Ronald Reagan can be put on debate about being one of the successful presidents in the 20th century but there is a list of reasons why he is the best president of the 20th century. He had such great accomplishments both inside and out of office that made him no doubt the best president of the United States of America in the 20th century.
Ronald Raegan was given birth to on February 6, 1911, to a poor family of three in Tampico Illinois.
His parents were Nelle Wilson Raegan and a struggling shoe salesman John Edward Raegan. His jumped town to town because he could not keep a job due to his drinking problems. In his childhood Raegan played gridiron football and was very active on the drama society that later landed him a role with the Warner Brothers. One of his unique accomplishments is that he was the only movie actor ever in the century to become the president. In result of his remarkable skill as an orator, it earned him the title “the Great Communicator.
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In 1940, Reagan married an actress, Jane Wyman with whom he had two children with, Maureen and Michael. In 1952 he married Nancy Davis who was also an actress, and they had two children, Patricia Ann and Ronald Prescott.
Ronald Reagan was a republican when he was elected president in 1980. His policies and approaches were very different from a democrat. During his presidency he also won the country over by cutting taxes, increasing the defense spending,
the influence of the Soviet Union was on the rise and it had just invaded Afghanistan.
In the previous decade, the US policy regarding USSR had been that of Détente (“relaxation of tension”) and administrators assumed the Cold War would continue for the foreseeable future. Reagan, however, believed that Soviet economy was weak and increased pressure would make it crumble. He adopted a more aggressive approach and reversed the policy of Détente by ordering a massive build up of the US armed forces. He adopted a strategy known as the Reagan Doctrine by which US provided open and covert support to anti-communist forces in Soviet-backed communist governments in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Though controversial, the policy did diminish Soviet influence in certain regions. US aid to guerilla fighters in Afghanistan raised the cost of Soviet occupation and accelerated the Soviet defeat. The advocates of Reagan Doctrine consider it as an important contributor in ending the Cold War.
From November 1982, when Reagan’s economic policies began to take effect, to November 1989, shortly after he left office, 18.7 million new jobs were created; a record for a comparable period at that time. The amount of wealth produced during this seven year period was around $30 trillion worth of goods and services; again a world record. The economic reforms of Ronald Reagan resulted in one of the largest peacetime economic booms in American history. Reagan also simplified the tax code by reducing the number of tax brackets to four and slashing a number of tax breaks. This was done through his famous Tax Reform Act of 1986.
The presidency of Ronald Reagan was marked by a number of scandals. The most infamous among them was the Iran-Contra Affair in which the United States sold weapons to the Islamic Republic of Iran, as part of a largely unsuccessful effort to secure the release of six US citizens being held hostage in Lebanon.
Works Cited
Websites:
- History.com Editors. ‘Ronald Raegan.’ History.com. November 09, 2009. Accessed November 15, 2018. https://www.history.com/topics/us-presidents/ronald-reagan.
Books:
- Heilbrunn, Jacob. REAGAN, Ronald, 1911-2004; EX-presidents — United States; WEISBERG, Jacob; FORD, Gerald R., 1913-2006; NATIONAL Press Club (U.S.). Vol. 48. 2016. Print.
Lecture:
- Professor Bill Offer (PowerPoint)
Primary Sources:
- Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. ‘Ronald Reagan.’ Encyclopædia Britannica. October 26, 2018. Accessed November 15, 2018. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Ronald-Reagan.
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