...Running head: THE OVERRATED RONALD REAGAN The Overrated Ronald Reagan Kirston Gardner University of Phoenix Carole Lormand September 28, 2013 The Overrated Ronald Reagan Ronald Reagan, the nation’s 40th president is one of the most overrated men in history. Americans did not forget all the broken promises and dishonesty they dealt with while Reagan was in office. For many reasons he would be considered a good President but there are many more reasons that he would not. Reagan’s ratings were higher than the averages of his three immediate predecessors, Jimmy Carter, Gerald Ford, and Richard Nixon (Frank Newport, 2004). When rating Reagan, many factors show that he is indeed overrated, not only as a president but an individual as well. During Reagan’s term in office Americans faced recession, debt, high unemployment, questionable foreign policy and wasteful spending among other things. As Reagan was sworn, one of the first incidents, which were the release of the 51 hostages from the American Embassy in Tehran, occurred. It seemed as if the Iranians feared the win of future President Ronald Reagan. However, there were a few incidents that occurred prior to the inauguration of Reagan that actually set the stage for the emanate release of the hostages (United States History). The Shah of Iran died right before the presidential rae was over. Shah’s return, one of the requests in negotiations with the Iranians, was neutralized. The negotiations were now closer to closure...
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...Ronald Reagan - The Cold War and U.S. Diplomacy POL30048GA050-1118-001 IR: The New World of International Relations October 24, 2011 Abstract In this assignment, I will write a three to five page paper on President Ronald Reagan doctrine of The Cold War and U.S. Diplomacy during his presidency. In addition, this paper will address the following: 1. Summarize a situation that required U.S. diplomatic efforts during the president’s time in office. 2. Explicate the diplomatic doctrine the president followed, with reference to specific actions or events that occurred. 3. Describe the effects of these diplomatic efforts for the U.S. and other countries. 4. Assess, in conclusion, the advantages and disadvantages of the particular doctrine that was followed. Ronald Reagan - The Cold War and U.S. Diplomacy In this assignment, I will discuss President Ronald Reagan’s position on The Cold War and U.S. Diplomacy during his presidency. First, let me define the terms “The Cold War”, and “U.S. Diplomacy”. The Cold War was a period of military and political tension between the United States and the Soviet Union after World War II. It was called the Cold War, because there was no direct fighting between the two powers. The term “U.S. Diplomacy” refers to a country’s ability or skill to negotiate on the international level between nations or groups of nations, or simply, it is political contact between national governments. Diplomacy is extremely important. It is the feedback...
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...Running head: THE OVERRATED RONALD REAGAN The Overrated Ronald Reagan University of Phoenix Carole Lormand September 28, 2013 The Overrated Ronald Reagan Ronald Reagan, the nation’s 40th president is one of the most overrated men in history. Americans did not forget all the broken promises and dishonesty they dealt with while Reagan was in office. For many reasons he would be considered a good President but there are many more reasons that he would not. Reagan’s ratings were higher than the averages of his three immediate predecessors, Jimmy Carter, Gerald Ford, and Richard Nixon (Frank Newport, 2004). When rating Reagan, many factors show that he is indeed overrated, not only as a president but an individual as well. During Reagan’s term in office Americans faced recession, debt, high unemployment, questionable foreign policy and wasteful spending among other things. As Reagan was sworn, one of the first incidents, which were the release of the 51 hostages from the American Embassy in Tehran, occurred. It seemed as if the Iranians feared the win of future President Ronald Reagan. However, there were a few incidents that occurred prior to the inauguration of Reagan that actually set the stage for the emanate release of the hostages (United States History). The Shah of Iran died right before the presidential rae was over. Shah’s return, one of the requests in negotiations with the Iranians, was neutralized. The negotiations were now closer to closure. Iraq then invaded...
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...Doctrine of Reagan Mrs. J. Y. Baker Prof. Thomas Payne Jr. – POL 300 February 4, 2012 Doctrine of Reagan With the threat of The Cold War, U.S. Presidents beginning with Truman had to create doctrines to find remedies for the problem of communism and its expansion. The doctrine of Ronald W. Reagan was especially noteworthy because it initiated a revolutionized foreign policy after World War II. The Cold War brought trepidation of nuclear bombing that sent panic through the U.S. government. This is why previously the U.S. chose not to challenge the Soviet Union head-on. Officials felt American’s weren’t ready to send their loved ones to fight another war on foreign soil after Vietnam listed so many casualties. However with the risk of communism spreading further and possibly encompassing the globe, the U.S. just couldn’t take a backseat and keep quiet. In 1983, Reagan dubbed the Soviet Union an “evil empire” using a speech written by Dolan for the opposite purpose. As Diggins put it “Reagan dubbed the Soviet Union ‘the focus of evil’ of the entire world” (2007, pg. 29). Following the footsteps of his predecessor, President Carter, Reagan developed a way to fight the war on communism and make the people happy by preventing our military from suffering anymore casualties. President Carter got the ball rolling when the Soviet Union tried to invade Afghanistan in 1979. That’s when the U.S. supplied secret military aid to mujahideen fighters to assist in driving out the...
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...President Ronald Reagan, in an 1987 speech, famously said, “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!” (“Tear Down This Wall” speech). Germany and Berlin was divided, one side was controlled by the free world, West Germany and West Berlin, while the other controlled by the communist Soviet Union, East Germany and East Berlin. The Berlin wall was a symbol of the Cold War. It finally fell in 1989 and the Cold War ended soon after. The President of the United States, at the time, stood in front of the Brandenburg Gate, and delivered a speech that called an end to the wall, the arms race, and an end to Communism in Germany. The notorious speech was to convince the people of Germany that breaking barriers and uniting was in Germany’s best interest,...
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...Name Course University Tutor Date Ronald Reagan Mention Ronald Reagan and the next person will say how great he was. Ratings approval ranks him higher than any other former presidents of the United State of America. He has been described as one of the greatest leaders of our times. He displayed many valuable traits that by and large helped him to become the great leader he was. Did his character influence his leadership style? This is the core point as far as this former president of United States was concerned. His character shaped whom he became giving his all and championing his course to make America a better place to live for all the citizens. His election as the president restored the hopes of the Americans who had been disillusioned by the leadership whom majority felt had lost touch with the people. Wallison, P (2004) points out that his unique traits had great influence as far as his success as a president was concerned (23) One of his major accomplishments was restoring the people’s hope with the government. This achievement can be overlooked by many but it was such an important step since it regained the people hope and renewed their commitment for their country. This is the first step for any nation that is interested in forging ahead after years of scandals, wars and many other misgivings that they would like to forget. When Reagan was leaving office after his completion of the two terms he thanked all the American people and mostly those...
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...The Cold War Celena Daley Kaplan University SS211: Prof. Jennifer Schmidt 03/12/2016 The Cold War began as a result of a dispute between The United States of America and The Soviet Union. Although the war was never “officially” declared, it began somewhere around 1947 and ended roughly around 1991. The term "cold" is used because there was no large-scale fighting directly between the two sides, although there were major regional wars. The first phase of the Cold War began in the first two years after the end of the Second World War in 1945. Throughout this period, the rivalry between the two superpowers unfolded in multiple arenas: military coalitions; ideology, psychology, and espionage; sports; military, industrial, and technological developments, including the space race; costly defense spending; a massive conventional and nuclear arms race; and many proxy wars. There was never a direct military engagement between the US and the Soviet Union, but there was half a century of military buildup as well as political battles for support around the world, including significant involvement of allied and satellite nations in proxy wars. Although the US and the Soviet Union had been allied against Nazi Germany, the two sides differed on how to reconstruct the postwar world even before the end of World War II. Over the following decades, the Cold War spread outside Europe to every region of the world, as the US sought the "containment" of communism and forged numerous alliances...
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...Reagan Analysis Paper Reagan Analysis Paper Introduction Ronald Wilson Reagan was the fortieth president of the United States. A two term president, he served from 1981-1989. President Reagan won a landslide victory over Jimmy Carter running on a political platform consisting of jump starting the economy and bringing inflation down. This was to be accomplished through lowering taxes and cutting government spending. Many people consider Reagan an outstanding president but this paper contends he was an overrated president. This is based on the management of three issues facing his presidency. These are: economic policies, ending the Cold War, and the Iran-Contra affair. Economic Policies Throughout Reagan’s campaign he assaulted the Carter administration’s free-spending (Moss & Thomas, 2013, pp-208-210). He made promises to cut spending, but ultimately spent more. The most common misconception is that Reagan saved our economy with his famous Reaganomics. This of course included the modern trickle-down theory or supply-side economics, which included major tax decreases, specifically on the wealthy. These tax decreases, coupled with high military spending, created a massive debt and led the country into one of the worst depressions since the Great Depression. When Reagan entered the presidency in 1981 the national debt was at $900 billion. By the time he left it had over tripled to $2.8 trillion. To top it off, many of the military projects the money was used...
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...Abraham Lincoln and Ronald Regan In today’s extremely volatile political climate it has become important for us to view the past to see what great men have accomplished during hard times. President Abraham Lincoln and President Ronald Reagan are two men who I believe were two of the most influential people in the world. While these two men shared many similarities in their life, presidency, and influence, they were also different in many ways. They both achieved what many believed to be the impossible. Maybe by looking at the past and these two great men, we can learn about perseverance in hard times. President Abraham Lincoln was born on February 12, 1809 in Hodgenville, Kentucky. He spent most of his early childhood years on a farm his parents owned. His father was one of the richest men in the area. In 1816, his father lost the family farm in a court decision and the family moved to Indiana. He spent all of his early years in a region of the United States in non-slave states. When he left home he went to New Orleans, Louisiana and saw slavery for himself first hand. He joined the militia in 1832 and served three months as a Captain during the Black Hawk War. President Ronald Regan was born February 6, 1911 in Tampico, Illinois. Unlike President Lincoln, President Reagan spent his early childhood in many cities away from the farms. His father was a salesman and moved the family numerous times. President Reagan attended Eureka College where he was involved...
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...business abroad (Wiener, 2012). The other key issues that are largely guided by the foreign policy are the protection of American people in foreign soils, expatriation, and international education. Nevertheless, the U.S foreign policy has been a subject of heated controversy for decades now. The U.S foreign policy has taken numerous approaches to major issues across the world especially the ones that have the capacity to directly impact on its people. After the American Revolution, America is believed to have employed a non-intervention approach to global issues. This implies that America did not involve its forces in issues affecting the international community. Historical review reveals that the First World War did not affect the U.S foreign policy significantly. After the 1st World War, America embarked on activities geared towards increasing its supremacy and military might. By the Second World War, American military strength had increased tremendously positioning the country as a super power. The status of a super power meant that the America could no longer brush off issues affecting the...
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...Ronald Reagan’s influence in the collapse of the Soviet Union I. Economic Policy Economic Recovery Plan After the U.S celebrated the victory and end of WWII, two of the world’s greatest superpowers would compete to be the biggest and the greatest of all time. It would prove to be the greatest struggle of political, social, economic, and ideological polices and plans, between the U.S and the USSR, the world had ever seen. This would soon be known as the inevitable Cold War. Amongst the major struggles of the war, one man would prove to have a great influence in collapsing the Soviet empire, Ronald Reagan. Ronald Reagan directly contributed to the collapse of the Soviet Union through his economic, political, and military polices. (Dobson, 2005, p. 4). During Reagan’s administration, the Soviet Union was facing serious economic growth and policy issues. One of the more major issues the Soviets had was in economic manufacturing. The Soviet Union dictated how many factories people could own, as well as...
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...Reagan Analysis George W Ivery III HIS 145 June 16, 2014 Shaun Sullivan Reagan Analysis President Ronald Reagan the 40th President of the United States had certain qualities that made people think of him in several different lights. One of the ways people saw him is overrated and taking credit for what he did not do when he resided at the White House as president. On the other hand some said he is much underrated due to him not getting proper credit for some of the things he did and changed while he was in office. He had quite a few items that are in the history of this country, which include the Principles of the New Right, the Iran Contra Affair, and credit for ending the Cold War between the United States (U. S.) and the Soviet Union (USSR). These are just a few items that will be taken into consideration to see if he was or was not the person that is liked or disliked by the people of the U. S. The election of President Reagan in 1980 saw the emergence of what was considered the “conservative cause known as the “New Right” movement, partly in response to counter-cultural protests of the 1960’s-evangelical Christian groups, social issues” (The resurgence of conservatism 1980-2000, 2014). The Reagan Doctrine; “A strategy orchestrated and implemented by the United States under the Reagan Administration to oppose the global influence of the Soviet Union during the final years of the Cold War” (The resurgence of conservatism 1980-2000, 2014). It is also known as...
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...Week 7 My interview regarding Ronald Reagan was with my father Dennis Smith. I asked him the following questions and these were his responses. “When you think of Ronald Reagan and the policies under the New Right during his time as President how effective do you think they were?” D. Smith: “ If I remember correctly his attempt at cutting government spending as well as his attempt at downsizing the government didn't work out as planned. As a matter of fact the national debt tripled during his time in office and the government downsizing that he had in mind mainly dealt with social security and medicare cuts.” I think Reagan's intentions were on the right track but you are right his actions helped steer us toward the recession of the 1990's. D. Smith “That is true, Reagan was definitely a for the people president and he had a way with words, he was able to reach out to people everywhere.” How important of a role did President Reagan play in the Cold War finally coming to an end? D. Smith “It is true that some of the ground work was laid out by previous presidents but Reagan was instrumental in the end of the cold war. Reagan spoke to people everywhere, proclaiming independence and freedom from communism.” D. Smith “After all he was the one that finally people to understand how important taking down the Berlin Wall was.” What are your thoughts on supply...
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...The Cold War and the United States Diplomacy Name: Institution: The Cold War and the United States Diplomacy The Cold War was the state of military and political tension between Western countries, especially the United States, its NATO allies, and the communist nations, particularly the Soviet Union and other satellite states. The war began after World War II had got to an end. The Cold War was named so since it did not feature any form of military action. The countries in this war possessed nuclear weapons and any form of war would have led to serious destructions on both divides. The relative calm between these countries was sometimes followed by high tensions, which would have emanated into a war but did not (Gottfried & Reim, 2003). The following essay will look at what the U.S. did during that time, as well as summarize the situation that required U.S. diplomatic efforts during the president’s time in office. In addition, the essay will describe the effect of these diplomatic efforts for the U.S. and other countries as well as assess, in conclusion, the advantages and disadvantages of the particular doctrine that was followed. What the President Did During That Time During the cold war, the president was Ronald Reagan. He, together with members of his administration, came up with a strategy designed to oppose the influence that the Soviet Union had in the world. It came to be referred to as the Reagan Doctrine. This also came to...
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...Ronald Reagan: America's Savior In a time when America was at an all time low, a retired actor from a small town in Illinois would rally Americans to stand together and overcome a crumbling economy, communism, growing foreign tensions with the middle east, and to wage war on the home front against the use and spread of drugs. To many all around the world , this man would become the savior of America. Ronald Wilson Reagan was born on February 6, 1911 to Jack and Nelle Reagan in Tampico, Illinois. The Reagan family moved to Dixon in 1920, where Ronald excelled in high school, earning an athletic scholarship to Eureka College. Ronald majored in economics and sociology without knowing how useful this decision would be in 1981. After graduating from Eureka in 1932 he got a job commentating football games and later became a Chicago Cubs play by play announcer. In 1937, on a trip with the Cubs to California he took a shot at acting and was hired by Warner Brothers. He was cast in a string of "B" rated movies. In fact by the end of his career Ronald had starred in over 70 films. During one of these films, Brother Rat, Ronald met actress Jane Wyman and on January 6, 1940 the two were married. They had a wonderful Hollywood marriage and had two biological children, Maureen in 1941 and Christine in 1947, they also adopted a son, Michael shortly after his birth in 1945. Sadly Christine only lived one day. In 1942, during WWII Ronald was ordered to active duty with the United...
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