View source for Presidency of Ronald Reagan

{{Short description|U.S. presidential administration from 1981 to 1989}}
{{For timeline|Timeline of the Ronald Reagan presidency}} 
{{Use American English|date = March 2019}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2021}}
{{Infobox administration
| image = Official Portrait of President Reagan 1981.jpg
| name = Presidency of Ronald Reagan
| president_link = President of the United States
| term_start = January 20, 1981
| term_end = January 20, 1989
| cabinet = ''[[#Administration|See list]]''
| party = [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]]
| election = {{hlist|[[1980 United States presidential election|1980]]|[[1984 United States presidential election|1984]]}}
| seat = [[White House]]
| predecessor = [[Presidency of Jimmy Carter|Jimmy Carter]]
| successor = [[Presidency of George H. W. Bush|George H. W. Bush]]
| library_url = https://www.reaganlibrary.gov/
}}
{{Ronald Reagan series}}

[[Ronald Reagan]]'s tenure as the [[List of presidents of the United States|40th]] [[president of the United States]] began with [[First inauguration of Ronald Reagan|his first inauguration]] on January 20, 1981, and ended on January 20, 1989. Reagan, a [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] from [[California]], took office following his landslide victory over [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democrat]] incumbent president [[Jimmy Carter]] and [[Independent politician#United States|independent]] congressman [[John B. Anderson]] in the [[1980 United States presidential election|1980 presidential election]]. Four years later, in the [[1984 United States presidential election|1984 presidential election]], he defeated former Democratic vice president [[Walter Mondale]], to win re-election in a larger landslide. Reagan was succeeded by his vice president, [[George H. W. Bush]], who won the [[1988 United States presidential election|1988 presidential election]]. Reagan's 1980 landslide election resulted from a dramatic [[Conservatism in the United States|conservative shift to the right]] in American politics, including a loss of confidence in [[Modern liberalism in the United States|liberal]], [[New Deal]], and [[Great Society]] programs and priorities that had dominated the national agenda since the 1930s.

Domestically, the Reagan administration enacted a [[Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981|major tax cut]], sought to cut non-military spending, and eliminated federal regulations. The administration's economic policies, known as "[[Reaganomics]]", were inspired by [[supply-side economics]]. The combination of tax cuts and an increase in defense spending led to budget deficits, and the [[National debt of the United States|federal debt]] increased significantly during Reagan's tenure. Reagan signed the [[Tax Reform Act of 1986]], simplifying the tax code by reducing rates and removing several tax breaks, and the [[Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986]], which enacted sweeping changes to U.S. immigration law and granted amnesty to three million [[Illegal immigration to the United States|illegal immigrants]]. Reagan also appointed more [[Federal judiciary of the United States|federal judges]] than any other president, including four [[Supreme Court of the United States|Supreme Court]] Justices.

Reagan's [[Foreign policy of the Ronald Reagan administration|foreign policy]] stance was resolutely [[anti-communism|anti-communist]]. Its plan of action, known as the [[Reagan Doctrine]], sought to [[rollback|roll back]] the global influence of the [[Soviet Union]] in an attempt to end the Cold War. Under his doctrine, the Reagan administration initiated a massive buildup of the United States military; promoted new technologies such as missile defense systems; and, in 1983, undertook an [[United States invasion of Grenada|invasion of Grenada]], the first major overseas action by U.S. troops since the end of the [[Vietnam War]]. The administration also created controversy by granting [[United States and state-sponsored terrorism|aid to paramilitary forces]] seeking to overthrow leftist governments, particularly in war-torn Central America and [[Afghanistan]]. Specifically, the Reagan administration engaged in covert arms sales to [[Iran]] to fund [[Contras|Contra]] rebels in Nicaragua that were fighting to overthrow their nation's socialist government. The resulting [[Iran–Contra affair]] led to the conviction or resignation of several administration officials. During Reagan's second term, he sought closer relations with Soviet leader [[Mikhail Gorbachev]], and the two leaders signed a major [[arms control]] agreement known as the [[Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty|INF Treaty]].

Historians and political scientists generally [[Historical rankings of presidents of the United States|rank]] Reagan in the upper tier of American presidents, and consider him to be one of the most important presidents since [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]]. Supporters of Reagan's presidency have pointed to his contributions to the economic recovery of the 1980s, the peaceful end of the Cold War, and a broader restoration of American confidence. However, Reagan's presidency has received criticism from some Democrats for rising budget deficits and [[Wealth inequality in the United States|wealth inequality]] during and after his presidency. Due to Reagan's popularity with the public and advocacy of [[Conservatism in the United States|American conservatism]], some historians have described the period during and after his presidency as the [[Reagan Era]].

==Background==
===Conservative shift in politics===
{{Further|Conservatism in the United States|Reagan era}}
[[File:Ronald Reagan with cowboy hat 12-0071M edit.jpg|thumb|left|upright=0.7|Ronald Reagan with a cowboy hat at Rancho Del Cielo.]]

Even prior to becoming president, Reagan was the leader of a dramatic conservative shift that undercut many of the domestic and foreign policies that had dominated the national agenda for decades.<ref>Bruce J. Schulman and Julian E. Zelizer, eds. ''Rightward Bound: Making America Conservative in the 1970s'' (Harvard UP, 2008) pp 1–10.</ref><ref>Andrew Busch, ''Reagan's victory: the presidential election of 1980 and the rise of the right'' (UP of Kansas, 2005).</ref> A major factor in the rise of conservatism was the growing distrust of government in the aftermath of the [[Watergate scandal]]. While distrust of high officials had been an American characteristic for two centuries, Watergate engendered heightened levels of suspicion and encouraged the media to engage in a vigorous search for scandals.<ref>J. Lull, and S. Hinerman, "The search for scandal' in J. Lull & S. Hinerman, eds. ''Media scandals: Morality and desire in the popular culture marketplace'' (1997) pp. 1–33.</ref> An unexpected new factor was the emergence of the [[Christian right|religious right]] as a cohesive political force that gave strong support to conservatism.<ref>Paul Boyer, "The Evangelical Resurgence in 1970s American Protestantism" in Schulman and Zelizer, eds. ''Rightward bound'' pp 29–51.:</ref><ref>Stephen D. Johnson and Joseph B. Tamney, "The Christian Right and the 1980 presidential election." ''Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion'' (1982) 21#2: 123–131. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/1385498 online]</ref>

Other factors in the rise of the conservative movement were the emergence of a "[[culture war]]" as a triangular battle among conservatives, traditional liberals, and the [[New Left]], involving such issues as individual freedom, divorce, sexual freedom, abortion, and homosexuality.<ref>James Davison Hunter, ''Culture wars:  The struggle to control the family, art, education, law, and politics in America'' (1992).</ref> A mass movement of population from the cities to the suburbs led to the creation of a new group of voters less attached to [[New Deal]] economic policies and [[political machine|machine politics]].{{sfn|Wilentz|2008|pp=23–24}} Meanwhile, it became socially acceptable for conservative Southern whites, especially well-educated suburbanites, to vote Republican. Though the civil rights legislation of the 1960s had been a triumphal issue for liberalism and had created a new, pro-Democratic black electorate, it had also destroyed the argument that whites had to vote Democratic to protect segregation in the South.<ref>Earl Black and Merle Black, ''Politics and Society in the South'' (1989) p 249.</ref> Responding to these various trends, Reagan and other conservatives successfully presented conservative ideas as an alternative to a public that had grown disillusioned with New Deal liberalism and the Democratic Party.{{sfn|Wilentz|2008|pp=4–7}} Reagan's charisma and speaking skills helped him frame conservatism as an optimistic, forward-looking vision for the country.{{sfn|Wilentz|2008|pp=137–138}}

===1980 election===
{{Main|Ronald Reagan 1980 presidential campaign|1980 United States presidential election}}
{{Further|1980 United States elections|1980 Republican Party presidential primaries|1980 Republican National Convention}}
[[File:ElectoralCollege1980.svg|thumb|upright=1.5|1980 Electoral College vote results]]

Reagan, who had served as [[Governor of California]] from 1967 to 1975, narrowly lost the [[1976 Republican Party presidential primaries|1976 Republican presidential primaries]] to incumbent President [[Gerald Ford]]. With the defeat of Ford by Democrat [[Jimmy Carter]] in the [[1976 United States presidential election|1976 election]], Reagan immediately became the front-runner for the 1980 Republican presidential nomination.{{sfn|Weisberg|2016|pp=56–57}} A darling of the conservative movement, Reagan faced more moderate Republicans such as [[George H. W. Bush]], [[Howard Baker]], and [[Bob Dole]] in the [[1980 Republican Party presidential primaries|1980 Republican presidential primaries]]. After Bush won the Iowa caucuses, he became Reagan's primary challenger, but Reagan won the New Hampshire primary and most of the following primaries, gaining an insurmountable delegate lead by the end of March 1980. Ford was Reagan's first choice for his running mate, but Reagan backed away from the idea out of the fear of a "co-presidency" in which Ford would exercise an unusual degree of power. Reagan instead chose Bush, and the Reagan-Bush ticket was nominated at the [[1980 Republican National Convention]]. Meanwhile, Carter won the Democratic nomination, defeating a primary challenge by Senator [[Ted Kennedy]]. Polls taken after the party conventions showed a tied race between Reagan and Carter, while independent candidate [[John B. Anderson]] had the support of many moderates.{{sfn|Weisberg|2016|pp=61–63}}

[[File:President Jimmy Carter welcomes President-elect Ronal Reagan and Nancy Reagan to the White House for a tour.jpg|thumb|Outgoing President [[Jimmy Carter]] and President-elect Ronald Reagan with his wife [[Nancy Reagan|Nancy]] in the [[Oval Office]] on November 20, 1980]]

The 1980 general campaign between Reagan and Carter was conducted amid a multitude of domestic concerns and the ongoing [[Iran hostage crisis]]. After winning the Republican nomination, Reagan pivoted to the center. Though he continued to champion a major tax cut, Reagan backed off of his support for free trade and the privatization of [[Social Security (United States)|Social Security]], and promised to consider [[arms control]] treaties with the [[Soviet Union]]. He instead sought to focus the race on Carter's handling of the economy. Mired with an approval rating in the low 30s, Carter also waged a negative campaign, focusing on the supposed risk of war if Reagan took office.{{sfn|Rossinow|2015|pp=23–27}}

Reagan and Carter met in one presidential debate, held just one week before election day. Reagan delivered an effective performance, asking voters, "Are you better off today than you were four years ago?"<ref>{{cite web |last1=Schulte |first1=Bret |title=Ronald Reagan v. Jimmy Carter: "Are You Better Off Than You Were Four Years Ago?" |url=https://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2008/01/17/the-actor-and-the-detail-man |access-date=28 January 2022}}</ref> In response to a characterization by Carter of his record regarding Medicare, Reagan replied with a phrase that helped define the election and endure in the political lexicon: "[[There you go again]]."

Though the race had been widely regarded as a close contest, Reagan won over the large majority of undecided voters.{{sfn|Rossinow|2015|pp=27–28}} Reagan took 50.7% of the popular vote and 489 of the 538 electoral votes. Carter won 41% of the popular vote and 49 electoral votes, while Anderson won 6.6% of the popular vote. In the concurrent [[1980 United States elections|congressional elections]], Republicans took control of the [[United States Senate|Senate]] for the first time since the 1950s, while Democrats retained control of the [[United States House of Representatives|House of Representatives]].{{sfn|Patterson|2005|pp=149–151}}

==Administration==
{{See also|Presidential transition of Ronald Reagan}}
{{Multiple image|total_width=550|image1=1981 US Cabinet.jpg|caption1=President Reagan and his cabinet in 1981|image2=1989 Reagan Administration Cabinet Photo NARA 75856443 (cropped).jpg|caption2=President Reagan and his cabinet in 1989}}
{{Infobox U.S. Cabinet
|align=right
|Name=Reagan
|President=[[Ronald Reagan]]
|President start=1981
|President end=1989
|Vice President=[[George H. W. Bush]]
|Vice President start=1981
|Vice President end=1989
|State=[[Alexander Haig]]
|State start=1981
|State end=1982
|State 2=[[George Shultz]]
|State start 2=1982
|State end 2=1989
|Treasury=[[Donald Regan]]
|Treasury start=1981
|Treasury end=1985
|Treasury 2=[[James Baker]]
|Treasury start 2=1985
|Treasury end 2=1988
|Treasury 3=[[Nicholas F. Brady]]
|Treasury start 3=1988
|Treasury end 3=1989
|Defense=[[Caspar Weinberger]]
|Defense start=1981
|Defense end=1987
|Defense 2=[[Frank Carlucci]]
|Defense start 2=1987
|Defense end 2=1989
|Justice=[[William French Smith]]
|Justice start=1981
|Justice end=1985
|Justice 2=[[Edwin Meese]]
|Justice start 2=1985
|Justice end 2=1988
|Justice 3=[[Dick Thornburgh]]
|Justice start 3= 1988
|Justice end 3=1989
|Interior=[[James G. Watt]]
|Interior start=1981
|Interior end=1983
|Interior 2=[[William P. Clark Jr.]]
|Interior start 2=1983
|Interior end 2=1985
|Interior 3=[[Donald P. Hodel]]
|Interior start 3=1985
|Interior end 3=1989
|Agriculture=[[John R. Block]]
|Agriculture start=1981
|Agriculture end=1986
|Agriculture 2=[[Richard Lyng]]
|Agriculture start 2=1986
|Agriculture end 2=1989
|Commerce=[[Malcolm Baldrige Jr.]]
|Commerce start=1981
|Commerce end=1987
|Commerce 2=[[William Verity Jr.]]
|Commerce start 2=1987
|Commerce end 2=1989
|Labor=[[Raymond J. Donovan]]
|Labor start=1981
|Labor end=1985
|Labor 2=[[Bill Brock]]
|Labor start 2=1985
|Labor end 2=1987
|Labor 3=[[Ann McLaughlin Korologos|Ann Dore McLaughlin]]
|Labor start 3=1987
|Labor end 3=1989
|Health and Human Services=[[Richard Schweiker]]
|Health and Human Services start=1981
|Health and Human Services end=1983
|Health and Human Services 2=[[Margaret Heckler]]
|Health and Human Services start 2=1983
|Health and Human Services end 2=1985
|Health and Human Services 3=[[Otis Bowen]]
|Health and Human Services start 3=1985
|Health and Human Services end 3=1989
|Housing and Urban Development=[[Samuel Pierce]]
|Housing and Urban Development start=1981
|Housing and Urban Development end=1989
|Transportation=[[Drew Lewis]]
|Transportation start=1981
|Transportation end=1983
|Transportation 2=[[Elizabeth Dole]]
|Transportation start 2=1983
|Transportation end 2=1987
|Transportation 3=[[James H. Burnley IV]]
|Transportation start 3=1987
|Transportation end 3=1989
|Energy=[[James B. Edwards]]
|Energy start=1981
|Energy end=1982
|Energy 2=[[Donald P. Hodel]]
|Energy start 2=1982
|Energy end 2=1985
|Energy 3=[[John S. Herrington]]
|Energy start 3=1985
|Energy end 3=1989
|Education=[[Terrel Bell]]
|Education start=1981
|Education end=1984
|Education 2=[[William Bennett]]
|Education start 2=1985
|Education end 2=1988
|Education 3=[[Lauro Cavazos]]
|Education start 3=1988
|Education end 3=1989
|Management and Budget=[[David Stockman]]
|Management and Budget start=1981
|Management and Budget end=1985
|Management and Budget 2=[[James C. Miller III]]
|Management and Budget start 2=1985
|Management and Budget end 2=1988
|Management and Budget 3=[[Joe Wright (businessman)|Joe Wright]]
|Management and Budget start 3=1988
|Management and Budget end 3=1989
|DCI=[[William J. Casey]]
|DCI start=1981
|DCI end=1987
|DCI 2=[[William H. Webster]]
|DCI start 2=1987
|DCI end 2=1989
|Trade=[[Bill Brock]]
|Trade start=1981
|Trade end=1985
|Trade 2=[[Clayton Yeutter]]
|Trade start 2=1985
|Trade end 2=1989
|Ambassador to the United Nations=[[Jeane Kirkpatrick]]
|Ambassador to the United Nations start=1981
|Ambassador to the United Nations end=1985
|Ambassador to the United Nations 2=[[Vernon A. Walters]]
|Ambassador to the United Nations start 2=1985
|Ambassador to the United Nations end 2=1989
|Counselor to the President=[[Edwin Meese]]
|Counselor to the President start=1981
|Counselor to the President end=1985
|Counselor to the President 2=none
|Counselor to the President start 2=1985
|Counselor to the President end 2=1989
}}

Reagan tapped [[James Baker]], who had run Bush's 1980 campaign, as his first [[White House Chief of Staff|chief of staff]]. Baker, [[White House Deputy Chief of Staff|Deputy Chief of Staff]] [[Michael Deaver]], and [[Counselor to the President|Counselor]] [[Edwin Meese]] formed the "troika," the key White House staffers early in Reagan's presidency.{{sfn|Brands|2015|pp=241–246}} Baker quickly established himself as the most powerful member of the troika and the overseer of day-to-day operations, while Meese had nominal leadership of policy development and Deaver orchestrated Reagan's public appearances.{{sfn|Rossinow|2015|pp=51–52}} Aside from the troika, other important White House staffers included [[Richard Darman]] and [[David Gergen]].{{sfn|Rossinow|2015|pp=52,}}<ref>John H. Kessel, "The structures of the Reagan White House." ''American Journal of Political Science'' (1984): 231–258 [https://www.jstor.org/stable/2110872 online].</ref><ref>David B. Cohen, "From the fabulous baker boys to the master of disaster: The White House chief of staff in the Reagan and GHW Bush administrations." ''Presidential Studies Quarterly'' 32.3 (2002): 463–482.</ref>

Reagan chose [[Alexander Haig]], a former general who had served as chief of staff to [[Richard Nixon]], as his first secretary of state. Other major Cabinet appointees included Secretary of Defense [[Caspar Weinberger]], a former Nixon cabinet official who would preside over an increase in defense spending, and Secretary of the Treasury [[Donald Regan]], a bank executive. Reagan selected [[David Stockman]], a young congressman from [[Michigan]], as the Director of the [[Office of Management and Budget]].{{sfn|Brands|2015|pp=246–248}} [[Director of the Central Intelligence Agency|CIA director]] [[William J. Casey]] emerged as an important figure in the administration, as the CIA would figure prominently into Reagan's Cold War initiatives. Reagan downgraded the importance of the [[National Security Advisor (United States)|national security advisor]], and six different individuals held that position during Reagan's presidency.{{sfn|Herring|2008|pp=864–866}}

Haig left the cabinet in 1982 after clashing with other members of the Reagan administration, and was replaced by another former Nixon administration official, [[George P. Shultz]].{{sfn|Brands|2015|pp=376–381}} By 1982, National Security Advisor [[William P. Clark Jr.]], [[United States Ambassador to the United Nations|Ambassador to the United Nations]] [[Jeane Kirkpatrick]], and CIA Director Casey had established themselves as the major figures in the formulation of the administration's foreign policy.{{sfn|Rossinow|2015|pp=81–82}} Shultz eventually emerged as the administration's most influential foreign policy figure, moving the administration towards a less confrontational policy with the Soviet Union.{{sfn|Rossinow|2015|pp=103–104}}

Baker and Treasury Secretary Regan switched positions at the beginning of Reagan's second term.{{sfn|Brands|2015|pp=472–474}} Regan centralized power within his office, and he took on the responsibilities that had been held by Baker, Deaver, and Meese, the latter of whom succeeded [[William French Smith]] as attorney general in 1985.{{sfn|Wilentz|2008|pp=178–180}} Regan frequently clashed with First Lady [[Nancy Reagan]], and he left the administration in the wake of the [[Iran–Contra affair]] and Republican losses in the [[1986 United States elections|1986 mid-term elections]]. Regan was replaced by former Senate Majority Leader [[Howard Baker]].{{sfn|Brands|2015|pp=645–649}}

==Judicial appointments==
===Supreme Court===
{{Main|Ronald Reagan Supreme Court candidates}}
[[File:William Rehnquist.jpg|thumb|right|220px|Reagan appointed [[William Rehnquist]] to the office of [[Chief Justice of the United States|Chief Justice]] in 1986; he served until his death in 2005]]

Reagan made four successful appointments to the [[Supreme Court of the United States|Supreme Court]] during his eight years in office. In 1981, he successfully nominated [[Sandra Day O'Connor]] to succeed [[Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States|Associate Justice]] [[Potter Stewart]], fulfilling a campaign promise to name the first woman to the Supreme Court. Democrats, who had planned to vigorously oppose Reagan's nominations to the Supreme Court, approved of the nomination of O'Connor. However, the [[Christian right]] was astonished and dismayed with O'Connor, who they feared would not overturn the Supreme Court's decision in ''[[Roe v. Wade]]'', which had established [[abortion in the United States|abortion]] as protected from government interference via the Constitution.<ref>Prudence Flowers, "'A Prolife Disaster': The Reagan Administration and the Nomination of Sandra Day O'Connor." ''Journal of Contemporary History''  53.2 (2018): 391–414</ref>{{sfn|Wilentz|2008|pp=189–190}} O'Connor served on the Supreme Court until 2006, and was generally considered to be a centrist conservative.<ref name="bisk">{{cite news |author-link=Joan Biskupic |last1=Biskupic |first1=Joan |title=Rehnquist left Supreme Court with conservative legacy |url=http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/washington/judicial/supremecourtjustices/2005-09-04-rehnquist-legacy_x.htm |access-date=February 27, 2016 |work=USA Today |date=September 4, 2005}}</ref>

In 1986, Reagan elevated Associate Justice [[William Rehnquist]] to the position of [[Chief Justice of the United States]] after [[Warren Burger]] chose to retire.<ref name=SCOTUS>{{cite web| title=U.S. Senate: Supreme Court Nominations: 1789–Present| url=https://www.senate.gov/pagelayout/reference/nominations/Nominations.htm| website = www.senate.gov| access-date=June 15, 2017}}</ref> Rehnquist, a member of the conservative wing of the Court,<ref name="bisk"/> was the third sitting associate justice to be elevated to chief justice, after [[Edward Douglass White]] and [[Harlan F. Stone]]. Reagan successfully nominated [[Antonin Scalia]] to fill Rehnquist's position as an associate justice of the Supreme Court.<ref name=SCOTUS/> Scalia became a member of the Court's conservative wing.<ref name="bisk"/>

Reagan faced greater difficulties in filling the final Supreme Court vacancy, which arose due to the retirement of [[Lewis F. Powell Jr.]] Reagan nominated [[Robert Bork]] in July 1987, but the nomination was [[Robert Bork Supreme Court nomination|rejected by the Senate]] in October 1987.<ref name=SCOTUS/> Later that month, Reagan announced the nomination of [[Douglas H. Ginsburg]], but Ginsburg withdrew from consideration in November 1987. Finally, Reagan nominated [[Anthony Kennedy]], who won Senate confirmation in February 1988.<ref name=SCOTUS/> Along with O'Connor, Kennedy served as the key swing vote on the Supreme Court in the decades after Reagan left office.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Parlapiano |first1=Alicia |last2=Patel |first2=Jugal K. |title=With Kennedy's Retirement, the Supreme Court Loses Its Center |url=https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/06/27/us/politics/kennedy-retirement-supreme-court-median.html |access-date=July 20, 2018 |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=June 27, 2018}}</ref>

===Other courts===
{{Further|List of federal judges appointed by Ronald Reagan|Ronald Reagan judicial appointment controversies}}
Reagan appointed a combined total of 368 judges to the [[United States courts of appeals]] and the [[United States district court]]s, [[List of presidents of the United States by judicial appointments|more than any other president]]. The vast majority of his judicial appointees were conservative, and many of the appointees were affiliated with the conservative [[Federalist Society]].{{sfn|Weisberg|2016|pp=116–117}} Partly because Congress passed a law creating new federal judicial positions in 1984, Reagan had appointed nearly half of the federal judiciary by the time he left office in 1989.{{sfn|Rossinow|2015|p=178}}

==Assassination attempt==
{{Main|Attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan}}
[[File:President Ronald Reagan moments before he was shot in an assassination attempt 1981.jpg|thumb|alt=Ronald Reagan waves his hand as he walks out of the Washington Hilton. Surrounding him are secret service agents, policemen, press secretary James Brady, and aide Michael Deaver.|Reagan (center) waves just before he is shot on March 30, 1981]]

On March 30, 1981, only 69 days 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 [[Hilton Washington|Washington Hilton Hotel]]. Although Reagan was initially reported to be "close to death" upon arrival at [[George Washington University Hospital]], he underwent surgery and recovered quickly from a broken rib, a punctured lung, and [[internal bleeding]].<ref name="cnn transcript">{{cite news|url=http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0103/30/lkl.00.html|title=Remembering the Assassination Attempt on Ronald Reagan|date=March 30, 2001|access-date=December 19, 2007|publisher=CNN}}</ref> Reagan was released from the hospital on April 11, becoming the first serving president to survive being wounded in an assassination attempt, followed by former president [[Donald Trump|Donald Trump's]] [[Attempted assassination of Donald Trump in Pennsylvania|assassination attempt]] in 2024.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/dsouza200406080824.asp|work=National Review|access-date=February 16, 2009|date=June 8, 2004|title=Purpose|author=D'Souza, Dinesh}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Chen |first=Michelle |date=July 14, 2024 |title=Donald Trump assassination attempt |url=https://edition.cnn.com/politics/live-news/trump-rally-shooting-07-14-24/index.html |access-date= |website=CNN}}</ref> The failed assassination attempt had great influence on Reagan's popularity; polls indicated his approval rating to be around 73%.<ref>{{Cite news|title=Reagan's Ratings: 'Great Communicator's' Appeal Is Greater in Retrospect|access-date=May 30, 2008|date=June 7, 2004|publisher=ABC|author=Langer, Gary|url=https://abcnews.go.com/sections/us/Polls/reagan_ratings_poll_040607.html}}</ref>{{sfn|Leuchtenburg|2015|pp=597–598}} Many pundits and journalists later described the failed assassination as a critical moment in Reagan's presidency, as his newfound popularity provided critical momentum in passing his domestic agenda.{{sfn|Leuchtenburg|2015|pp=598–599}}

==Domestic affairs==
{{Main|Domestic policy of the Ronald Reagan administration}}
Reagan used his White House staff to shape major domestic policies. His Chief of Staff made heavy use of the Office of Policy Development in supervising cabinet action on the Reagan initiatives.<ref>Shirley Anne Warshaw, "White House Control of Domestic Policy Making: The Reagan Years." ''Public Administration Review'' 55#3 (1995), pp. 247–53. [https://doi.org/10.2307/3110243 online]</ref>

==="Reaganomics" and taxation===
{{Main|Reaganomics}}

====Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981====
Reagan implemented [[neoliberal]] economic policies based on [[supply-side economics]], advocating a ''[[laissez-faire]]'' philosophy and [[free market economy|free-market]] fiscal policy.<ref>{{cite book |last=Gerstle|first=Gary|author-link=Gary Gerstle|date=2022 |title=The Rise and Fall of the Neoliberal Order: America and the World in the Free Market Era|url=https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-rise-and-fall-of-the-neoliberal-order-9780197519646?cc=us&lang=en&|location= |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|pages=106–108, 121–128|isbn=978-0197519646}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|author=Karaagac, John|title=Ronald Reagan and Conservative Reformism|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZFhGnjKqjgAC&pg=PA113 |isbn=0-7391-0296-6|publisher=Lexington Books|year=2000|page=113}}</ref> Reagan's taxation policies resembled those instituted by President [[Presidency of Calvin Coolidge|Calvin Coolidge]] and Treasury Secretary [[Andrew Mellon]] in the 1920s. Reagan's team was also strongly influenced by contemporary economists such as [[Arthur Laffer]], who rejected the then-dominant views of [[Keynesian economics|Keynesian economists]].{{sfn|Leuchtenburg|2015|pp=595–596}} Reagan relied on Laffer and other economists to argue that tax cuts would reduce inflation, which went against the prevailing Keynesian view.{{sfn|Brands|2015|pp=271–272}} Supply-side advocates also asserted that cutting taxes would ultimately lead to higher government revenue due to economic growth, a proposition that was challenged by many economists.{{sfn|Patterson|2005|pp=154–155}}
[[File:President Ronald Reagan addresses the nation from the Oval Office on tax reduction legislation.jpg|thumb|Outlining his plan for tax reduction legislation from the [[Oval Office]] in a televised address, July 1981]]

Republican Congressman [[Jack Kemp]] and Republican Senator [[William Roth]] had nearly won passage of a major tax cut during Carter's presidency, but Carter had prevented passage of the bill due to concerns about the deficit.{{sfn|Rossinow|2015|p=20}} Reagan made passage of the Kemp–Roth bill his top domestic priority upon taking office. As Democrats controlled the House of Representatives, passage of any bill would require the support of some House Democrats in addition to the support of congressional Republicans.<ref name="leuch599601"/> Reagan's victory in the 1980 presidential campaign had united Republicans around his leadership, while conservative Democrats like [[Phil Gramm]] of Texas (who later became a Republican) were eager to back some of Reagan's conservative policies.{{sfn|Rossinow|2015|pp=48–49}} Throughout 1981, Reagan frequently met with members of Congress, focusing especially on winning support from conservative Southern Democrats.<ref name="leuch599601"/> Reagan also benefited from a conservative majority in the House during his first two years as president, with an estimated 230 votes during the 97th Congress, although this changed after the Democratic gains in the 1982 election, with House control switching to liberals within the Democratic caucus.<ref>Movers & Shakers: Congressional Leaders in the 1980, John B. Shlaes, Eric M. Licht, 1985 P.17</ref>

In July 1981, the Senate voted 89–11 in favor of the tax cut bill favored by Reagan, and the House subsequently approved the bill in a 238–195 vote.{{sfn|Rossinow|2015|pp=61–62}} The [[Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981]] cut the top marginal tax rate from 70% to 50%, lowered the [[Capital gains tax in the United States|capital gains tax]] from 28% to 20%, more than tripled the amount of inherited money exempt from the [[Estate tax in the United States|estate tax]], and cut the [[Corporate tax in the United States|corporate tax]].<ref name="leuch599601">Leuchtenburg, pp. 599–601</ref>{{sfn|Rossinow|2015|pp=61–62}} Reagan's success in passing a major tax bill and cutting the federal budget was hailed as the "Reagan Revolution" by some reporters; one columnist wrote that the Reagan's legislative success represented the "most formidable domestic initiative any president has driven through since the [[First 100 days of Franklin D. Roosevelt's presidency|Hundred Days]] of [[Franklin D. Roosevelt|Franklin Roosevelt]]."{{sfn|Patterson|2005|p=157}}

====Later tax acts====
Faced with concerns about the mounting federal debt, Reagan agreed to raise taxes, signing the [[Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 1982]] (TEFRA).{{sfn|Brands|2015|pp=346–349}} Many of Reagan's conservative supporters condemned TEFRA, but Reagan argued that his administration would be unable to win further budget cuts without the tax hike.{{sfn|Wilentz|2008|pp=148–149}} Among other provisions, TEFRA doubled the federal cigarette tax and rescinded a portion of the corporate tax cuts from the 1981 tax bill.{{sfn|Rossinow|2015|pp=62–63}} By 1983, the amount of federal tax had fallen for all or almost all American taxpayers, but most strongly affected the wealthy; the proportion of income paid in taxes by the richest one percent fell from 29.8 percent to 24.8 percent.{{sfn|Rossinow|2015|p=63}} Partly due to the poor economy, Reagan's legislative momentum dissipated after his first year in office, and his party lost several seats in the House in the [[United States elections, 1982|1982 congressional elections]].{{sfn|Patterson|2005|pp=162–163}} Compared to other [[United States midterm election|midterm election]]s, the losses were relatively small for the party holding the presidency, but conservative Democrats were less open to Reagan's initiatives after 1982.{{sfn|Rossinow|2015|pp=97–98, 164}} As deficits continued to be an issue, Reagan signed another bill that raised taxes, the [[Deficit Reduction Act of 1984]].<ref name="shapiro1">{{cite journal|last1=Shapiro|first1=Bernard M.|title=Presidential Politics And Deficit Reduction: The Landscape Of Tax Policy In The 1980S And 1990S|journal=Washington and Lee Law Review |date=March 1, 1993|volume=50|issue=2|url=http://scholarlycommons.law.wlu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1749&context=wlulr}}</ref>

With Donald Regan taking over as Chief of Staff in 1985, the Reagan administration made simplification of the tax code the central focus of its second term domestic agenda.{{sfn|Brands|2015|pp=540–541}} Working with Speaker of the House [[Tip O'Neill]], a Democrat who also favored tax reform, Reagan overcame significant opposition from members of Congress in both parties to pass the [[Tax Reform Act of 1986]].{{sfn|Brands|2015|pp=542–544}} The act 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.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Brownlee|first1=Elliot|last2=Graham|first2=Hugh Davis|title=The Reagan Presidency: Pragmatic Conservatism & Its Legacies|date=2003|publisher=University of Kansas Press|location=Lawrence, Kansas|pages=172–173}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Steuerle|first1=C. Eugene|title=The Tax Decade: How Taxes Came to Dominate the Public Agenda|date=1992|publisher=The Urban Institute Press|location=Washington D.C.|isbn=0-87766-523-0|page=[https://archive.org/details/taxdecadehowtaxe0000steu/page/122 122]|url=https://archive.org/details/taxdecadehowtaxe0000steu/page/122}}</ref> The net effect of Reagan's tax bills was that overall tax burden held steady at roughly 19 percent of [[gross national product]].{{sfn|Patterson|2005|p=166}}

===Government spending===
{| class="wikitable" style="float:right; margin-left:1em; text-align:center"
|+ Federal finances and GDP during Reagan's presidency<ref>All figures, except for debt percentage, are presented in billions of dollars. The receipt, outlay, deficit, GDP, and debt figures are calculated for the [[US fiscal year|fiscal year]], which ends on September 30. For example, fiscal year 2020 ended on September 30, 2020.</ref>
|-
! Fiscal<br/>Year
! Receipts
! Outlays
! Surplus/<br/>Deficit
! [[Gross domestic product|GDP]]
! Debt as a %<br/>of GDP<ref>Represents the national debt held by the public as a percentage of GDP</ref>

|-
! 1981
| 599.3
| 678.2
| −79.0
| 3,133.2
| 25.2

|-
! 1982
| 617.8
| 745.7
| −128.0
| 3,313.4
| 27.9

|-
! 1983
| 600.6
| 808.4
| −207.8
| 3,536.0
| 32.2

|-
! 1984
| 666.4
| 851.8
| −185.4
| 3,949.2
| 33.1

|-
! 1985
| 734.0
| 946.3
| −212.3
| 4,265.1
| 35.3

|-
! 1986
| 769.2
| 990.4
| −221.2
| 4,526.3
| 38.5

|-
! 1987
| 854.3
| 1,004.0
| −149.7
| 4,767.7
| 39.6

|-
! 1988
| 909.2
| 1,064.4
| −155.2
| 5,138.6
| 39.9

|-
! 1989
| 991.1
| 1,143.7
| −152.6
| 5,554.7
| 39.4

|-
! Ref.
| colspan=3 |<ref>{{cite web|title=Historical Tables|url=https://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/historical-tables/|website=[[whitehouse.gov]]|publisher=Office of Management and Budget|access-date=March 4, 2021|at=Table 1.1}}</ref>
|<ref>{{cite web|title=Historical Tables|url=https://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/historical-tables/|website=[[whitehouse.gov]]|publisher=Office of Management and Budget|access-date=March 4, 2021|at=Table 1.2}}</ref>
|<ref>{{cite web|title=Historical Tables|url=https://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/historical-tables/|website=[[whitehouse.gov]]|publisher=Office of Management and Budget|access-date=March 4, 2021|at=Table 7.1}}</ref>
|}

Reagan prioritized tax cuts over spending cuts, arguing that lower revenue would eventually require lower spending.{{sfn|Brands|2015|pp=263–264}} Nonetheless, Reagan was determined to decrease government spending and roll back or dismantle [[Great Society]] programs such as [[Medicaid]] and the [[Office of Economic Opportunity]].{{sfn|Leuchtenburg|2015|pp=594–595}} In August 1981, Reagan signed the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1981, which cut federal funding for social programs like [[Food Stamp Program|food stamps]], [[School meal programs in the United States|school lunch programs]], and Medicaid.{{sfn|Rossinow|2015|pp=58–60}} The [[Comprehensive Employment and Training Act]], which had provided for the employment of 300,000 workers in 1980, was also repealed,{{sfn|Patterson|2005|p=157}} and the administration tightened eligibility for [[unemployment benefits]].{{sfn|Rossinow|2015|p=85}} Notably absent from the budget cuts was the [[United States Department of Defense|Department of Defense]], which saw its budget bolstered.{{sfn|Brands|2015|pp=266–267}}

Reagan experienced several legislative successes in his first year in office, but his attempts to cut federal domestic spending after 1981 met increasing congressional resistance.{{sfn|Leuchtenburg|2015|pp=615–616}} Spending on programs like [[Supplemental Security Income]], Medicaid, the [[earned income tax credit]], and [[Aid to Families with Dependent Children]] all increased after 1982. The number of federal civilian employees rose during Reagan's tenure, from 2.9&nbsp;million to 3.1&nbsp;million.{{sfn|Patterson|2005|p=165}} Reagan's policy of [[New Federalism]], which sought to shift the responsibility for most social programs to state governments, found little support in Congress.{{sfn|Leuchtenburg|2015|pp=618–619}}

In 1981, OMB Director David Stockman won Reagan's approval to seek cuts to [[Social Security (United States)|Social Security]] in 1981, but this plan was poorly-received in Congress.{{sfn|Brands|2015|pp=300–303}} In 1982, Reagan established the bipartisan [[Greenspan Commission|National Commission on Social Security Reform]] to make recommendations to secure the long-term integrity of Social Security. The commission rejected Social Security privatization and other major changes to the program, but recommended expanding the Social Security base (by including exempt federal and nonprofit employees), raising Social Security taxes, and reducing some payments. These recommendations were enacted in the [[History of Social Security in the United States#1983 Amendments|Social Security Amendments of 1983]], which received bipartisan support.{{sfn|Brands|2015|pp=425–427}} While Reagan avoided cuts to Social Security and [[Medicare (United States)|Medicare]] for most individuals,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.reagan.utexas.edu/archives/reference/pressketch.html|title=The Reagan Presidency|publisher=Reagan Presidential Foundation|access-date=August 4, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080517013218/http://www.reagan.utexas.edu/archives/reference/pressketch.html|archive-date=May 17, 2008}}</ref> his administration attempted to purge many people from the Social Security disability rolls.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/04/19/us/us-to-reconsider-denial-of-benefits-to-many-disabled.html?pagewanted=all|title=U.S. to Reconsider Denial of Benefits to Many Disabled|date=April 19, 1992|author=Pear, Robert|work=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=May 23, 2008}}</ref> Reagan's inability to implement major cuts to Social Security solidified its status as the "[[third rail of politics|third rail]]" of U.S. politics, and future administrations would be reluctant to propose cuts to the popular program.{{sfn|Wilentz|2008|pp=149–150}}

===Deficits===

As Reagan was unwilling to match his tax cuts with cuts to defense spending or Social Security, rising deficits became an issue.{{sfn|Weisberg|2016|pp=75–76}} These deficits were exacerbated by the [[early 1980s recession]], which cut into federal revenue.{{sfn|Leuchtenburg|2015|pp=605–606}} Unable to win further domestic spending cuts, and pressured to address the deficit, Reagan was forced to raise taxes after 1981.{{sfn|Brands|2015|pp=346–347}} Nonetheless, the national debt more than tripled between fiscal year 1980 and fiscal year 1989, going from $914&nbsp;billion to $2.7&nbsp;trillion, while national debt as a percentage of GDP rose from 33 percent in 1981 to 53 percent in 1989. Reagan never submitted a balanced budget during his time in office.{{sfn|Patterson|2005|pp=158–159}}

In an effort to lower the national debt, Congress passed the [[Gramm–Rudman–Hollings Balanced Budget Act]], which called for [[Budget sequestration|automatic spending cuts]] if Congress was unable to eliminate deficits through the regular budget-making process.{{sfn|Rossinow|2015|p=178}} However, Congress found ways around the automatic cuts and deficits continued to rise, ultimately leading to the passage of the [[Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1990]].<ref name="scline1">{{cite news|last1=Cline|first1=Seth|title=What Happened Last Time We Had a Budget Sequester?|url=https://www.usnews.com/news/blogs/press-past/2013/03/01/what-happened-last-time-we-had-a-budget-sequester|access-date=May 18, 2017|publisher=U.S. News & World Report|date=March 1, 2013}}</ref>

===Economy===

Reagan took office in the midst of poor economic conditions, as the country experienced [[stagflation]], a phenomenon in which both inflation and unemployment were high.{{sfn|Brands|2015|pp=221–222}} The economy experienced a brief period of growth early in Reagan's first year in office, but plunged into a recession in July 1981.{{sfn|Rossinow|2015|pp=90–91}} As the recession continued in the first two years of Reagan's presidency, many within Reagan's administration blamed the policies of [[Paul Volcker]], the Chair of the [[Federal Reserve System|Federal Reserve]]. But Reagan himself never criticized Volcker.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/commandingheights/shared/minitext/int_paulvolcker.html#6 |title=Commanding Heights, Paul Volcker Interview |date=September 26, 2000 |website=PBS |access-date=March 20, 2020}}</ref> Volcker sought to fight inflation by pursuing a policy of "tight money" in which interest rates were set at a high level.<ref name="brands317319"/> High interest rates would restrict lending and investment, which would in turn lower inflation, raise unemployment and, at least in the short term, reduce economic growth.{{sfn|Rossinow|2015|pp=88–90}} Unemployment reached a high of nearly 11% in 1982,<ref name="brands317319">Brands, pp. 317–319</ref> [[Poverty in the United States|poverty]] rate rose from 11.7 percent to 15 percent.{{sfn|Rossinow|2015|p=85}} The country emerged from recession in 1983,{{sfn|Brands|2015|pp=452–453}} but not all shared equally in the economic recovery, and [[economic inequality]] and the number of [[Homelessness in the United States|homeless]] individuals both increased during the 1980s.{{sfn|Patterson|2005|pp=166–167}}{{sfn|Rossinow|2015|p=145}} Fearful of damaging confidence in the economic recovery, Reagan nominated Volcker to a second term in 1983, and Volcker remained in office until 1987.{{sfn|Brands|2015|pp=668–671}} Inflation dropped to approximately 3.5% in 1985, while the unemployment rate fell to about 5% in 1988.{{sfn|Patterson|2005|pp=162–163}} In 1987, Reagan appointed conservative economist [[Alan Greenspan]] to succeed Volcker, and Greenspan would lead the Federal Reserve until 2006. Greenspan raised interest rates in another attempt to curb inflation, setting off a [[stock market crash]] in October 1987 known as "[[Black Monday (1987)|Black Monday]]", but the markets stabilized and recovered in the following weeks.{{sfn|Brands|2015|pp=668–671}}

===Labor===
[[File:1907- Income inequality and union participation.svg|thumb|upright=1.3|Income inequality and union participation have had a distinctly inverse relationship, with the disparity increasing since the 1980s.<ref name=NYTimes_20230707>{{cite news |last1=Leonhardt |first1=David |title=How Elba Makes a Living Wage |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/07/briefing/unions-living-wage-working-documentary.html |newspaper=The New York Times |date=July 7, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230708002328/https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/07/briefing/unions-living-wage-working-documentary.html |archive-date=July 8, 2023 |url-status=live }}</ref>]]
In August 1981, the [[Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization (1968)|Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization]] (PATCO), which consisted of federal employees, voted to go on a [[Strike action|labor strike]] in hopes of receiving better pay and benefits. After the vote, Reagan announced that the strikers would be fired if they did not return to work within forty-eight hours. Federal law forbid government employees from striking. After the deadline passed, Reagan fired over 10,000 air traffic controllers, while approximately 40 percent of the union members returned to work. Reagan's handling of the strike was strongly criticized by union leaders, but it won the approval of his conservative base of voters and others in the public.<ref name="patterson157158"/>{{sfn|Rossinow|2015|pp=86–87}} The breaking of the PATCO strike demoralized organized labor, and the number of strikes fell dramatically in the 1980s.<ref name="patterson157158">Patterson, pp. 157–158</ref> Many of the strikes that did occur, including the [[Arizona copper mine strike of 1983]], the 1983 [[Greyhound Lines|Greyhound]] bus driver strike, and the [[1985–86 Hormel strike]], ended with dismissal of the strikers. With the assent of Reagan's sympathetic [[National Labor Relations Board]] appointees, many companies also won wage and benefit cutbacks from unions, especially in the manufacturing sector.{{sfn|Rossinow|2015|p=87–88}} During Reagan's time in office, the share of employees who were part of a labor union dropped from approximately one-fourth of the total workforce to approximately one-sixth of the total workforce.{{sfn|Patterson|2005|p=170}}

===Deregulation===

Reagan sought to loosen federal regulation of economic activities, and he appointed key officials who shared this agenda. According to historian [[William Leuchtenburg]], by 1986, the Reagan administration eliminated almost half of the federal regulations that had existed in 1981.{{sfn|Leuchtenburg|2015|pp=601–604}} The [[Federal Communications Commission]] aggressively deregulated the broadcasting industry, eliminating the [[Fairness Doctrine]] and other restrictions.<ref name="donnelly1">{{cite news|last1=Donnelly|first1=H.|title=Broadcasting Deregulation|url=http://library.cqpress.com/cqresearcher/document.php?id=cqresrre1987120400|access-date=November 29, 2017|publisher=CQ Press|date=1987}}</ref> The 1982 [[Garn–St. Germain Depository Institutions Act]] deregulated [[savings and loan association]]s and allowed banks to provide [[adjustable-rate mortgage]]s. Reagan also eliminated numerous government positions and dismissed numerous federal employees, including the entire staff of the [[Employment and Training Administration]]. Secretary of the Interior [[James G. Watt]] implemented policies designed to open up federal territories to oil drilling and [[surface mining]]. Under [[United States Environmental Protection Agency|EPA]] Director [[Anne Gorsuch]], the EPA's budget was dramatically reduced and the EPA loosely enforced environmental regulations.{{sfn|Leuchtenburg|2015|pp=601–604}}

====Savings and loan crisis====

After the passage of the Garn–St. Germain Depository Institutions Act, savings and loans associations engaged in riskier activities, and the leaders of some institutions embezzled funds.{{sfn|Patterson|2005|p=175}} In what became known as the [[Savings and loan crisis]], a total of 747 financial institutions failed and needed to be rescued with $160&nbsp;billion in taxpayer dollars.<ref>Timothy Curry and Lynn Shibut, The Cost of the Savings and Loan Crisis: Truth and Consequences FDIC, December 2000.</ref> As an indication of this scandal's size, [[Martin Mayer]] wrote at the time, "The theft from the taxpayer by the community that fattened on the growth of the savings and loan (S&L) industry in the 1980s is the worst public scandal in American history...Measuring by money, [or] by the misallocation of national resources...the S&L outrage makes [[Teapot Dome Scandal|Teapot Dome]] and [[Crédit Mobilier of America scandal|Credit Mobilier]] seem minor episodes."<ref>''The Greatest-Ever Bank Robbery: The Collapse of the Savings and Loan Industry'' by Martin Mayer (Scribner's)</ref>

===Immigration===
{{see also|Immigration to the United States}}

The 1980s saw the highest rate of immigration to the United States since the 1910s, and the proportion of the foreign-born population reached its highest level since the 1940s.{{sfn|Rossinow|2015|pp=158–159}} Reagan did not make immigration a focus of his administration, but he came to support a package of reforms sponsored by Republican Senator [[Alan Simpson (American politician)|Alan Simpson]] and Democratic Congressman [[Romano Mazzoli]], which he signed into law as the [[Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986|Immigration Reform and Control Act]] in November 1986.{{sfn|Brands|2015|pp=544–545}} The act made it illegal to knowingly hire or recruit [[Illegal immigration to the United States|illegal immigrants]], required employers to attest to their employees' immigration status, and granted amnesty to approximately three million illegal immigrants who had entered the United States before January 1, 1982, and had lived in the country continuously. The bill was also contained provisions designed to enhance security measures at the [[Mexico–United States border]].<ref name="bplumer1"/> 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."<ref name="immigration">Reagan, Ronald. (November 6, 1986) [http://www.reagan.utexas.edu/archives/speeches/1986/110686b.htm Statement on Signing the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061231081116/http://www.reagan.utexas.edu/archives/speeches/1986/110686b.htm |date=December 31, 2006 }} Collected Speeches, Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. Retrieved August 15, 2007.</ref> The bill was largely unsuccessful at halting illegal immigration, and the population of illegal immigrants rose from 5 million in 1986 to 11.1&nbsp;million in 2013.<ref name="bplumer1">{{cite news|last1=Plumer|first1=Brad|title=Congress tried to fix immigration back in 1986. Why did it fail?|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2013/01/30/in-1986-congress-tried-to-solve-immigration-why-didnt-it-work/|access-date=November 27, 2017|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|date=January 30, 2013}}</ref>

===Criminal and anti-drug policy===

[[File:Nancy Reagan at a "Just Say No" rally at the White House.jpg|thumb|right|First Lady [[Nancy Reagan]] at a [[Just Say No]] rally at the White House]]
[[File:US incarceration rate timeline.gif|thumb|Graph demonstrating increases in [[Incarceration in the United States|U.S. incarceration rate]]]]
Not long after being sworn into office, Reagan declared more militant policies in the "[[War on Drugs]]".<ref name="War on Drugs">{{cite web |url=https://www.pbs.org/newshour/extra/features/jan-june01/drug_war.html |title=The War on Drugs |publisher=pbs. org |date=May 10, 2001 |access-date=April 4, 2007}}</ref><ref name="Youth Trends">{{cite web |url=http://www.nida.nih.gov/Infofacts/HSYouthtrends.html |title=NIDA InfoFacts: High School and Youth Trends |publisher=National Institute on Drug Abuse, NIH |access-date=April 4, 2007}}</ref> He promised a "planned, concerted campaign" against all drugs,<ref name="The Drug War">{{cite web |url=http://academic.udayton.edu/race/03justice/crime09.htm |title=The Drug War as Race War |access-date=April 11, 2007 |author=Randall, Vernellia R |date=April 18, 2006 |publisher=The University of Dayton School of Law}}</ref> in hopes of decreasing drug use, particularly among adolescents.<ref name="Interview: Dr. Herbert Kleber">{{cite web |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/drugs/interviews/kleber.html |title=Interview: Dr. Herbert Kleber |access-date=June 12, 2007 |publisher=PBS |quote=The politics of the Reagan years and the Bush years probably made it somewhat harder to get treatment expanded, but at the same time, it probably had a good effect in terms of decreasing initiation and use. For example, marijuana went from thirty-three percent of high-school seniors in 1980 to twelve percent in 1991.}}</ref><ref name="Decline of Substance Use">{{cite web |author=Bachman, Gerald G. |url=http://www.monitoringthefuture.org/pubs/jbbook/jbbook02.html |title=The Decline of Substance Use in Young Adulthood |publisher=The Regents of the University of Michigan |access-date=April 4, 2007|display-authors=etal}}</ref> The "[[crack epidemic]]," which saw a large number of individuals become addicted to [[crack cocaine]] and may have played a role in numerous murders, emerged as a major area of public concern.{{sfn|Rossinow|2015|pp=122–124}} [[First Lady of the United States|First Lady]] Nancy Reagan made the War on Drugs her main cause as First Lady, founding the "[[Just Say No]]" drug awareness campaign.<ref name="PBS Frontline">{{cite web |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/drugs/cron/ |title=Thirty Years of America's Drug War |publisher=PBS |access-date=April 4, 2007}}</ref>

Concerns about drug use prompted Congress to pass legislation such as the [[Comprehensive Crime Control Act of 1984]]{{sfn|Rossinow|2015|p=124}} and the [[Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986]], the latter of which granted $1.7&nbsp;billion to fight drugs and established a mandatory minimum penalties for drug offenses.<ref name="PBS Frontline"/> Reagan also signed the [[Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988]], which further increased criminal penalties for drug use and established the [[Office of National Drug Control Policy]].<ref name="jjohnson1">{{cite news|last1=Johnson|first1=Julie|title=REAGAN SIGNS BILL TO CURB DRUG USE|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1988/11/19/us/reagan-signs-bill-to-curb-drug-use.html|access-date=December 7, 2017|work=[[The New York Times]]|date=November 19, 1988}}</ref> Critics charged that Reagan's policies promoted significant racial disparities in the prison population,<ref name="PBS Frontline"/> were ineffective in reducing the availability of drugs or crime on the street, and came at a great financial and human cost for American society.<ref name="Stop the Drug War">{{cite web |url=http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle-old/341/reagan.shtml |publisher=stopthedrugwar.org |title=The Reagan-Era Drug War Legacy |date=June 11, 2004 |access-date=April 4, 2007}}</ref> Supporters argued that the numbers for adolescent drug users declined during Reagan's years in office.<ref name="Decline of Substance Use"/>

On May 19, 1986, President Reagan signed the [[Firearm Owners Protection Act]], which amended the [[Gun Control Act of 1968]], prohibiting the transfer or possession of [[machine guns]].<ref>{{cite web |title=National Firearms Act |url=https://www.atf.gov/rules-and-regulations/national-firearms-act#:~:text=Firearm%20Owners%27%20Protection%20Act,or%20possession%20of%20machine%20guns. |website=Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives |access-date=29 July 2024}}</ref> In 1989, Reagan said "I do not believe in taking away the right of the citizen to own guns for sporting, for hunting and so forth, or for home defense; but I do believe that an [[AK-47]], a machine gun, is not a sporting weapon or needed for defense of a home."<ref>{{cite book |last1=DeConde |first1=Alexander |title=Gun Violence in America: The Struggle for Control |date=2003 |publisher=Northeastern University Press |page=238}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Maxwell |first1=Mark |title=The Record: President Reagan on Gun Bans |url=https://www.ksdk.com/article/news/politics/the-record/record-president-reagan-gun-bans-illinois/63-c4f8d62e-797f-4f06-89ed-939f0222e890 |website=[[KSDK]] |access-date=29 July 2024}}</ref>

===Social policies and civil rights===
[[File:Blood on its hands.png|thumb|The Reagan administration has been criticized both contemporaneously, as seen in this 1988 poster from [[ACT UP|ACT-UP]], and retrospectively for its response to the AIDS epidemic. ]]
Reagan was largely unable to enact his ambitious social policy agenda, which included a federal ban on [[abortions in the United States|abortions]] and an end to [[desegregation busing]].<ref name="svroberts1"/> Despite the lack of major social policy legislation, Reagan was able to influence social policy through regulations and the appointment of conservative Supreme Court Justices.<ref name="svroberts1">{{cite news|last1=Roberts|first1=Steven V.|title=THE NATION; Reagan's Social Issues: Gone but Not Forgotten|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1988/09/11/weekinreview/the-nation-reagan-s-social-issues-gone-but-not-forgotten.html|access-date=December 7, 2017|work=[[The New York Times]]|date=September 11, 1988}}</ref>

With Reagan's support, conservative Republican Senator [[Jesse Helms]] led an effort to prevent the Supreme Court from reviewing state and local laws mandating [[school prayer]], but Republican senators like [[Lowell Weicker]] and [[Barry Goldwater]] blocked passage of Helms' bill.{{sfn|Rossinow|2015|pp=95–96}} Reagan campaigned vigorously to restore organized prayer to the schools, first as a moment of prayer and later as a moment of silence.<ref>{{cite news |newspaper=Lodi News-Sentinel |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2245&dat=19840712&id=vogzAAAAIBAJ&pg=5416,1067751 |title=Reagan Urges School 'Moment of Silence' |date=July 12, 1984 }}</ref> His election reflected an opposition<ref name="Law of Church and State">{{Cite book|last=Ackerman|first=David M.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QCNZfpRCqh0C|title=The Law of Church and State: Developments in the Supreme Court Since 1980|date=2001|publisher=Nova Publishers|isbn=978-1-59033-122-4|language=en}}</ref> to ''[[Engel v. Vitale]]'', which prohibited state officials from composing an official state prayer and requiring that it be recited in the public schools.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=US&vol=370&invol=421|title=U.S. Supreme Court: ''Engel v. Vitale'', 370 U.S. 421 (1962)|access-date=July 30, 2016}}</ref> In 1981, he proposed a constitutional amendment [[School prayer in the United States|on school prayer]],<ref name="Law of Church and State"/> which 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, he again raised the issue to Congress.<ref>{{cite web|title=Address Before a Joint Session of the Congress on the State of the Union &#124; The American Presidency Project|url=https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/address-before-joint-session-the-congress-the-state-the-union-4|access-date=January 5, 2022|website=presidency.ucsb.edu}}</ref> In 1985, he 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".<ref>George de Lama, [https://www.chicagotribune.com/1985/06/07/reagan-sees-an-uphill-battle-for-prayer-in-public-schools/ Reagan Sees An "Uphill Battle" For Prayer In Public Schools]. June 7, 1985, Chicago Tribune.</ref> In 1987, he renewed his call for Congress to support voluntary prayer in schools.<ref name=NYT>{{Cite news |last1=Taylor |first1=Stuart Jr. |date=January 28, 1987|title=High Court Accepts Appeal of 'Moment of Silence' Law|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1987/01/28/nyregion/high-court-accepts-appeal-of-moment-of-silence-law.html|access-date=January 5, 2022|issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

In 1982, Reagan 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.<ref>{{cite news|last=Raines|first=Howell|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1982/06/30/us/voting-rights-act-signed-by-reagan.html|title=Voting Rights Act Signed by Reagan|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date=June 30, 1982|access-date=May 10, 2015}}</ref> He also reluctantly accepted the continuation of [[Affirmative action in the United States|affirmative action]] programs{{sfn|Patterson|2005|p=171}} and the establishment of [[Martin Luther King Jr. Day]] as a [[Federal holidays in the United States|federal holiday]].{{sfn|Rossinow|2015|pp=163–164}} The [[Equal Employment Opportunity Commission]] and the Justice Department both prosecuted far fewer civil rights cases per year than they had under Carter.{{sfn|Rossinow|2015|pp=42–43}} In 1988, Reagan 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.<ref>{{cite book|title=American Civil Rights Policy from Truman to Clinton: The Role of Presidential Leadership |first=Steven A. |last=Shull |year=1999 |publisher=M.E. Sharpe |page=94 |isbn=9780765603944 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CdFdPBCj8NMC&pg=PA95}}</ref>

No civil rights legislation for [[homosexuality|gay]] individuals passed during Reagan's tenure. Many in the Reagan administration, including [[White House Communications Director|Communications Director]] [[Pat Buchanan]], were hostile to the gay community, as were many religious leaders who were important allies to the administration.{{sfn|Wilentz|2008|pp=185–186}} Gay rights and the growing [[HIV/AIDS]] emerged as an important matter of public concern in 1985 after it was disclosed that actor [[Rock Hudson]], a personal friend of President Reagan, was receiving treatment for AIDS. As public anxiety over AIDS rose, the Supreme Court upheld a state law that criminalized homosexuality in the case of ''[[Bowers v. Hardwick]]''.{{sfn|Rossinow|2015|pp=132–134}} Though Surgeon General [[C. Everett Koop]] advocated for a public health campaign designed to reduce the spread of AIDS by raising awareness and promoting the use of condoms, Reagan rejected Koop's proposals in favor of [[abstinence-only sex education]].{{sfn|Rossinow|2015|pp=212–214}} By 1989, approximately 60,000 Americans had died of AIDS, and liberals strongly criticized Reagan's response to the HIV/AIDS crisis.{{sfn|Patterson|2005|pp=179–182}} On the 1980 campaign trail, Reagan spoke of the gay rights movement:
{{blockquote|My criticism is that [the gay movement] isn't just asking for civil rights; it's asking for recognition and acceptance of an alternative lifestyle which I do not believe society can condone, nor can I.<ref>{{cite book |last=Scheer |first=Robert |title=Playing President: My Close Ecounters with Nixon, Carter, Bush I, Reagan, and Clinton—and How They Did Not Prepare Me for George W. Bush |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xhTTyMDzP5EC&pg=PA154 |year=2006 |publisher=Akashic Books |isbn=978-1-933354-01-9 |page=154}}</ref>}}

===Environmental policy===
Reagan's strong preferences for limited federal involvement and deregulation extended to the environment. His main goal was to lessen the burden of regulation on businesses to promote more economic activity in the United States. Because of this policy, Reagan refused to renew the Clean Air Act during his administration.<ref>Daynes, B. W., & Sussman, G. (2010). ''White House Politics and the Environment: Franklin D. Roosevelt to George W. Bush''. College Station: Texas A & M Univ. Press.</ref> Reagan lessened existing regulations on pollution, cut funding to government environmental agencies, and appointed known anti-environmentalist individuals to key positions presiding over these organizations.<ref>Kline, Benjamin. (2011). ''First Along the River : a Brief History of the U.S. Environmental Movement''. 4th ed. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.</ref>

When Reagan took office in 1981, he "attempted to reduce" money that was directed towards studying the burgeoning field of global warming and human-driven climate change.<ref>Daynes, B. W. ''White House Politics and the Environment'', p.176.</ref> In the early 1980s, the study of the intersection between human activity and climate change was still in its infancy and scientists were far from a consensus on the topic.<ref>Miller, Norman. (2009). ''Environmental Politics : Stakeholders, Interests, and Policymaking''. 2nd ed. New York: Routledge.</ref>

In 1987, the Reagan administration signed the [[Montreal Protocol]] in an effort to reduce emissions that damage the [[ozone layer]].<ref>Daynes, B. W. ''White House Politics and the Environment'', p.185.</ref>

===Mass surveillance===
Citing [[national security]] concerns, the president's national security team pressed for more [[surveillance]] power early during Reagan's first term. Their recommendations were based upon the [[premise]] that the federal government's [[Intelligence assessment|intelligence]] and [[counterintelligence]] capabilities had been weakened by presidents Carter and Ford.<ref>{{cite web| title=The executive order that led to mass spying, as told by NSA alumni: Feds call it "twelve triple three"; whistleblower says it's the heart of the problem| last=Farivar| first=Cyrus| date=August 27, 2014| url=https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2014/08/a-twisted-history-how-a-reagan-era-executive-order-led-to-mass-spying/2/| publisher=Ars Technica| access-date=December 23, 2017}}</ref> On December 4, 1981, Reagan signed [[Executive Order 12333]]. This [[presidential directive]] broadened the power of the [[United States Intelligence Community|government's intelligence community]]; mandated rules for spying on United States citizens, permanent residents, and on anyone within the United States; and also directed the Attorney General and others to create further policies and procedures for what information intelligence agencies can collect, retain, and share.<ref>{{cite web| title=A Primer on Executive Order 12333: The Mass Surveillance Starlet| last=Jaycox| first=Mark| date=June 2, 2014| url=https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2014/06/primer-executive-order-12333-mass-surveillance-starlet| publisher=Electronic Frontier Foundation| location=San Francisco, California| access-date=December 23, 2017}}</ref>

==Foreign affairs==
{{Main|Foreign policy of the Ronald Reagan administration}}

===Escalation of the Cold War===

{{See also|Cold War (1979–1985)}}
[[File:Ronald Reagan Overseas Visits.svg|thumb|upright=1.4|[[List of international presidential trips made by Ronald Reagan|Reagan made 24 international trips]] to 26 different countries during his presidency.<ref>{{cite web|url= https://history.state.gov/departmenthistory/travels/president/reagan-ronald|title= Travels of President Ronald Reagan|publisher= U.S. Department of State Office of the Historian|access-date= 2023-12-15|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20230815161534/https://history.state.gov/departmenthistory/travels/president/reagan-ronald|archive-date= 2023-08-15|url-status= live}}</ref>]]
[[File:President Ronald Reagan addressing British Parliament in London, England.jpg|thumb|As the first U.S. president invited to speak before the [[British Parliament]] (June 8, 1982), Reagan predicted [[Marxism-Leninism]] would end up on the "[[ash heap of history]]"<ref>{{cite web|author=Reagan, Ronald.|date=June 8, 1982|url=http://www.historyplace.com/speeches/reagan-parliament.htm|title=Ronald Reagan Address to British Parliament|publisher=The History Place|access-date=April 19, 2006}}</ref>]]

Reagan escalated the Cold War, accelerating a reversal from the policy of détente which had begun in 1979 after the [[Soviet–Afghan War|Soviet invasion]] of [[Democratic Republic of Afghanistan|Afghanistan]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.wilsoncenter.org/index.cfm?topic_id=1409&fuseaction=topics.event_summary&event_id=12594|title=Towards an International History of the War in Afghanistan, 1979–89|access-date=May 16, 2007|year=2002|publisher=The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071011144144/http://wilsoncenter.org/index.cfm?topic_id=1409&fuseaction=topics.event_summary&event_id=12594|archive-date=October 11, 2007 }}</ref> Reagan feared that the Soviet Union had gained a military advantage over the United States, and the Reagan administration hoped that heightened military spending would grant the U.S. military superiority and weaken the Soviet economy.{{sfn|Rossinow|2015|pp=66–67}} Reagan ordered a massive buildup of the [[United States Armed Forces]], directing funding to the [[B-1 Lancer]] bomber, the [[Northrop Grumman B-2 Spirit|B-2 Spirit bomber]], [[cruise missile]]s, the [[LGM-118 Peacekeeper|MX missile]], and the [[600-ship Navy]].{{sfn|Patterson|2005|p=200}} In response to Soviet deployment of the [[SS-20]], Reagan oversaw [[NATO]]'s deployment of the [[Pershing missile]] in West Germany.{{sfn|Patterson|2005|pp=205}} The president also strongly denounced the Soviet Union and Communism in moral terms,{{sfn|Rossinow|2015|p=67}} describing the Soviet Union as an "[[Evil Empire speech|evil empire]]."{{sfn|Cannon|2000|pp=314–317}} Despite this heavy rhetoric,<ref>G. Thomas Goodnight,  "Ronald Reagan's re‐formulation of the rhetoric of war: Analysis of the 'zero option,' 'evil empire,' and 'star wars' addresses." ''Quarterly Journal of Speech'' 72.4 (1986): 390–414.</ref> the Reagan administration continued arms control talks with the Soviet Union in the form of "[[START I|START]]". Unlike the "[[Strategic Arms Limitation Talks|SALT]]" treaties of the 1970s, which set upper limits on the size of nuclear arsenals, the proposed START treaty would require both sides to reduce their existing nuclear arsenals.{{sfn|Herring|2008|pp=868–869}}

====Strategic Defense Initiative====
In March 1983, Reagan introduced the [[Strategic Defense Initiative]] (SDI), a defense project that would have used ground- and space-based systems to protect the United States from attack by strategic nuclear ballistic missiles. Reagan believed that this defense shield could make [[nuclear war]] impossible.{{sfn|Beschloss|2007|p=293}} Many scientists and national security experts criticized the project as costly and technologically infeasible, and critics dubbed SDI as "Star Wars" in reference to a [[Star Wars|popular film series of the same name]].{{sfn|Herring|2008|pp=870–871}} Ultimately, the SDI would be canceled in 1993 due to concerns about its cost and effectiveness as well as a changing international situation.{{sfn|Brands|2015|pp=725–726}} However, the Soviets became concerned about the possible effects SDI would have and viewed its development as a violation of the [[Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty]].{{sfn|Brands|2015|pp=581–585}} In protest of SDI, the Soviet Union broke off arms control talks, and U.S.-Soviet relations descended to their lowest point since the early 1960s.{{sfn|Herring|2008|pp=869–870}} The Cold War tensions influenced works of popular culture such as the films ''[[The Day After]]'' and ''[[WarGames]]'' (both 1983), and the song "[[99 Luftballons]]" (1983) by [[Nena (band)|Nena]], each of which exhibited the rising public anxiety for the possibility of a nuclear war.{{sfn|Rossinow|2015|pp=116–117}}

===Reagan Doctrine===
{{Main|Reagan Doctrine}}
{{see also|Soviet–Afghan War}}
[[File:Reagan sitting with people from the Afghanistan-Pakistan region in February 1983.jpg|thumb|right|Meeting with leaders of the Afghan [[Mujahideen]] in the Oval Office, 1983]]

Under a policy that came to be known as the [[Reagan Doctrine]], the Reagan administration provided overt and covert aid to anti-communist [[Guerrilla warfare|resistance movements]] in an effort to "[[rollback]]" Soviet-backed communist governments in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.<ref>{{cite journal|url=http://www.foreignaffairs.org/19860301faessay7785/stephen-s-rosenfeld/the-reagan-doctrine-the-guns-of-july.html|title=The Reagan Doctrine: The Guns of July|author =Stephen S. Rosenfeld|journal =[[Foreign Affairs]]|date =Spring 1986|volume=64|issue=4 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930165407/http://www.foreignaffairs.org/19860301faessay7785/stephen-s-rosenfeld/the-reagan-doctrine-the-guns-of-july.html|archive-date=September 30, 2007}}</ref> In Eastern Europe, the CIA provided support to the Polish opposition group, [[Solidarity (Polish trade union)|Solidarity]], ensuring that it stayed afloat during a [[Martial law in Poland|period of martial law]].{{sfn|Herring|2008|pp=883–884}} Reagan deployed the CIA's [[Special Activities Division]] to Afghanistan and Pakistan, and the CIA was instrumental in training, equipping, and leading [[Islamic Unity of Afghanistan Mujahideen|Mujahideen]] forces against the Soviet Army in the [[Soviet–Afghan War]].<ref name="Crile 2003">{{Cite book|first=George|last=Crile|title=Charlie Wilson's War: The Extraordinary Story of the Largest Covert Operation in History|publisher=Atlantic Monthly Press|year=2003|isbn=0-87113-854-9|url=https://archive.org/details/charliewilsonswa00cril}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|author=Pach, Chester|title=The Reagan Doctrine: Principle, Pragmatism, and Policy|journal=Presidential Studies Quarterly|year=2006|volume=36 |issue=1|pages=75–88|doi=10.1111/j.1741-5705.2006.00288.x|jstor=27552748}}</ref> By 1987, the United States was sending over $600&nbsp;million a year, as well as weapons, intelligence, and combat expertise to Afghanistan. The Soviet Union announced it would withdraw from Afghanistan in 1987, but the U.S. was subjected to [[blowback (intelligence)|blowback]] in the form of the [[Taliban]] and [[al-Qaeda]], two groups that arose out of the Mujahideen and that would oppose the United States in future conflicts.{{sfn|Herring|2008|pp=883–884}}

Although leading conservatives argued that Reagan's foreign policy strategy was essential to protecting their security interests, critics labeled the initiatives as aggressive and imperialistic, and chided them as "warmongering".<ref name="PBS">{{Cite news |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/presidents/40_reagan/reagan_foreign.html|title=Foreign Affairs: Ronald Reagan|publisher=PBS|access-date=June 6, 2007|url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070616130526/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/presidents/40_reagan/reagan_foreign.html|archive-date=June 16, 2007}}</ref> Reagan was also heavily criticized for backing [[anti-communist]] leaders accused of severe [[human rights violations]], such as [[Hissène Habré]]<ref>{{cite web|title=From U.S. Ally to Convicted War Criminal: Inside Chad's Hissène Habré's Close Ties to Reagan Admin|url=http://www.democracynow.org/2016/5/31/from_us_ally_to_convicted_war|access-date=January 5, 2022|website=Democracy Now!|language=en}}</ref> and [[Efraín Ríos Montt]].<ref>{{Cite news|date=June 9, 2004|title=Critics question Reagan legacy|language=en-GB|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3788229.stm|access-date=January 5, 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=What Guilt Does the U.S. Bear in Guatemala?|url=https://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2013/05/19/what-guilt-does-the-us-bear-in-guatemala|access-date=January 5, 2022|website=The New York Times|language=en}}</ref> Montt was the [[president of Guatemala]] and the [[Guatemalan military]] was accused [[Guatemalan genocide|of genocide]] for massacres of members of the [[Ixil people]] and other indigenous groups.<ref>{{cite news |author=<!--not stated--> |date=April 2, 2018 |title=Gen Efraín Ríos Montt obituary|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/apr/02/gen-efrain-rios-montt-obituary|work=The Guardian |location= |access-date=January 3, 2023}}</ref> Reagan had said that Montt was getting a "bum rap",<ref name="ABC News on Guatemala, May 14, 2013"/> and described him as "a man of great personal integrity".<ref>{{cite web|title=Allan Nairn: After Ríos Montt Verdict, Time for U.S. to Account for Its Role in Guatemalan Genocide|url=http://www.democracynow.org/2013/5/15/allan_nairn_after_ros_montt_verdict|access-date=January 5, 2022|website=Democracy Now!|language=en}}</ref> Previous human rights violations had prompted the United States to cut off aid to the Guatemalan government, but the Reagan administration unsuccessfully appealed to Congress to restart military aid. However, the administration successfully provided nonmilitary assistance such as the [[United States Agency for International Development]].<ref name="ABC News on Guatemala, May 14, 2013">{{cite web|title=Did Reagan Finance Genocide in Guatemala?|url=https://abcnews.go.com/ABC_Univision/News/ronald-reagan-finance-genocide-guatemala/story?id=19179627|access-date=January 5, 2022|website=ABC News|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.salon.com/2015/03/24/ronald_reagans_genocidal_secret_a_true_story_of_right_wing_impunity_in_guatemala/ |title=Ronald Reagan's genocidal secret: A true story of right-wing impunity in Guatemala |work=Salon |first=Miles |last=Culpepper |date=March 24, 2015 }}</ref>

===Central America and the Caribbean===
{{see also|Latin America–United States relations}}

[[File:President Ronald Reagan meets with Prime Minister Eugenia Charles.jpg|thumb|right|Reagan meets with Prime Minister [[Eugenia Charles]] of [[Dominica]] in the [[Oval Office]] about ongoing events in [[Grenada]]]]

The Reagan administration placed a high priority on the Central America and the [[Caribbean Sea]], which it saw as a key front in the Cold War. Reagan and his foreign policy team were particularly concerned about the potential influence of [[Cuba]] on countries such as [[Grenada]], [[Nicaragua]], and [[El Salvador]]. To counter the influence of Cuba and the Soviet Union, Reagan launched the [[Caribbean Basin Initiative]], an economic program designed to aid countries opposed to Communism. He also authorized covert measures, such as the arming of Nicaragua's [[Contras]], to minimize Cuban and Soviet influence in the region.{{sfn|Brands|2015|pp=350–357}} The administration provided support to right-wing governments throughout Latin America, disregarding humans rights abuses in countries like [[Argentina]] and El Salvador.{{sfn|Rossinow|2015|pp=73, 77–79}}

====Invasion of Grenada====
Tensions rose between the left-wing [[Grenada]]n government of [[Maurice Bishop]] and the U.S. because Cuban construction workers were building an airfield on the island. On October 16, 1983, pro-Communist forces of [[Hudson Austin]] led a coup against Bishop, who was subsequently arrested and executed. Reagan dispatched approximately 5,000 U.S. soldiers to [[United States invasion of Grenada|invade Grenada]] nine days after. After two days of fighting that resulted in the deaths of 19 Americans, 45 Grenadans, and 24 Cubans, Austin's government was overthrown.{{sfn|Patterson|2005|pp=205–206}} Reagan then declared, "Our days of weakness are over. Our military forces are back on their feet and standing tall."<ref>{{cite news |last=Clines |first=Francis X. |date=December 13, 1983 |title=Military of U.S. 'Standing Tall,' Reagan Asserts |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1983/12/13/nyregion/military-of-us-standing-tall-reagan-asserts.html |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=March 31, 2023}}</ref> While the invasion enjoyed public support in the United States and Grenada,<ref name=Magnuson>{{Cite news| last =Magnuson |first =Ed |title =Getting Back to Normal |newspaper=Time |date =November 21, 1983 |url = http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,926318-1,00.html|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080214134050/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,926318-1,00.html|archive-date = February 14, 2008}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=The Age of Reagan: The Conservative Counterrevolution: 1980–1989|publisher=Crown Forum|isbn=978-1-4000-5357-5|first=Steven F. |last= Hayward|year=2009|author-link=Steven F. Hayward}}</ref> it was criticized by the United Kingdom, Canada and the [[United Nations General Assembly]] as "a flagrant violation of [[international law]]".<ref name="autogenerated1">{{cite web |url=https://www.un.org/depts/dhl/resguide/r38.htm |title=United Nations General Assembly resolution 38/7, page 19 |publisher=United Nations |date=November 2, 1983}}</ref>

===Iran–Contra affair===
{{Main|Iran–Contra affair}}
{{See also|Reagan administration scandals}}
[[File:Photograph of President Reagan receiving the Tower Commission Report in the Cabinet Room - NARA - 198581.jpg|thumb|alt=Reagan in the Cabinet Room to receive the Tower Commission Report on the Iran–Contra affair, February 1987|Reagan receiving the [[Tower Commission]] on the [[Iran–Contra affair]], 1987]]

In 1979, a group of left-wing rebels in Nicaragua known as the [[Sandinistas]] overthrew the president of Nicaragua and installed [[Daniel Ortega]] as the country's leader.{{sfn|Patterson|2005|pp=207–208}} Fearing that Communists would take over Nicaragua if it remained under the leadership of the Sandinistas, the Reagan administration authorized CIA Director William J. Casey to arm the right-wing [[Contras]]. Congress, which favored negotiations between the Contras and Sandinista, passed the 1982 [[Boland Amendment]], prohibiting the CIA and Defense Department from using their budgets to provide aid to the Contras. Still intent on supporting the Contras, the Reagan administration raised funds for the Contras from private donors and foreign governments.{{sfn|Weisberg|2016|pp=128–129}} When Congress learned that the CIA had secretly placed [[naval mine]]s in Nicaraguan harbors, Congress passed a second Boland Amendment that barred granting any assistance to the Contras.{{sfn|Patterson|2005|pp=208–209}}

During his second term, Reagan sought to find a way procure the release of [[Lebanon hostage crisis|seven American hostages]] held by [[Hezbollah]], a Lebanese paramilitary group supported by Iran. The Reagan administration decided to sell American arms to Iran, then engaged in the [[Iran–Iraq War]], in hopes that Iran would pressure Hezbollah to release the hostages.{{sfn|Weisberg|2016|pp=129–134}} Secretary of Defense Weinberger and Secretary of State Shultz both opposed the arrangement, so it was handled by National Security Advisor [[Robert McFarlane (American politician)|Robert McFarlane]] and McFarlane's successor, [[John Poindexter]].{{sfn|Patterson|2005|pp=209–210}} The Reagan administration sold over 2000 missiles to Iran without informing Congress; Hezbollah released four hostages but captured an additional six Americans. On the initiative of [[Oliver North]], an aide on the National Security Council, the Reagan administration redirected the proceeds from the missile sales to the Contras.{{sfn|Weisberg|2016|pp=129–134}} The transactions became public knowledge by early November 1986. Reagan initially denied any wrongdoing, but on November 25 he announced that Poindexter and North had left the administration and that he would form the [[Tower Commission]] to investigate the transactions. A few weeks later, Reagan asked a panel of federal judges to appoint a [[United States Office of the Independent Counsel|special prosecutor]] who would conduct a separate investigation, and the panel chose [[Lawrence Walsh]].{{sfn|Patterson|2005|pp=210–211}}

The Tower Commission, chaired by former Republican Senator [[John Tower]], released a report in February 1987 that confirmed that the administration had traded arms for hostages and sent the proceeds of the weapons sales to the Contras. The report laid most of the blame for the operation on North, Poindexter, and McFarlane, but it was also critical of Regan and other White House staffers.{{sfn|Brands|2015|pp=646–649}} In response to the Tower Commission report, Reagan stated, "Its findings are honest, convincing and highly critical...As angry as I may be about activities undertaken without my knowledge, I am still accountable for those activities."{{sfn|Brands|2015|pp=650–653}} The [[Iran–Contra scandal]], as it became known, did serious damage to the Reagan presidency, raising questions about Reagan's competency and the wisdom of conservative policies.{{sfn|Rossinow|2015|pp=202–204}} A poll taken in March 1987 showed that 85 percent of respondents believed that the Reagan administration had engaged in an organized cover-up, and half of the respondents believed that Reagan had been personally involved. The administration's credibility was also badly damaged on the international stage, as it had violated its own arms embargo on Iran.{{sfn|Brands|2015|pp=653, 674}} Congressional Democrats considered [[Federal impeachment in the United States|impeaching]], but decided that it would be an unwise use of political capital against a weakened president; Democrats were also somewhat mollified by Reagan's decision to replace Chief of Staff Regan with Howard Baker.{{sfn|Rossinow|2015|pp=216–217}}

The investigations into the Iran–Contra scandal continued after Reagan left office, but were effectively halted when President George H. W. Bush pardoned Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger before his trial began.<ref>Brinkley, A. (2009). ''American History: A Survey Vol. II'', p. 887, New York: McGraw-Hill</ref> Investigators did not find conclusive proof that Reagan had known about the aid provided to the Contras, but Walsh's report noted that Reagan had "created the conditions which made possible the crimes committed by others" and had "knowingly participated or acquiesced in covering up the scandal."{{sfn|Patterson|2005|pp=211–212}}

===End of the Cold War===
{{See also|Cold War (1985–1991)}}
[[File:Reagan and Gorbachev signing.jpg|thumb|right|Gorbachev and Reagan sign the [[INF Treaty]] at the White House, 1987]]

Three different [[List of leaders of the Soviet Union|Soviet leaders]] died between 1982 and 1985, leaving the Soviets with an unstable leadership until [[Mikhail Gorbachev]] came to power in 1985.{{sfn|Herring|2008|p=894}} Although the Soviet Union had not accelerated military spending during Reagan's military buildup,<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/past/politics/foreign/reagrus.htm|title=Reagan and the Russians|date=February 1994|work=The Atlantic|last1=Lebow |first1=Richard Ned |last2=Stein |first2=Janice Gross |name-list-style=amp |access-date=May 28, 2010}}</ref> their large military expenses, in combination with [[Collectivization in the Soviet Union|collectivized agriculture]] and inefficient [[planned economy|planned manufacturing]], were a heavy burden for the [[Economy of the Soviet Union|Soviet economy]].<ref name="Gaidar">{{Cite book|last=Gaidar|first=Yegor|title=Collapse of an Empire: Lessons for Modern Russia|publisher=Brookings Institution Press|year=2007|isbn=978-5-8243-0759-7|language=ru|pages=190–205}}</ref> Gorbachev was less ideologically rigid than his predecessors, and he believed that the Soviet Union urgently needed economic and political reforms.{{sfn|Herring|2008|p=894}} In 1986, he introduced his twin reforms of [[perestroika]] and [[glasnost]], which would change the political and economic conditions of the Soviet Union.{{sfn|Brands|2015|pp=675–676}} Seeking to reduce military expenditures and minimize the possibility of nuclear war, he also sought to re-open negotiations with the United States over arms control.{{sfn|Herring|2008|p=894}}

As his influence on domestic affairs waned during his second term, Reagan increasingly focused on relations with the Soviet Union.{{sfn|Rossinow|2015|pp=225–226}} Reagan recognized the change in the direction of the Soviet leadership under Gorbachev, and shifted to diplomacy, with a view to encourage the Soviet leader to pursue substantial arms agreements. Reagan's personal mission was to achieve a world free of nuclear weapons, which according to [[Jack F. Matlock Jr.]], Reagan's ambassador to Moscow, he regarded as "totally irrational, totally inhumane, good for nothing but killing, possibly destructive of life on earth and civilization."<ref>{{cite book|author=Paul Vorbeck Lettow|title=Ronald Reagan And His Quest to Abolish Nuclear Weapons|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=36pYekyje-kC&pg=PA133|year=2006|page=133|publisher=Random House Publishing |isbn=9780812973266}}</ref> Gorbachev and Reagan agreed to meet at the 1985 [[Geneva Summit (1985)|Geneva Summit]], where they issued a joint statement indicating that neither the U.S. nor the Soviet Union would "seek to achieve military superiority."{{sfn|Rossinow|2015|pp=225–227}} The two leaders began a private correspondence after the summit, and each became increasingly optimistic about arms control negotiations.{{sfn|Herring|2008|pp=895–896}} Reagan's willingness to negotiate with the Soviets was opposed by many conservatives, including Weinberger; conservative columnist [[George Will]] wrote that Reagan was "elevating wishful thinking to the status of a political philosophy."{{sfn|Patterson|2005|pp=214–215}}

Various issues, including intelligence operations performed by both countries and tensions in Germany and Afghanistan, threatened to forestall the possibility of an agreement between the United States and the Soviet Union. Nonetheless, both Gorbachev and Reagan agreed to continue arms control negotiations at the October 1986 [[Reykjavík Summit]].{{sfn|Rossinow|2015|pp=228–230}} At the summit, Gorbachev and Reagan closed in on an agreement to greatly reduce or eliminate the nuclear stockpiles of both the U.S. and the Soviet Union over a ten-year period, but the deal collapsed due to disagreements regarding SDI development.{{sfn|Brands|2015|pp=596–604}} Reagan attacked Gorbachev in a [[Tear down this wall!|1987 speech]] delivered in [[West Berlin]], but negotiations continued.{{sfn|Patterson|2005|p=215}} Gorbachev and Reagan broke the impasse by agreeing to negotiate separate treaties on intermediate nuclear forces (such as [[intermediate-range ballistic missile]]s) and strategic arms (such as [[intercontinental ballistic missile]]s).{{sfn|Brands|2015|pp=676–677}}

With the framework for an agreement in place, Reagan and Gorbachev met at the 1987 [[Washington Summit (1987)|Washington Summit]].{{sfn|Rossinow|2015|pp=234–235}} They signed the [[Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty]] (INF Treaty), which committed both signatories to the total abolition of their respective short-range and medium-range missile stockpiles.{{sfn|Patterson|2005|p=215}} The agreement marked the first time that the United States and the Soviet Union had committed to the elimination of a type of nuclear weapon, though it provided for the dismantlement of only about one-twentieth of the worldwide nuclear weapon arsenal. The treaty also established an inspections regime designed to ensure that both parties honored the agreement.{{sfn|Rossinow|2015|p=236}} In addition to the INF Treaty, Reagan and Gorbachev discussed a potential strategic arms treaty, known as START, but SDI continued to be a major point of contention.{{sfn|Brands|2015|pp=682–685}} In May 1988, the Senate voted 93-to-5 in favor of ratifying the INF Treaty.{{sfn|Patterson|2005|p=216}}

[[File:President Reagan's Trip to USSR, Walking in Red Square with Mikhail Gorbachev, Moscow, May 31, 1988.webm|thumb|right|President Reagan's Trip to USSR, Walking in Red Square with Mikhail Gorbachev, Moscow, May 31, 1988]]
Though it was attacked by conservatives like Jesse Helms, the INF Treaty provided a major boost to Reagan's popularity in the aftermath of the Iran–Contra Affair. A new era of trade and openness between the two powers commenced, and the U.S. and the Soviet Union cooperated on international issues such as the [[Iran–Iraq War]].{{sfn|Herring|2008|pp=897–898}} When Reagan visited Moscow for a [[Moscow Summit (1988)|fourth summit]] with Gorbachev 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."<ref>{{Cite magazine|last=Talbott|first=Strobe|magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]]|date=August 5, 1991|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,973554-5,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100217044817/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,973554-5,00.html|archive-date=February 17, 2010|title=The Summit Goodfellas|access-date=January 26, 2008}}</ref> At Gorbachev's request, Reagan gave a speech on free markets at the [[Moscow State University]].{{sfn|Reagan|1990|p=713}} In December 1988, Gorbachev effectively renounced the [[Brezhnev Doctrine]], paving the way for democratization in Eastern Europe.{{sfn|Herring|2008|pp=898–899}} In November 1989, ten months after Reagan left office, the [[Berlin Wall]] [[Fall of the Berlin Wall|fell]]. The Cold War was unofficially declared over at the [[Malta Summit]] the following month.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/december/3/newsid_4119000/4119950.stm|title=1989: Malta summit ends Cold War|work=BBC News|date=December 3, 1984|access-date=August 12, 2011}}</ref>

===Honoring German war dead at Bitburg, Germany===
{{Main|Bitburg controversy}}

Reagan came under much criticism in 1985 when he was accused of honoring Nazi war criminals at a cemetery in West Germany.<ref>Richard J. Jensen, ''Reagan at Bergen-Belsen and Bitburg'' (Texas A&M University Press, 2007).</ref> 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.<ref>{{harvnb|Cannon|2000|pp=[https://archive.org/details/presidentreagan000cann/page/508 507–08]}}<!--: "Neither Reagan nor Deaver nor anyone else in the White House involved with the president's participation in the Bitburg ceremony realized that many Germans distinguished"--></ref>

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]].<ref>"[https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1985-04-19-mn-14900-story.html Reagan Defends Cemetery Visit : Says German Dead Are Also Victims of Nazis]", ''Los Angeles Times'', Don Shannon, April 19, 1985.</ref> [[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.<ref>{{cite web|author=Buchanan, Pat|author-link =Pat Buchanan|url=http://www.buchanan.org/pma-99-1105-wallstjl.html|title=Pat Buchanan's Response to Norman Podhoretz's OP-ED|publisher=The Internet Brigade|date= November 5, 1999 |access-date=September 3, 2007|archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20070927193354/http://www.buchanan.org/pma-99-1105-wallstjl.html|archive-date =September 27, 2007}}</ref> Now strongly urged to cancel the visit,{{sfn|Reeves|2005|p=249}} 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.<ref>"[https://www.nytimes.com/1985/05/06/international/europe/06REAG.html Reagan Joins Kohl in Brief Memorial at Bitburg Graves]", ''New York Times'', Bernard Weinraub, May 6, 1985.</ref>{{sfn|Reeves|2005|p=255}}

===Middle East===
[[File:Reagan_and_Sadat_1981.jpg|alt=Reagan and Sadat 1981|thumb|Egyptian President [[Anwar Sadat]] with Reagan in a joint press conference at the White House, 1981]]

====Lebanon====

A [[Lebanese Civil War|civil war]] had broken out in [[Lebanon]] in 1975, and both [[Israel]] and [[Syria]] undertook military action within Lebanon in 1982.{{sfn|Brands|2015|pp=366–367}} After Israel [[1982 Lebanon War|invaded]] [[Southern Lebanon]], Reagan faced domestic and international pressure to oppose the Israeli invasion, but Reagan was reluctant to openly break Israel. Reagan sympathized with Israeli's desire to defeat [[Palestine Liberation Organization|PLO]] forces that had struck Israel from Lebanon, but he pressured Israel to end its invasion as casualties mounted and Israeli forces approached the Lebanese capital of [[Beirut]].{{sfn|Brands|2015|pp=382–385}} American diplomat [[Philip Habib]] arranged a cease-fire in which Israel, Syria, and the PLO, all agreed to evacuate their forces from Lebanon. As Israel delayed a full withdrawal and violence continued in Lebanon, Reagan arranged for a [[Multinational Force in Lebanon|multinational force]], including [[United States Marine Corps|U.S. Marines]], to serve as peacekeepers in Lebanon.{{sfn|Brands|2015|pp=386–389}} In October 1983, [[1983 Beirut barracks bombings|two nearly-simultaneous bombings]] in Beirut killed 241 American Marines and 58 French soldiers.{{sfn|Brands|2015|pp=394–395}} The international peacekeeping force was withdrawn from Lebanon in 1984. In reaction to the role Israel and the United States played in the Lebanese Civil War, a [[Shia Islam|Shia]] militant group known as [[Hezbollah]] began to take American hostages, holding eight Americans by the middle of 1985.{{sfn|Brands|2015|pp=488–491}} The Reagan administration's attempts to release these hostages would be a major component of the Iran-Contra Scandal. In response to the U.S. intervention in Lebanon, the Defense Department developed the "[[Powell Doctrine]]," which stated that the U.S. should intervene militarily as a last resort and should set clear and limited goals in such interventions.{{sfn|Herring|2008|p=875}} Though termed the Powell doctrine, the policy was originally developed by Secretary of Defense Weinberger, who was influenced not only by Lebanon but also by the experience of the Vietnam War.{{sfn|Patterson|2005|pp=200–201}}

====Libya bombing====
{{Main|1986 United States bombing of Libya}}
[[File:President Reagan and Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher at Camp David 1986.jpg|thumb|British Prime Minister [[Margaret Thatcher]] (here walking with President Reagan at [[Camp David]] 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 (1981)|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.<ref name=iokp;>{{cite magazine| url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,925697,00.htm |first1=Strobe |last1=Talbott | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121107131613/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,925697,00.htm | archive-date=November 7, 2012 | title= Libya: Fury in the Isolation Ward|magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]]|date=August 23, 1982|access-date=August 12, 2011}}</ref> These tensions were later revived in early April 1986, when [[1986 Berlin discotheque bombing|a bomb exploded in a West 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 [[airstrike]]s on ground targets in Libya.{{sfn|Tucker|2012|page=2102}}<ref name="4-15">{{Cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/april/15/newsid_3975000/3975455.stm|title=1986:US Launches air-strike on Libya|access-date=April 19, 2008|date=April 15, 2008|work=BBC News }}</ref>
[[File:President_Ronald_Reagan_with_President_Hissène_Habré_of_Chad.jpg|thumb|256x256px|Chadian president [[Hissène Habré]] at the [[White House]]. Habré was supported by the Reagan administration as an ally against Gaddafi's Libya<ref>{{cite web |date=June 28, 2016 |title=Enabling a Dictator: The United States and Chad's Hissène Habré 1982–1990 |url=https://www.hrw.org/report/2016/06/28/enabling-dictator/united-states-and-chads-hissene-habre-1982-1990 |access-date=December 24, 2022 |publisher=[[Human Rights Watch]]}}</ref>]]
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]].<ref name="4-15" /> The attack was designed to halt Gaddafi's "ability to export terrorism," offering him "incentives and reasons to alter his criminal behavior."{{sfn|Joint Chiefs of Staff|2017|page=VII-5}} 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."<ref name="4-15" /> 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."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.un.org/documents/ga/res/41/a41r038.htm |title=A/RES/41/38 November 20, 1986 |publisher=United Nations |access-date=April 14, 2014}}</ref>

===South Africa===
[[File:Reagan with Desmond TutuC26199-10.jpg|thumb|President Reagan meeting with South African anti-apartheid activist [[Desmond Tutu]] in 1984]]
During Ronald Reagan's presidency South Africa continued to use a non-democratic system of government based on racial discrimination, known as [[apartheid]], in which the minority of white South Africans exerted nearly complete legal control over the lives of the non-white majority of the citizens. In the early 1980s the issue had moved to the center of international attention as a result of events in the townships and outcry at the death of [[Stephen Biko]]. Reagan administration policy called for "[[constructive engagement]]" with the apartheid government of South Africa. In opposition to the condemnations issued by the U.S. Congress and public demands for diplomatic or economic sanctions, Reagan made relatively minor criticisms of the regime, which was otherwise internationally isolated, and the U.S. granted recognition to the government. South Africa's military was then engaged in an occupation of [[Namibia]] and [[proxy war]]s in several neighboring countries, in alliance with Savimbi's UNITA. Reagan administration officials saw the apartheid government as a key anti-communist ally.<ref>[http://www.anc.org.za/ancdocs/history/embargo/rknight840403.htm] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090701053013/http://www.anc.org.za/ancdocs/history/embargo/rknight840403.htm|date=July 1, 2009}}</ref>

Finding the Reagan Administration unresponsive to its calls for more stringent economic sanctions, anti-apartheid activists undertook a [[Disinvestment from South Africa|divestment campaign]], aimed at moving individuals and institutions to sell their holdings in companies doing business in South Africa. By late 1985, facing escalating public and congressional opposition to his administration's tolerant attitude toward the South African government's policy of apartheid, Reagan made an "abrupt reversal" on the issue and proposed sanctions on the South African government, including an [[arms embargo]].<ref>{{cite news |last=Smith |first=William E. |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,959843,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100428221257/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,959843,00.html |archive-date=April 28, 2010 |title=South Africa Reagan's Abrupt Reversal |publisher=TIME |date=September 16, 1985 |access-date=April 14, 2014 }}</ref> However, these sanctions were seen as weak by anti-apartheid activists,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=ZZopAAAAIBAJ&dq=anti-apartheid+act+reagan&pg=4676,4983327|title=The Deseret News – Google News Archive Search|website=news.google.com}}</ref> and as insufficient by the president's opponents in Congress, including 81 House Republicans. In August 1986, Congress approved the [[Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act]], which included tougher sanctions. Reagan vetoed the act, but this was overridden by a bipartisan effort in Congress.<ref>{{cite web| last=Glass| first=Andrew| title=House overrides Reagan apartheid veto, Sept. 29, 1986| date=September 27, 2017| url=https://www.politico.com/story/2017/09/29/house-overrides-reagan-apartheid-veto-sept-29-1986-243169| publisher=Politico| access-date=August 3, 2019}}</ref> By 1990, under Reagan's successor George H. W. Bush, the new South African government of [[F. W. de Klerk]] was introducing widespread reforms, though the Bush administration argued that this was not a result of the tougher sanctions.<ref>George Gedda, {{cite web|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=iOJLAAAAIBAJ&dq=bush+sanctions+south+africa+1989&pg=4903,1578476|title=Analysts differ on sanctions tie to apartheid|website=news.google.com}}, ''The Free Lance-Star'' (July 11, 1991)</ref>

===Free trade===
During his 1980 presidential campaign, Reagan proposed the creation of a [[Single market|common market]] in North America. Once in office, Reagan signed the [[Trade and Tariff Act of 1984]], which granted the president "[[fast track (trade)|fast track]]" authority in negotiating [[United States free-trade agreements|free trade agreements]].<ref name="kamadeo1"/> In 1985, Reagan signed the [[Israel–United States Free Trade Agreement]], the first bilateral free trade agreement in U.S. history.<ref name="mtolchin1">{{cite news|last1=Tolchin|first1=Martin|title=U.S. Signs Trade Pact With Israel|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1985/04/23/business/us-signs-trade-pact-with-israel.html|access-date=November 28, 2017|work=[[The New York Times]]|date=April 23, 1985}}</ref> In 1988, Reagan and Canadian Prime Minister [[Brian Mulroney]] signed the [[Canada–United States Free Trade Agreement]], which greatly reduced trade barriers between the United States and Canada. This trade pact would serve as the foundation for the [[North American Free Trade Agreement]] among the United States, Canada, and Mexico.<ref name="kamadeo1">{{cite web|last1=Amadeo|first1=Kimberly|title=History of NAFTA and Its Purpose|url=https://www.thebalance.com/history-of-nafta-3306272|website=The Balance|access-date=November 28, 2017}}</ref>

==Age and health==
At the time, Reagan was the oldest person to have served as U.S. president, a record that is now held by [[Joe Biden]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.reaganlibrary.gov/sreference/the-reagan-presidency|title=The Reagan Presidency {{!}} Ronald Reagan Presidential Library – National Archives and Records Administration|website=www.reaganlibrary.gov|access-date=November 27, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Peter|first=Josh|date=November 5, 2020|title=Joe Biden will become the oldest president in American history, a title previously held by Ronald Reagan|url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2020/11/05/oldest-president-joe-biden/6181672002/|access-date=November 18, 2020|website=USA Today|language=en-US}}</ref> Reagan's health became a concern{{To whom?|date=October 2020}} at times during his presidency.{{citation needed|date=October 2020}}

Early in his presidency, Reagan started wearing a custom-made, technologically advanced [[hearing aid]], first in his right ear<ref>{{Cite news |access-date=June 13, 2008 |work=[[The New York Times]] |title=Reagan Begins to Wear a Hearing Aid in Public |last=Weisman |first=Steven R. |date=September 8, 1983 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1983/09/08/us/reagan-begins-to-wear-a-hearing-aid-in-public.html }}</ref> and later in his left ear as well.<ref>{{Cite news |agency=United Press International |access-date=June 13, 2008 |date=March 21, 1985 |title=Reagan Begins Using A Second Hearing Aid |newspaper=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1985/03/21/us/reagan-begins-using-a-second-hearing-aid.html }}</ref> His decision to go public in 1983 regarding his wearing the small, audio-amplifying device boosted their sales.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2006-08-09-austin-hearing-aid_x.htm |title=He amplifies hearing aids |access-date=June 13, 2008 |work=[[USA Today]] |last=Friess |first=Steve |date=August 9, 2006}}</ref>

On July 13, 1985, Reagan underwent surgery to remove a section of his colon due to [[colorectal cancer]].<ref>{{Cite journal|title=President Reagan's Life Saving Colectomy and Subsequent Historical Implications |journal=Military Medicine|year = 2014|doi=10.7205/milmed-d-14-00034|last1 = Sorensen|first1 = Robert H.|last2 = Farnsworth|first2 = G. Strider|last3 = Roberts|first3 = Jared E.|last4 = Welling|first4 = David R.|last5 = Rich|first5 = Norman M.|volume = 179|issue = 7|pages = 704–707|pmid = 25003852|doi-access = free}}</ref> He relinquished presidential power to the vice president for eight hours in a similar procedure as outlined in the [[Twenty-fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution|25th Amendment]], which he specifically avoided invoking.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://hnn.us/articles/812.html |title=What is the 25th Amendment and When Has It Been Invoked?|publisher=History News Network |access-date=June 6, 2007 }}</ref> The surgery lasted just under three hours and was successful.<ref>Bumgarner, p. 285{{full citation needed|{{subst:DATE}}|date=September 2023}}</ref> Reagan resumed the powers of the presidency later that day.<ref>Bumgarner, p. 204</ref> In August of that year, he underwent an operation to remove skin cancer cells from his nose.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1985/08/02/us/irritated-skin-is-removed-from-side-of-reagan-s-nose.html |title='Irritated Skin' is Removed from Side of Reagan's Nose |access-date=June 13, 2008 |last=Boyd |first=Gerald M. |date=August 2, 1985 |work=[[The New York Times]] }}</ref> In October, more skin cancer cells were detected on his nose and removed.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1985/10/13/weekinreview/balancing-the-budget-and-politics-more-cancer-on-reagan-s-nose.html |title=Balancing the Budget and Politics; More Cancer on Reagan's Nose |access-date=June 13, 2008 |date=October 13, 1987 |last1=Herron |first1=Caroline Rand |author2=Michael Wright |name-list-style=amp |work=[[The New York Times]] }}</ref>

Former White House correspondent [[Lesley Stahl]] later wrote that in 1986, she and other reporters noticed what might have been early symptoms of Reagan's later [[Alzheimer's disease]]. She said that on her last day on the beat, Reagan spoke to her for a few moments and did not seem to know who she was before returning to his normal behavior.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/6883|work=American Chronicle|date=March 15, 2006|title=Happy Anniversary to the first scheduled presidential press conference – 93 years young!|first=Robert|last=Rouse|access-date=November 12, 2008|archive-url=https://archive.today/20121123180712/http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/6883|archive-date=November 23, 2012}}</ref> However, Reagan's primary physician, John Hutton, has said that Reagan "absolutely" did not "show any signs of dementia or Alzheimer's" during his presidency.<ref>{{cite news |last=Altman |first=Lawrence K., M.D. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/10/05/us/reagan-s-twilight-a-special-report-a-president-fades-into-a-world-apart.html |title=Reagan's Twilight&nbsp;– A special report; A President Fades into a World Apart |access-date=June 18, 2008|date=October 5, 1997|work=The New York Times}}</ref> His doctors have noted that he began exhibiting Alzheimer's symptoms only after he left the White House.<ref>{{cite news |last=Altman |first=Lawrence K., M.D. |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D0DE5D61030F936A25755C0A9629C8B63 |work=The New York Times|title=The Doctors World; A Recollection of Early Questions About Reagan's Health|date=June 15, 2004 |access-date=November 11, 2008}}</ref>

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.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1987/01/06/us/president-is-well-after-operation-to-ease-prostate.html |title=President is Well after Operation to Ease Prostate |date=January 6, 1987 |access-date=June 13, 2008 |work=[[The New York Times]] |last=Altman |first=Lawrence K. }}</ref> In July of that year, he underwent a third skin cancer operation on his nose.<ref>{{Cite news |work=[[The New York Times]] |last1=Herron |first1=Caroline Rand |author2=Martha A. Miles |name-list-style=amp |title=The Nation; Cancer Found on Reagan's Nose |access-date=June 13, 2008 |date=August 2, 1987 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1987/08/02/weekinreview/the-nation-cancer-found-on-reagan-s-nose.html }}</ref>

On January 7, 1989, Reagan underwent surgery to repair a [[Dupuytren's contracture]] of the ring finger of his left hand.<ref>{{cite web |title=Statement by Assistant to the President for Press Relations Fitzwater on the President's Hand Surgery |url=https://reaganlibrary.archives.gov/archives/speeches/1989/010789b.htm |publisher=Ronald Reagan Presidential Library |access-date=June 14, 2016 |date=January 7, 1989 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160818061724/https://reaganlibrary.archives.gov/archives/speeches/1989/010789b.htm |archive-date=August 18, 2016 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

==Elections during the Reagan presidency==
{| class="wikitable" style="margin-left:1em"
|+ Congressional party leaders
|-
! colspan=2 |
! colspan=2 | Senate leaders
! colspan=2 | House leaders
|-
! Congress
! Year
! [[Party leaders of the United States Senate|Majority]]
! [[Party leaders of the United States Senate|Minority]]
! [[Speaker of the United States House of Representatives|Speaker]]
! [[Party leaders of the United States House of Representatives|Minority]]
|-
! [[97th United States Congress|97th]]
! <small>1981–1982</small>
| {{party shading/Republican}}| '''[[Howard Baker|Baker]]''' 
| {{party shading/Democratic}}| [[Robert Byrd|Byrd]]
| {{party shading/Democratic}}| '''[[Tip O'Neill|O'Neill]]'''
| {{party shading/Republican}}| [[Robert H. Michel|Michel]]
|-
! [[98th United States Congress|98th]]
! <small>1983–1984</small>
| {{party shading/Republican}}| '''[[Howard Baker|Baker]]''' 
| {{party shading/Democratic}}| [[Robert Byrd|Byrd]]
| {{party shading/Democratic}}| '''[[Tip O'Neill|O'Neill]]'''
| {{party shading/Republican}}| [[Robert H. Michel|Michel]]
|-
! [[99th United States Congress|99th]]
! <small>1985–1986</small>
| {{party shading/Republican}}| '''[[Bob Dole|Dole]]''' 
| {{party shading/Democratic}}| [[Robert Byrd|Byrd]]
| {{party shading/Democratic}}| '''[[Tip O'Neill|O'Neill]]'''
| {{party shading/Republican}}| [[Robert H. Michel|Michel]]
|-
! {{party shading/Democratic}}| [[100th United States Congress|100th]]
! {{party shading/Democratic}}| <small>1987–1988</small>
| {{party shading/Democratic}}| '''[[Robert Byrd|Byrd]]''' 
| {{party shading/Republican}}| [[Bob Dole|Dole]]
| {{party shading/Democratic}}| '''[[Jim Wright|Wright]]'''
| {{party shading/Republican}}| [[Robert H. Michel|Michel]]
|-
! {{party shading/Democratic}}| [[101st United States Congress|101st]]{{efn|name="Congress"}}
! {{party shading/Democratic}}| <small>1989</small>
| {{party shading/Democratic}}| '''[[George J. Mitchell|Mitchell]]''' 
| {{party shading/Republican}}| [[Bob Dole|Dole]]
| {{party shading/Democratic}}| '''[[Jim Wright|Wright]]'''
| {{party shading/Republican}}| [[Robert H. Michel|Michel]]
|}

{| class="wikitable" style="margin-left:1em"
|+ [[Party divisions of United States Congresses|Republican seats in Congress]]
|-
! Congress
! Senate
! House
|-
! [[97th United States Congress|97th]]{{efn|name="Congress"|17 days of the 97th Congress (January 3, 1981 – January 19, 1981) took place under President Carter, and 17 days of the 101st Congress (January 3, 1989 – January 19, 1989) took place during Reagan's second term.}}
| '''53–54'''
| 192
|-
! [[98th United States Congress|98th]]
| '''54–55'''
| 166
|-
! [[99th United States Congress|99th]]
| '''53'''
| 182
|-
! [[100th United States Congress|100th]]
| 45–46
| 177
|-
! [[101st United States Congress|101st]]{{efn|name="Congress"}}
| 45
| 175
|}

===1982 mid-term elections===
{{Main|1982 United States elections}}

In the 1982 mid-term elections, Democrats retained a majority of the House while Republicans retained control of the Senate. Democratic gains in the House put a check on Reagan's policies, as the incoming Congress was significantly less open to Reagan's conservative policies. Despite the Democratic electoral gains, the election represented the first time since the [[1930 United States elections|1930 elections]] that the [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican Party]] successfully defended a majority in either chamber of Congress.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Busch|first1=Andrew|title=Horses in Midstream|url=https://archive.org/details/horsesinmidstrea0000busc|url-access=registration|date=1999|publisher=University of Pittsburgh Press|pages=[https://archive.org/details/horsesinmidstrea0000busc/page/126 126]–135}}</ref>

===1984 re-election campaign===
{{Main|Ronald Reagan 1984 presidential campaign|1984 United States presidential election}}
{{Further|1984 United States elections|1984 Republican Party presidential primaries|1984 Republican National Convention}}
[[File:ElectoralCollege1984.svg|thumb|upright=1.5|President Reagan defeated Democrat [[Walter Mondale]] in the 1984 presidential election. President Reagan was reelected in one of the [[List of United States presidential elections by popular vote margin|largest landslide election victories in American history]], winning 59% of the popular vote, receiving 54,455,472 votes to Mondale's 37,577,352 votes. President Reagan won an even larger [[United States Electoral College|Electoral College]] victory, winning 525 electoral votes to 13 for Mondale.]]

Reagan's approval ratings fell after his first year in office, but they bounced back when the United States began to emerge from recession in 1983.{{sfn|Leuchtenburg|2015|pp=620–621}} The leading candidates in the [[1984 Democratic Party presidential primaries|1984 Democratic presidential primaries]] were former Vice President [[Walter Mondale]], Senator [[Gary Hart]] of Colorado, and African-American civil rights activist [[Jesse Jackson]]. Though Hart won several primaries, Mondale ultimately won the nomination. Down in the polls, Mondale [[Democratic Party vice presidential candidate selection, 1984|selected]] Congresswoman [[Geraldine Ferraro]] as his running mate in hopes of galvanizing support for his campaign, thus making Ferraro the first female major party vice presidential nominee in U.S. history.{{sfn|Rossinow|2015|pp=166–169, 173}} In accepting the Democratic nomination, Mondale attacked Reagan's policies regarding the environment, Social Security, nuclear arms, civil rights, and other issues, stating that the Reagan administration was "of the rich, by the rich, and for the rich."{{sfn|Rossinow|2015|pp=171–172}} He also criticized the federal debt accumulated under Reagan, stating, "...The budget will be squeezed. Taxes will go up. And anyone who says they won't is not telling the truth to the American people."{{sfn|Brands|2015|pp=452–453}}

Reagan, meanwhile, generally declined to offer new legislative proposals for his re-election campaign, instead focusing on events like the U.S.-hosted [[1984 Summer Olympics]] and the 40th anniversary of the [[Normandy landings]].{{sfn|Rossinow|2015|pp=169–170, 176}} Reagan's ability to perform the duties of president for another term was questioned by some observers, especially after a weak performance in the first presidential debate. 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]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.nationalreview.com/flashback/editors200410040912.asp|title=The Debate: Mondale vs. Reagan|work=National Review|date=October 4, 2004|access-date=May 25, 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070416191912/http://www.nationalreview.com/flashback/editors200410040912.asp <!-- Added by H3llBot -->|archive-date=April 16, 2007}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.pbs.org/newshour/debatingourdestiny/newshour/84_1stprez-analysis.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010218175006/http://www.pbs.org/newshour/debatingourdestiny/newshour/84_1stprez-analysis.html|archive-date=February 18, 2001|title=Reaction to first Mondale/Reagan debate|publisher=PBS|date=October 8, 1984|access-date=December 31, 2007}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://cgi.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1996/debates/history/1984/|title=1984 Presidential Debates|publisher=CNN|access-date=May 25, 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070308065739/http://cgi.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1996/debates/history/1984/|archive-date=March 8, 2007}}</ref>

Public opinion polling consistently showed a Reagan lead in the 1984 campaign, and Mondale was unable to shake up the race.{{sfn|Rossinow|2015|p=173}} In the end, Reagan won re-election, winning 49 of 50 states.<ref name="84 results" /> Mondale carried only his home state of Minnesota and the District of Columbia. Reagan won a record 525 electoral votes,<ref name="pres">{{cite web|url=http://www.reagan.utexas.edu/archives/reference/pressketch.html|title=The Reagan Presidency|access-date=April 19, 2008|publisher=Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation|archive-date=May 17, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080517013218/http://www.reagan.utexas.edu/archives/reference/pressketch.html}}</ref> and received 59% of the popular vote to Mondale's 41%.<ref name="84 results">{{cite web|url=http://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/national.php?year=1984|title=1984 Presidential Election Results|publisher=David Leip|access-date=May 25, 2007}}</ref> Compared to 1980, Reagan's strongest gains came among white Southern voters, and he also performed particularly well among Catholic voters, voters between the ages of eighteen and twenty-nine, and voters over the age of sixty.{{sfn|Rossinow|2015|pp=173–174}} In the concurrent [[1984 United States elections|congressional elections]], Republicans retained control of the [[United States Senate|Senate]] and Democrats retained control of the [[United States House of Representatives|House of Representatives]].

===1986 mid-term elections===
{{Main|1986 United States elections}}

In the 1986 mid-term elections, Democrats retained a majority of the House and won control of the Senate for the first time since the 1980 elections. Reagan campaigned hard for congressional Republicans, and an October 1986 New York Times/CBS News Poll had found that Reagan had a 67% approval rating. However, Senate Republicans faced a difficult map that year, as they had to defend 22 of the 34 seats up for election. Republican losses in the Senate were concentrated in the South and in the farm states.<ref name="1986midterms">{{cite news|last1=Dionne|first1=E.J. Jr.|title=ELECTIONS; DEMOCRATS GAIN CONTROL OF SENATE, DRAWING VOTES OF REAGAN'S BACKERS; CUOMO AND D'AMATO ARE EASY VICTORS; WHAT AWAITS CONGRESS; BROAD G.O.P. LOSSES|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/11/05/us/elections-democrats-gain-control-senate-drawing-votes-reagan-s-backers-cuomo-d.html|access-date=May 13, 2018|work=[[The New York Times]]|date=1986}}</ref> The Republican loss of the Senate precluded the possibility of further major conservative legislation during the Reagan administration.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Busch|first1=Andrew|title=Horses in Midstream|date=1999|publisher=University of Pittsburgh Press|pages=126–135}}</ref>

===1988 elections and transition period===
{{Main|1988 United States elections}}
{{Further|George H. W. Bush 1988 presidential campaign|Michael Dukakis 1988 presidential campaign|1988 United States presidential election|Presidential transition of George H. W. Bush}}
[[File:ElectoralCollege1988.svg|thumb|upright=1.5|Republican [[George H. W. Bush]] defeated Democrat [[Michael Dukakis]] in the 1988 presidential election.]]
[[File:President Ronald Reagan Nancy Reagan George Bush Barbara Bush Dan Quayle Marilyn Quayle Photo Op with Newly Elected George Bush and Dan Quayle.jpg|thumb|Outgoing President Ronald Reagan with his wife [[Nancy Reagan|Nancy]], Vice President and President-elect [[George H. W. Bush]] with his wife [[Barbara Bush|Barbara]], and Vice President-elect [[Dan Quayle]] with his wife [[Marilyn Quayle|Marilyn]] in the [[White House Rose Garden]] on November 9, 1988]]

Reagan remained publicly neutral in the [[1988 Republican Party presidential primaries|1988 Republican presidential primaries]], but privately supported Vice President [[George H. W. Bush]] over Senator [[Bob Dole]]. The [[1988 Republican National Convention]], which nominated Bush for president, also acted as a celebration of Reagan's presidency.{{sfn|Brands|2015|pp=697–698}} Democrats nominated [[Michael Dukakis]], the liberal Governor of Massachusetts. Following the [[1988 Democratic National Convention]], Dukakis led the polls by seventeen points, but Bush, aided by the INF Treaty and the strong economy, closed the gap as the election neared. Democrats tried to link Bush to the Iran–Contra Scandal, but Bush claimed that he had not been involved. The GOP effectively cast Dukakis as "soft" on crime and foreign policy issues, seizing on Dukakis's pardon of [[Willie Horton]] and his dispassionate response to a question regarding the death penalty. 

In the [[1988 United States presidential election|1988 presidential election]], Bush soundly defeated Dukakis, taking 53.4 percent of the popular vote and 426 electoral votes.{{sfn|Patterson|2005|pp=220–225}} The election saw the lowest turnout of eligible voters in any presidential election since [[1948 United States presidential election|1948]].<ref>{{cite web |title=National General Election VEP Turnout Rates, 1789–Present |url=http://www.electproject.org/national-1789-present |publisher=United States Elections Project |access-date=November 8, 2020}}</ref> In the concurrent [[1988 United States elections|congressional elections]], Democrats retained control of the [[United States House of Representatives|House of Representatives]] and the [[United States Senate|Senate]].{{sfn|Patterson|2005|pp=220–225}} In large part due to his handling of relations with the Soviet Union, Reagan left office with an approval rating of sixty-eight percent,{{sfn|Patterson|2005|p=217}} matching the approval ratings of Franklin Roosevelt and later [[Bill Clinton]] as the highest rating for a departing president in the modern era.<ref>{{cite web|title = A Look Back At The Polls| date=June 7, 2004 |url = http://www.cbsnews.com/news/a-look-back-at-the-polls/|publisher = CBS News|access-date = May 15, 2015}}</ref>

{{clear}}

==Evaluation and legacy==
[[File:Gallup Poll-Approval Rating-Ronald Reagan.png|thumb|upright=1.5|Graph of Reagan's approval ratings in [[Gallup (company)|Gallup]] polls]]

Since Reagan left office in 1989, substantial debate has occurred among scholars, historians, and the general public surrounding his legacy.<ref>Andrew L. Johns, ed., ''A Companion to Ronald Reagan'' (Wiley-Blackwell, 2015).</ref> Supporters have pointed to a more efficient and prosperous economy as a result of Reagan's economic policies,{{sfn|Hayward|2009|pp=635–638}} foreign policy triumphs including a peaceful end to the Cold War,{{sfn|Beschloss|2007|p=324}} and a restoration of American pride and morale.{{sfn|Cannon|2000|p=746}} Proponents also argue Reagan restored faith in the American Dream<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.cnn.com/2011/OPINION/02/02/rollins.reagan/|title=Ronald Reagan restored faith in America|access-date=October 7, 2014}}</ref> after a decline in American confidence and self-respect under Jimmy Carter's perceived weak leadership, particularly during the [[Iran hostage crisis]].<ref>{{cite web|last1=Lipset|first1=Seymour Martin|last2=Schneider|first2=William|title=The Decline of Confidence in American Institutions|url=http://www.planethan.com/drupal/sites/default/files/The%20Decline%20of%20Confidence%20in%20American%20Institutions%20%20By%20Lipset%20Seymour%20Martin%20and%20Schneider%20William%20Political%20Science%20Quarterly%20Fall83%20Vol%2098%20Issue%203%20p379.pdf|work=Political Science Quarterly|access-date=July 18, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160822132334/http://www.planethan.com/drupal/sites/default/files/The%20Decline%20of%20Confidence%20in%20American%20Institutions%20%20By%20Lipset%20Seymour%20Martin%20and%20Schneider%20William%20Political%20Science%20Quarterly%20Fall83%20Vol%2098%20Issue%203%20p379.pdf|archive-date=August 22, 2016}}</ref> Reagan remains an important symbol of American conservatism, much in the same way that Franklin Roosevelt continued to serve as a symbol of liberalism long after his own death.{{sfn|Rossinow|2015|p=293}}

Critics contend that Reagan's economic policies resulted in rising budget deficits,{{sfn|Cannon|Beschloss|2001|p=128}} a wider [[Wealth inequality in the United States|gap in wealth]], and an increase in [[homelessness]].<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://www.thenation.com/article/reagans-real-legacy/ |title=Reagan's Real Legacy |last=Dreier |first=Peter |author-link=Peter Dreier |date=February 4, 2011 |website=[[The Nation]] |language=en-US |access-date=April 7, 2018}}</ref> Liberals especially disapproved of Reagan's simultaneous tax cuts for the wealthy and benefit cuts for the poor.{{sfn|Patterson|2005|p=158}} Some critics assert that the Iran–Contra affair lowered American credibility.<ref>{{cite web|last=Gilman|first=Larry|url=http://www.espionageinfo.com/Int-Ke/Iran-Contra-Affair.html|title=Iran-Contra Affair|publisher=Advameg|access-date=August 23, 2007}}</ref> In his popular book, ''The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers'', historian [[Paul Kennedy]] argued that Reagan's high level of defense would eventually lead to the decline of the United States as a [[great power]].{{sfn|Patterson|2005|p=202}} Reagan's leadership and understanding of issues has also been questioned, and even some members of the administration criticized Reagan's passive demeanor during meetings with staff and cabinet members.{{sfn|Patterson|2005|pp=160–161}} [[Richard Pipes]], a member of the National Security Council, criticized Reagan as "really lost, out of his depth, uncomfortable" at NSC meetings.{{sfn|Leffler|2007|p=349}} Another NSC member, [[Colin Powell]], criticized Reagan's "passive management style [that] placed a tremendous burden on us."{{sfn|Pemberton|1997|p=151}}

Despite the continuing debate surrounding his legacy, many conservative and liberal scholars agree that Reagan has been one of the most influential presidents since Franklin Roosevelt, leaving his imprint on American politics, diplomacy, culture, and economics through his effective communication, dedicated patriotism,  and pragmatic compromising.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://millercenter.org/president/reagan/essays/biography/8|title=American President|access-date=October 7, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141011080053/http://millercenter.org/president/reagan/essays/biography/8|archive-date=October 11, 2014}}</ref> Since he left office, historians have reached a consensus,<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Henry|first1=David|title=Ronald Reagan and the 1980s: Perceptions, Policies, Legacies. Ed. by Cheryl Hudson and Gareth Davies. (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008. xiv, 268 pp. $84.95, ISBN 978-0-230-60302-8.)|journal=[[The Journal of American History]]|date=December 2009|volume=96|issue=3|pages=933–934|doi=10.1093/jahist/96.3.933|jstor=25622627}}</ref> as summarized by British historian M. J. Heale, who finds that scholars now concur that Reagan rehabilitated conservatism, turned the nation to the right, practiced a considerably pragmatic conservatism that balanced ideology and the constraints of politics, revived faith in the presidency and in [[American exceptionalism]], and contributed to victory in the Cold War.<ref>Heale, M.J. in Cheryl Hudson and Gareth Davies, eds. ''Ronald Reagan and the 1980s: Perceptions, Policies, Legacies'' (2008) Palgrave Macmillan {{ISBN|0-230-60302-5}} p. 250</ref> [[Hugh Heclo]] argues that Reagan himself failed to roll back the [[welfare state]], but that he contributed to a shift in attitudes that led to the defeat of efforts to further expand the welfare state.{{sfn|Heclo|2008|pp=558–560}} Heclo further argues that Reagan's presidency made American voters and political leaders more tolerant of deficits and more opposed to taxation.{{sfn|Heclo|2008|pp=562–563}}

In 2017, a C-SPAN survey of scholars ranked Reagan as the ninth greatest president.<ref>See [https://static.c-span.org/assets/documents/presidentSurvey/2017%20C-SPAN%20Presidential%20Survey%20Scores%20and%20Ranks%20FINAL.PDF "S-SPAN 2017 Survey of Presidential Leadership" '' C-SPAN'']</ref><ref>{{cite book|editor=Andrew L. Johns|title=A Companion to Ronald Reagan|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aaueBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA2|year=2015|publisher=Wiley|pages=1–2|isbn=9781118607824}}</ref> A 2018 poll of the [[American Political Science Association]]'s presidents and Executive Politics section also ranked Reagan as the ninth greatest president.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Rottinghaus|first1=Brandon|last2=Vaughn|first2=Justin S.|title=How Does Trump Stack Up Against the Best — and Worst — Presidents?|url=https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/02/19/opinion/how-does-trump-stack-up-against-the-best-and-worst-presidents.html/|access-date=May 14, 2018|work=[[The New York Times]]|date=February 19, 2018}}</ref> In terms of the worst mistake made by a sitting president, a 2006 poll of historians ranked the Iran-Contra affair as the ninth worst.<ref>{{cite news |title=Scholars rate worst presidential errors |url=http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-02-18-presidential-goofs_x.htm |access-date=August 31, 2018 |agency=AP |publisher=USA Today |date=February 18, 2006}}</ref>

==See also==
{{Portal|1980s|United States|Politics|Conservatism}}
* [[History of the United States (1980–1991)]]
* [[Premiership of Margaret Thatcher]]
* [[Ronald Reagan Presidential Library]], Simi Valley, California

== Explanatory notes ==
{{Notelist}}

==References==
=== Citations ===
{{Reflist|colwidth=30em}}

===Works cited===
{{Refbegin|2}}
* {{cite book|last1=Brands|first1=H.W.|title=Reagan: The Life|date=2015|publisher=Doubleday|location=New York}}
* {{cite book|last = Beschloss|first=Michael|title=Presidential Courage: Brave Leaders and How They Changed America 1789–1989|url = https://archive.org/details/presidentialcour00besc|url-access = registration|year =2007|publisher=Simon & Schuster|isbn=9780684857053}}
* {{cite book|last=Cannon|first=Lou|author-link=Lou Cannon|title=President Reagan: The Role of a Lifetime|orig-year=1991|year=2000|publisher=Public Affairs|location=New York|isbn=1-891620-91-6|url=https://archive.org/details/presidentreagan000cann}}
* {{cite book | title = Ronald Reagan: The Presidential Portfolio: A History Illustrated from the Collection of the Ronald Reagan Library and Museum | first = Lou | last = Cannon | author-link = Lou Cannon | first2 = Michael |last2=Beschloss | publisher = PublicAffairs | isbn = 1-891620-84-3 | year = 2001 | url = https://archive.org/details/ronaldreaganpres00cann }}
* {{cite journal|last1=Heclo|first1=Hugh|title=The Mixed Legacies of Ronald Reagan|journal=Presidential Studies Quarterly|date=2008|volume=38|issue=4|pages=555–574|doi=10.1111/j.1741-5705.2008.02664.x|jstor=41219701}}
* {{cite book|last1=Herring|first1=George C.|title=From Colony to Superpower; U.S. Foreign Relations Since 1776|date=2008|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-507822-0|url=https://archive.org/details/fromcolonytosupe00herr}}
* {{cite book|last1=Leffler|first1=Melvyn P.|title=For the Soul of Mankind: the United States, the Soviet Union, and the Cold War|url=https://archive.org/details/forsoulofmankind00leff|url-access=registration|date=2007|publisher=Hill and Wang|isbn=9780809097173}}
* {{cite book|last1=Leuchtenburg|first1=William E.|author-link=William Leuchtenburg|title=The American President: From Teddy Roosevelt to Bill Clinton|date=2015|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=9780195176162}}
* {{cite book|last1=Patterson|first1=James|title=Restless Giant: The United States from Watergate to Bush v. Gore|date=2005|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0195122169|url=https://archive.org/details/restlessgiantuni00patt_0}}
* {{cite book|last1=Pemberton|first1=William E.|title=Exit with Honor: The Life and Presidency of Ronald Reagan|date=1997|publisher=Routledge}}
* {{cite book|last= Reagan|first= Ronald|title= An American Life|year= 1990|publisher= Simon and Schuster|location= New York|isbn= 0-7434-0025-9|url= https://archive.org/details/americanlife00reag_0}}
* {{cite book|last1=Rossinow|first1=Douglas C.|title=The Reagan Era: A History of the 1980s|date=2015|publisher=Columbia University Press|isbn=9780231538657}}
* {{cite book|last1=Weisberg|first1=Jacob|title=Ronald Reagan|date=2016|publisher=Times Books|isbn=978-0-8050-9728-3}}
* {{cite book|last1=Wilentz|first1=Sean|title=The Age of Reagan: A History, 1974-2008|date=2008|publisher=HarperCollins|isbn=978-0-06-074480-9|url=https://archive.org/details/ageofreaganhisto00wile}}
* {{cite report |last1=Joint Chiefs of Staff |title="JP 3-0, Joint Operations" |date=17 January 2017 |publisher=Homeland Security Digital Library |url=https://www.hsdl.org/?view&did=798700 |access-date=27 September 2023 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220308191339/https://www.hsdl.org/?view&did=798700 |archive-date= Mar 8, 2022 }}
* {{cite book |last1=Tucker |first1=Spencer C. |title=Almanac of American Military History [4 volumes]: [4 volumes] |date=21 November 2012 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing USA |isbn=978-1-59884-531-0 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-uPNEAAAQBAJ |language=en}}
{{Refend}}

==Further reading==
{{Main|Bibliography of Ronald Reagan}}

{{Refbegin|2}}
* Brandt, Karl Gerard. [https://archive.org/details/ronaldreaganhous00bran ''Ronald Reagan and the House Democrats: Gridlock, Partisanship, and the Fiscal Crisis''] (University of Missouri Press, 2009).
* Brownlee, W. Elliot and Hugh Davis Graham, eds. [https://archive.org/details/reaganpresidency0000unse/page/n3/mode/2up ''The Reagan Presidency: Pragmatic Conservatism and Its Legacies''] (2003)
* Coleman, Bradley Lynn and Kyle Longley, eds. ''Reagan and the World: Leadership and National Security, 1981–1989'' (University Press of Kentucky, 2017), 319 pp.  essays by scholars
* {{cite book |last= Diggins |first= John Patrick |title= Ronald Reagan: Fate, Freedom, and the Making of History |url= https://archive.org/details/ronaldreaganfate00digg |url-access= registration | year= 2007| publisher= W. W. Norton |location= New York|isbn= 9780393060225 }}
* Ehrman, John. ''The Eighties: America in the Age of Reagan.'' (2005)
* Graff, Henry F., ed. ''The presidents: A Reference History'' (3rd ed. 2002)
* Hertsgaard, Mark. (1988) ''On Bended Knee: The Press and the Reagan Presidency''. New York, New York: Farrar Straus and Giroux.
* Hill,  Dilys M. and Raymond A. Moore, eds. ''The Reagan Presidency'' (Palgrave Macmillan, 1990) essays by scholars; 252pp.
* Holzer, Harold. ''The Presidents Vs. the Press: The Endless Battle Between the White House and the Media—from the Founding Fathers to Fake News'' (Dutton, 2020) pp.&nbsp;304–325. [https://books.google.com/books?id=siY6EAAAQBAJ&dq=HOLZER+PRESS+Harold&pg=PR15 online] 
* Inboden, William. ''The Peacemaker: Ronald Reagan, the Cold War, and the World on the Brink'' (Penguin Random House, 2022) [https://issforum.org/to/jrt15-54 two scholarly  book reviews online]

* La Barca, Giuseppe. ''International Trade under President Reagan: US Trade Policy in the 1980s'' (Bloomsbury, 2023). {{ISBN|978-1-350-27141-8}}
* Levy, Peter, ed. ''Encyclopedia of the Reagan-Bush years'' (1996) [https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofre00levy online]
* {{cite book |last= Matlock |first= Jack |title= Reagan and Gorbachev: How the Cold War Ended |year= 2004 |publisher= Random House |location= New York |isbn= 0-679-46323-2 |url= https://archive.org/details/reagangorbachevh00matl }}
* [[Nancy Reagan|Reagan, Nancy]]. ''My Turn: The Memoirs of Nancy Reagan'' (1989), with [[William Novak]]. H. W. Brands in ''Reagan: The Life'' (2015) on p.&nbsp;743 says "she wrote one of the most candid and at times self-critical memoirs in recent American political history."
* {{cite book |last= Reeves |first= Richard |author-link= Richard Reeves (American writer) |title= President Reagan: The Triumph of Imagination |year= 2005 |publisher= Simon & Schuster |location= New York |isbn= 0-7432-3022-1 |url= https://archive.org/details/presidentreagant00reev }}
* Shultz, George P. [https://archive.org/details/turmoiltriumphmy0000shul_u0o4 ''Turmoil and Triumph: My Years as Secretary of State''] (1993), covers 1982–1989.
* Service, Robert. ''The End of the Cold War: 1985–1991'' (2015) 
* Spitz, Bob. ''Reagan: An American Journey'' (2018), 880pp; detailed biography.  
* Thompson, Kenneth W., ed. [https://archive.org/details/foreignpolicyinr00kern ''Foreign policy in the Reagan presidency: nine intimate perspectives''] (1993)
* {{Cite book |last=Walsh |first=Kenneth |year=1997 |title=Ronald Reagan |url=https://archive.org/details/ronaldreagan00wals |url-access=registration |location=New York |publisher=Random House Value Publishing |isbn=0-517-20078-3}}
{{Refend}}

===Historiography===
* Johns, Andrew L., ed. ''A Companion to Ronald Reagan'' (Wiley-Blackwell, 2015). xiv, 682 pp.; topical essays by scholars emphasizing historiography; [http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/book/10.1002/9781118607770 contents free at many libraries]
* Kengor, Paul. [https://go.gale.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA60037190&sid=googleScholar&v=2.1&it=r&linkaccess=abs&issn=01465945&p=AONE&sw=w&userGroupName=mlin_oweb&isGeoAuthType=true "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."

==External links==
{{Commons category|Presidency of Ronald Reagan}}
* [http://www.reaganlibrary.com/ Reagan Library]
* [https://millercenter.org/president/reagan in-depth coverage by Miller Center at University Virginia]
* [http://www.shmoop.com/reagan-era/ Reagan Era] study guide, timeline, quotes, trivia, teacher resources

{{Ronald Reagan}}
{{George H. W. Bush}}
{{US Presidential Administrations}}
{{Republican Party (United States)}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Presidency of Ronald Reagan| ]]
[[Category:Presidencies of the United States|Reagan, Ronald]]
[[Category:Ronald Reagan]]
[[Category:Nancy Reagan]]
[[Category:George H. W. Bush]]
[[Category:Barbara Bush]]
[[Category:1980s in the United States]]
[[Category:1980s in American politics]]
[[Category:1981 establishments in the United States]]
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[[Category:Cold War history of the United States]]
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[[Category:Reagan Era]]