=Alternative Minimum Tax |year=2008 |work=The New York Times |access-date=May 16, 2008 |first1=Carl |last1=Hulse |first2=Suevon |last2=Lee}}</ref> When Ronald Reagan signed the [[Tax Reform Act of 1986]], the AMT was expanded to target middle class deductions related to having children, owning a home, or living in high tax states. In 2006, the IRS's National Taxpayer Advocate's report highlighted the AMT as the single most serious problem with the tax code. The advocate noted that the complexity of the AMT leads to most taxpayers who owe AMT not realizing it until preparing their returns or being notified by the IRS.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-utl/arc-exec_summary-2006.pdf |title=National Taxpayer Advocate 2006 Annual Report to Congress-Executive Summary |publisher=[[Internal Revenue Service]] |access-date=July 22, 2008}}</ref>

Line 60 ⟶ 61:

==Environment==

{{See also|Environmental policy of the United States#The Reagan Administration (1980-1988)}}

Reagan dismissed proposals to halt [[acid rain]] finding them burdensome to industry.<ref name="positions">{{cite web |url=http://www.ontheissues.org/Ronald_Reagan.htm |title=Ronald Reagan: On the Issues |publisher=OnTheIssues.org |access-date=May 11, 2008|archive-date=November 7, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231107005238/https://www.ontheissues.org/celeb/Ronald_Reagan_Environment.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> The [[United States Environmental Protection Agency|Environmental Protection Agency]] made a major budget commitment to reduce acid rain; Reagan rejected the proposal and deemed it as wasteful government spending.<ref name="enviro">{{cite web |url=http://www.ontheissues.org/Celeb/Ronald_Reagan_Environment.htm |title=Ronald Reagan on Environment |publisher=OnTheIssues.org |access-date=May 11, 2008}}</ref> He also questioned scientific evidence on the causes of acid rain.<ref name="enviro"/> It was later discovered that the administration was releasing [[Superfund]] grants for cleaning up local toxic waste sites to enhance the election prospects of local officials aligned with the [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican Party]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C03E3D8143BF93AA25752C0A963948260 |title=Around the Nation - Conviction of Ex-Official Of E.P.A. Is Upheld |date=January 19, 1985 |work=The New York Times |agency=UPI |access-date=January 12, 2015}}</ref> Reagan rarely thought about the environment in political terms, however, and did not fear that his popularity would be damaged by environmental issues.<ref name="enviro"/> In 1986, Reagan removed the solar panels that his predecessor Carter had installed on the roof of the White House's West Wing, citing a damaged roof.<ref>{{cite web |title=Where Did the Carter White House's Solar Panels Go? |first=David |last=Biello |work=[[Scientific American]] |date=August 6, 2010 |url=http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/carter-white-house-solar-panel-array/}}</ref> In "Global Warming", the author Natalie Goldstein wrote, "Reagan's political philosophy viewed the free market as the best arbiter of what was good for the country. Corporate self-interest, he felt, would steer the country in the right direction."<ref>{{cite book|last=Goldstein|first=Natalie|title=Global Warming|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-uYkEBl6CWYC&pg=PP1|access-date=January 12, 2015|year=2009|publisher=Infobase Publishing|isbn=978-0-8160-6769-5}}{{page needed|date=July 2016}}</ref>

On November 7, 1986, Reagan vetoed a bill to strengthen the [[Clean Water Act]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/11/07/us/president-vetoes-clean-water-bill-citing-high-costs.html|title=PRESIDENT VETOES CLEAN WATER BILL, CITING HIGH COSTS}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1986-11-07-mn-15594-story.html|title=Reagan Vetoes Clean Water Act Because of Cost}}</ref> Congress didn't take action on this because it was adjourned.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.upi.com/amp/Archives/1987/01/09/House-defies-Reagan-on-water-bill/6649537166800/|title=House defies Reagan on water bill}}</ref>

The [[United States Department of Housing and Urban Development|HUD]] controversy involved administration staffers granting federal funding to constituents, and defrauding the U.S. government out of money intended for low income housing. It resulted in six convictions, including [[James G. Watt]], Reagan's Secretary of the Interior. Watt was indicted on 24 felony counts and pleaded guilty to a single misdemeanor. He was sentenced to five years probation, and ordered to pay a $5000 fine.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/law/july-dec99/hud_7-1.html |title=Case Closed: Housing and Urban Development |work=PBS NewsHour |access-date=January 12, 2015}}</ref>▼

Reagan also vetoed the Water Quality Act of 1987, but Congress overrided it.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1987/02/04/us/clean-water-bill-passed-by-house-over-reagan-veto.html|title=

CLEAN WATER BILL PASSED BY HOUSE OVER REAGAN VETO}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1987/02/04/house-votes-to-override-veto-of-clean-water-legislation/8bab67b2-9318-4e2d-8540-16455ae46af1/|title=HOUSE VOTES TO OVERRIDE VETO OF CLEAN WATER LEGISLATION}}</ref>

▲The [[United States Department of Housing and Urban Development|HUD]] controversy involved administration staffers granting federal funding to constituents, and defrauding the U.S. government out of money intended for low income housing. It resulted in six convictions, including [[James G. Watt]], Reagan's Secretary of the Interior. Watt was indicted on 24 felony counts and pleaded guilty to a single misdemeanor. He was sentenced to five years probation, and ordered to pay a $5000 fine.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/law/july-dec99/hud_7-1.html |title=Case Closed: Housing and Urban Development |work=PBS NewsHour |access-date=January 12, 2015 |archive-date=August 16, 2000 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20000816112738/http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/law/july-dec99/hud_7-1.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>

==Unions and corporations==

Line 75 ⟶ 81:

Reagan announced that the situation had become an emergency as described in the 1947 [[Taft Hartley Act]], and held a [[press conference]] on August 3, 1981 in the [[White House Rose Garden]] regarding the strike. Reagan stated that if the air traffic controllers "do not report for work within 48 hours, they have forfeited their jobs and will be terminated."<ref name= "Reagan's remarks on PATCO strike">{{cite web |url=http://www.reagan.utexas.edu/archives/speeches/1981/80381a.htm |title=Remarks and a Question-and-Answer Session With Reporters on the Air Traffic Controllers Strike |access-date=May 13, 2007 |year=1981 |publisher=Ronald Reagan Foundation |archive-date=January 13, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120113022558/http://www.reagan.utexas.edu/archives/speeches/1981/80381a.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Two days later, on August 5, Reagan fired 11,359 striking air traffic controllers who had ignored his order to return to work, notwithstanding the fact that the strike was illegal under federal law. The breaking of the strike had a significant impact on labor-management relations in the private sector. Although private employers nominally had the right to permanently replace striking workers under the [[National Labor Relations Act]], that option was rarely used prior to 1981, but much more frequently thereafter. Reagan's actions essentially broke the striking union.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.baltimoresun.com/business/bal-bz.unions08jun08,0,1761456.story?coll=bal-business-headlines |title=Reagan presidency pivotal for unions |date=June 8, 2004 |access-date=December 28, 2007 |last=Hirsch |first=Stacy |newspaper=The Baltimore Sun |archive-date=January 28, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120128102930/http://www.baltimoresun.com/business/bal-bz.unions08jun08,0,1761456.story?coll=bal-business-headlines |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>Ruth Milkman, and Joseph A. McCartin. "The legacy and lessons of the PATCO strike after 30 years: A dialogue." Labor History 54.2 (2013): 123-137.</ref>

==Military==

Reagan sharply accelerated the massive military buildup started by the Carter administration in response to the Soviet intervention in [[Afghanistan]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Alesina|first1=Alberto|last2=Carliner|first2=Geoffrey|title=Politics and Economics in the Eighties|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BJ4Ny_5PLe8C&pg=PA6|year=2008|publisher=University of Chicago Press|isbn=978-0-226-01282-7|page=6}}</ref> This buildup, a 40% real increase in defense spending,<ref name="apsr">{{cite journal |last=Bartels |first=Larry M |title=Constituency Opinion and Congressional Policy Making: The Reagan Defense Build Up |journal=The American Political Science Review |year=1991 |volume=85 |issue=2 |pages=457–474 |doi=10.2307/1963169|jstor=1963169 |s2cid=28751110 }}</ref> included the revival of the B-1 bomber program, which had been cancelled by the Carter administration;<ref name="ushistory">{{cite web |url=http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h1957.html |title=Presidents: Ronald Reagan's Military Buildup, 1981-1989 |access-date=March 24, 2008 |publisher=U-S-History.com}}</ref> the deployment of Pershing II missiles in [[West Germany]]; the increased enlistment of thousands of troops; and a more advanced intelligence system.<ref name="ushistory"/>

By 1987, the military budget under Reagan's tenure was $456.5 billion, compared to $325.1 billion in 1980.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/business/2004/06/09/reagans-defense-buildup-bridged-military-eras/ec621466-b78e-4a2e-9f8a-50654e3f95fa/|title=Reagan's Defense Buildup Bridged Military Eras}}</ref>

===Strategic Defense Initiative===

Line 85 ⟶ 93:

==The arts==

Though Ronald and Nancy Reagan were both former actors and he had served as president of the [[Screen Actor's Guild]], his administration had a curiously mixed record on support for the arts. Via a 1982 [[Executive order (United States)|Executive Order]], President Reagan established the [[President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities]]. In each year of his presidency (except for the fiscal years of 1982 and 1986), Congress staved off the Administration's efforts to cut federal expenditures for arts programs such as the [[National Endowment for the Arts]].<ref>{{cite journal |url=http://www.csmonitor.com/1986/0212/lbudge-f.html |title=Drama over funding keeps arts community on the edge of its seat |journal=The Christian Science Monitor |date=February 12, 1986 |access-date=January 12, 2015}}</ref> In a 1983 speech he declared, "We support the National Endowment for the Arts to stimulate excellence and make art more available to more of our people",<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.arts.gov/pub/NEAChronWeb.pdf |title=NEAChronWeb.pdf |publisher=Arts.gov |access-date=January 12, 2015}}</ref> yet throughout his administration, beginning with an early threat to cut the Carter-era arts budget in half,<ref>{{cite news |last=McLellan |first=Joseph |title=NEA: The First 20 Years; Looking Back On the Up-and-Down Union of Government and Art |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=September 26, 1985}}</ref> Reagan's economic and social agendas put him at odds, often contentiously, with artists and arts communities nationwide.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Koch |first=Cynthia |title=The Contest for American Culture: A Leadership Case Study on The NEA and NEH Funding Crisis |journal=Public Talk: The Online Journal of Discourse Leadership |date=Fall 1998 |volume=1 |issue=2 |url=http://www.upenn.edu/pnc/ptkoch.html |access-date=July 10, 2011}}</ref>

==Education==

Line 91 ⟶ 99:

Reagan's philosophy of minimal government intervention in personal and family affairs was reflected in his view of the Federal Department of Education. During the 1980 presidential campaign, Gov. Reagan called for the total elimination of the U.S. Department of Education, severe curtailment of bilingual education, and massive cutbacks in the federal role in education.{{citation needed|date=April 2014}} When Reagan was elected in 1980, the federal share of total education spending was 12 percent. When he left office in 1988 it stood at just 6 percent.{{citation needed|date=April 2014}}

Reagan established the [[National Commission on Excellence in Education]], whose inaugural meeting occurred in October 1981. The Final Report of the Commission, which was returned on April 26, 1983,<ref>''A Nation at Risk: The Imperative for Educational Reform -- A Report to the Nation and the Secretary of Education'', United States Department of Education, by the [[National Commission on Excellence in Education]], April 1983 (Government Printing Office, 65 pages)</ref> noted the almost uninterrupted decline in student achievement in standardized test scores during the previous two decades, decades in which the Federal presence in education grew. High school graduates in the early 1980s scored almost 40 points below their 1963 counterparts on standard mathematical tests and 50 points lower on verbal tests. About 13 percent of 17-year-olds were considered functionally illiterate, and for minority youth, the figure was estimated to be as high as 40 percent. Remedial math courses then comprised one-fourth of all the math courses that are taught in public 4-year colleges. Reagan felt that Americans could not afford to pass students who fail to learn from one grade to the next simply because they've come to the end of the year, and that they could not afford to waste the valuable resources of higher education to remedy problems that were ignored in elementary and high schools. Four-fifths of American 17-year-olds could not write a persuasive essay. Two-thirds could not solve mathematical problems involving more than one step, and nearly 40 percent could not draw inferences from reading.<ref>[http://www.reagan.utexas.edu/archives/speeches/publicpapers.html The Public Papers of President Ronald W. Reagan] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150219143818/http://www.reagan.utexas.edu/archives/speeches/publicpapers.html |date=February 19, 2015 }}: "Remarks on Receiving the Final Report of the National Commission on Excellence in Education, April 26, 1983"</ref>

An intermittent series of [[Radio Address to the Nation on Education]] were a signature of President Reagan.<ref>March 12, 1983; April 30, 1983; June 25, 1983; May 12, 1984; September 8, 1984; August 24, 1985; September 10, 1988</ref> In September 1988, he reported on his administration's success that "Test scores are up, reversing a calamitous drop in scores over the years between 1963 and 1980. Attendance is up, and the number of kids who drop out of high school is down", and stressed that the bounty of Western civilization was owed to American children. He suggested that the report entitled ''James Madison Elementary School'',<ref>[http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED295760.pdf ''James Madison Elementary School: A Curriculum For American Students''], 62 pages, GPO</ref> produced by Education Secretary [[William Bennett|Bill Bennett]], be used to influence curricula at schools across the nation.

==War on Drugs==

Not long after being sworn into office, Reagan declared more militant policies in the "[[War on Drugs]]".<ref name= "War on Drugs">{{cite web |url=https://www.pbs.org/newshour/extra/features/jan-june01/drug_war.html |title=The War on Drugs |publisher=pbs. org |date=May 10, 2001 |access-date=April 4, 2007}}</ref><ref name= "Youth Trends">{{cite web |url=http://www.nida.nih.gov/Infofacts/HSYouthtrends.html |title=NIDA InfoFacts: High School and Youth Trends |publisher=National Institute on Drug Abuse, NIH |access-date=April 4, 2007}}</ref> He promised a "planned, concerted campaign" against all drugs,<ref name= "The Drug War">{{cite web |url=http://academic.udayton.edu/race/03justice/crime09.htm |title=The Drug War as Race War |access-date=April 11, 2007 |author=Randall, Vernellia R |date=April 18, 2006 |publisher=The University of Dayton School of Law |archive-date=April 4, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070404080449/http://academic.udayton.edu/race/03justice/crime09.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref> eventually leading to decreases in adolescent drug use in America.<ref name= "Interview: Dr. Herbert Kleber">{{cite web |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/drugs/interviews/kleber.html |title=Interview: Dr. Herbert Kleber |access-date=June 12, 2007 |publisher=PBS |quote=The politics of the Reagan years and the Bush years probably made it somewhat harder to get treatment expanded, but at the same time, it probably had a good effect in terms of decreasing initiation and use. For example, marijuana went from thirty-three percent of high-school seniors in 1980 to twelve percent in 1991.}}</ref><ref name="Decline of Substance Use">{{cite web |author=Bachman, Gerald G. |url=http://www.monitoringthefuture.org/pubs/jbbook/jbbook02.html |title=The Decline of Substance Use in Young Adulthood |publisher=The Regents of the University of Michigan |access-date=April 4, 2007 |display-authors=etal |archive-date=July 16, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190716050249/http://monitoringthefuture.org/pubs/jbbook/jbbook02.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>

[[File:Nancy Reagan at a "Just Say No" rally at the White House.jpg|thumb|right|First Lady [[Nancy Reagan]] at a [[Just Say No]] rally at the White House]]

President Reagan signed athe ~~large~~[[Anti-Drug ~~drug~~Abuse ~~enforcement~~Act ~~bill into law in~~of 1986;]] itwhich granted $1.7 billion to fight drugs, and ensured a mandatory minimum penalty for drug offenses.<ref name="PBS Frontline"/> The bill was criticized for promoting significant racial disparities in the prison population, however, because of the differences in sentencing for crack versus powder cocaine.<ref name="PBS Frontline"/>

Critics also charged that the administration's policies did little to actually reduce the availability of drugs or crime on the street, while resulting in a great financial and human cost for American society.<ref name= "Stop the Drug War">{{cite web |url=http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle-old/341/reagan.shtml |publisher=stopthedrugwar.org |title=The Reagan-Era Drug War Legacy |date=June 11, 2004 |access-date=April 4, 2007}}</ref> Supporters argued that the numbers for adolescent drug users declined during Reagan's years in office.<ref name="Decline of Substance Use"/>

As a part of the administration's effort, Reagan's [[First Lady of the United States|First Lady]], Nancy, made the War on Drugs her main cause as First Lady, by founding the "[[Just Say No]]" drug awareness campaign. ~~Today~~As of 2007, there ~~are~~were still hundreds of "Just Say No" clinics and school clubs in operation around the country aimed at helping and rehabilitating children and teenagers with drug problems.<ref name="PBS Frontline">{{cite web |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/drugs/cron/ |title=Thirty Years of America's Drug War |publisher=PBS |access-date=April 4, 2007}}</ref> The program demonstrated to children various ways of refusing drugs and alcohol.

==The Judiciary==

Line 123 ⟶ 132:

==Response to AIDS==

~~{{See also|HIV/AIDS in the United States}}~~

Perhaps the greatest criticism surrounds Reagan's silence about the [[AIDS epidemic]] in the 1980s.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.sfgate.com/opinion/openforum/article/Reagan-s-AIDS-Legacy-Silence-equals-death-2751030.php |title=Reagan's AIDS Legacy / Silence equals death |work=San Francisco Chronicle |date=8 June 2004 |access-date=23 March 2016 |author=White, Allen}}</ref> Although AIDS was first identified in 1981, Reagan did not mention it publicly for several more years, notably during a press conference in 1985 and several speeches in 1987. During the press conference in 1985, Reagan expressed skepticism in allowing children with [[AIDS]] to continue in school although he supported their right to do so, stating:

{{blockquote|I can well understand the plight of the parents and how they feel about it. I also have compassion, as I think we all do, for the child that has this and doesn't know and can't have it explained to him why somehow he is now an outcast and can no longer associate with his playmates and schoolmates. On the other hand, I can understand the problem with the parents. It is true that some medical sources had said that this cannot be communicated in any way other than the ones we already know and which would not involve a child being in the school. And yet medicine has not come forth unequivocally and said, ''This we know for a fact, that it is safe.'' And until they do, I think we just have to do the best we can with this problem. I can understand both sides of it.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://apps.nlm.nih.gov/againsttheodds/exhibit/video_transcripts.cfm |title=Transcript of Reagan Speech in Against the Odds: Making a Difference in Global Health |year=2000 |publisher=[[National Institutes of Health]] |access-date=July 29, 2008}}</ref>}}

Line 130 ⟶ 139:

[[File:Bush reagan.jpg|thumb|left|Then-Vice President Bush, right, meets with President Reagan, left, in 1984.]]

Decades after Reagan's presidency, audio surfaced that revealed [[Larry Speakes]], who was the [[White House Press Secretary]] from 1981-1987, gave a dismissive attitude to reporter [[Lester Kinsolving]] regarding questions on the AIDS epidemic.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/arts-and-entertainment/wp/2015/12/01/a-disturbing-new-glimpse-at-the-reagan-administrations-indifference-to-aids/|title=A disturbing new glimpse at the Reagan administration's indifference to AIDS}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/when-aids-was-funny-short-film-reveals-shortfalls-reagan-response-aids-msna735296|title='When AIDS Was Funny': Short film reveals shortfalls of Reagan response to AIDS}}</ref>

Even with the death from AIDS of his friend [[Rock Hudson]], Reagan was widely criticized for not supporting more active measures to contain the spread of AIDS. Until celebrities, first [[Joan Rivers]] and soon afterwards [[Elizabeth Taylor]], spoke out publicly about the increasing number of people quickly dying from this new disease, most public officials and celebrities were too afraid of dealing with this subject.

Reagan prevented his [[Surgeon General of the United States|Surgeon General]], [[C. Everett Koop]], from speaking out about the AIDS epidemic.<ref>{{cite book |last=Rosett |first=ed. by Raymond A. Smith. Forewords by James W. Curran, Photo ed. Jane |title=Encyclopedia of AIDS: A Social, Political, Cultural, and Scientific Record of the HIV Epidemic |year=1998 |publisher=Fitzroy-Dearborn-Publ. |location=Chicago [u.a.] |isbn=1-57958-007-6 |page=598}}</ref> When in 1986 Reagan was highly encouraged by many other public officials to authorize Koop to issue a report on the epidemic, he expected it to be in line with conservative policies; instead, Koop's ''Surgeon General's Report on Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome'' greatly emphasized the importance of a comprehensive AIDS education strategy, including widespread distribution of [[condom]]s, and rejected mandatory testing. This approach brought Koop into conflict with other administration officials such as Education Secretary [[William Bennett]]. In 1988, Koop took the unprecedented action of mailing AIDS information to every U.S. household. This information included the use of condoms as the decisive defense against contracting the disease.

Social action groups such as [[AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power|ACT UP]] worked to raise awareness of the AIDS problem. Because of ACT UP, in 1987, Reagan responded by appointing the [[President's Commission on the HIV Epidemic|Watkins Commission]] on AIDS, which was succeeded by a permanent advisory council.{{citation needed|date=August 2018}}

Line 173 ⟶ 184:

* {{cite journal|last1=Heclo|first1=Hugh|title=The Mixed Legacies of Ronald Reagan|journal=Presidential Studies Quarterly|date=2008|volume=38|issue=4|pages=555–574|doi=10.1111/j.1741-5705.2008.02664.x|jstor=41219701}}

* Hertsgaard, Mark. (1988) ''On Bended Knee: The Press and the Reagan Presidency''. New York, New York: Farrar Straus and Giroux.

* Hill, Dilys M. and Raymond A. Moore, eds. ''The Reagan Presidency'' (Palgrave Macmillan, 1990) essays by scholars; 252pp.

* Jeffries, Charlie. "Adolescent women and antiabortion politics in the Reagan administration." ''Journal of American studies'' 52.1 (2018): 193-213. [https://scholar.archive.org/work/jdurpvipevbjpetasdbdsdayiy/access/wayback/https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/BAF8512385E9139D0556659118C82CC2/S0021875816002024a.pdf/div-class-title-adolescent-women-and-antiabortion-politics-in-the-reagan-administration-div.pdf online]

Line 188 ⟶ 199:

* Rowland, Robert C., and John M. Jones. "Reagan’s farewell address: Redefining the American dream." ''Rhetoric and Public Affairs'' 20.4 (2017): 635-666.

* Sharpes, Donald. "Nixon and Reagan on the Environment." ''White House Studies'' 14.1 (2014).

* Spitz, Bob. ''Reagan: An American Journey'' (2018), 880pp; detailed biography.

* Witcher, Marcus M. "The Failures of Revolution: Conservative Disillusion With Reagan on Social Issues." ''White House Studies'' 14.2 (2014).

Line 207 ⟶ 218:

* [https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/commandingheights/lo/story/index.html The History of Government Economic Policy in Britain, USA & the World, including Maynard Keynes and Friedrich von Hayek ideas.]