Ronald Reagan“The Great Communicator” &

“The Teflon President”

- 40th President (1981-1989)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X39dGQmBEww

Ronald Reagan

• Biography– Born in Midwest– Radio/Actor– President of Screen Actors

Guild– Divorced/Remarried– Governor of California (2 terms)

– President (2 terms)

The Campaign:“Are you better off now than you were four years ago?”

Conservative Agenda:• Cut Taxes• Cut the size of

government• Increase Defense

Spending

Pres. Reagan & Vice-Pres. Bush

The Election of 1980

Hostages in Iran

• Released on January 20, 1981• President Reagan gets the credit

Reagan vs. FDR: a Fundamental Change

• “The only bulwark of continuing liberty is a government strong enough to protect the interests of the people…”

- Franklin D. Roosevelt• “Government is the problem…”

- Ronald Reagan

FDR – Demand Side Economics

• Favors working class over Big Business and the wealthy

FDR’s (Demand Side)

• Provide Government help to the working class (New Deal Programs)

• Working class spends their money at businesses who will prosper

• Businesses provide jobs for working class• The Depression Ends!

Reagan

• Supports Big Business and the wealthy because they are the job creators

• Wants a return to Laissez-Faire

Reaganomics (Supply-Side)

• Gov. policies Help businesses and the wealthy (tax breaks, deregulation, etc.)

• Businesses in turn provide jobs to people• People earn money, so they spend it• Businesses do well and hire

people/provide raises• Recession Ends! (Money Trickles Down)

Reaganomics (Supply-side policy)Give Tax Breaks and Money to the Wealthy and Business Owners

Money “trickles down” to the working class in the form of jobs and raises

FDR’s (Demand-side Policy)

Money “trickles up” to the wealthy and businesses as it is spent

Give money and aid to the working class

Domestic Challenges

• Economy

• Supreme Court Appointments– Sandra Day

O’Connor - First Woman

– Antonin Scalia– Anthony Kennedy

• “War on Drugs”/Crime

Attempted Assassination March 30, 1981

• Assassin – John Hinkley Jr.• “Brady Bill” passes in 1994

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDIVheB5kIM

Foreign Affairs (1981-1984)Stop Communism

• Central America– El Salvador/Nicaragua

• Middle East– Lebanon;

Peacekeeping force targeted during civil war

• Caribbean– Grenada ousting of

Marxist government

U.S. Embassy in Beirut Bombed

The Election of 1984

Foreign Affairs (1985 – 1989)

• U.S./Soviet relations improve.

• Iran-Contra Affair– Selling of weapons to

Iran to fund Contras in Nicaragua – ILLEGAL!

End of the Cold War

Reagan in Berlin, 1987http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjWDrTXMgF8&feature=related

Reagan’s Death and Legacy

• Died June 5, 2004, after long battle with Alzheimer’s

• Legacy: – Safer world, more

prosperous country, end to Cold War threat

– Larger gap between rich and poor, national debt much larger