Ronald Reagan Economic Policy Research Paper

Reagan’s Policies
Ronald Reagan, with his starting image of honesty and integrity, was one of America’s most iconic and most celebrated leaders. As evidenced by the mere invocation of his name in modern politics because of its positive connotation, Reagan has had a profound effect on America. There is no doubt that he left behind a legacy of his own that would carry into the future of the United States. However, Reagan’s conservative economic, foreign, and social policies ended up creating more obstacles for the nation to overcome in the long run. When Reagan became president, he promised to minimize government regulations, lower taxes, and balance the budget. His economic policies, alternatively known as “Reaganomics”, were designed to

His lack of efficient management of his administration resulted in the Iran-Contra scandal that would shadow his presidency. In 1985, under his own nose, Reagan’s administration sold weapons to Iranians in exchange for the release of American hostages held in Lebanon. Money from the this payment was given to the Contra rebels in Nicaragua. Not only did this go against the congressional ban on military assistance to the rebels, but it also went against Reagan’s promise that he wouldn’t traffic with terrorists. Initially stating that he didn’t trade arms for hostages, Reagan ended up taking full responsibility in the end, when faced with all the evidence. This incident was the first “crack” on Reagan’s integrity as a new image of him portrayed him as an ignorant president who paid little attention to his

He rejected affirmative action and abortion, two distinct liberal political ideas. In addition, he also appointed three conservative justices onto the Supreme Court. In the court case Ward’s Cove Packing v. Antonia the Court made it harder to provide evidence that a company was intentionally discriminating racially when it hired new employees. This was a major setback for affirmative action policies as reverse discrimination could now be easily claimed. In Webster v. Reproductive Health Services, the Court undermined Roe v. Wade’s ruling on abortion rights. States began to legislate in areas that the previous Roe had forbidden them to legislate in. As a result, pro-choice organizations were forced into a new militancy as the issue of abortion was disputed throughout the nation. This cultural disagreement over the right of abortion would continue on, even after Reagan’s presidency. Furthermore, Reagan was painfully slow in the recognition of another national problem that arose in the 1980s, the advent of the disease AIDS. For a period of time, Reagan showed no intention of speaking about the epidemic, not even uttering its name in public. When he did take action, many believed that it was too late because he had failed to bring national awareness when lives had already been lost. Reagan’s stance on domestic policies brought about more issues within the nation that would