Ronald Reagan

Ronald Reagan wrote that his mother "always expected to find the best in people and often did."[14] She attended the Disciples of Christ church regularly and was active, and very influential, within it; she frequently led Sunday school services and gave the Bible readings to the congregation during the services. A firm believer in the power of prayer, she led prayer meetings at church and was in charge of mid-week prayers when the pastor was out of town.[15] She was also an adherent of the Social Gospel movement.[16] Her strong commitment to the church is what induced her son Ronald to become a Protestant Christian rather than a Roman Catholic like his father.[9] He also stated that she strongly influenced his own beliefs: "I know that she planted that faith very deeply in me."[17] Reagan identified himself as a born-again Christian.[18]

Reagan had a particularly strong faith in the goodness of people; this faith stemmed from the optimistic faith of his mother[19] and the Disciples of Christ faith,[19] into which he was baptized in 1922.[20] For that period, which was long before the civil rights movement, Reagan's opposition to racial discrimination was unusual. He recalled the time when his college football team was staying at a local hotel which would not allow two black teammates to stay there, and he invited them to his parents' home 15 miles (24 kilometers) away in Dixon. His mother invited them to stay overnight and have breakfast the next morning.[21] [22] His father was strongly opposed to the Ku Klux Klan due to his Catholic heritage, but also due to the Klan's anti-semitism and anti-black racism.[16] After becoming a prominent actor, Reagan gave speeches in favor of racial equality following World War II.[23]

Reagan attended Dixon High School, where he developed interests in acting, sports, and storytelling.[24] His first job involved working as a lifeguard at the Rock River in Lowell Park in 1927. Over six years, Reagan performed 77 rescues.[25] He attended Eureka College, a Disciples-oriented liberal arts school, where he became a member of the Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity, a cheerleader. He was an indifferent student, majored in economics and sociology and graduated with a C grade.[26] He developed a reputation as a "jack of all trades", excelling in campus politics, sports, and theater. He was a member of the football team and captain of the swim team. He was elected student body president and participated in student protests against the college president.[27]

After graduating from Eureka in 1932, Reagan took jobs in Iowa as a radio announcer at several stations. He moved to WHO radio in Des Moines as an announcer for Chicago Cubs baseball games. His specialty was creating play-by-play accounts of games using only basic descriptions that the station received by wire as the games were in progress.[28]

The Bad Man (1941)

While traveling with the Cubs in California in 1937, Reagan took a screen test that led to a seven-year contract with Warner Bros. studios.[29] He spent the first few years of his Hollywood career in the "B film" unit, where, Reagan joked, the producers "didn't want them good; they wanted them Thursday".[30]

He earned his first screen credit with a starring role in the 1937 movie Love Is on the Air, and by the end of 1939, he had already appeared in 19 films,[31] including Dark Victory with Bette Davis and Humphrey Bogart. Before the film Santa Fe Trail with Errol Flynn in 1940, he played the role of George Gipp in the film Knute Rockne, All American; from it, he acquired the lifelong nickname "the Gipper."[32] In 1941, exhibitors voted him the fifth most popular star from the younger generation in Hollywood.[33]

Reagan played his favorite acting role in 1942's Kings Row,[34] where he plays a double amputee who recites the line "Where's the rest of me?"—later used as the title of his 1965 autobiography. Many film critics considered Kings Row to be his best movie,[35] though the film was condemned by The New York Times critic Bosley Crowther.[36][37]

Kings Row made Reagan a star—Warner immediately tripled his salary to $3,000 a week. Early in 1942, he was ordered to military active duty in San Francisco and never became a true film star.[38] After his wartime military service he co-starred in such films as The Voice of the Turtle, John Loves Mary, The Hasty Heart, Bedtime for Bonzo, Cattle Queen of Montana, Tennessee's Partner, Hellcats of the Navy (the only film in which he appears with Nancy Reagan), and the 1964 remake The Killers (his final film). Throughout his film career, Reagan's mother answered much of his fan mail.[39]

Capt. Ronald Reagan at Fort Roach

After completing 14 home-study Army Extension Courses, Reagan enlisted in the Army Enlisted Reserve and was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Officers' Reserve Corps of the Cavalry on May 25, 1937.[40]

On April 18, 1942, Reagan was ordered to active duty for the first time. Due to his poor eyesight, he was classified for limited service only, which excluded him from serving overseas.[41] His first assignment was at the San Francisco Port of Embarkation at Fort Mason, California, as a liaison officer of the Port and Transportation Office.[42] Upon the approval of the Army Air Forces (AAF), he applied for a transfer from the cavalry to the AAF on May 15, 1942, and was assigned to AAF Public Relations and subsequently to the First Motion Picture Unit (officially, the 18th AAF Base Unit) in Culver City, California.[42] On January 14, 1943, he was promoted to first lieutenant and was sent to the Provisional Task Force Show Unit of This Is the Army at Burbank, California.[42] He returned to the First Motion Picture Unit after completing this duty and was promoted to captain on July 22, 1943.[43]

In January 1944, Reagan was ordered to temporary duty in New York City to participate in the opening of the Sixth War Loan Drive, which campaigned for the purchase of war bonds. He was reassigned to the First Motion Picture Unit on November 14, 1944, where he remained until the end of World War II.[43] By the end of the war, his units had produced some 400 training films for the Air Force, including cockpit simulations for B-29 crews scheduled to bomb Japan. He was separated from active duty on December 9, 1945, as an Army captain.[44] While he was in the service, Reagan obtained a film reel depicting the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp; he held on to it, believing that doubts would someday arise as to whether the Holocaust had occurred.[45]

Guest stars for the premiere of The Dick Powell Show. Reagan can be seen wearing a ten-gallon hat on the far left.

Reagan was first elected to the Board of Directors of the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) in 1941, serving as an alternate member. After World War II, he resumed service and became third vice president in 1946.[46] When the SAG president and six board members resigned in March 1947 due to the union's new bylaws on conflict of interest, Reagan was elected president in a special election. He was subsequently re-elected six times, in 1947, 1948, 1949, 1950, 1951 and 1959. He led the SAG through implementing the 1947 Taft–Hartley Act, various labor-management disputes, and the Hollywood blacklist era.[46] First instituted in 1947 by Studio executives who agreed that they would not employ anyone believed to be or to have been Communists or sympathetic with radical politics, the blacklist grew steadily larger during the early 1950s as the U.S. Congress continued to investigate domestic political subversion.[47]

Also during his tenure, Reagan was instrumental in securing residuals for television actors when their episodes were re-run, and later, for motion picture actors when their studio films aired on TV.[48]

In 1946, Reagan served on the national board of directors for the Independent Citizens Committee of the Arts, Sciences and Professions (ICCASP) and had been a member of its Hollywood chapter (HICCASP). His attendance at a July 10, 1946, meeting of HICCASP brought him to the attention of the FBI, which interviewed him on April 10, 1947, in connection with its investigation into HICCASP.[49][50][51] Four decades later it was revealed that, during the late 1940s, Reagan (under the code name T-10) 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. Even so, he was uncomfortable with the way the SAG was being used by the government, asking during one FBI interview, "Do they (ie. the House Un-American Activities Committee) expect us to constitute ourselves as a little FBI of our own and determine just who is a Commie and who isn't?"[52][53]

In October 1947 during HUAC's Hollywood hearings, Reagan (whose name also appears as "Regan" in text of the hearings printed by the US GPO testified as resident of the Screen Actors Guild:[54]) testified:

There has been a small group within the Screen Actors Guild which has consistently opposed the policy of the guild board and officers of the guild... suspected of more or less following the tactics that we associate with the Communist Party... At times they have attempted to be a disruptive influence... I have heard different discussions and some of them tagged as Communists... I found myself misled into being a sponsor on another occasion for a function that was held under the auspices of the Joint Anti-Fascist Refugee Committee.[54]

Regarding a "jurisdictional strike" going on for seven months at that time, Reagan testified:

The first time that this word "Communist" was ever injected into any of the meetings concerning the strike was at a meeting in Chicago with Mr. William Hutchinson, president of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners, who were on strike at the time. He asked the Screen Actors Guild to submit terms to Mr. Walsh, for Walsh to give in the settling of this strike, and he told us to tell Mr. Walsh that if he would give in on these terms he in turn would run this Sorrell and the other Commies out—I am quoting him—and break it up.[54]

However, Reagan also opposed measures soon to manifest in the Mundt-Nixon Bill in May 1948 by opining:

As a citizen I would hesitate, or not like, to see any political party outlawed on the basis of its political ideology... I detest, I abhor their philosophy, but I detest more than that their tactics, which are those of the fifth column, and are dishonest, but at the same time 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.[54]

Further, asked whether he was aware of Communist efforts within the Screen Writers Guild, Reagan would not play along, saying, "Sir, like the other gentlemen, I must say that that is hearsay."[54]

Reagan landed fewer film roles in the late 1950s and moved into television.[30] He was hired as the host of General Electric Theater,[55] a series of weekly dramas that became very popular.[30] His contract required him to tour General Electric (GE) plants 16 weeks out of the year, which often demanded that he give 14 talks per day.[30] He earned approximately $125,000 (equivalent to $1.1 million in 2019) in this role. The show ran for ten seasons from 1953 to 1962, which increased Reagan's national profile.[56] On January 1, 1959, Reagan was the host and announcer for ABC's coverage of the Tournament of Roses Parade.[57] In his final work as a professional actor, Reagan was a host and performer from 1964 to 1965 on the television series Death Valley Days.[58] Following their marriage in 1952, Ronald and Nancy Reagan, who continued to use the stage name Nancy Davis, acted together in three TV series episodes, including a 1958 installment of General Electric Theater titled "A Turkey for the President".[59]

Inauguration parade. As Reagan read his inauguration address, 52 U.S. hostages held by Iran for 444 days were set free.

Ronald Reagan was 69 years old when he was sworn into office for his first term on January 20, 1981. In his inaugural address, he addressed the country's economic malaise, arguing: "In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problems; government is the problem."[136]

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.[137] In 1981, Reagan became the first president to propose a constitutional amendment on school prayer.[138] Reagan's election reflected an opposition[138] 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.[139] 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?"[140] In 1985, Reagan expressed his disappointment that the Supreme Court ruling still banned a moment of silence for public schools, and said that efforts to reinstitute prayer in public schools were "an uphill battle".[141] In 1987 Reagan renewed his call for Congress to support voluntary prayer in schools and end "the expulsion of God from America's classrooms."[142]

On March 30, 1981, 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.[143] 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.[144] The attempt had a significant influence on Reagan's popularity; polls indicated his approval rating to be around 73 percent.[144] Reagan believed that God had spared his life so that he might go on to fulfill a higher purpose.[145]

In August 1981, PATCO, the union of federal air traffic controllers, went on strike, violating a federal law prohibiting government unions from striking.[146] 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."[147] 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.[148] 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."[149]

Reagan outlines his plan for Tax Reduction Legislation in a televised address from the Oval Office, July 1981

During Jimmy Carter's last year in office (1980), inflation averaged 12.5 percent, compared with 4.4 percent during Reagan's last year in office (1988).[150] During Reagan's administration, the unemployment rate declined from 7.5 percent to 5.4 percent, with the rate reaching highs of 10.8 percent in 1982 and 10.4 percent in 1983, averaging 7.5 percent over the eight years, and real GDP growth averaged 3.4 percent with a high of 8.6 percent in 1983, while nominal GDP growth averaged 7.4 percent, and peaked at 12.2 percent in 1982.[151][152][153]

Reagan implemented policies based on supply-side economics, advocating a laissez-faire philosophy and free-market fiscal policy,[154] seeking to stimulate the economy with large, across-the-board tax cuts.[155][156] 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.[157] His policy of "peace through strength" resulted in a record peacetime defense buildup including a 40 percent real increase in defense spending between 1981 and 1985.[158]

During Reagan's presidency, federal income tax rates were lowered significantly with the signing of the Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981,[159] which lowered the top marginal tax bracket from 70 percent to 50 percent over three years (as part of a "5–10–10" plan),[160] and the lowest bracket from 14 percent to 11 percent. Other tax increases passed by Congress and signed by Reagan ensured however that tax revenues over his two terms were 18.2 percent of GDP as compared to 18.1 percent over the 40 years of 1970–2010.[161] The 1981 tax act also required that exemptions and brackets be indexed for inflation starting in 1985.[160]

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).[162][163] TEFRA was the "largest peacetime tax increase in American history."[163][164][165][166] 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 percent per year, with a high of 12.2 percent growth in 1981.[167] Unemployment peaked at 10.8 percent monthly rate in December 1982—higher than any time since the Great Depression—then dropped during the rest of Reagan's presidency.[168] Sixteen million new jobs were created, while inflation significantly decreased.[169] 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 several tax breaks. The top rate was dropped to 28 percent, but capital gains taxes were increased on those with the highest incomes from 20 percent to 28 percent. The increase of the lowest tax bracket from 11 percent to 15 percent was more than offset by the expansion of 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.[170][171]

The net effect of all Reagan-era tax bills was a 1 percent decrease in government revenues when compared to Treasury Department revenue estimates from the Administration's first post-enactment January budgets.[172] However, federal income tax receipts increased from 1980 to 1989, rising from $308.7 billion to $549 billion[173] or an average annual rate of 8.2 percent (2.5 percent attributed to higher Social Security receipts), and federal outlays grew at an annual rate of 7.1 percent.[174][175]

Reagan addresses Congress on the Program for Economic Recovery, April 28, 1981 (a few weeks after surviving an assassination attempt)

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 reaching the poor.[176] Questions arose whether Reagan's policies benefited the wealthy more than those living in poverty,[177] and many poor and minority citizens viewed Reagan as indifferent to their struggles.[177] 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 percent, cutting the budget for public housing and Section 8 rent subsidies in half, and eliminating the antipoverty Community Development Block Grant program.[178] The widening gap between the rich and poor had already begun during the 1970s before Reagan's economic policies took effect.[179] Along with Reagan's 1981 cut in the top regular tax rate on unearned income, he reduced the maximum capital gains rate to 20 percent.[180] 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 percent.[181] Reagan is viewed as an antitax hero despite raising taxes eleven times throughout his presidency, all in the name of fiscal responsibility.[182] 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."[183] According to historian and domestic policy adviser Bruce Bartlett, Reagan's tax increases throughout his presidency took back half of the 1981 tax cut.[184]

Reagan was opposed to government intervention, and he cut the budgets of non-military[185] programs[186] including Medicaid, food stamps, federal education programs[185] and the EPA.[187] He protected entitlement programs such as Social Security and Medicare,[188] but his administration attempted to purge many people with disabilities from the Social Security disability rolls.[189]

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,[190] but there is no consensus regarding a single source for the crash.[191] 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.[192] Reagan described the new debt as the "greatest disappointment" of his presidency.[169]

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.[193][194] The price of oil subsequently dropped, and there were no fuel shortages like those in the 1970s.[194] Reagan also fulfilled a 1980 campaign promise to repeal the windfall profits tax in 1988, which had previously increased dependence on foreign oil.[195] 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.[196] 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 his campaign promise and resorted to raising taxes.[196]

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 an end before the executive order could be coordinated and signed, and the incoming Bush administration, labeling Project Socrates as "industrial policy," had it terminated.[197][198]

The Reagan administration was often criticized for inadequately enforcing, if not actively undermining, civil rights legislation.[199][200] 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.[201] He also signed legislation establishing a federal Martin Luther King holiday, though he did so with reservations.[202] In March 1988, he vetoed the Civil Rights Restoration Act of 1987, 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.[203]

As the first U.S. president invited to speak before the British Parliament (June 8, 1982), Reagan predicted Marxism would end up on the "ash heap of history."[204]

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.[205] He ordered a massive buildup of the United States Armed Forces[158] 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.[206] In response to Soviet deployment of the SS-20, Reagan oversaw NATO's deployment of the Pershing missile in West Germany.[207] 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.[208][209]

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.[210]

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."[210]

Reagan and the United Kingdom's prime minister Margaret Thatcher both denounced the Soviet Union in ideological terms.[211] 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."[212][213] 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."[214] In a speech to the National Association of Evangelicals on March 8, 1983, Reagan called the Soviet Union "an evil empire."[215]

Meeting with leaders of the Afghan Mujahideen in the Oval Office, 1983

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."[216] 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.[216] 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.[217][218]

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.[219] However, in a break from the Carter administration's 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.[220]

Reagan with actress Sigourney Weaver and King Fahd of Saudi Arabia in 1985. The U.S. and Saudi Arabia supplied money and arms to the anti-Soviet fighters in Afghanistan.

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.[221][222] President Reagan's Covert Action program has been given credit for assisting in ending the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan,[223] 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.[224] 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.[225]

In March 1983, Reagan introduced the Strategic Defense Initiative, a defense project[226] that would have used ground- and space-based systems to protect the United States from attack by strategic nuclear ballistic missiles.[227] Reagan believed that this defense shield could make nuclear war impossible.[226][228] 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.[226] The Soviets became concerned about the possible effects SDI would have;[229] leader Yuri Andropov said it would put "the entire world in jeopardy."[230] For those reasons, David Gergen, a former aide to President Reagan, believes that in retrospect, SDI hastened the end of the Cold War.[231]

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."[229] The administration was also heavily criticized for backing anti-communist leaders accused of severe human rights violations, such as Hissène Habré of Chad[232] and Efraín Ríos Montt of Guatemala.[233][234] 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,"[235] and described him as "a man of great personal integrity."[236] 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 in providing nonmilitary assistance such as USAID.[235][237]

Reagan (far left) and First Lady Nancy Reagan pay their respects to the 17 American victims of the April 18 attack on the U.S. embassy by Hezbollah in Beirut, 1983

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.[238] Reagan sent in the USS New Jersey battleship to shell Syrian positions in Lebanon. He then withdrew all the Marines from Lebanon.[239]

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,[240] with 19 American fatalities and 116 wounded American soldiers.[241] In mid-December, after a new government was appointed by the governor-general, U.S. forces withdrew.[240]

1984 presidential electoral votes by state. Reagan (red) won every state except Mondale's home state of Minnesota; Mondale also carried the District of Columbia.

Reagan accepted the Republican nomination in the Republican convention in Dallas, Texas. He proclaimed that it was "morning again in America," regarding the recovering economy and the dominating performance by the American athletes at the 1984 Summer Olympics on home soil, among other things.[30] He became the first U.S. president to open an Olympic Games.[242] Previous Olympics taking place in the United States had been opened by either the vice president (three times) or another person in charge (twice).

Reagan's opponent in the 1984 presidential election was former vice president Walter Mondale. Following a weak performance in the first presidential debate, Reagan's ability to perform the duties of president for another term was questioned. His confused and forgetful behavior was evident to his supporters; they had previously known him to be clever and witty. Rumors began to circulate that Reagan had Alzheimer's disease.[243] Reagan rebounded in the second debate; confronting questions about his age, he quipped: "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". This remark generated applause and laughter, even from Mondale himself.[244]

That November, Reagan won a landslide re-election victory, carrying 49 of the 50 states. Mondale won only his home state of Minnesota and the District of Columbia.[129] Reagan won 525 of the 538 electoral votes, the most of any presidential candidate in U.S. history.[245] In terms of electoral votes, this was the second-most lopsided presidential election in modern U.S. history; Franklin D. Roosevelt's 1936 victory over Alf Landon, in which he won 98.5 percent or 523 of the then-total 531 electoral votes, ranks first.[246] Reagan won 58.8 percent of the popular vote to Mondale's 40.6 percent. His popular vote margin of victory—nearly 16.9 million votes (54.4 million for Reagan to 37.5 million for Mondale)[247][248]—was exceeded only by Richard Nixon in his 1972 victory over George McGovern.[129]

Reagan is sworn in for a second term as president by Chief Justice Burger in the Capitol rotunda

Reagan was sworn in as president for the second time on January 20, 1985, in a private ceremony at the White House. To date, at 73 years of age, he is the oldest person to take the presidential oath of office. Because January 20 fell on a Sunday, a public celebration was not held but took place in the Capitol rotunda the following day. January 21 was one of the coldest days on record in Washington, D.C.; due to poor weather, inaugural celebrations were held inside the Capitol. In the weeks that followed, he shook up his staff somewhat, moving White House Chief of Staff James Baker to Secretary of the Treasury and naming Treasury Secretary Donald Regan, a former Merrill Lynch officer, Chief of Staff.[249]

In response to concerns about the increasing crack epidemic, Reagan began the war on drugs campaign in 1982, a policy led by the federal government to reduce the illegal drug trade. Though Nixon had previously declared war on drugs, Reagan advocated more aggressive policies.[250] 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.[251][252]

In 1986, Reagan signed a drug enforcement bill that budgeted $1.7 billion (equivalent to $4 billion in 2019) to fund the war on drugs and specified a mandatory minimum penalty for drug offenses.[253] The bill was criticized for promoting significant racial disparities in the prison population,[253] and critics also charged that the policies did little to reduce the availability of drugs on the street while resulting in a tremendous financial burden for America.[254] Defenders of the effort point to success in reducing rates of adolescent drug use which they attribute to the Reagan administrations policies:[255] marijuana use among high-school seniors declined from 33 percent in 1980 to 12 percent in 1991.[256] 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.[257]

According to AIDS activist organizations such as ACT UP and scholars such as Don Francis and Peter S. Arno, the Reagan administration largely ignored the AIDS crisis, which began to unfold in the United States in 1981, the same year Reagan took office.[258][259][260][261] They also claim that 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.[262][263]

By the time President Reagan gave his first prepared speech on the epidemic, six years into his presidency, 36,058 Americans had been diagnosed with AIDS, and 20,849 had died of it.[263] By 1989, the year Reagan left office, more than 100,000 people had been diagnosed with AIDS in the United States, and more than 59,000 of them had died of it.[264]

Reagan administration officials countered criticisms of neglect by noting that federal funding for AIDS-related programs rose over his presidency, from a few hundred thousand dollars in 1982 to $2.3 billion in 1989.[265] 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."[266] Gary Bauer, Reagan's domestic policy adviser near the end of his second term, argued that Reagan's belief in cabinet government led him to assign the job of speaking out against AIDS to his Surgeon General of the United States and the United States Secretary of Health and Human Services.[267]

From the late 1960s onward, the American public grew increasingly vocal in its opposition to the apartheid policy of the white-minority government of South Africa, and in its insistence that the U.S. impose economic and diplomatic sanctions on South Africa.[268] The strength of the anti-apartheid opposition surged during Reagan's first term in office as its component disinvestment from South Africa movement, which had been in existence for quite some years, gained critical mass following in the United States, particularly on college campuses and among mainline Protestant denominations.[269][270] President Reagan was opposed to divestiture because, as he wrote in a letter to Sammy Davis Jr., it "would hurt the very people we are trying to help and would leave us no contact within South Africa to try and bring influence to bear on the government". He also noted the fact that the "American-owned industries there employ more than 80,000 blacks" and that their employment practices were "very different from the normal South African customs".[271]

As an alternative strategy for opposing apartheid, the Reagan Administration developed a policy of constructive engagement with the South African government as a means of encouraging it to move away from apartheid gradually. It was part of a larger initiative designed to foster peaceful economic development and political change throughout southern Africa.[268] This policy, however, engendered much public criticism and renewed calls for the imposition of stringent sanctions.[272] In response, Reagan announced the imposition of new sanctions on the South African government, including an arms embargo in late 1985.[273] These sanctions were, however, seen as weak by anti-apartheid activists, and as insufficient by the president's opponents in Congress.[272] In August 1986, Congress approved the Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act, which included tougher sanctions. Reagan vetoed the act, but the veto was overridden by Congress. Afterward, Reagan reiterated that his administration and "all America" opposed apartheid, and said, "the debate ... was not whether or not to oppose apartheid but, instead, how best to oppose it and how best to bring freedom to that troubled country." Several European countries as well as Japan soon followed the U.S. lead and imposed their sanctions on South Africa.[274]

British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher (here with Reagan in 1986) granted the U.S. use of British airbases to launch the Libya attack.

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.[275] 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.[276][277]

British 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.[277] The attack was designed to halt Gaddafi's "ability to export terrorism," offering him "incentives and reasons to alter his criminal behavior."[276] 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."[277] 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."[278]

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. 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."[279] 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."[279]

Reagan (center) receives the Tower Commission Report regarding the Iran-Contra affair in the Cabinet Room with John Tower (left) and Edmund Muskie (right)

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.[280][281] The affair became a political scandal in the United States during the 1980s.[282] The International Court of Justice, whose jurisdiction to decide the case was disputed by the United States,[283] ruled that the United States had violated international law and breached treaties in Nicaragua in various ways.[284][285]. Reagan later withdrew the agreement between the United States and the International Court of Justice [286]

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.[287] A separate report by Congress concluded that "If the president did not know what his national security advisers were doing, he should have."[287] Reagan's popularity declined from 67 percent to 46 percent in less than a week, the most significant and quickest decline ever for a president.[288] The scandal resulted in eleven convictions and fourteen indictments within Reagan's staff.[289]

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."[290] Daniel Ortega, Sandinistan and president of Nicaragua, said that he hoped God would forgive Reagan for his "dirty war against Nicaragua."[290]

In 1988, near the end of the Iran–Iraq War, the U.S. Navy guided-missile cruiser USS Vincennes accidentally shot down Iran Air Flight 655 killing 290 civilian passengers. The incident further worsened already tense Iran–United States relations.[291]

Challenging Gorbachev to "tear down this wall" at the Brandenburg Gate, June 12, 1987

Gorbachev and Reagan sign the INF Treaty at the White House, December 1987

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.[292] Although the Soviet Union did not accelerate military spending after President Reagan's military buildup,[293] their enormous 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 primary source of Soviet export revenues. These factors contributed to a stagnant Soviet economy during Gorbachev's tenure.[294]

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.[295][296]

Reagan appreciated the revolutionary change in the direction of the Soviet policy with Mikhail Gorbachev, and shifted to diplomacy, intending to encourage the Soviet leader to pursue substantial arms agreements.[297] 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.[298] 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.[299] 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.[300]

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!" Later, in November 1989, East German authorities began allowing citizens to pass freely through border checkpoints,[301][302] and began dismantling the Wall the following June;[303][304] its demolition was completed in 1992.[303][304]

At Gorbachev's visit to Washington in December 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.[305] 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.[306]

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."[307] At Gorbachev's request, Reagan gave a speech on free markets at the Moscow State University.[308]

Reagan came under much criticism in 1985 when he was accused of honoring Nazi war criminals at a cemetery in West Germany.[309] 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. 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 distinguished 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.[310]

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.[311] 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.[312] Now strongly urged to cancel the visit,[313] 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.[314][315]

Early in his presidency, Reagan started wearing a custom-made, technologically advanced hearing aid, first in his right ear[316] and later in his left ear as well.[317] His decision to go public in 1983 regarding his wearing the small, audio-amplifying device boosted their sales.[318]

On July 13, 1985, Reagan underwent surgery at Bethesda Naval Hospital to remove cancerous polyps from his colon. He relinquished presidential power to the vice president for eight hours in a similar procedure as outlined in the 25th Amendment, which he specifically avoided invoking.[319] The surgery lasted just under three hours and was successful.[320] Reagan resumed the powers of the presidency later that day.[321] In August of that year, he underwent an operation to remove skin cancer cells from his nose.[322] In October, more skin cancer cells were detected on his nose and removed.[323]

In January 1987, Reagan underwent surgery for an enlarged prostate that caused further worries about his health. No cancerous growths were found, and he was not sedated during the operation.[324] In July of that year, aged 76, he underwent a third skin cancer operation on his nose.[325]

On January 7, 1989, Reagan underwent surgery at Walter Reed Army Medical Center to repair a Dupuytren's contracture of the ring finger of his left hand. The surgery lasted for more than three hours and was performed under regional anesthesia.[326]

During the 1980 presidential campaign, Reagan pledged that he would appoint the first female Supreme Court Justice if given the opportunity.[327] That opportunity came during his first year in office when Associate Justice Potter Stewart retired; Reagan selected Sandra Day O'Connor, who was confirmed unanimously by the Senate. In his second term, Reagan had three opportunities to fill a Supreme Court vacancy. When Chief Justice Warren E. Burger retired in September 1986, Reagan nominated incumbent Associate Justice William Rehnquist to succeed Burger as Chief Justice (the appointment of an incumbent associate justice as chief justice is subject to a separate confirmation process). Then, following Rehnquist's confirmation, the president named Antonin Scalia to fill the consequent associate justice vacancy.[328] Reagan's final opportunity to fill a vacancy arose in mid-1987 when Associate Justice Lewis F. Powell Jr. announced his intention to retire. Reagan initially chose Conservative jurist Robert Bork to succeed Powell. Bork's nomination was strongly opposed by civil and women's rights groups, and by Senate Democrats.[329] That October, after a contentious Senate debate, the nomination was rejected by a roll call vote of 42–58.[330] Soon afterward, Reagan announced his intention to nominate Douglas Ginsburg to the Court. However, before his name was submitted to the Senate, Ginsburg withdrew himself from consideration.[331] Anthony Kennedy was subsequently nominated and confirmed as Powell's successor.[332]

Along with his four Supreme Court appointments, Reagan appointed 83 judges to the United States courts of appeals, and 290 judges to the United States district courts. Early in his presidency, Reagan appointed Clarence M. Pendleton Jr., of San Diego as the first African American to chair the United States Commission on Civil Rights. Pendleton tried to steer the commission into a conservative direction in line with Reagan's views on social and civil rights policy during his tenure from 1981 until his sudden death in 1988. Pendleton soon aroused the ire of many civil rights advocates and feminists when he ridiculed the comparable worth proposal as being "Looney Tunes."[333][334][335]

On April 13, 1992, Reagan was assaulted by an anti-nuclear protester during a luncheon speech while accepting an award from the National Association of Broadcasters in Las Vegas.[336] The protester, Richard Springer, smashed a 2-foot-high (60 cm) 30-pound (13.5 kg) crystal statue of an eagle that the broadcasters had given the former president. Flying shards of glass hit Reagan, but he was not injured. Using media credentials, Springer intended to announce government plans for an underground nuclear weapons test in the Nevada desert the following day.[337] Springer was the founder of an anti-nuclear group called the 100th Monkey. Following his arrest on assault charges, a Secret Service spokesman could not explain how Springer got past the federal agents who guarded Reagan's life at all times.[338] Later, Springer pled guilty to reduced charges and said he had not meant to hurt Reagan through his actions. He pled guilty to a misdemeanor federal charge of interfering with the Secret Service, but other felony charges of assault and resisting officers were dropped.[339]

The Reagans in Los Angeles after leaving the White House, 1992

After leaving office in 1989, the Reagans purchased a home in Bel Air, Los Angeles, in addition to the Reagan Ranch in Santa Barbara. They regularly attended Bel Air Church[340] and occasionally made appearances on behalf of the Republican Party; Reagan delivered a well-received speech at the 1992 Republican National Convention.[341] Previously, on November 4, 1991, the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library was dedicated and opened to the public. Five presidents and six first ladies attended the dedication ceremonies, marking the first time that five presidents were gathered in the same location.[342] Reagan continued to speak publicly in favor of a line-item veto; the Brady Bill;[343] a constitutional amendment requiring a balanced budget; and the repeal of the 22nd Amendment, which prohibits anyone from serving more than two terms as president.[344] In 1992 Reagan established the Ronald Reagan Freedom Award with the newly formed Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation.[345] His final public speech occurred on February 3, 1994, during a tribute to him in Washington, D.C.; his last major public appearance was at the funeral of Richard Nixon on April 27, 1994.

The Reagans with a model of USS Ronald Reagan, May 1996

In August 1994, at the age of 83, Reagan was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease,[346] an incurable neurological disorder which destroys brain cells and ultimately causes death.[346][347] In November of that year, he informed the nation of the diagnosis through a handwritten letter,[346] 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.[348]

After his diagnosis, letters of support from well-wishers poured into his California home.[349] But there was also speculation over how long Reagan had demonstrated symptoms of mental degeneration.[350] At a June 1981 reception for mayors, not long after the assassination attempt, Reagan greeted his Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Samuel Pierce by saying "How are you, Mr. Mayor? How are things in your city?",[351][352] although he later realized his mistake.[353] In a 2011 book, Reagan's son Ron said he had suspected early signs of his father's dementia as early as 1984.[354] 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. Stahl came close to reporting that Reagan was senile, but at the end of the meeting, he had regained his alertness.[355]

Dr. Lawrence Altman of The New York Times noted that "the line between mere forgetfulness and the beginning of Alzheimer's can be fuzzy", and all four of Reagan's White House doctors said that they saw no evidence of Alzheimer's while he was president.[356] Daniel Ruge, a neurosurgeon who served as Physician to the President from 1981 to 1985, said that he never detected signs of the disease while speaking almost every day with Reagan.[357] John E. Hutton, who served from 1985 to 1989, said the president "absolutely" did not "show any signs of dementia or Alzheimer's".[356] Other staff members, former aides, and friends said they saw no indication of Alzheimer's while he was president. Reagan did experience occasional memory lapses, though, especially with names.[356] Reagan's doctors said that he began exhibiting overt symptoms of the illness in late 1992[358] or 1993,[356] 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.[359]

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.[346][347] Nancy Reagan, citing what doctors told her, asserted that her husband's 1989 fall hastened the onset of Alzheimer's disease,[347] although acute brain injury has not been conclusively proven to accelerate Alzheimer's or dementia.[360][361] Ruge said it is possible that the horse accident affected Reagan's memory.[358]

As the years went on, the disease slowly destroyed Reagan's mental capacity.[356] He was able to recognize only a few people, including his wife, Nancy.[356] 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.[356]

Reagan suffered a fall at his Bel Air home on January 13, 2001, resulting in a broken hip.[362] The fracture was repaired the following day,[363] and the 89-year-old Reagan returned home later that week, although he faced difficult physical therapy at home.[364] On February 6, 2001, Reagan reached the age of 90, only the third U.S. president (after John Adams and Herbert Hoover) to do so.[365] 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."[366] After her husband's diagnosis and death, Nancy Reagan became a stem-cell research advocate, asserting that it could lead to a cure for Alzheimer's.[367]

In 2017, a C-SPAN survey of scholars ranked Reagan in terms of leadership in comparison with all 42 presidents. He ranked number nine in international relations.[392][393]

Reagan's major achievement was the end of the Cold War as he left office. Furthermore, the USSR and Soviet-sponsored Communist movements worldwide were falling apart—and collapsed completely three years after he left office. The U.S. thus became the only superpower. His admirers say he won the Cold War.[394] After 40 years of high tension, the USSR pulled back in the last years of Reagan's second term. In 1989, the Kremlin lost control of all its East European satellites. In 1991, Communism was overthrown in the USSR, and on December 26, 1991, the Soviet Union ceased to exist. The resulting states were no threat to the United States. Reagan's exact role is debated, with many believing that Reagan's defense policies, economic policies, military policies and hard-line rhetoric against the Soviet Union and Communism—together with his summits with General Secretary Gorbachev—played a significant part in ending the Cold War.[177][297]

President Reagan and Soviet General Secretary Gorbachev, 1985

He was the first president to reject containment and détente and to put into practice the concept that the Soviet Union could be defeated rather than simply negotiated with, a post-Détente strategy,[297] a conviction that was vindicated by Gennadi Gerasimov, the Foreign Ministry spokesman under Gorbachev, who said that the Strategic Defense Initiative was "very successful blackmail. ...The Soviet economy couldn't endure such competition."[395] Reagan's aggressive rhetoric toward the USSR had mixed effects; Jeffery W. Knopf observes that being labeled "evil" probably made no difference to the Soviets but gave encouragement to the East-European citizens opposed to communism.[297]

General Secretary Gorbachev said of his former rival's Cold War role: "[He was] a man who was instrumental in bringing about the end of the Cold War,"[396] and deemed him "a great president."[396] Gorbachev does not acknowledge a win or loss in the war, but rather a peaceful end; he said he was not intimidated by Reagan's harsh rhetoric.[397] Margaret Thatcher, former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, said of Reagan, "he warned that the Soviet Union had an insatiable drive for military power ... but he also sensed it was being eaten away by systemic failures impossible to reform."[398] She later said, "Ronald Reagan had a higher claim than any other leader to have won the Cold War for liberty and he did it without a shot being fired."[399] Said Brian Mulroney, former Prime Minister of Canada: "He enters history as a strong and dramatic player [in the Cold War]."[400] Former President Lech Wałęsa of Poland acknowledged, "Reagan was one of the world leaders who made a major contribution to communism's collapse."[401] Professor Jeffrey Knopf has argued that Reagan's leadership was only one of several causes of the end of the Cold War.[297] President Harry S. Truman's policy of containment is also regarded as a force behind the fall of the USSR, and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan undermined the Soviet system itself.[402]

Reagan in 1982

Reagan reshaped the Republican party, led the modern conservative movement, and altered the political dynamic of the United States.[403] More men voted Republican under Reagan, and Reagan tapped into religious voters.[403] The so-called "Reagan Democrats" were a result of his presidency.[403]

After leaving office, Reagan became an iconic influence within the Republican Party.[404] His policies and beliefs have been frequently invoked by Republican presidential candidates since 1988.[30] The 2008 Republican presidential candidates were no exception, for they aimed to liken themselves to him during the primary debates, even imitating his campaign strategies.[405] Republican nominee John McCain frequently said that he came to office as "a foot soldier in the Reagan Revolution."[406] Reagan's most famous statement regarding the role of smaller government was that "Government is not a solution to our problem, government is the problem."[407] Praise for Reagan's accomplishments was part of standard GOP rhetoric a quarter-century after his retirement. Washington Post reporter Carlos Lozada noted how the main Republican contenders in the 2016 presidential race adopted "standard GOP Gipper worship".[408]

The period of American history most dominated by Reagan and his policies that concerned taxes, welfare, defense, the federal judiciary and the Cold War is known today as the Reagan Era. This time period emphasized that the conservative "Reagan Revolution," led by Reagan, had a permanent impact on the United States in domestic and foreign policy. The Bill Clinton administration is often treated as an extension of the Reagan Era, as is the George W. Bush administration.[409] Historian Eric Foner noted that the Obama candidacy in 2008 "aroused a great deal of wishful thinking among those yearning for a change after nearly thirty years of Reaganism."[410]

According to columnist Chuck Raasch, "Reagan transformed the American presidency in ways that only a few have been able to."[413] He redefined the political agenda of the times, advocating lower taxes, a conservative economic philosophy, and a stronger military.[414] His role in the Cold War further enhanced his image as a different kind of leader.[415][416] Reagan's "avuncular style, optimism, and plain-folks demeanor" also helped him turn "government-bashing into an art form."[178]

Reagan's popularity has increased since 1989. When Reagan left office in 1989, a CBS poll indicated that he held an approval rating of 68 percent. This figure equaled the approval rating of Franklin D. Roosevelt (and was later matched by Bill Clinton), as the highest rating for a departing president in the modern era.[6] Gallup polls in 2001 and 2007 ranked him number one or number two when correspondents were asked for the greatest president in history. Reagan ranked third of post–World War II presidents in a 2007 Rasmussen Reports poll, fifth in an ABC 2000 poll, ninth in another 2007 Rasmussen poll, and eighth in a late 2008 poll by British newspaper The Times.[417][418][419] In a Siena College survey of over 200 historians, however, Reagan ranked sixteenth out of 42.[420][421] While the debate about Reagan's legacy is ongoing, the 2009 Annual C-SPAN Survey of Presidential Leaders ranked Reagan the 10th greatest president. The survey of leading historians rated Reagan number 11 in 2000.[422]

Approval ratings for President Reagan (Gallup)

In 2011, the Institute for the Study of the Americas released the first-ever British academic survey to rate U.S. presidents. This poll of British specialists in U.S. history and politics placed Reagan as the eighth greatest U.S. president.[423]

Reagan's ability to talk about substantive issues with understandable terms and to focus on mainstream American concerns earned him the laudatory moniker "The Great Communicator."[424][425][426] Of it, Reagan said, "I won the nickname the great communicator. But I never thought it was my style that made a difference—it was the content. I wasn't a great communicator, but I communicated great things."[427] His age and soft-spoken speech gave him a warm grandfatherly image.[428][429][430]

Reagan also earned the nickname "the Teflon President," in that public perceptions of him were not tarnished by the controversies that arose during his administration.[431] According to Colorado congresswoman Patricia Schroeder, who coined the phrase, and reporter Howard Kurtz, the epithet referred to Reagan's ability to "do almost anything wrong[431] and not get blamed for it."[432][433]

Public reaction to Reagan was always mixed. He was the oldest president up to that time and was supported by young voters, who began an alliance that shifted many of them to the Republican Party.[434] Reagan did not fare well with minority groups in terms of approval, especially African-Americans. However, his support of Israel throughout his presidency earned him support from many Jews.[435] He emphasized family values in his campaigns and during his presidency, although he was the first president to have been divorced.[436] The combination of Reagan's speaking style, unabashed patriotism, negotiation skills, as well as his savvy use of the media, played an important role in defining the 1980s and his future legacy.[437]

Reagan was known to joke frequently during his lifetime, displayed humor throughout his presidency,[438] and was famous for his storytelling.[439] His numerous jokes and one-liners have been labeled "classic quips" and "legendary."[440] Among the most notable of his jokes was one regarding the Cold War. As a microphone test in preparation for his weekly radio address in August 1984, Reagan made the following joke: "My fellow Americans, I'm pleased to tell you today that I've signed legislation that will outlaw Russia forever. We begin bombing in five minutes."[441] Former aide David Gergen commented, "It was that humor ... that I think endeared people to Reagan."[231]

He also had the ability to offer comfort and hope to the nation as a whole at times of tragedy. Following the disintegration of the Space Shuttle Challenger on January 28, 1986.[442] On the evening of the disaster, Reagan addressed the nation saying,

The future doesn't belong to the fainthearted; it belongs to the brave ... We will never forget them, nor the last time we saw them, this morning, as they prepared for their journey and waved goodbye and "slipped the surly bonds of Earth" to "touch the face of God."[443]

Reagan received several awards in his pre- and post-presidential years. After his election as president, Reagan received a lifetime gold membership in the Screen Actors Guild, was inducted into the National Speakers Association Speaker Hall of Fame,[444] and received the United States Military Academy's Sylvanus Thayer Award.[445]

In 1981, Reagan was inducted as a Laureate of The Lincoln Academy of Illinois and awarded the Order of Lincoln (the state's highest honor) by the governor of Illinois in the area of government.[446] In 1982 he was given the "Distinguished Service Medal" by the American Legion because his highest priority was the national defense.[447] In 1983, he received the highest distinction of the Scout Association of Japan, the Golden Pheasant Award.[448] In 1989, Reagan was made an honorary knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath, one of the highest British orders. This entitled him to the use of the post-nominal letters "GCB" but, as a foreign national, not to be known as "Sir Ronald Reagan". Only two U.S. presidents have received this honor since attaining office: Reagan and George H. W. Bush;[449] Dwight D. Eisenhower received his before becoming president in his capacity as a general after World War II. Reagan was also named an honorary Fellow of Keble College, Oxford. Japan awarded him the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Chrysanthemum in 1989; he was the second U.S. president to receive the order and the first to have it given to him for personal reasons as Eisenhower received it as a commemoration of U.S.–Japanese relations.[450] In 1990, Reagan was awarded the WPPAC's Top Honor Prize because he signed the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty with H.E. Mikhail Gorbachev (then president of Russia), ending the cold war.[451][452]

Former President Reagan returns to the White House to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Bush, 1993

On January 18, 1993, Reagan received the Presidential Medal of Freedom (awarded with distinction), the highest honor that the United States can bestow, from President George H. W. Bush, his vice president and successor.[453] Reagan was also awarded the Republican Senatorial Medal of Freedom, the highest honor bestowed by Republican members of the Senate.[454]

On Reagan's 87th birthday in 1998, Washington National Airport was renamed Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport by a bill signed into law by President Bill Clinton. That year, the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center was dedicated in Washington, D.C.[455] He was among 18 included in Gallup's most admired man and woman poll of the 20th century, from a poll conducted in the U.S. in 1999; two years later, USS Ronald Reagan was christened by Nancy Reagan and the United States Navy. It is one of few Navy ships christened in honor of a living person and the first aircraft carrier to be named in honor of a living former president.[456]

In 1998 the U.S. Navy Memorial Foundation awarded Reagan its Naval Heritage award for his support of the U.S. Navy and military in both his film career and while he served as president.[457]

Congress authorized the creation of the Ronald Reagan Boyhood Home in Dixon, Illinois in 2002, pending federal purchase of the property.[458] On May 16 of that year, Nancy Reagan accepted the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest civilian honor bestowed by Congress, on behalf of the president and herself.[459]

After Reagan's death, the United States Postal Service issued a President Ronald Reagan commemorative postage stamp in 2005.[460] Later in the year, CNN, along with the editors of Time magazine, named him the "most fascinating person" of the network's first 25 years;[461] Time listed Reagan one of the 100 Most Important People of the 20th century as well.[462] The Discovery Channel asked its viewers to vote for The Greatest American in June 2005; Reagan placed in first place, ahead of Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King Jr.[463]

In 2006, Reagan was inducted into the California Hall of Fame, located at The California Museum.[464] Every year from 2002, California governors Gray Davis and Arnold Schwarzenegger proclaimed February 6 "Ronald Reagan Day" in the state of California in honor of their most famous predecessor.[465] In 2010, Schwarzenegger signed Senate Bill 944, authored by Senator George Runner, to make every February 6 Ronald Reagan Day in California.[466]

In 2007, Polish President Lech Kaczyński posthumously conferred on Reagan the highest Polish distinction, the Order of the White Eagle, saying that Reagan had inspired the Polish people to work for change and helped to unseat the repressive communist regime; Kaczyński said it "would not have been possible if it was not for the tough-mindedness, determination, and feeling of mission of President Ronald Reagan."[467] Reagan backed the nation of Poland throughout his presidency, supporting the anti-communist Solidarity movement, along with Pope John Paul II;[468] the Ronald Reagan Park, a public facility in Gdańsk, was named in his honor.

On June 3, 2009, Nancy Reagan unveiled a statue of her late husband in the United States Capitol rotunda. The statue represents the state of California in the National Statuary Hall Collection. After Reagan's death, both major American political parties agreed to erect a statue of Reagan in the place of that of Thomas Starr King.[469] The day before, President Obama signed the Ronald Reagan Centennial Commission Act into law, establishing a commission to plan activities to mark the upcoming centenary of Reagan's birth.[470]

On Independence Day 2011 a statue to Reagan was unveiled outside the U.S. embassy in London. The unveiling was supposed to be attended by Reagan's wife Nancy, but she did not attend; former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice took her place and read a statement on her behalf. President Reagan's friend and British prime minister during his presidency, Margaret Thatcher, was also unable to attend due to frail health.[471]

• Johns, Andrew L., ed. A Companion to Ronald Reagan (Wiley-Blackwell, 2015). xiv, 682 pp.; topical essays by scholars emphasizing historiography; contents free at many libraries
• Kengor, Paul. "Reagan among the professors: His surprising reputation." Policy Review 98 (1999): 15+. Reports that " many articles in the top journals have been fair, as have a number of influential books...from respected historians, presidential scholars, and political scientists—people who were not Reagan supporters and are certainly not right-wingers.

• Ronald Reagan Foundation & Presidential Library
• White House biography
• Ronald Reagan & His Legacy at Eureka College

• Appearances on C-SPAN
  • "Life Portrait of Ronald Reagan", from C-SPAN's American Presidents: Life Portraits, December 6, 1999
• Ronald Reagan audio archives at NPR
• Ronald Reagan Oral Histories from the Miller Center of Public Affairs
• Television ads from Reagan's 1976 campaign for the Republican presidential nomination, which among the Citizens for Reagan records at the Hoover Institution Archives
• Timeline at PBS
• "Reagan Library". YouTube.

• "Ronald Reagan collected news and commentary". The New York Times.
• Ronald Reagan from The Washington Post
• Ronald Reagan at CNN
• Ronald Reagan collected news and commentary at The Guardian

• Essays on Ronald Reagan, each member of his cabinet and First Lady from the Miller Center of Public Affairs
• The Presidents: Reagan, an American Experience documentary

• Works by or about Ronald Reagan at Internet Archive
• Works by Ronald Reagan at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)
• Works by Ronald Reagan at Project Gutenberg
• Ronald Reagan on IMDb
• Ronald Reagan at the TCM Movie Database
• Talking About Ronald Reagan at The Interviews: An Oral History of Television
• Finding aid author: Elisa Visick. "Ronald Reagan radio programs". Prepared for the L. Tom Perry Special Collections, Provo, UT. Retrieved May 16, 2016.
• Ronald Reagan's Personal Manuscripts