Ronald Reagan's Accomplishments

Ronald Reagan’s presidency was an important era in American history because it vastly shaped America's transition into the twenty-first century. Reagan is considered by many to be a near-great president and is very high on the list of most influential American presidents. His contributions to the country, as well as his leadership skills, have been appreciated for many years.

Reagan entered political office with many goals, and he succeeded in accomplishing many of them. One of Reagan’s main objectives was to end the Cold War. Reagan’s strategy to overcome the Soviet Union was to initiate a military buildup (see Major Conflict) and implement the Reagan Doctrine (see Major Foreign Policies). Additionally, Reagan sought to lower taxes in order to stimulate the growth of the economy. Reagan accomplished this by passing the Economic Recovery Tax Act (see Major Domestic Happenings) and the Tax Reform Act (see Major Domestic Happenings). Another one of Reagan’s priorities was to fight the War on Drugs. Reagan was very active in speaking out about the issues of illegal drugs and even passed the Anti-Drug Abuse Act (see Major Domestic Happenings). Reagan’s wife, Nancy Reagan, launched the “Just Say No” campaign which advised kids on how to avoid illegal drugs. The First Lady visited many schools and spoke to students about saying “no” to drugs. Reagan was also very passionate about shrinking the federal government by reducing government spending, cutting many social

Furthermore, Reagan did not like to analyze possible consequences of his decisions or alternative solutions. Rather, he preferred to use his intuition to guide his decision making more than his intelligence. Although he did not always make careful decisions, he was able to be decisive in instances where there was a need to act