Reagan and the 1980s
President Ronald Reagan served two terms, lasting from 1981 to 1989. During his tenure, he is noted for economic policies that favored the wealthy and a conservative agenda that took care of business interests at the expense of social efforts. More than fifteen years after Reagan's tenure, we still see his influence not only in the things he changed in the 1980s, but also in the politics and economic policies of current conservatives, particularly true of current President George W. Bush who, like Reagan, will also enjoy eight years to push his supply-side agenda. In the year before Reagan took office, 1980, the United States economy was stagnant (Reaganomics). Inflation was 13.5 percent and unemployment was 7.1 percent. Gross domestic product (GDP) had only grown 2.8 percent from 1974 to 1981. Americans were anxious for a new agenda and Reagan responded with a different economic approach commonly referred to as either Reaganomics or supply-side economics. This form of economic policy holds that the supply side of the economy such as economic activity and production have to be stimulated to create wealth. Reaganomics consisted of four key elements to reverse the high-inflation, slow-growth economic record of the 1970s: (1
Reagan's stance on crime was more punitive than corrective. There was a "Just Say No" campaign spearheaded by his wife (Ronald Reagan) designed to prevent drug use. But, Reagan's policies in the "War on Drugs" emphasized imprisonment for drug offenders while simultaneously cutting funding for addiction treatment, resulting in a dramatic increase in the United States. prison population (Reagan Administration). Reagan also signed legislation authorizing the death penalty for offenses involving murder in the context of large-scale drug trafficking. Reagan embraced a conservative agenda (Ronald Reagan) , considered by many to favor businesses over the rights of the working people. Most notably, he fired most federal air traffic controllers when they went on an illegal strike. This move was viewed by liberals as limiting the power of public employee unions and sending the message that businesses in the private sector could also play hardball with unions. Conservatives countered that lowering the risks of hiring would increase employment. Reagan's administration successfully slowed the growth of welfare and other social spending and was heavily criticized by the gay community for its slow response to the HIV-AIDS crisis. Even though two of the three Supreme Court justices Reagan selected, Sandra Day O'Connor and Anthony Kennedy, voted to uphold Roe v. Wade, Reagan himself took a strong stand aga
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Approximate Word count = 949
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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