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Ronald Reagan Presidency Highlights
Ronald Reagan was the fortieth president of the United States. While some may not like him, he was considered a hero in the country. He helped to improve the economy of the nation. It was mainly because of this that he became extremely popular. |
Some of Ronald Reagan's presidency highlights are ending the Cold War, improving the economy of the nation by reducing the tax cuts, he increased defense spending to build up the weapons and arms of the nation in response to the perceived threat of the Soviet Union, he cut the budgets of non-military programs like Medicaid, food stamps, federal education programs and Environmental Protective Agency, he protect the entitlement government programs like Social Security and Medicare.
Reagan's first day in office was very dramatic and special. The Iran hostage crisis that was continuing from November 1979 ended. The 53 Americans who were held hostage in Teheran were released to the United States.
Two months later Reagan was shot in an assassination attempt. He had a narrow escape with the bullet missing his heart but puncturing his lung. After a successful surgery, he made a swift recovery that endeared him further to the public.
A few months after Reagan took office, the federal air traffic controllers went on a strike. This was a direct violation of a law that prohibited government unions from going on a strike. Reagan declared the situation as an emergency as mentioned in the 1947 Taft Hartley Act. He gave the striking air traffic controllers 48 hours to return to duty or less or face termination. Despite the fear that some members of his cabinet had, on August 5, 1981, Reagan fired 11,345 air traffic controllers who continued to strike and did not return to work. By doing this, the union was broken.
From the very beginning, Reagan took a hard stance against the Soviet Union and its allies. He suspended economic aid to Poland's government after the government banned the Solidarity Movement of Lech Walesa. US troops were sent to Grenada to overthrow the pro-Soviet government installed at the helm. US gave military support to the Nicaraguan rebels and El Salvador government, the two groups that the US thought were less communists. This made Ronald Reagan the defender of the free world. However, Reagan's biggest chance of ending the Cold War came when Mikhail Gorbachev became the General Secretary of the Communist Party.
Reagan and Gorbachev met and agreed to destroy intermediate range nuclear missile heads. By the end of the 1980s, there was increased freedom due to Gorbachev's Glasnost and Perestroika in the Soviet Union, and the Socialist Bloc. There were independence movements not just in the Soviet Union, but also in socialist countries like Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia and East Germany. This ultimately led to the unification of Germany after the Berlin Wall was brought down on November 9, 1989.
All these actions have been credited to Ronald Reagan, and they are highlights of his presidency.
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