Presidency

 Radio Sports announcer  Actor in Hollywood  Head of Screen Actors Guild  Governor of California

 The Iran Hostage Crisis  The weak economy and high rate of inflation  Hostility toward big government  Calls for a more conservative Supreme Court

 Reduce federal tax rates for businesses and wealthy Americans (the Reagan tax cuts led to large increases in the incomes of wealthy Americans)  Reduce corporate tax rates and encourage private investment  Promote economic growth by deregulating business

 Reagan took an aggressive approach toward the Soviet Union, Calling it an “Evil Empire”  Reagan increased spending for Defense  Reagan proposed the Strategic Defense Initiative (an anti-missile system in space)  Reagan asked Congress to fund a counter- revolutionary force to overthrow the Sandinistas’ government in Nicaragua

 Set a tone of hope and optimism in the U.S.  Put military and economic pressure on the Soviet Union to adopt reform measures  Strengthened the alliance with Britain  Led the nation in mourning the deaths in the Space Challenger Disaster  Appointed Sandra Day O’Connor as the first woman to sit on the Supreme Court

 Deregulation of certain industries such as the airlines and Savings and Loans ended in economic problems and scandals  When Congress cut off funding for the Contras in Nicaragua, Reagan agreed to sell weapons to Iran in exchange for Hostages and money.  The money from the illegal weapons’ sales was sent to the Contras.  Reagan angered U. S. allies and lost the trust of many Americans as a result of Iran-Contra