Ronald Reagan

By marterhaar

  • Nicaragua

    Rebels known as Sandinistas overthrew a pro-american Nicaraguan dictator in 1979. In response, Reagan’s administration began secretly arming a guerilla force known as the contras.

  • Aid to Afghan Rebels

    December of 1979, the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan to support a Soviet-backed government. Reagan sent $570 million dollars in military aid.

  • Deregulation

    Reagan believed that government regulations were one of many causes of economic problems. To solve this problem, he signed an executive order eliminating the price controls on oil and gasoline in 1981. This led to the deregulation of other programs including the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration,the Federal Communications Commission, and the Environmental Protection Agency.

  • Oil Price Cut

    Reagan stopped price regulations on oil which caused the oil prices to fall.

  • Tax Rate Cut

    Reagan’s first priority was to fix the economy with an approach called Reaganomics which was a combination of monetarism and supply-side economics. This led Congress to pass a 25 percent tax rate cut in July of 1981.

  • Economy Boom

    All of Reagan’s efforts paid off and in 1983, the economy finally began to recover.

  • Grenada

    Radical Marxists overthrew the left-wing government of Grenada in 1983. In October, Reagan sent troops were sent who quickly defeated the Cuban and Grenadian soldiers.

  • Shifting the Judicial Balance

    In the federal judiciary, Reagan applied his conservative ideas by nominating judges that would follow the original intent and wording of the Constitution rather than those who interpreted and expanded its meaning in 1986 when Chief Justice Warren Burger retired.

  • Cutting Social Programs

    Reagan proposed to cut some social programs to balance the budget deficit. Many of the cuts were passed by Congress.

  • Iran-Contra Scandal

    The illegal operations occurring in Nicaragua came into the light in 1986 when the Iran-Contra Scandal was uncovered. Reagan was proved innocent.

  • The Cold War Comes to an End

    In December of 1987 Reagan helped bring the Cold War to an end with an Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty which he signed with the Soviet Union leader, Mikhail Gorbachev. This was the first treaty that called for the destruction of nuclear weapons.