Ronald Reagan Reagan, Ronald -

Ronald Reagan Reagan, Ronald - Presidential Overview Primary political platform. State of the nation prior to presidency. What Carter, Nixon and Ford lacked. The Crisis Bringing Reagan to Power The Iranian Hostage Crisis. Distress Followers Would Face Economic burden and budget deficit. Welfare reforms. Reagan's Personal Goals & Achievements Reaganomics. Help cut taxes and increase American pride and honor. End Cold War.

Ronald Reagan the Legacy Personal perspectives on Reagan Ronald Reagan Presidential Analysis This paper reviews the presidency of Ronald Reagan, including his rise to power in the mid 1970s and the legacy left behind by his term in office.

Reagan would be known as one of the nation's leading charismatic leaders who, despite leaving the office with a huge budget deficit, achieved most of his goals and objectives, which included restoring the American sense of pride, honor and courage, eliminating the Cold War, reducing taxes among the American people and restoring a sense of hope among a people who had lost faith in their Presidents previous to his term.

Many remember his charismatic leadership to this day, Democrats, Republicans and Independents alike, many who voted for his reinstatement during the 1980s presidential election. Ronald Reagan's Presidency: Initiation and Analysis The crisis situation resulting in Ronald Reagan's rise to power was the Iranian Hostage event. In 1979 the ruler or Shah of Iran was overthrown by fundamentalist Muslims, younger citizens, college-age students that stormed the U.S. embassy in Tehran and took U.S. hostages, holding them for 444 days (Cannon, 2001; Sharpe & Pemberton, 1998; Henry & Ritter, 1992).

This whole event occurred at the end of Jimmy Carter's first term in office, and became a very serious issue in the following election. Ultimately, Ronald Reagan won a very big victory because of this. Ronald did run a couple of times however for President before coming to office. His first loss was in 1976 when he ran against Ford; however, this time Reagan had a strong defense platform, and a campaign he focused on the return of "America to greatness" which helped build his power, reputation and campaign (Young, 2004, p. 18).

Regan's focus suggested it was time for America to wake up after a long "sleep" so to speak, and he used this idea freely while stating, "It's morning in America," a slogan that became very popular during his term (Reagan, 1985, p. 305). He refers to waking up after the "malaise" of Vietnam and Watergate as Jimmy Carter used to say, that occurred throughout the 1970s (Young, 2004). Reagan's personal aspirations included incorporating his personal and conservative viewpoints into a presidency that was pro-business, very much a tax cut supporter.

His objectives and achievements included initiating one of the largest military spending sprees the U.S. has ever engaged in, during the time since WWII (Sharpe & Pemberton, 1998). Ronald Reagan probably always aspired to the presidency, even during his former years as an actor where he was very popular as many said because he "acted" presidential. Some refer to his demeanor as very "John-Wayne" like (Young, 2004, p. 18).

Reagan was known for "talking tough" with the Russians, and infamous for initiating the Star Wars defense program, cutting taxes and for representing the "citizens" (Young, 2004; Henry & Ritter, 1992). The legacy he left his potential followers however was one of a very large budget deficit, something acquired during his term as president. Despite this, many felt that Reagan was everything former presidents Carter and Ford and even Nixon were incapable of being. Ronald Reagan was popular because he wasn't the ineffective ignoramus as some have referred to that Ford was.

He wasn't Nixon who cheated the presidency of hits legitimacy, and he wasn't overly religious as Carter may have been in the eyes of some, and too indecisive as one can label all three of his predecessors at one time or another. He wasn't someone like Carter who might have asked God for example to help the American people "smaite our enemies" or someone who would easily turn the other cheek when America was wronged in some way or another (Sharpe & Pemberton, 1998 p. 23).

One can sum up Ronald Reagan's term stating he created a very conservative platform and government much different from that of the president's that came just before him (Sharpe & Pemberton, 1998); he took a very hard and tough approach against the Russians and for the most part, acted the way people expected a president to act, very "presidential" and regal (Canon, 2001, p.

35), a person that fought for the people and talked in ways that encouraged people to have a positive outlook, even when all was or was not well with the internal financial workings of the government (Cannon, 2001; Sharpe & Pemberton, 1998)). Cannon (2001) is among many noting the presidency led by Reagan cast a "long shadow" on the American people. His achievements were accomplished through hard work and dedication (Sharpe & Pemberton, 1998).

He managed to create a "symbiotic relationship" with Russian leader Gorbachev and achieved the creation of the INF treaty, which marked the beginning of the end of the Cold War and the Soviet people and Union as a country (Cannon, 2001, p. 2). While this may seem well it had grave economic consequences for the U.S., but also good ones, including a reduction in military spending thanks to peacetime, with only 3% of the budget allocated to military spending during the early presidential years.

His followers used the context of "staying the course" to help transform the huge accumulated budget deficits left by Reagan so a "string of surpluses" arose from them (Cannon, 2001, p. 2). Politically, Reagan ran the House on a platform known as the "contract with America" developed by Newt Gingrich, where the idea that there was no limit on what could be done was created (Cannon, 2001, p. 2). Ronald Reagan's charismatic leadership left a positive outcome on most of his disciples.

Many feel that Reagan became an idol of sorts particularly among the Republican people, someone who people exalted (Sharpe & Pemberton, 1998).

He was a champion, a very popular president that came into power with even Democratic legislators and members of Congress supporting crucial political decisions made by Reagan, as evidenced by the landslide victory he won in the 1984 presidential election where many independents and democrats voted for Reagan, suggesting the democrats had little power at least in the short-term to regain the House or equal representation in government for the time-being (Cannon, 2001; Sharpe & Pemberton, 1998). His followers had a few obstacles to overcome, including handling the budget deficit.

Bush was inspired to follow in Reagan's footsteps, focusing on cutting taxes to emulate the victories many perceived Reagan as achieving (Sharp & Pemberton, 1998). Ronald Reagan left a legacy as someone who made.