Category: The Story Of Liberty

The Reagan Revolution

2/6/2026

The following is the last unit of John De Gree’s book, American History, the Story of Liberty from America’s Heritage through the Reagan Revolution and De Gree's last unit of Modern American History, Reconstruction through the Reagan Revolution.

The Reagan Revolution, 1981-1989
Introduction

At the end of the 1970s, America was at its lowest point since the Great Depression. One and half decades of economic downturn burdened Americans. Morale greatly suffered. Since 1963, the nation had experienced the assassination of John F. Kennedy (JFK), Lyndon B. Johnson’s (LBJ’s) lies about the failures of Vietnam, the Watergate Scandal, humiliation and loss in Vietnam, and the economic stagnation and foreign policy weaknesses under Carter. The hope and confidence of post-World War II America had collapsed into despondency. The Soviet Union, America’s rival superpower, was on the march around the world.

For nearly fifty years since FDR’s New Deal, America had marched towards a massive growth of government, more regulation, price controls, and higher taxes. Democrats had dominated Congress from 1932 through 1980. When Republicans did capture the White House, they governed as liberals or moderates, expanding the power of the state. This 50-year slide towards leftism had produced not a better society with more opportunity and less poverty, but instead higher crime, the collapse of the American family, economic anemia, and weakness abroad. In addition, the great hope of the Civil Rights Movements of the 1950s and early 1960s was dashed by persistent inequalities in education, the workforce, and by race riots.

In 1980, Americans made a drastic change away from a more powerful state and great social welfare programs and chose a conservative as president for the first time since Calvin Coolidge (1923-1929). Ronald Reagan saw a brighter future for America, not based on the policies of the last fifty years, but on the historic ideas and principles that had made America a strong country. Individual freedom, peace through strength, tax cuts, and the deregulation of business, family, and faith were cornerstones of Reagan’s philosophy. He wanted to unleash the American free market and then use it to defeat Soviet Communism. This “happy warrior” used humor, a smile, Christian humility, and grace to get his message across.

This era is named the “Reagan Revolution” because President Reagan completely changed the trajectory of America. He created the longest economic boom in American history, lasting through the 1990s. Reagan showed Americans what their founders believed in and he changed how people saw their government for generations to come. Using American economic might and moral clarity, he brought the Communist Soviet Union to its knees. One year after Reagan left office in 1989, Eastern Europeans broke away from their Soviet overlords. In 1991, the Soviet Union dissolved into 15 republics, each denouncing communism. The Reagan Revolution was a seismic shift for the good both in America and in the rest of the world.

Chapter 131. The Education of Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan’s ascension to national power was due, in part, to the great demographic and economic changes occurring in the country. After World War II, the center of America’s demographics and economy moved from the Northeast and upper Midwest to the South and to the West. This migration from the “frost-belt” states to the “sun-belt” states had major economic and political ramifications in the second half of the twentieth century. Voters in the frost-belt states tended to be “New Deal Democrats,” beholden to labor unions, government support and regulation of industry; they distrusted innovation and were risk-averse. Voters in the sun-belt states tended to be more free-market oriented, open to risk-taking, and more distrustful of big government.

The Rise of the South and West
In the 1940s, the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, and Great Lakes states had 68 percent of the country’s manufacturing employment. By 1977, manufacturing jobs in these states had decreased by over 50 percent. In the two decades of the 1960s and 1970s, states in the North lost 2.4 million by migration to the South and the West. In 1960, the frost-belt states had 41 more electoral votes than the sun-belt states. By 1980, the sun-belt had 26 more electoral votes. Since the mid-1960s through 2008, all elected Presidents have come from the South and the West: Johnson, H.W. Bush and W. Bush were from Texas, Nixon and Reagan were from California, and Clinton was from Arkansas. Ford, a Midwesterner, was appointed, not elected. In 1980, for the first time in history, the election was between a man from the West, Ronald Reagan, and a man from the South, Jimmy Carter (1924-2024).

Midwestern Upbringing
It is fitting that America’s most consequential President from California was born and raised in the Midwest. In many ways, Ronald Reagan’s childhood resembled that of a traditional American of the early twentieth century. He was born on February 6, 2011, in the small Midwestern town of Tampico, Illinois. His mother was an optimist and a strong Protestant Christian. He worked as a lifeguard on the Rock River and is credited for saving 77 people. Reagan played sports in high school, was active in school plays, was president of the drama club, and art director of the yearbook. He was known for being friendly, sincere, and handsome.

At a young age, Reagan overcame challenges that could have been emotionally crushing. His father Jack was a shoe salesman and struggled to pay the family’s bills. Though Jack was friendly and good at telling stories and jokes, he was an alcoholic. Because of his business failures, Jack moved the family a number of times during Ronald’s childhood and youth. As an 11-year-old, Ronald came home one evening and found his dad drunk, passed out in the snow in front of his home. Left there overnight, he would have died. Ronald dragged his father in the house. Somehow, Ronald Reagan overcame the challenges of frequent moves as a child, growing up in a poor family, and having an alcoholic for a dad. At a young age he decided to be baptized into his mom’s church and dedicated himself to his faith, memorizing the Bible and turning to God in times of trouble.

After high school, he attended Eureka College in Illinois and majored in economics. He was the first President to have majored in economics. (Donald Trump was the second.) In college, he played football, was the student body president, and led a student strike which caused the college president to step down. When a hotel refused service to two black teammates, he brought them to his home where his parents welcomed them.

Early Career
After graduating, he worked as a Midwestern sports broadcaster, first announcing college football games and then Chicago Cubs games. During a California trip with the Cubs, he took a screen test with Warner Brothers Movie Studio and they offered him a 7-year contract as an actor. He starred in 30 “B-movies” before hitting it big in Knute Rockne, All American (1940). He portrayed Notre Dame football legend George Gipp who died young and uttered the words, “Win just one for the Gipper.” After this movie he starred in other top films and became nationally recognized as a movie star.

In 1937, Reagan joined the Army Reserve, and during World War II, he was transferred to the Army Air Force. Due to bad eyesight and because of his celebrity status, he was kept out of combat duty and worked with other actors and directors, such as Clark Gable and William Holden, to make movies and films supporting the war effort. Captain Ronald Reagan’s unit created more than 200 productions.

In a span of 12 years, Reagan married, divorced, and remarried. In 1940, he married movie actress Jane Wyman, had two girls (one died right after birth) and adopted one boy. In 1948, Wyman filed for a divorce (her third), though Reagan did not want one. Wyman had to accuse Reagan of “mental cruelty” in order for the state to grant the divorce. (Later, in 1969, as governor, Reagan signed into law “no-fault divorce” which took the state government out of a couple’s decision to divorce.) In 1949, he met Nancy Davis, another actress. Davis had erroneously been placed on a Hollywood blacklist, and was believed to be a spy. As the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) President, Reagan worked to get her off the blacklist. In 1952, they married and had a long and happy marriage, having two children and remaining together until death.

From 1947-1952, and then again from 1959-1960, Reagan served as President of the SAG. He is the only President who led a labor union. During this time, the Soviet Union placed Communist spies throughout American media. Reagan fought hard to keep Communists from controlling Hollywood and the SAG, and experienced first-hand the effects of leftist radicals on American society. Reagan spent time at the U.S. Capitol testifying against Communist actors and defending those who weren’t Communists.

General Electric Spokesman
From 1954-1962, Reagan was a spokesperson for General Electric (GE), hosting a television and radio show and giving motivational speeches to employees. Over this period, he traveled to 40 states and 139 factories, addressing over 250,000 people. It was fortuitous that just as Reagan’s movie opportunities dwindled, television was becoming ubiquitous. Reagan was one of the most well-known actors in the country.

When he began his GE role, Reagan was a New Deal Democrat, but during those 8 years, he became a conservative Republican. GE Vice President Lemuel Boulware published books and pamphlets teaching about the free market, communism, and democracy, and he established book clubs to discuss them. Reagan read the works and summaries of conservative economists Ludwig von Mises, Henry Hazlitt, and Friedrich Hayek. Reagan also studied Communism, focusing on its persecution of religion, Vladimir Lenin, and Joseph Stalin. Reagan’s studies and experiences convinced him that the best path to prosperity and liberty was a limited government and that for a person to be truly fulfilled, he must be allowed to express his faith in God. After his experiences in Hollywood and with GE, Reagan was prepared to enter political life.

In 1964, Reagan acted in his last Hollywood role and began his political life. He made a speech on national television in support of Republican presidential candidate Barry Goldwater titled “A Time for Choosing” that mesmerized conservatives. Reagan’s speech was a 30-minute paid political TV broadcast that aired on the evening of October 27, 1964, one week before the presidential election. He spoke convincingly against the social welfare system established by the New Deal and expanded under LBJ’s Great Society. He spoke against Big Government, wasteful spending, taxes, fraud, government subsidies, totalitarianism, and Soviet Communism. He inspired Americans by promoting individual freedom, the Constitution, the free market, and low taxes. Throughout his political career, these were his themes. Though Goldwater lost, Reagan became the national leader of conservatism.

Governor of California
Reagan ran for California governor in 1966 and defeated Edmund (Pat) Brown, the Democrat incumbent. He governed for two terms from 1967-1975. As governor, he reformed welfare by reducing the number of eligible recipients and increasing aid to the impoverished needy. Interestingly, he agreed with the Democrat legislature to raise taxes, but he froze new government hiring, lowered business regulations, cut wasteful spending, quelled widespread student campus protests, and achieved a balanced budget. Reagan spoke very conservatively on many issues but compromised with liberals and was a very popular leader.

The education of Ronald Reagan, transforming him from a New Deal Democrat to the leader of the conservatives, was complete when he left General Electric (GE) in 1962. He would say, “I didn’t leave the Democratic Party, it left me,” and it is clear that he saw how the failures of the social welfare system implemented by FDR and expanded by LBJ were destroying the country. Reagan was also driven to defeat Soviet Communism and expand liberty throughout the world. After his two terms as California governor, he set his sights on the U.S. Presidency.

Chapter 132. 1980 Election and Reagan’s Domestic Policy
Ronald Reagan was the first president since Calvin Coolidge to call himself a conservative. Since FDR and the birth of the welfare state, every presidential candidate ran with promises to increase social programs, grow the power of government, and to direct the experts to solve America’s problems. Reagan did the opposite. He promised to cut taxes, deregulate businesses, cut the size of government, use market solutions to solve the country’s energy problems, and energize the Cold War against the Soviet Union. Because of Reagan’s successes during his two terms, he changed the relationship of the government to the citizen and he created a multi-generational shift in the electorate.

The media had leaned left ever since LBJ and the Vietnam War, but with Reagan’s rise the media engaged in all-out hatred against conservatives. Journalists tried to present Reagan as a buffoon, a Hollywood actor lacking in education and intelligence, and a dangerous war-monger. At the beginning of the 1980 Presidential campaign, even with America’s problems, Carter was favored to win. Reagan countered the media’s false portrayals of him with wit, laughter, facts, common sense, and smiles.

Reagan masterfully pointed out President Carter’s failures in a witty way. He used Carter’s own 1976 campaign slogan against him by asking Americans, “Are you better off than you were four years ago?” In discussing how Americans felt about the future of their country, he stated, “Recession is when your neighbor loses his job. Depression is when you lose yours. And recovery is when Jimmy Carter loses his.” And, in a presidential debate, Reagan amiably responded to Carter’s many criticisms, “There you go again.” Americans were tired of Carter’s condescending preaching, acting as though Americans themselves were to blame for their problems and not Carter. Reagan promised to drastically change course, and Americans wanted a drastic change from a decade of lethargy.

Reagan won the 1980 election by a margin of 489 to 49 in the electoral college and 43.9 million to 35.5 million in the popular vote. Republicans gained an astounding 13 Senate seats, capturing the Senate for the first time in over 30 years. In the House of Representatives, Republicans won 34 seats but Democrats maintained control. Although Democrats retained control of the House, 30 to 40 representatives were considered conservatives who supported many or most of Reagan’s proposals. They were derisively called “boll weevils.”

Two months after the inauguration, mentally deranged John Hinckley attempted to assassinate the new President. A bullet pierced Reagan’s chest, landing inches away from his heart. Rushed to the hospital, laying on the operating bed, Reagan looked at the doctors and nurses and quipped, “I hope you’re all Republicans.” One doctor replied, “Mr. Reagan, today we are all Republicans.” After surgery, when asked if he felt much pain, Reagan responded, “Only when I laugh.” Reagan recovered and was more adamant about achieving his goals. He believed God had spared him for something important.

Reaganomics: Tax Cuts and Deregulation
Reagan knew that before he could lead America on the world stage, especially against Soviet Communism, he had to repair and invigorate the American economy. He moved to cut taxes and deregulate the economy. He was inspired by the economists he’d studied while at GE — Mises and Hazlitt — as well as his own conservative advisors. George Gilder’s 1981 book Wealth and Poverty promoted supply-side economics, which is the policy of increasing production by removing regulations and business taxes — and lowering taxes overall — so businesses invest and produce more goods. When more products hit the markets and supply increases, prices will fall, argued Gilder. Arthur Laffer, a member of Reagan’s Economic Policy Advisory Board, argued that there is a point where government revenues will actually fall if taxes are too high. Because he drew a diagram on a napkin over a meal to explain his theory, it is now known as the “Laffer Curve.” Reagan was convinced that cutting taxes and deregulating businesses would stimulate the economy, improve Americans’ lives, and allow the country to aggressively confront Communism.

The first major tax legislation under Reagan was the Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981. Because the Democrats controlled the House, it was phased in over three years, which meant it took a few years for Americans to benefit. Along with the tax cuts, Reagan lowered regulations on businesses and cut the federal budget by $40 million. The main points of the tax cuts were as follows:

A 23% cut in overall individual taxes
A 10% deduction on income for two-earner married couples
Allowed more employee stock ownership plans
Increased child tax credits to $2,400 for one child and $4,800 for two children
Lowered the highest marginal rate from 70% to 50%
Reduced the lowest marginal rate from 14% to 11%
Indexed new taxes to inflation so individuals wouldn’t be punished for higher inflation
Reduced estate taxes
Reduced capital gains taxes
Reduced corporate taxes

The years of 1981 and 1982 were challenging for Reagan. In January of 1981, Reagan removed the remaining oil and natural gas price controls that had existed since Nixon. The initial release of the price controls and the delayed implementation of the tax cuts, coupled with all of the other residue from 1970s policies, caused the Recession of 1981-1982. There were calls to ditch the new tax cuts, raise taxes, restore oil and gas price controls, and change course. These calls came from Democrats, the media, and even from some Republicans — even from within Reagan’s own Cabinet. In addition, the nation’s Professional Air Traffic Controller’s Organization went on strike despite the fact this federal organization, vital for the country’s transportation, was forbidden by law to strike. In response, Reagan fired all 11,500 controllers and used the military to control air traffic until a new civilian workforce could be hired.

By the end of 1983 and into 1984 the economy was roaring. Just as the other two major twentieth century tax cuts had worked under Coolidge and JFK, the Reagan tax cuts propelled the American economy forward. Inflation plummeted from 14.5 percent under Carter to 4.2 percent in 1984. Unemployment only decreased from 7.2 percent under Carter to 7.1 percent in 1984, but Americans could see there would be more jobs in the future. Gross national product (GNP) growth initially fell from 2.4 percent in 1981 to -1.7 percent in 1982, but rose by 4.5 percent in 1983 and by an impressive 7.1 percent in 1984. Americans had more income and more purchasing power. For the first time since the mid-1960s, Americans were optimistic about the economy and about the future.

133. 1984 Election and Morning in America
In the 1984 Presidential campaign, Reagan ran against Democrat Walter Mondale of Minnesota. Mondale had served as Vice President under Jimmy Carter and as U.S. Senator from 1964 to 1976. In early 1983, Reagan’s approval ratings were at 35 percent. Americans were still suffering from the recession. However, over the next two years, the economy improved and Reagan achieved some successes in foreign policy. One of the greatest talking points against Reagan was his age, 79 in 1980, which would make him the oldest president to date. In a debate, Mondale challenged Reagan about his age, and Reagan responded, joking, “I want you to know that also I will not make age an issue of this campaign. I am not going to exploit, for political purposes, my opponent's youth and inexperience.” Even Mondale laughed, and the issue disappeared. Most remember Reagan’s campaign for his slogan “Morning in America” which meant that America’s best moments were ahead of it if the country stayed with him.

Reagan won the 1984 election in a landslide, capturing 49 states to 1, winning 525 electoral votes to Mondale’s 13, and taking the popular vote by over 18 percent. This is the last time that a candidate has won the popular vote by double digits. Paradoxically, the Democrats still controlled the House, and in 1987, they took back the Senate.

Tax Reforms and Economic Boom
In Reagan’s second term, he pushed the Tax Reform Act of 1986 through a Democrat Congress. Congress slowly implemented the law over two years, so its results were delayed. This legislation lowered the top income tax rate from 50 percent to 28 percent, lowered taxes for all, expanded the earned income tax credit, removed 6 million lower-income Americans from paying any taxes, simplified tax filing, removed 7 million falsely declared dependents by compelling parents to report Social Security numbers for their children, and increased the home mortgage interest deduction.

Reagan’s tax cuts were undeniably an astounding success. There were both immediate and long-term effects. From the beginning of the full implementation of the first tax cut through 1988, GNP rose at an average rate of 4.4 percent. Patent filing increased from about 50,000 in 1980 to almost 150,000 in 1988. Unemployment fell from 7.2 percent in 1980 to 5.3 percent in 1988. In the long term, the U.S. economy experienced the longest continuous period of growth in history, with GNP increasing every year from 1983 through 1991, and then again from 1992 to 2009!

During the era of Reagan, some of America’s great industries suffered while a new one emerged. Job losses in steel, textile, and automobile industries continued. The term “Rust Belt” was coined to signify the decay of the upper Midwestern cities of Detroit, Akron, Toledo, and others. However, at this same time there was the massive explosion of a new economic powerhouse, the computer industry.

Entrepreneurs created the personal computer industry with no direct government subsidies and no mandates. However, government did play a role in the technology boom. In 1969, the Pentagon hired four universities to connect their computers. In 1972, email was created. In 1975, Bill Gates, a college dropout, founded Microsoft. He purchased and promoted the operating system MS-DOS and then created Windows 1.0, using the new “mouse” technology to make human-computer interface easy. In 1976, Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, both also college dropouts, founded Apple Computers, Inc. It joined the Fortune 500 in the quickest time ever. By 1980, American companies controlled 70 percent of the world software market and 80 percent of the world hard drive business. By 1990, there was one PC for every 2.6 people. By 1991, the World Wide Web was inaugurated.

Reagan’s economic policy benefitted all of society, including minorities and women. Throughout the 1980s, the median family income rose for all, including black families. Black Americans’ poverty rate fell from 32.5 percent in 1980 to 31.3 percent in 1988. In 1980, black unemployment stood at 14.6 percent, but in 1988, it had dropped to 11.8 percent. In 1980, the Hispanic unemployment rate was over 10 percent, but by 1988 it had dropped to under 8 percent. Overall, the unemployment rate dropped from 7.2 percent in 1980 to 5.3 percent in 1988.

National Deficit Grows
One criticism of the Reagan Economy is the explosion of the national debt. It is true the national debt grew under Reagan. Reagan’s primary focuses were to jumpstart the economy, rebuild the economy, and rebuild the military. He calculated that the military spending would cause a crisis in the Soviet Union. Reagan achieved his goals and he was correct in his goals regarding the Soviet Union. However, to accomplish his goals, he had to compromise with a Democratic Congress, who wanted to massively increase domestic spending. Both got what they wanted. In 1989 when Reagan left the Presidency, real federal revenue was more than 19 percent higher than it was the day he took office in 1981. The Reagan tax cuts and deregulation spurred economic growth and as a result, the federal government had more revenue. From 1981 to 1988, though the federal government received 19 percent more income and the economy was strong, Congress continued to spend more than it took in, and at a faster rate each year. In 1988, public debt was $2.7 trillion, compared to $908 billion in 1981.

Supreme Court
During his presidency, Republican control of the Senate enabled Reagan to place two conservative justices on the Supreme Court, Sandra Day O’Connor and Antonin Scalia, and elevate Justice William Rehnquist to be chief justice of the Supreme Court. O’Connor was the first female on the Supreme Court. Scalia went on to serve for thirty years as one of the strongest proponents for an originalist and textualist interpretation of the Constitution. He ruled on cases based on what the Constitution stated and what the Founders meant when they wrote it. At the time of his appointment, this conservative view was in the minority on the court. After four decades of complete liberal dominance, the Supreme Court began to slowly move to the right.

The Reagan tax cuts, business deregulation, and removal of price controls on oil and natural gas spurred an economic recovery for America that propelled it for over two decades. Reagan’s economic successes made possible his other great goal: defeating Soviet Communism.

Chapter 134. Reagan Foreign Policy and Victory in the Cold War
There was one primary foreign policy issue for America in the Reagan Presidency: Soviet Communism. Islamic terrorism was the second issue. The first had existed since 1917. The second was not as well-known. Reagan’s unique response to Soviet Communism — his decisive, consistent, and ingenious stance against this totalitarian regime — was one of the main reasons for Soviet collapse in 1989, one year after he left office. Reagan changed the world by confronting Soviet Communism. The threat of Islamic terrorism, punctuated by the Islamic revolution in Iran under Carter in 1979, declined under the Reagan presidency, but it was not defeated. In hindsight, it appears Islamism was just beginning. Even though terrorist activities decreased under President Reagan, he did not adequately address this problem.

Soviet Communism: We Win, They Lose
Unfortunately, many Americans today do not know enough about Soviet Communism. Communists took over Russia in 1917 and quickly established the Soviet Union, also known as the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (U.S.S.R.). As we have seen in this book, Communists believe all citizens exist to serve the state and all property, including every business, is owned by the government. Communists oppose religious belief. They also believe there is no morality and government can use all means to control society. In the Soviet Union (1917-1991) and the countries it controlled, Communists systematically persecuted, tortured, starved, and murdered to build what they believed was a utopia. Atrocities were state policy. In countries Communists supported or controlled in the Soviet Union, Eastern Europe, China, Cuba, North Korea, Vietnam, and Cambodia, Communists murdered about 100 million from 1917 through 1991.

Reagan strongly opposed past presidents’ policies towards Communism. Beginning with President Truman in 1947, America followed a policy of containment. Known as the Truman Doctrine, America promised to assist "free people who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or outside pressures." The idea was to contain Communism and let it destroy itself, or at least hold it in place. From the late 1940s through 1968, America’s policy of containment sometimes resulted in military action, such as in Korea and Vietnam. However, there was not a coordinated effort to hasten the destruction of Communist regimes from within. In fact, in areas already under Communist control, America did not offer any assistance to anti-Communists. In the 1953 East Berlin Uprising, in Hungary in 1956, and the Prague Spring of Czechoslovakia in 1968, the United States sat idly by and watched Communists crush resistance.

Beginning with Nixon, American Presidents moved from a policy of containment to offers of friendly relationship with the Soviets to engage them in dialogue and even give legitimacy to totalitarian Communism. This policy was called “detente.” The results of containment and detente were continued Soviet global expansion in Latin America, Africa, Asia, and Europe, which weakened America.

In 1977, Reagan was asked by advisor Richard Allen about his theory of U.S.-Soviet relations. He firmly and clearly stated, “Here’s my strategy on the Cold War. We win, they lose.” Reagan sought all avenues and all methods short of direct military conflict, to defeat Soviet Communism. He explicitly spoke against the evils of Communism and challenged the Soviet Union’s moral legitimacy. Throughout the world, on the airwaves, in the military, in the press, and in the economy, Reagan confronted Soviet Communism and worked to roll back the tyrannical government. Reagan teamed up with other world leaders, like Pope John Paul II, to defeat Soviet Communism. Because of his work, Reagan’s foreign policy literally transformed the world.

As with Reagan in 1981, an assassin tried to kill Pope John Paul II and came within an inch of succeeding. Pope John Paul II was the first Polish pope in history and a fervent enemy of Communism. Soon after, Reagan and the Pope met in person and then set up secret communication lines to plan and implement anti-Communist activities in the world, especially in Poland.

As author Paul Kengor notes in A Pope and President, although the Western Press has downplayed their relationship and work, the two were key to the success of defeating Communism. In his first speech after being shot, Reagan’s commencement address at the University of Notre Dame on May 17, 1981, he declared,  “The years ahead are great ones for this country, for the cause of freedom and the spread of civilization...The West won’t contain communism, it will transcend communism… It will dismiss it as some bizarre chapter in human history whose last pages are even now being written....It is time for the world to know our intellectual and spiritual values are rooted in the source of all strength, a belief in a Supreme Being, and a law higher than our own.”

Western media was shocked at what Reagan said and claimed he was stoking war. In fact, he was destroying any legitimacy the totalitarian Soviet Communist government held. The Pope and President provided each other with intelligence: The President provided Catholics in Poland and elsewhere with copy machines, printing presses, photocopiers, computers, fax machines. It is no coincidence that Poland was the first Communist country to hold free elections in June 1989. After that, Soviet Communism crumbled.

Peace Through Strength
Reagan correctly believed that once the American economy got back to free market principles, it would thrive, and then he could invest so much in defense it would completely bankrupt the Soviet Union. In what Reagan termed “Peace through strength,” he believed peach would come when the United States was militarily stronger. In 1980, the United States spent about 5.2 percent of GDP on defense, while the Soviet Union spent somewhere between 15 to 17 percent. However, although the American economy was at the end of a decades-long slump, Americans were still in a much better economic position than the Soviets. Soviet citizens had to wait in lines to buy everyday items like toilet paper because their government-owned industries could not produce enough. Soviets also lacked basic food supplies like grain. Reagan wanted to build America’s defenses, not to attack the Soviet Union; he sought to force the U.S.S.R. to try to keep up, and thus cripple itself. Reagan increased defense spending from $143.7 billion in 1980 to $309.7 billion in 1988. Because of America’s expanding economy, this increase in defense spending did not represent a significantly larger share of GDP. In fact, defense spending only grew from 5.2 percent of GDP in 1980 to 6.1 percent of GDP in 1988. With the new funds, Reagan built new ships and advanced military weapons, and began research on a new missile defense program.

Reagan challenged the Soviet buildup of nuclear weapons in Europe, and he won. In the 1970s, the Soviet Union deployed hundreds of intermediate-range nuclear missiles to threaten Western Europe. In 1979, NATO planned to deploy its own such weapons aimed at Eastern Europe. Reagan offered to cancel NATO’s plan to deploy these missiles if the Soviets agreed to pull out their weapons. The Soviets refused and Reagan went ahead with the plan, deploying hundreds of intermediate-range nuclear missiles in Western Europe aimed at the East. Protests erupted across Western Europe, claiming Reagan was a warmonger. Soviets funded many of these protests, yet in 1987, they backed down and accepted Reagan’s offer, signing the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) and removing their missiles.

One key component of Reagan’s plan to defeat the Soviets was the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI). Since the Soviet Union had developed its nuclear capabilities and amassed a large array of missiles by the 1970s, the two superpowers functioned on the policy of mutually assured destruction (MAD). The philosophy was that neither side would launch a nuclear missile because the other side could then obliterate the attacker. In 1980, the Soviets held a distinct advantage in the number of long-range and short-range nuclear missiles, while the Americans held the advantage in technologically advanced anti-missile weapons systems. Instead of adding to the American arsenal, Reagan wanted to develop technology to make the missiles obsolete. He thought the idea of MAD was a “suicide pact.” The idea behind SDI was to develop a defense system using lasers, satellites, and ground and space-based missile systems that could shoot down nuclear missiles before they landed and detonated.

In 1983, Reagan announced the launch of the SDI and organized it within the US Department of Defense. Immediately, the Western media denounced the program as ludicrous. Deriding Reagan’s plan as a fantasy, journalists termed it “Star Wars.” Unfortunately for the media and the Soviet Union, the American public quickly embraced the metaphor and backed Reagan and his plan fully. Star Wars was a very popular 1977 science fiction movie, where the good guys (the Republic) fought Darth Vader and the Evil Empire. Reagan and his supporters loved the term and used it.

The Evil Empire
Reagan explicitly stated his position on the Communist Soviet Union and put the Communist dictators on defense. On March 8, 1983, in a speech at the National Association of Evangelicals, Reagan stated that the Soviet Union was an “evil empire” and “the focus of evil in the modern world.” Reagan used these strong terms even though White House staffers and State Department officials deleted these words from the speech. It was originally written by his speechwriter Anthony R. Dolan, and Reagan put the words back in. The Western Press attacked Reagan as a warmonger, but the Soviet leadership knew this threatened their legitimacy in the eyes of their own citizens. Reagan’s words and actions increased protests inside of the Soviet Union and its satellite countries.

Meanwhile, America was involved indirectly in Great Britain’s 1982 Falklands War against Argentina, and in 1983 America overthrew a Communist takeover of Grenada, a tiny island country of the Bahamas and British Commonwealth. Over 600 Americans were studying medicine on Grenada. Reagan wanted to protect the students and keep the island from becoming Communist, so ordered an invasion. With the Communists removed from power, Grenada returned to its democratic form of government in the Commonwealth.

Reagan promised to roll back Soviet Communism throughout the world. In his 1985 State of the Union address, he stated, “We must not break faith with those who are risking their lives — on every continent from Afghanistan to Nicaragua — to defy Soviet-supported aggression and secure rights which have been ours from birth.” In Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Bolivia, Honduras, Suriname, Uruguay, and elsewhere, America provided support to those fighting the Communists. Unfortunately, some of the fighters and governments America supported had terrible human rights records against their own people. Reagan chose to support evil leaders at times, but only if they fought Communists.

In Afghanistan, Reagan helped finance those fighting against the Soviet invasion, the Afghan mujahedeen forces. American funding of Islamic militant groups began under Carter, but Reagan increased the funding dramatically, from $695,000 in 1979 to $630 million in 1987. One of the mujahedeen fighters was Osama bin Laden, later the leader of Al-Qaeda, the group that attacked the United States on September 11, 2001 (9/11). In April 1988, the Soviet Union began its withdrawal from Afghanistan and completed it on February 15, 1989. It was the first withdrawal of troops in Soviet history.

Reagan was a masterful negotiator. He used his charm, wit, and unwavering moral courage to challenge the Communist leaders. One problem plagued Reagan during his first five years: Soviet leaders kept dying. Leonid Brezhnev died in 1982; Yuri Andropov died in 1984; and Konstantin Chernenko died in 1985. From 1985 to 1988, Reagan met in person four times with Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev, in Switzerland, Iceland, the United States, and the Soviet Union. After the third meeting, both countries agreed to the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, which limited short-range and intermediate-range missiles. Gorbachev also started to withdraw troops from Afghanistan, ended his support of Communists in Nicaragua and reduced Soviet commitments in Cuba and Vietnam. He told the Eastern European countries they needed to “find their own solutions to their own problems.” This signaled to these countries that they could potentially break away from Moscow’s control.

At the end of Reagan’s two terms, the resurgent American economy and the relentless pressure on the Communist Soviet Union began to pay off. As noted, the Soviet Union withdrew completely from Afghanistan. Uprisings against Communist rule were rampant in Eastern Europe and in Asia. Soviet aid to Latin America began to dry up. On June 12, 1987, at the Brandenburg Gate, Germany, in front of the Berlin Wall, Reagan gave a stirring speech, daring the Soviet Communist leader with these words, “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!” Two years later, on November 9, 1989, Germans tore it down. Poland held free elections in 1989 and for the first time since the end of World War II, a non-Communist party governed. In less than 12 months, each Communist country in Central and Eastern Europe fell, and in 1991, the Soviet Union dissolved into the country of Russia and 14 other independent nations.

Fall of Soviet Communism
After the fall of the Soviet Union in 1989 right after Reagan left office, many Russians credited the work of President Reagan in tearing down Communist Soviet Union. Gennady Gerasimov, top Spokesman for the Soviet Foreign Ministry during the 1980s, said, “Reagan bolstered the U.S. military might to ruin the Soviet economy, and he achieved his goal....The Soviet Union tried to keep up pace with the U.S. military buildup, but the Soviet economy couldn’t endure such competition.” Former dissident Vladimir Bukovsky, said of Reagan, “His phrase, ‘evil empire,’ became a household word in Russia.” Soviet foreign policy expert and later ambassador to the United States Vladimir Lukhim stated, “It is clear that SDI accelerated our catastrophe by at least five years.”

Radical Islamic Terrorism
One unsuccessful area of Reagan’s foreign policy was in combating radical Islam. Reagan sent Marines to Lebanon to keep peace between Israel and radical Islamic terrorists. On October 23, 1983, Iran ordered and paid Hezbollah, a radical Islamic terrorist organization, to bomb the U.S. Marine barracks in Lebanon. In all, 241 U.S. military personnel, including 220 Marines, 18 sailors, and three soldiers were killed. In addition, 100 Marines were injured. Minutes later, another bomb detonated, killing French soldiers. In December 1983, Syria shot down two U.S. fighters and held one pilot hostage, releasing him to Democrat presidential candidate Jesse Jackson. Within a few months, Reagan withdrew all forces from the Middle East. Later, Osama bin Laden, leader of Al-Qaeda that attacked America on 9/11/2001, called the Lebanon carnage the “Twin Bombings” and said it was a sign to him that America had little staying power in a fight. In 1986, Islamic terrorists supported by Libyan dictator Muammar al Gaddafi bombed a West German disco frequented by American GIs. Reagan ordered a bombing of terrorist camps in Libya in response.

By 1987, world terrorism had declined to about half of what it was in 1970. The Soviet Union, a major sponsor of terror, was in decline. However, Iran, a radical Islamic theocracy since 1979, was replacing the U.S.S.R. as the world’s greatest sponsor of terror. Moreover, the radical groups that America had sponsored during the war against the Soviet Union were now on the rise to power in Afghanistan. Reagan did not confront the rise of Islamic terrorism. In fact, he negotiated with and sold weapons to Iran so they would pressure Hezbollah to release terrorists. As noted, thirteen years after Reagan, on 9/11/2001, Islamic terrorists attacked the United States. While Reagan, of course, was not responsible for this attack, we can see in retrospect that he failed to comprehend the danger of this movement to the United States.

Conclusion
The 1980s were a seminal decade in American history, primarily because of Ronald Reagan. In this decade, Reagan restored the American economy, igniting the longest running span of economic growth in American history. Congress, which had been controlled by Democrats since the Great Depression, became competitive between Republicans and Democrats over the following decades. Democrat leaders of the 1990s, such as President Bill Clinton, sounded more like Reagan than Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR), stating, “The era of big government is over.” Americans embraced the optimism of Ronald Reagan and began to see government as the problem, not the solution, to every challenge. Reagan’s words became the thoughts of many, after he stated in 1986, “The most terrifying words in the English language are: I’m from the Government, and I’m here to help!” After Reagan, many Americans did not want the government to solve their problems. They wanted individual freedom.

Beyond the shores of America, the Reagan Presidency had a monumental effect. In great part because of Reagan, Soviet Communism fell and its domination over Eastern Europe, parts of Latin America, Asia, and Africa ended. Some 265 million former Soviet citizens, 300 million Eastern Europeans, and tens of millions of others experienced freedom as a result of the fall of Soviet Communism. The Soviet Union was clearly the loser in the Cold War, and the United States of America was the victor. Socialist totalitarianism and centralized planning were shown to be inferior to free market capitalism. This was not a one-time event, but a change in trajectory for nearly three-quarters of a billion people living under communism. While communism in Europe and in much of the world died as a result of the defeat and dissolution of the Soviet Union, totalitarianism reared its ugly head in Russia, and also in Belarus, in the twenty-first century.

President Reagan has never been called a saint, and there were strong critics of his tenure. The Iran/Contra Scandal involved Reagan’s senior officials selling arms to Iran during an American embargo to gain the release of American hostages. These officials then used the proceeds to fund the Contras, an anti-Communist rebel group in Nicaragua. Both of these actions violated American policy. Moreover, Iran, which became the world’s largest sponsor of terror, was aided by America. Reagan was never implicated in the affair, but it appears he approved of the actions.

While Reagan was one of the most successful presidents of the twentieth century, he was one of the most reviled by the Western media. As American media turned more leftist from the 1960s on, any President who praised the free market and American power became an enemy. Journalists created urban myths about Reagan, falsely claiming he started the AIDS epidemic, that he thought ketchup was a vegetable, and that he shut down all mental health facilities. Reagan, however, was known as a “happy warrior,” consistently beating the media and speaking directly to the American people, using humor, exhibiting dignity, and bringing results. He was loved by Americans, as evidenced by his landslide victories, and by the outpouring of grief after his death in 2004.

The Reagan Revolution changed the world in many ways. Following his presidency, Americans desired individual freedom more than welfare, sought their own solutions to their problems instead of answers from experts, and desired less government than more. Abroad, Soviet Communism was conquered, and nearly three-quarters of a billion people experienced freedom for the first time. Most of those peoples’ children grew up in freedom, and a totalitarian system that held dominance since 1917 was swept away into the “dustbin of history.”

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The Reagan Revolution

The Story of Liberty, an Introduction

John De Gree

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