Ronald Reagan started off his presidency, winning by a landslide victory against Walter Mondale in 1984. He is renowned for his economic policy known as Reaganomics, and his pressure against the Soviet Union to end the Cold War. Ronald Reagan achieved and implemented the economic and foreign policy goals of the New Right conservatives by supporting increased spending money for military purposes alongside tax reductions to limit government spending, rebellion against walls that represented communism, and a counterattack against the Soviet Union all throughout the 1980s. Ronald Reagan began his presidency in January 20th of 1981, and achieved the economic goals of the New Right conservatives by his support in increased spending money to contribute …show more content…
Ronald Reagan has a history with anti-communism, for example, the Reagan Doctrine captures his strategy to deluge global influence of the Soviet Union to end the Cold War that was still in place during the time of his presidency reflects on his state with communism. During the remarks at the Brandenburg Gates, Reagan states, “But there remain armed guards and checkpoints all the same—still a restriction on the right to travel, still an instrument to impose upon ordinary men and women the will of a totalitarian state” (Document 6). This quote signifies that Reagan is against communism and totalitarianism, where he clearly protests the idea of walls surrounding the city and signify communism within the city of Berlin. Reagan delivers his inspiring speech which pertains to his desire to tear down the wall, even preconize Mikhail Gorbachev, and appeals to the New Right conservatives due to their support for anti-communism. Another way Ronald Reagan achieved the foreign policy goals of the New Right conservatives was by planning a counterattack against the Soviet Union, more commonly known as the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI). This anti-communist movement demanded to “show the Soviets both that we can deploy a strategic defense system soon and that we will negotiate over its deployment if they are willing to make stabilizing reductions” and oppose the Soviet Union’s offensive systems. (Document 4). The document clearly explains that Ronald Reagan is coming up with new plans to counterattack the Soviet Union, which fully appeals to the New Right conservatives’ ideology of anti-communism or against the Soviet Union as a whole. The SDI was publicly announced, intended to protect the
Reaganomics, also known as supply-side economics or trickle-down economics, was an economic policy implemented by Ronald Reagan during his presidency from 1981 to 1989. It is important to look at the outcomes of these policies objectively and consider their long-term consequences. Reaganomics included a set of policies that aimed to boost economic growth and reduce government intervention. The main principles were tax cuts, deregulation, and reduced government spending. Supporters believed that these measures would encourage private sector investments, increase productivity, and lead to widespread prosperity.
The New Right Conservatives’ goal wanted to defeat the Soviets in this ‘Cold War’ that the USA and the Soviet Union was engaged in. New Right Conservatives openly disliked the Soviet Union and clearly wanted the ‘Cold War’ to end. They evidently hated the Soviets, and communists in general. Many people trusted the Strategic Defense Initiative that Reagan initiated and it had seemed to work, as Zbigniew Brzezinski, a critic of Reagan’s SDI even said, “Either way SDI promises a genuinely stabilized nuclear equilibrium between the United States and the Soviet Union.” (Doc 4).
On June 12, 1987, President Ronald Reagan arrived in West Berlin to speak to the people of West Germany at the Brandenburg Gate, with the intent of gathering support for democracy and to oppose the Berlin Wall along with the Soviet Government behind it. Reagan used several rhetorical strategies such as; rationality, using examples, imagery, and compare and contrast, to win the support of all who listened, including the Soviet leaders whom Reagan was hoping to persuade. Berlin was an incredible humanitarian and diplomatic crisis across the world because, the Eastern side of Berlin was impoverished, famined, and the people who lived there had to face cruel leadership and heinous punishment for the littles things, because they were under Soviet rule. This is why President Reagan travelled to Berlin, because he wanted to persuade the people of Berlin to resist the Soviet’s cruelty and to persuade the Soviets to “Tear down that wall!”. Reagan first uses rationality to
Like Nixon and Goldwater, Reagan promised to reverse the growth of government as well as committed to free enterprise and individual freedom 13. For his first executive order, Reagan abolished price controls, reduced taxes, and worked with the Federal Reserve Board to slow federal spending 14. It was very important to Reagan and conservatives everywhere that spending on nonessentials was cut. This was a characteristic of both modern and traditional conservatism. Reagan was heavy on military spending; he poured money into defense for the sake of combating communism and protecting those oppressed by the Soviet Union 15.
His administration adopted a tough stance towards the Soviet Union and called it the "evil empire," advocating for significant military expansion. The resulting Cold War escalation heightened tensions between these superpowers and laid the groundwork for more confrontational tactics. One critical proposition was Reagan’s Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), commonly known as “Star Wars,” which focused on creating missile defense to shield against nuclear strikes. While SDI remained unfulfilled, its proposal carried extensive ramifications concerning U.S.-Soviet ties. Reagan’s negotiation with Mikhail Gorbachev over Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty helped them eliminate intermediate-range nuclear weapons while also taking steps toward arms control - another noteworthy occurrence during his tenure.
Reagan’s statement, “To be sure, we in the West must resist Soviet expansion” (American Rhetoric 4), by using “we” and “must”, creates a connection with the people of Berlin and makes the conflict with the Soviet Union appear to be a shared struggle between America with its allies and Berlin and creates an obligation for Berliners, and most of Eastern Europe when he acknowledges them by saying “To those listening throughout Eastern Europe, I extend my warmest greetings and the good will of the American people”(American Rhetoric 1), which is a crucial part of starting a strong resistance to Soviet expansion. By offering the support of America through saying “I pledge to you my country’s efforts to help overcome these burdens”(American Rhetoric 4), he further fosters a strong
Ronald Reagan and the Conservative Resurgence The rising tide of a new capitalism, a powerful intellectual movement that is still rising, created political momentum that swept Ronald Reagan to prominence and power. After two decades of sexual revolution and moral degradation of American society, this wave crashed down on the American people with a strong and powerful force, calling for greater moral standards and more freedom to the people. This Reagan revolution restored faith in America and changed the social values in the United States for the better.
Ronald Reagan became the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. Prior to his presidency, he was a Hollywood actor and a union leader. He also served as the 33rd Governor of California from 1967 to 1975. Ronald during his time in the white house as president did three great things to help us and that affects us today.
After the Roaring 20s, the country was in despair due to the Great Depression. May people were unemployed, and had no way to help themselves. Conservative presidents such as Herbert Hoover and Calvin Coolidge didn’t use the power of the government to help the people during this time. They believed that government shouldn’t be in control of the economy and the industries that run it. Years later, Franklin Roosevelt will become president in 1933 and introduced the New Deal policy, which helped create thousands of jobs and revitalize a dying economy.
By highlighting prominent “sins” earlier in his speech, Reagan subtly transfers the association of these sins to the Soviet Union, thereby further driving his attempt to rally the American people. Having progressed on a communistic base for years, the Soviet Union’s drive is to destroy capitalism and replace it with its own ideology- communism (“Cold War”). The Soviets intend to force these ideals upon democratic nations by the production and possession of nuclear missiles, a terrifying prospect to any country. Ronald Reagan calls the Soviet Union out in this speech; the title alone, “The Evil Empire”, condemns the Soviets as ruthless destroyers of peace and freedom. His words not only influence the American people, but also reach the hearts if the Soviets.
At the same time, Reagan was deeply worried about the accepted national policy that had come out since the Soviets acquired atomic weapons of "mutual assured destruction. " This said that the Soviet Union and United Sates would not attack each other out of fear. This, said Reagan, was "a truly mad policy." He believed that it was wrong to destroy the civilian population of another country in an attack.
This become the domino theory that if one country fell to communism then other nation in the region would follow. which had a large amount of truth due to their soviet influence. (Transcript: Reagan’s Rhetoric, par. 2) Reagan’s administration had harder press on his enemies like any other presidency before or since then. The largest peacetime military buildup in american history was centralized the belief of “peace through strength” that if America is strong they can protect liberty around the world.
Ronald Reagan Ronald Reagan was a character who optimized many of the people when things went very poorly. Many people said his personality was courage, courage that was natural to him, and a courage that was ultimately contagious. He also did do so much more like creating Reaganomics, strengthening nations, and improving many things in the economy. He also did many things that helped out the people, which was his main goal.
Ronald Reagan said, “ So far dentetes been a one-way street that the soviet union has pursued at their own times….” Ronald Reagan was certain that the Soviet Union was not as powerful as they have said they were. The Soviet Union government could not successfully meet meet up to the America’s free-market system. So the ideas were steadily flowing and started taking place, he commenced a fast, large increase in the mass and grade of America's military technology and overbearing amount of weapons and taunted and the soviets to get them to match it.
Presidential Power Ronald Reagan served as America’s 40th president. Reagan managed to cut taxes, increase defense spending, negotiate a nuclear arms reduction agreement with the Soviets and is credited with helping to bring a quicker end to the Cold War. I think that president Reagan used his presidential powers properly in order to achieve what needed to be done. Ronald Reagan was president as the Cold War was raging worse than it had ever before. Reagan used his executive power, Commander in Chief, to put up resistance against Mikhail Gorbachev and push his defensive strategy.