Ronald Reagan Research Paper Outline

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His 306 3rd Paper In many American’s eyes today, Ronald Regan, is seen as the most influential president of the United States. His legacy has helped to make him the most beloved president. With Regan’s background as an actor he was able to communicate very well with others. Regan, was not perfect though. He had faults, just as many others had as well, but the American people still loved him. He had a swagger about him that made him so likeable. While in office, Regan, did accomplish several feats such as; raising military spending, killing the growing secession, and most importantly, ending Cold War issues. His communicating skills and ability to get things done helped to catapult him to becoming the favorite president of all time. Ronald …show more content…

Although some questioned his skills, none questioned his tenacity. During Reagan’s first four months in office, he went on to meet with Congress over seventy times to discuss his military buildup plans and tax and budget cuts (page 110, ibook). On July 29, 1981, Congress passed a series of tax cuts that reduced the federal budget by 25% over three years. Although this seemed like a great start, Reagan did this so he would be able to boost his military spending and that’s exactly what he did. He once said “defense is not a budget item, you spend what you need” (p. 182 ibook). At the peak of military spending, the U.S. spent nearly 30 million per hour. Over the eight years he was in office, the national deficit ran up to 2.7 trillion, almost triple to that of 1980. (p. 119 ibook). To combat the event of nuclear bombing on U.S. soil, the SDI (strategic defense initiative) was created. The plan was to build a “space shield” that could shoot down any incoming nuclear missiles. These plans were commonly referred to as the “Star Wars” plans because of its futuristic and outlandish ideas. Even though Reagan loved the idea the technology and budget required to build such a machine was out of the U.S.’s league. In all the U.S. wasted 17 billion on SDI research and found little to nothing. The president issued a complete military overhaul with new missile capable of reaching Russia from U.S. soil, new B-2 stealth bombers made to be undetectable by radars and a 600 ship navy. This drastic increase in military spending was in order to prepare for possible war with the Soviet Union, and also to try and scare them by

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