Ronald Reagan

Early political beliefs When Ronald Reagan began his political career in the 1950s, he was the official spokesperson for the GE Company, preparing and giving speeches on GE’s behalf. He professed to be a liberal Democrat and was a member of the Democratic Party at that time, even though many of his stances and views were supportive of Republican ideals. Ronald Reagan had switched to the Republican Party because his views had changed. When asked why he left the Democratic Party he said the Democratic Party left him.

Early political Career Reagan was nominated by the California Republican Party in 1966 to run for Governor of California. His campaign stance was “making the welfare bums get back to work.” His conservative ideals resonated with Californians, and he defeated the incumbent and well-respected Democrat Edmund G. "Pat" Brown. Ronald Reagan was sworn in as the Governor of California on January 3, He served two terms through 1975

Assassination Attempt John Hinckley, Jr. shot President Ronald Reagan outside the Hilton Hotel in Washington D.C. just after the president had addressed the Building and Construction Workers Union of the AFL-CIO. Reagan claimed that he “Forgot to Duck” when he was fired at.

PATCO Early in his administration, members of the federal air traffic controllers union (PATCO) went on strike, violating a federal regulation. Declaring the strike a “peril to national safety,” Reagan gave the workers an ultimatum and ended up firing more than 11,000 of the controllers, sending a strong signal that he was more than just all talk.

Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI): (Star Wars) The Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), also known as Star Wars, was a program first initiated on March 23, 1983 under President Ronald Reagan. The intent of this program was to develop a sophisticated anti- ballistic missile system in order to prevent missile attacks from other countries, specifically the Soviet Union. The program was set aside and left abandoned due to budget cuts

Reaganomics Reagan’s mix of across-the-board tax cuts, deregulation, and domestic spending restraint helped fuel an economic boom that lasted two decades. Reagan inherited a misery index (the sum of the inflation and unemployment rates) of 19.99%, and when he left office it had dropped to 9.72%. Under Reaganomics, 16 million new jobs were created.

Peace through Strength The military was diminished during the Carter years, but Reagan reversed that by rebuilding the armed forces. His Peace Through Strength philosophy was manifested by his reviving the B-1 bomber that Carter canceled, starting production of the MX missile, and pushing NATO to deploy Pershing missiles in West Germany. He increased defense spending by more than 40%, increased troop levels, and even got much-needed space parts into the pipeline. Those efforts ensured that America remained a military superpower.

Civilian arms trade scandal In 1987, it was discovered that, contrary to his pledge never to deal with terrorists, Reagan had, at the very least, not attempted to stop subordinates from arranging a complicated arms-for-hostages swap by circumventing congressional restrictions and selling weapons to Iran in exchange for the release of hostages.

And The Most Important Event Was…

Reaganomics Why? The unemployment rate rose from 7% in 1980 to 10.8% in 1982, then declined to 5.4% in The inflation rate declined from 10% in 1980 to 4% in Reagan's policies were an important part of bringing about the second longest peacetime economic expansion in U.S. history