KALEIDOSCOPE

The history of Ronald Reagan

Timur PANKOV

ALMATY, Feb 4

(THE GLOBE)

EARLY LIFE AND CAREER

Born on Frebuary 6th, 1911, in Tampico, Illinois, Ronald Wilson Reagan had strong roots in small-town, middle-America. He worked his way through Eureka College (B.A. 1932), had some success as a sportscaster, and he began an acting career with Warner Brothers in 1937. He appeared in 53 films, with an interlude (1942 - 1945) in the U.S. Army. Reagan married the actress Jane Wyman in 1940 (divorced in 1948) and in 1952 wed Nancy Davis. He moved into television in the 1950�s and was seen by millions as the popular host of �Death Valley Days� and as spokesman for the General Electric Company.

Inheriting from his father a New Deal orientation in politics, Reagan shifted his views in the 1950�s and began to speak out against �big government� and �communism. By the 1960�s he was a favorite speaker on the Conservative Circuit, and it was only natural that he should support Arizona Senator Barry Goldwater in the 1964 Presidential Election. With the shattering defeat of the Republicans that year, reagan was regarded only as an ex-movie actor with simplistic views, no constituency of any size and no future in politics. Reagan�s big years lay ahead, however. In 1966 he easily defeated the popular incumbent Governor of California, Democrat Edmund �Pat� Brown, and began two-four year terms that made him a national figure.

Governor Reagan won the loyalty of Conservatives by initially opposing state spending and tax increases, but he proved to be a pragmatist when California�s Liberal Democrats claimed that growth in the State need much less fiscal restraints. When Reagan left office in 1974, California�s budget showed a surplus of $550-Million. Reagan had been mentioned as a Presidential contender in every campaign since 1968, and he tirelessly traveled the lecture circuit, skillfully delivering �the speech� of his un-dying hatred toward the evils of Liberalism. Republican rivals thought him too old to be a force in 1980, but because Reagan�s backers were well financed and intensely loyal, he swept through the primaries to the Presidential Nomination for the Republican Party.

PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN

Democrats began the campaign by underestimating Reagan�s strengths. His age was offset by robust health and relaxed self-assurance. His views on domestic policy appeared to be further to the right than majority opinion, and his foreign policy views carried overtones of ideological crusades and �Great Power� confrontation - vulnreabilities that President Jimmy Carter expected to exploit. But Reagan, the master of television, phrased his Conservative views with an air of reasonableness and geniality, promising properity by �getting government off of our backs.� Burdened by his failure to free the Americans held hostage by Iran (444 days) and by a deteriorating economy, Carter saw his thinly-based support erode as the voters concluded that Reagan was a safe choice to replace an ineffective regime. Reagan�s margin of victory was sizable, Reagan carried 44 States against Carter�s 6.

THE REAGAN PRESIDENCY

Immediately after his inauguration, Reagan launched a bold program that, if carried to it�s conclusion, would fundamentally alter the U.S. political Economy. Regarding the economy as in �a state of crisis�, the Reagan program for economic �revitalization� had been incubated by Conservative theorists around a new President. To call forth the pent-up energies of the entrepreneurial capitalism and restore growth, the reagan plan offered a triad of measures: sharp budget cutting to shrink the public sector; tax cutting, especially in the higher and business brackets to unleash investment and a broad retreat from business and social regulations. This policy was known as Supply-Side Economics and reagan promised a surge of non-inflationary growth.

Despite many doubters, Reagan jammed his program through Congress in 1981 - a major tax cut, $43 billion in budget cuts in domestic programs and cutbacks in environmental and business regulation. Democrats in the House resisted this reversal in normal Tax and Spend tactics, but the President�s successful appeals to the public, combined with the assassination attempt in which he was wounded by shots fired by John W. Hincley, Jr. on March 30, generated irresistible popular support.

Reagan�s defense build-up commenced, while foreign relations saw a stronger anti-Soviet stance with no departures. The administration appeared divided on many matters, such as the Middle East and Central America, and in 1982, Alexander Haig was replaced as Secretary of State by George P. Shultz. By this time, the Reagan economic policy had slightly stalled while bugetary problems started to grow. All faction still waited to see if the Reagan plan would end the recession. Inflation dropped well out of the double-figures, but interest rates remained high until the fall of 1982, when a change in the Federal Reserve Policy caused them to decline. The political future of the Reagan now clearly depended on the response of the economy to the supply-side medicine.

In late October 1983, the President ordered an invation of the Caribbean Island of Grenada and over-threw the Island Nation�s anti-American Dictatorship. U.S. troops were on extended maneuver in Central America, and the C.I.A. worked openly to overturn the Communist-controlled Sandinista regime in Nicaragua, much to the displeasure of some House Democrats. Arms control talks with the Soviet Union were frozen in mutual distrust as a new deployment of U.S. nuclear missiles began in Europe in November of 1983. In each of these initatives, the President�s rationale was the necessity to counter Soviet advances.

The economic picture had brightened in 1983, with a resurgent stock market, low inflation and a jobless rate inching downward with several months of rising production. On January 29, 1984, Ronald Reagan announced his decision to run for a second term. Strong support came primarily from Conservatives who approved of the military build-up and pro-business policies. Equally fervent, however, were his critics - environmentalists, minorities and those who feared that nuclear war might come from the very arms race that reagan proposed as a path to �strength.�

The Democrats nominated former Vice-President Walter F. Mondale, who made history by selecting New York Representative Geraldine Ferraro as his running mate. Yet the campaign of 1984 devoloped no clear issues. Mondale charged that Reagan would cut Social Security benefits and raise taxes. Reagan, said little of his programs for a second term. Again, Reagan, the master of television, while asked by a journalist at one of the Debates showed his sense of humor. President Reagan was asked �should age be an issue in this up-coming election?� Reagan replied, �No!, I will not allow Mr. Mondale�s youth to become an issue in these debates or in the Presidential campaign.�

With Reagan�s vibrant health and radiant optimism, plus the continued economic recovery, the reagan - Bush team produced a stunning victory in November of 1984. Reagan gained 69% of the popular vote and the electoral votes of every State except the Challenger�s home State of Minnesota (and the District of Columbia) for a total of 525 electoral votes, the greatest number ever tallied by a Presidential Candidate in U.S. History.

Reagan and Bush were inaugurated for second terms on January 21, 1985. In July, the President underwent surgery for the removal of a cancerous intestinal polyp. For approximately 8 hours, executive authority was temporarily transferred to Vice-President George Bush. Reagan signed a sweeping tax-reform bill on October 22, 1986, that slashed rates for individuals but eliminated many deductions; it had bipartisan parentage. More clearly an administration policy - and finally victorious in Congress (by the Summer of 1986) was Reagan�s request for $100 million in aid to the �Contra� rebels against the Pro-Soviet Nicaraguan Government.

A decisive moment in Reagan�s second term appeared to come at the end of the second summit meeting between Reagan and Soviet Leader Mikhail Gorbachev in Iceland in October of 1986 (the first meeting had been in Geneva in November of 1985). The leaders apparently came close to agreeing to drastic reductions in nuclear missiles, but reagan resisted the Soviet demand that the U.S. Strategic Defense Initiative (S.D.I.) be limited to laboratory research, and the meeting ended in bitter disappointment.

Despite Reagan�s vigorous campaigning for Republicans, the Democrats took control of the Senate in the November 1986 Congressional elections by the unexpected margin of 55 to 45 seats. As Reagan left office, America was experiencing its 6th consecutive year of economic prosperity. Along with the strong economy, the nation enjoyed low unemployment, energy costs, and inflation.

On November 8, 1988, Ronald Reagan�s Vice-President George Bush was elected America�s 41st President. Most of Bush�s own experience in Government was in the field of Foreign Affairs (Ambassador to China during President Nixon�s term). This turned out to be fortunate, since 1988 - 1992 brought about dramatic changes on the face of the globe. The most important of these changes was the collapse of World Communism. Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev said that �The Soviet Union will no longer try to control the affairs of Eastern Europe.� One by one, the Communist Governments of Eastern Europe were driven from power. On October 3, 1990, less than a year after the Berlin Wall fell, East and West Germany were reunited into one Country for the first time since World War II. These acheivements are directly attributed to Reagan�s military build-up and arms race. The Soviet Union tried to keep up with the United States on the world scene concerning the same and the Soviet Economy crumbled and could no longer afford to be the Power-Hungry maniac it once was.

The week of XXth century

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