Ronald Reagan

Secret FBI informant in Hollywood

During the late 1940s, Reagan and his then-wife, Jane Wyman, provided the FBI with the names of actors within the motion picture industry whom they believed to be communist sympathizers. Though he expressed reservations, he said, "Do they expect us to constitute ourselves as a little FBI of our own and determine just who is a Commie and who isn't?"^[40]

Reagan also testified on the subject before the House Un-American Activities Committee.^[41] A fervent anti-communist, he reaffirmed his commitment to democratic principles, stating, "I never as a citizen want to see our country become urged, by either fear or resentment of this group, that we ever compromise with any of our democratic principles through that fear or resentment."^[41]

Prayer in schools and a moment of silence

In 1981, Reagan became the first president to propose a constitutional amendment on school prayer.^[122] Reagan's election reflected an opposition^[122] to the 1962 Supreme Court case Engel v. Vitale, prohibiting state officials from composing an official state prayer and requiring that it be recited in the public schools.^[123] Reagan's 1981 proposed amendment stated: "Nothing in this Constitution shall be construed to prohibit individual or group prayer in public schools or other public institutions. No person shall be required by the United States or by any state to participate in prayer." In 1984, Reagan again raised the issue, asking Congress "why can't [the] freedom to acknowledge God be enjoyed again by children in every schoolroom across this land?"^[124] In 1985, Reagan expressed his disappointment that the Supreme Court ruling still bans a moment of silence for public schools, and said he had "an uphill battle."^[125] In 1987 Reagan renewed his call for Congress to support voluntary prayer in schools and end "the expulsion of God from America's classrooms."^[126] Critics argue that any governmental imposition of prayer on public school students is involuntary.^[126] No Supreme Court rulings suggest that students cannot engage in silent prayer on their own.^[126] During his term in office, Reagan campaigned vigorously to restore organized prayer to the schools, first as a moment of prayer and later as a Moment of Silence.^[127]

Assassination attempt

On March 30, 1981 (shortly into the new administration), Reagan, his press secretary James Brady, Washington police officer Thomas Delahanty, and Secret Service agent Tim McCarthy were struck by gunfire from would-be assassin John Hinckley Jr. outside the Washington Hilton hotel. Although "close to death" upon arrival at George Washington University Hospital, Reagan was stabilized in the emergency room, then underwent emergency exploratory surgery.^[128] He recovered and was released from the hospital on April 11, becoming the first serving U.S. president to survive being shot in an assassination attempt.^[129] The attempt had great influence on Reagan's popularity; polls indicated his approval rating to be around 73%.^[130] Reagan believed that God had spared his life so that he might go on to fulfill a greater purpose.^[131]

Assistant Secretary of State nomination

In response to conservative criticism that the State Department lacked hardliners, Reagan in 1981 nominated Ernest W. Lefever as Assistant Secretary of State for Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs. Lefever performed poorly at his confirmation hearings and the Senate committee rejected his nomination by vote of 4–13; Lefever withdrew his name.^[132]

Air traffic controllers' strike

In 1981, PATCO, the union of federal air traffic controllers went on strike, violating a federal law prohibiting government unions from striking.^[133] Declaring the situation an emergency as described in the 1947 Taft–Hartley Act, 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."^[134] They did not return and on August 5, Reagan fired 11,345 striking air traffic controllers who had ignored his order, and used supervisors and military controllers to handle the nation's commercial air traffic until new controllers could be hired and trained.^[135] A leading reference work on public administration concluded, "The firing of PATCO employees not only demonstrated a clear resolve by the president to take control of the bureaucracy, but it also sent a clear message to the private sector that unions no longer needed to be feared."^[136]

"Reaganomics" and the economy

During Jimmy Carter's last year in office (1980), inflation averaged 12.5%, compared with 4.4% during Reagan's last year in office (1988).^[137] During Reagan's administration, the unemployment rate declined from 7.5% to 5.4%, with the rate reaching highs of 10.8% in 1982 and 10.4% in 1983, averaging 7.5% over the eight years, and real GDP growth averaged 3.4% with a high of 8.6% in 1983, while nominal GDP growth averaged 7.4%, and peaked at 12.2% in 1982.^{[138][139][140]}

Reagan implemented policies based on supply-side economics, advocating a laissez-faire philosophy and free-market fiscal policy,^[141] seeking to stimulate the economy with large, across-the-board tax cuts.^[142][143] He also supported returning the United States to some sort of gold standard, and successfully urged Congress to establish the U.S. Gold Commission to study how one could be implemented. Citing the economic theories of Arthur Laffer, Reagan promoted the proposed tax cuts as potentially stimulating the economy enough to expand the tax base, offsetting the revenue loss due to reduced rates of taxation, a theory that entered political discussion as the Laffer curve. Reaganomics was the subject of debate with supporters pointing to improvements in certain key economic indicators as evidence of success, and critics pointing to large increases in federal budget deficits and the national debt.^[144] His policy of "peace through strength" resulted in a record peacetime defense buildup including a 40% real increase in defense spending between 1981 and 1985.^[145]

During Reagan's presidency, federal income tax rates were lowered significantly with the signing of the Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981,^[146] which lowered the top marginal tax bracket from 70% to 50% and the lowest bracket from 14% to 11%. Other tax increases passed by Congress and signed by Reagan ensured however that tax revenues over his two terms were 18.2% of GDP as compared to 18.1% over the 40-year period of 1970–2010.^[147] Then, in 1982 the Job Training Partnership Act of 1982 was signed into law, initiating one of the United States' first public–private partnerships and a major part of the president's job creation program. Reagan's Assistant Secretary of Labor and Chief of Staff, Al Angrisani, was a primary architect of the bill.

Conversely, Congress passed and Reagan signed into law tax increases of some nature in every year from 1981 to 1987 to continue funding such government programs as Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 1982 (TEFRA), Social Security, and the Deficit Reduction Act of 1984 (DEFRA).^[148][149] TEFRA was the "largest peacetime tax increase in American history."^{[149][150][151][152]} Gross domestic product (GDP) growth recovered strongly after the early 1980s recession ended in 1982, and grew during his eight years in office at an annual rate of 7.9% per year, with a high of 12.2% growth in 1981.^[153] Unemployment peaked at 10.8% monthly rate in December 1982—higher than any time since the Great Depression—then dropped during the rest of Reagan's presidency.^[154] Sixteen million new jobs were created, while inflation significantly decreased.^[155] The Tax Reform Act of 1986, another bipartisan effort championed by Reagan, simplified the tax code by reducing the number of tax brackets to four and slashing a number of tax breaks. The top rate was dropped to 28%, but capital gains taxes were increased on those with the highest incomes from 20% to 28%. The increase of the lowest tax bracket from 11% to 15% was more than offset by expansion of the personal exemption, standard deduction, and earned income tax credit. The net result was the removal of six million poor Americans from the income tax roll and a reduction of income tax liability at all income levels.^[156][157]

The net effect of all Reagan-era tax bills was a 1% decrease in government revenues when compared to Treasury Department revenue estimates from the Administration's first post-enactment January budgets.^[158] However, federal income tax receipts increased from 1980 to 1989, rising from $308.7 billion to $549 billion^[159] or an average annual rate of 8.2% (2.5% attributed to higher Social Security receipts), and federal outlays grew at an annual rate of 7.1%.^[160][161]

Reagan's policies proposed that economic growth would occur when marginal tax rates were low enough to spur investment, which would then lead to higher employment and wages. Critics labeled this "trickle-down economics"—the belief that tax policies that benefit the wealthy will create a "trickle-down" effect to the poor.^[162] Questions arose whether Reagan's policies benefited the wealthy more than those living in poverty,^[163] and many poor and minority citizens viewed Reagan as indifferent to their struggles.^[163] These views were exacerbated by the fact that Reagan's economic regimen included freezing the minimum wage at $3.35 an hour, slashing federal assistance to local governments by 60%, cutting the budget for public housing and Section 8 rent subsidies in half, and eliminating the antipoverty Community Development Block Grant program.^[164] The widening gap between the rich and poor had already begun during the 1970s before Reagan's economic policies took effect.^[165] Along with Reagan's 1981 cut in the top regular tax rate on unearned income, he reduced the maximum capital gains rate to 20%.^[166] Reagan later set tax rates on capital gains at the same level as the rates on ordinary income like salaries and wages, with both topping out at 28%.^[167] Reagan is viewed as an antitax hero despite raising taxes eleven times over the course of his presidency, all in the name of fiscal responsibility.^[168] According to Paul Krugman, "Over all, the 1982 tax increase undid about a third of the 1981 cut; as a share of GDP, the increase was substantially larger than Mr. Clinton's 1993 tax increase."^[169] According to historian and domestic policy adviser Bruce Bartlett, Reagan's tax increases over the course of his presidency took back half of the 1981 tax cut.^[170]

Reagan was opposed to government intervention, and he cut the budgets of non-military^[171] programs^[172] including Medicaid, food stamps, federal education programs^[171] and the EPA.^[173] He protected entitlement programs such as Social Security and Medicare,^[174] but his administration attempted to purge many people with disabilities from the Social Security disability rolls.^[175]

The administration's stance toward the savings and loan industry contributed to the savings and loan crisis. A minority of the critics of Reaganomics also suggested that the policies partially influenced the stock market crash of 1987,^[176] but there is no consensus regarding a single source for the crash.^[177] In order to cover newly spawned federal budget deficits, the United States borrowed heavily both domestically and abroad, raising the national debt from $997 billion to $2.85 trillion.^[178] Reagan described the new debt as the "greatest disappointment" of his presidency.^[155]

He reappointed Paul Volcker as Chairman of the Federal Reserve, and in 1987 he appointed monetarist Alan Greenspan to succeed him. Reagan ended the price controls on domestic oil that had contributed to the energy crises of 1973–74 and the summer of 1979.^[179][180] The price of oil subsequently dropped, and the 1980s did not see the fuel shortages that the 1970s had.^[180] Reagan also fulfilled a 1980 campaign promise to repeal the windfall profits tax in 1988, which had previously increased dependence on foreign oil.^[181] Some economists, such as Nobel Prize winners Milton Friedman and Robert Mundell, argue that Reagan's tax policies invigorated America's economy and contributed to the economic boom of the 1990s.^[182] Other economists, such as Nobel Prize winner Robert Solow, argue that Reagan's deficits were a major reason his successor, George H. W. Bush, reneged on a campaign promise and resorted to raising taxes.^[182]

During Reagan's presidency, a program was initiated within the United States Intelligence Community to ensure America's economic strength. The program, Project Socrates, developed and demonstrated the means required for the United States to generate and lead the next evolutionary leap in technology acquisition and utilization for a competitive advantage—automated innovation. To ensure that the United States acquired the maximum benefit from automated innovation, Reagan, during his second term, had an executive order drafted to create a new federal agency to implement the Project Socrates results on a nationwide basis. However, Reagan's term came to end before the executive order could be coordinated and signed, and the incoming Bush administration, labeling Project Socrates as "industrial policy," had it terminated.^[183][184]

Civil rights

The Reagan administration was often criticized for inadequately enforcing, if not actively undermining, civil rights legislation.^[185][186] In 1982, he signed a bill extending the Voting Rights Act for 25 years after a grass-roots lobbying and legislative campaign forced him to abandon his plan to ease that law's restrictions.^[187] He also signed legislation establishing a federal Martin Luther King holiday, though he did so with reservations.^[188] In 1988, he vetoed the Civil Rights Restoration Act, but his veto was overridden by Congress. Reagan had argued that the legislation infringed on states' rights and the rights of churches and business owners.^[189]

Escalation of the Cold War

Reagan escalated the Cold War, accelerating a reversal from the policy of détente that began during the Carter Administration, following the Afghan Saur Revolution and subsequent Soviet invasion.^[191] He ordered a massive buildup of the United States Armed Forces^[145] and implemented new policies that were directed towards the Soviet Union; he revived the B-1 Lancer program that had been canceled by the Carter administration, and he produced the MX missile.^[192] In response to Soviet deployment of the SS-20, Reagan oversaw NATO's deployment of the Pershing missile in West Germany.^[193] In 1982 Reagan tried to cut off Moscow's access to hard currency by impeding its proposed gas line to Western Europe. It hurt the Soviet economy, but it also caused ill will among American allies in Europe who counted on that revenue. Reagan retreated on this issue.^[194][195]

In 1984, journalist Nicholas Lemann interviewed Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger and summarized the strategy of the Reagan administration to roll back the Soviet Union:

Their society is economically weak, and it lacks the wealth, education, and technology to enter the information age. They have thrown everything into military production, and their society is starting to show terrible stress as a result. They can't sustain military production the way we can. Eventually it will break them, and then there will be just one superpower in a safe world—if, only if, we can keep spending.^[196]

Lemann noted that when he wrote that in 1984, he thought the Reaganites were living in a fantasy world. But by 2016, Lemann stated that the passage represents "a fairly uncontroversial description of what Reagan actually did."^[196]

Reagan and the United Kingdom's prime minister Margaret Thatcher both denounced the Soviet Union in ideological terms.^[197] In a famous address on June 8, 1982, to the Parliament of the United Kingdom in the Royal Gallery of the Palace of Westminster, Reagan said, "the forward march of freedom and democracy will leave Marxism–Leninism on the ash heap of history."^[198][199] On March 3, 1983, he predicted that communism would collapse, stating, "Communism is another sad, bizarre chapter in human history whose last pages even now are being written."^[200] In a speech to the National Association of Evangelicals on March 8, 1983, Reagan called the Soviet Union "an evil empire."^[201]

After Soviet fighters downed Korean Air Lines Flight 007 near Moneron Island on September 1, 1983, carrying 269 people, including Georgia congressman Larry McDonald, Reagan labeled the act a "massacre" and declared that the Soviets had turned "against the world and the moral precepts which guide human relations among people everywhere."^[202] The Reagan administration responded to the incident by suspending all Soviet passenger air service to the United States, and dropped several agreements being negotiated with the Soviets, wounding them financially.^[202] As a result of the shootdown, and the cause of KAL 007's going astray thought to be inadequacies related to its navigational system, Reagan announced on September 16, 1983, that the Global Positioning System would be made available for civilian use, free of charge, once completed in order to avert similar navigational errors in future.^[203][204]

Under a policy that came to be known as the Reagan Doctrine, Reagan and his administration also provided overt and covert aid to anti-communist resistance movements in an effort to "rollback" Soviet-backed communist governments in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.^[205] However, in a break from the Carter Administration policy of arming Taiwan under the Taiwan Relations Act, Reagan also agreed with the communist government in China to reduce the sale of arms to Taiwan.^[206]

Reagan deployed the CIA's Special Activities Division to Afghanistan and Pakistan. They were instrumental in training, equipping and leading Mujahideen forces against the Soviet Army.^[207][208] President Reagan's Covert Action program has been given credit for assisting in ending the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan,^[209] though some of the United States funded armaments introduced then would later pose a threat to U.S. troops in the 2001 War in Afghanistan.^[210] The CIA also began sharing information with the Iranian government, which it was secretly courting. In one instance, in 1982, this practice enabled the government to identify and purge communists from its ministries, and to virtually eliminate the pro-Soviet infrastructure in Iran.^[211]

In March 1983, Reagan introduced the Strategic Defense Initiative, a defense project^[212] that would have used ground- and space-based systems to protect the United States from attack by strategic nuclear ballistic missiles.^[213] Reagan believed that this defense shield could make nuclear war impossible.^[212][214] There was much disbelief surrounding the program's scientific feasibility, leading opponents to dub SDI "Star Wars" and argue that its technological objective was unattainable.^[212] The Soviets became concerned about the possible effects SDI would have;^[215] leader Yuri Andropov said it would put "the entire world in jeopardy."^[216] For those reasons, David Gergen, former aide to President Reagan, believes that in retrospect, SDI hastened the end of the Cold War.^[217]

Though supported by leading American conservatives who argued that Reagan's foreign policy strategy was essential to protecting U.S. security interests, critics labeled the administration's foreign policy initiatives as aggressive and imperialistic, and chided them as "warmongering."^[215] The administration was also heavily criticized for backing anti-communist leaders accused of severe human rights violations, such as Hissène Habré of Chad^[218] and Efraín Ríos Montt of Guatemala.^[219][220] During the 16 months (1982–1983) Montt was President of Guatemala, the Guatemalan military was accused of genocide for massacres of members of the Ixil people and other indigenous groups. Reagan had said that Montt was getting a "bum rap,"^[221] and described him as "a man of great personal integrity."^[222] Previous human rights violations had prompted the United States to cut off aid to the Guatemalan government; but the Reagan administration appealed to Congress to restart military aid. Although unsuccessful with that, the administration was successful, however, in providing nonmilitary aid such as USAID.^[221][223]

Lebanese Civil War

With the approval of Congress, Reagan sent forces to Lebanon in 1983 to reduce the threat of the Lebanese Civil War. The American peacekeeping forces in Beirut, a part of a multinational force during the Lebanese Civil War, were attacked on October 23, 1983. The Beirut barracks bombing killed 241 American servicemen and wounded more than 60 others by a suicide truck bomber.^[224] Reagan sent in the USS New Jersey battleship to shell Syrian positions in Lebanon. He then withdrew all the Marines from Lebanon.^[225]

Operation Urgent Fury (Grenada)

On October 25, 1983, Reagan ordered U.S. forces to invade Grenada (codenamed "Operation Urgent Fury") where a 1979 coup d'état had established an independent non-aligned Marxist–Leninist government. A formal appeal from the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) led to the intervention of U.S. forces; President Reagan also cited an allegedly regional threat posed by a Soviet-Cuban military build-up in the Caribbean and concern for the safety of several hundred American medical students at St. George's University as adequate reasons to invade. Operation Urgent Fury was the first major military operation conducted by U.S. forces since the Vietnam War, several days of fighting commenced, resulting in a U.S. victory,^[226] with 19 American fatalities and 116 wounded American soldiers.^[227] In mid-December, after a new government was appointed by the governor-general, U.S. forces withdrew.^[226]

1984 presidential campaign

Reagan accepted the Republican nomination in Dallas, Texas. He proclaimed that it was "morning again in America," regarding the recovering economy and the dominating performance by the U.S. athletes at the 1984 Summer Olympics, among other things.^[23] He became the first president to open an Olympic Games held in the United States.^[228]

Reagan's opponent in the 1984 presidential election was former Vice President Walter Mondale. With questions about Reagan's age, and a weak performance in the first presidential debate, his ability to perform the duties of president for another term was questioned. His apparent confused and forgetful behavior was evident to his supporters; they had previously known him clever and witty. Rumors began to circulate that he had Alzheimer's disease.^[229][230] Reagan rebounded in the second debate, and confronted questions about his age, quipping, "I will not make age an issue of this campaign. I am not going to exploit, for political purposes, my opponent's youth and inexperience," which generated applause and laughter, even from Mondale himself.^[231]

That November, Reagan won a landslide re-election victory, carrying 49 of the 50 states, while Mondale won only Minnesota, his home state, and the District of Columbia.^[114] Reagan won 525 of the 538 electoral votes, the most of any presidential candidate in U.S. history,^[232] and also received 58.8% of the popular vote to Mondale's 40.6%. His popular vote margin of victory, nearly 16.9 million votes (54.4 million for Reagan to 37.5 million for Mondale),^[233][234] was exceeded only by Richard Nixon in his 1972 victory over George McGovern.^[114]

1985 placing of wreath at cemetery in Bitburg, Germany

In February 1985, the administration accepted an invitation for Reagan to visit a German military cemetery in Bitburg and to place a wreath alongside West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl. Deputy Chief of Staff Michael Deaver was given assurances by a German head of protocol that no war criminals were buried there. It was later determined that the cemetery held the graves of 49 members of the Waffen-SS. What neither Deaver nor other administration officials initially realized was that many Germans drew a distinction between the regular SS, who typically were composed of Nazi true believers, and the Waffen-SS which were attached to military units and composed of conscripted soldiers.^[239]

As the controversy brewed in April 1985, Reagan issued a statement that called the Nazi soldiers buried in that cemetery as themselves "victims," a designation which ignited a stir over whether Reagan had equated the SS men to victims of the Holocaust.^[240] Pat Buchanan, Reagan's Director of Communications, argued that the president did not equate the SS members with the actual Holocaust, but as victims of the ideology of Nazism.^[241] Now strongly urged to cancel the visit,^[242] the president responded that it would be wrong to back down on a promise he had made to Chancellor Kohl. On May 5, 1985, President Reagan and Chancellor Kohl first visited the site of the former Nazi Bergen-Belsen concentration camp and then the Bitburg cemetery where, along with two military generals, they did place a wreath.^[243][244]

War on Drugs

Reagan announced a War on Drugs in 1982, in response to concerns about the increasing crack epidemic. Though Nixon had previously declared a war on drugs, Reagan advocated more militant policies.^[245]

He said that "drugs were menacing our society" and promised to fight for drug-free schools and workplaces, expanded drug treatment, stronger law enforcement and drug interdiction efforts, and greater public awareness.^[246][247]

In 1986, Reagan signed a drug enforcement bill that budgeted $1.7 billion (equivalent to $3.8 billion in 2017) to fund the War on Drugs and specified a mandatory minimum penalty for drug offenses.^[248] The bill was criticized for promoting significant racial disparities in the prison population^[248] and critics also charged that the policies did little to reduce the availability of drugs on the street, while resulting in a great financial burden for America.^[249] Defenders of the effort point to success in reducing rates of adolescent drug use:^[250] marijuana use among high-school seniors declined from 33% in 1980 to 12% in 1991.^[251] First Lady Nancy Reagan made the War on Drugs her main priority by founding the "Just Say No" drug awareness campaign, which aimed to discourage children and teenagers from engaging in recreational drug use by offering various ways of saying "no." Nancy Reagan traveled to 65 cities in 33 states, raising awareness about the dangers of drugs including alcohol.^[252]

Response to AIDS epidemic

According to AIDS activist organizations such as ACT UP, the Reagan administration largely ignored the AIDS crisis, which began to unfold in the United States in 1981, the same year Reagan took office. They also claim AIDS research was chronically underfunded during Reagan's administration, and requests for more funding by doctors at the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) were routinely denied.^[253][254]

By the time President Reagan had given his first prepared speech on the epidemic, some six years into his presidency, 36,058 Americans had been diagnosed with AIDS and 20,849 had died of it.^[255] By the end of 1989, the year Reagan left office, 115,786 people had been diagnosed with AIDS in the United States, and more than 70,000 of them had died of it.

Others however point out that federal funding for AIDS-related programs was $2.3 billion in 1989 and nearly $6 billion total over his presidency. In a September 1985 press conference Reagan said: "this is a top priority with us...there's no question about the seriousness of this and the need to find an answer."^[256] Gary Bauer, who was Reagan's domestic policy adviser near the end of his second term, similarly argued that Reagan's belief in cabinet government led him to assign the job of speaking out against AIDS to his Surgeon General and Secretary of Health and Human Services.^[257]

Libya bombing

Relations between Libya and the United States under President Reagan were continually contentious, beginning with the Gulf of Sidra incident in 1981; by 1982, Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi was considered by the CIA to be, along with USSR leader Leonid Brezhnev and Cuban leader Fidel Castro, part of a group known as the "unholy trinity" and was also labeled as "our international public enemy number one" by a CIA official.^[258] These tensions were later revived in early April 1986, when a bomb exploded in a Berlin discothèque, resulting in the injury of 63 American military personnel and death of one serviceman. Stating that there was "irrefutable proof" that Libya had directed the "terrorist bombing," Reagan authorized the use of force against the country. In the late evening of April 15, 1986, the United States launched a series of airstrikes on ground targets in Libya.^[259][260]

Britain's prime minister, Margaret Thatcher, allowed the U.S. Air Force to use Britain's air bases to launch the attack, on the justification that the UK was supporting America's right to self-defense under Article 51 of the United Nations Charter.^[260] The attack was designed to halt Gaddafi's "ability to export terrorism," offering him "incentives and reasons to alter his criminal behavior."^[259] The president addressed the nation from the Oval Office after the attacks had commenced, stating, "When our citizens are attacked or abused anywhere in the world on the direct orders of hostile regimes, we will respond so long as I'm in this office."^[260] The attack was condemned by many countries. By a vote of 79 in favor to 28 against with 33 abstentions, the United Nations General Assembly adopted resolution 41/38 which "condemns the military attack perpetrated against the Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya on April 15, 1986, which constitutes a violation of the Charter of the United Nations and of international law."^[261]

Immigration

Reagan signed the Immigration Reform and Control Act in 1986. The act made it illegal to knowingly hire or recruit illegal immigrants, required employers to attest to their employees' immigration status, and granted amnesty to approximately three million illegal immigrants who entered the United States before January 1, 1982, and had lived in the country continuously. Critics argue that the employer sanctions were without teeth and failed to stem illegal immigration.^[262] Upon signing the act at a ceremony held beside the newly refurbished Statue of Liberty, Reagan said, "The legalization provisions in this act will go far to improve the lives of a class of individuals who now must hide in the shadows, without access to many of the benefits of a free and open society. Very soon many of these men and women will be able to step into the sunlight and, ultimately, if they choose, they may become Americans."^[263] Reagan also said, "The employer sanctions program is the keystone and major element. It will remove the incentive for illegal immigration by eliminating the job opportunities which draw illegal aliens here."^[263]

Iran–Contra affair

In 1986, the Iran–Contra affair became a problem for the administration stemming from the use of proceeds from covert arms sales to Iran during the Iran–Iraq War to fund the Contra rebels fighting against the government in Nicaragua, which had been specifically outlawed by an act of Congress.^[264][265] The affair became a political scandal in the United States during the 1980s.^[266] The International Court of Justice, whose jurisdiction to decide the case was disputed by the United States,^[267] ruled that the United States had violated international law and breached treaties in Nicaragua in various ways.^[268][269]

President Reagan professed that he was unaware of the plot's existence. He opened his own investigation and appointed two Republicans and one Democrat, John Tower, Brent Scowcroft and Edmund Muskie, respectively, to investigate the scandal. The commission could not find direct evidence that Reagan had prior knowledge of the program, but criticized him heavily for his disengagement from managing his staff, making the diversion of funds possible.^[270] A separate report by Congress concluded that "If the president did not know what his national security advisers were doing, he should have."^[270] Reagan's popularity declined from 67% to 46% in less than a week, the greatest and quickest decline ever for a president.^[271] The scandal resulted in fourteen indictments within Reagan's staff, and eleven convictions.^[272]

Many Central Americans criticize Reagan for his support of the Contras, calling him an anti-communist zealot, blinded to human rights abuses, while others say he "saved Central America."^[273] Daniel Ortega, Sandinistan and president of Nicaragua, said that he hoped God would forgive Reagan for his "dirty war against Nicaragua."^[273]

End of the Cold War

Until the early 1980s, the United States had relied on the qualitative superiority of its weapons to essentially frighten the Soviets, but the gap had been narrowed.^[274] Although the Soviet Union did not accelerate military spending after President Reagan's military buildup,^[275] their large military expenses, in combination with collectivized agriculture and inefficient planned manufacturing, were a heavy burden for the Soviet economy. At the same time, oil prices in 1985 fell to one-third of the previous level; oil was the main source of Soviet export revenues. These factors contributed to a stagnant Soviet economy during Gorbachev's tenure.^[276]

Reagan was deeply committed first to the abolition of nuclear weapons, worldwide. Second, he was committed (thanks to his California friend Edward Teller, The father of the hydrogen bomb) to building a defense against nuclear weapons, called the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI, but everyone nicknamed it "Star Wars.") American scientists were not sure that SDI would work, but they were sure it would cost in the trillions of dollars. Reagan reassured Congressman: think of it as billions of new dollars spent in your district. If SDI worked, the Soviet nuclear armed missiles, thousands of them, would be worthless—they would all be shot down. Gorbachev made it his highest priority to get Reagan to abandon SDI.

Meanwhile Reagan escalated the rhetoric. In his famous 1983 speech to religious fundamentalists he outlined his strategy for victory. First, he labeled the Soviet system an "Evil empire" and a failure—its demise would be a godsend for the world. Second, Reagan explained his strategy was an arms buildup that would leave the Soviets far behind, with no choice but to negotiate arms reduction. Finally, displaying his characteristic optimism, he praised liberal democracy and promised that such a system eventually would triumph over Soviet communism.^[277][278]

Reagan appreciated the revolutionary change in the direction of the Soviet policy with Mikhail Gorbachev, and shifted to diplomacy, with a view to encourage the Soviet leader to pursue substantial arms agreements.^[279] He and Gorbachev held four summit conferences between 1985 and 1988: the first in Geneva, Switzerland, the second in Reykjavík, Iceland, the third in Washington, D.C., and the fourth in Moscow.^[280] Reagan believed that if he could persuade the Soviets to allow for more democracy and free speech, this would lead to reform and the end of Communism.^[281] The critical summit was at Reykjavík in October 1986, where they met alone, with translators but with no aides. To the astonishment of the world, and the chagrin of Reagan's most conservative supporters, they agreed to abolish all nuclear weapons. Gorbachev then asked the end of SDI. Reagan said no, claiming that it was defensive only, and that he would share the secrets with the Soviets. No deal was achieved.^[282]

Speaking at the Berlin Wall on June 12, 1987, Reagan challenged Gorbachev to go further, saying "General Secretary Gorbachev, 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!"

At Gorbachev's visit to Washington in 1987, he and Reagan signed the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF Treaty) at the White House, which eliminated an entire class of nuclear weapons.^[283] The two leaders laid the framework for the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, or START I; Reagan insisted that the name of the treaty be changed from Strategic Arms Limitation Talks to Strategic Arms Reduction Talks.^[284]

When Reagan visited Moscow for the fourth summit in 1988, he was viewed as a celebrity by the Soviets. A journalist asked the president if he still considered the Soviet Union the evil empire. "No," he replied, "I was talking about another time, another era."^[285] At Gorbachev's request, Reagan gave a speech on free markets at the Moscow State University.^[286]

Announcement and reaction: 1994

In August 1994, at the age of 83, Reagan was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease,^[321] an incurable neurological disorder which destroys brain cells and ultimately causes death.^[321][322] In November, he informed the nation through a handwritten letter,^[321] writing in part:

I have recently been told that I am one of the millions of Americans who will be afflicted with Alzheimer's Disease ... At the moment I feel just fine. I intend to live the remainder of the years God gives me on this earth doing the things I have always done ... I now begin the journey that will lead me into the sunset of my life. I know that for America there will always be a bright dawn ahead. Thank you, my friends. May God always bless you.^[323]

After his diagnosis, letters of support from well-wishers poured into his California home.^[324]

But there was also speculation over how long Reagan had demonstrated symptoms of mental degeneration.^[325] Not long after the attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan, at a reception for mayors, Reagan greeted his Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Samuel Pierce in 1981 by saying "How are you, Mr Mayor? How are things in your city?",^[326][327] although he later realized his mistake.^[328] Former CBS White House correspondent Lesley Stahl recounted that, in her final meeting with the president in 1986, Reagan did not seem to know who Stahl was, and that she came close to reporting that Reagan was senile, but at the end of the meeting, Reagan had regained his alertness.^[329] However, Dr. Lawrence K. Altman, a physician employed as a reporter for The New York Times, noted that "the line between mere forgetfulness and the beginning of Alzheimer's can be fuzzy,"^[330] and all four of Reagan's White House doctors said that they saw no evidence of Alzheimer's while he was president.^[330] Dr. John E. Hutton, Reagan's primary physician from 1984 to 1989, said the president "absolutely" did not "show any signs of dementia or Alzheimer's."^[330] His former Chief of Staff James Baker considered "ludicrous" the idea that Reagan slept during cabinet meetings.^[331] Other staff members, former aides, and friends said they saw no indication of Alzheimer's while he was president.^[330] Reagan did experience occasional memory lapses, though, especially with names.^[330] Reagan's doctors say that he only began exhibiting overt symptoms of the illness in late 1992^[332] or 1993,^[330] several years after he had left office. For example, Reagan repeated a toast to Margaret Thatcher, with identical words and gestures, at his 82nd-birthday party on February 6, 1993.^[333]

Complicating the picture, Reagan suffered an episode of head trauma in July 1989, five years before his diagnosis. After being thrown from a horse in Mexico, a subdural hematoma was found and surgically treated later in the year.^[321][322] Nancy Reagan, citing what doctors told her, asserted that her husband's 1989 fall hastened the onset of Alzheimer's disease,^[322] although acute brain injury has not been conclusively proven to accelerate Alzheimer's or dementia.^[334][335] Reagan's one-time physician Daniel Ruge has said it is possible, but not certain, that the horse accident affected the course of Reagan's memory.^[332]

Progression: 1994–2004

As the years went on, the disease slowly destroyed Reagan's mental capacity.^[330] He was only able to recognize a few people, including his wife, Nancy.^[330] He remained active, however; he took walks through parks near his home and on beaches, played golf regularly, and until 1999 he often went to his office in nearby Century City.^[330]

Reagan suffered a fall at his Bel Air home on January 13, 2001, resulting in a broken hip.^[336] The fracture was repaired the following day^[337] and the 89-year-old Reagan returned home later that week, although he faced difficult physical therapy at home.^[338] On February 6, 2001, Reagan reached the age of 90, becoming the third former president to do so (the other two being John Adams and Herbert Hoover, with Gerald Ford, George H. W. Bush and Jimmy Carter later surpassing 90).^[339] Reagan's public appearances became much less frequent with the progression of the disease, and as a result, his family decided that he would live in quiet semi-isolation with his wife Nancy. She told CNN's Larry King in 2001 that very few visitors were allowed to see her husband because she felt that "Ronnie would want people to remember him as he was."^[340] After her husband's diagnosis and death, Nancy Reagan became a stem-cell research advocate, urging Congress and President George W. Bush to support federal funding for embryonic stem-cell research, something Bush opposed. In 2009, she praised President Barack Obama for lifting restrictions on such research.^[341] Nancy Reagan said that she believed it could lead to a cure for Alzheimer's.^[342]