Reagan Revolution
Ronald Wilson Reagan, the fortieth president of the United States of America. He was well known for his economic policies during is first term, which later on became well known as “Reaganomics”. This policy included large tax cuts which was started and implemented in 1981. “Reaganomics” was told to rejuvenate the morale of the American people and then let them not be dependent on the government. Supply-side economics is the basis for this economic policy which aimed to stimulate growth of the economy.
By implementing this policy, Reagan had the country’s gross domestic product or GDP recover from the 1982 recession and began to progress at 3. 4% per annum and also decreasing inflation.. Unemployment reached to an all time high during the first years of Reagan’s term but gradually decreased till the end of his presidency, thus strengthening the American economy. Then the stock market crashed in 1987 creating a huge governmental budget deficit which had raised the national debt substantially.
The cause of this is unknown, yet detractors point out that Reaganomics was the mainly the cause of this crash yet remain inconclusive. In his second term in the presidential seat, he focused on strengthening the nation’s defense capabilities due to the significant build-up of arms in the Soviet Union. His second term was also marked by his foreign policies that deemed him as a war monger. His term also included the cessation of the Cold War and “Star Wars”. As nation’s economy grew steadily stronger, Reagan now focused on international relation, he was known as “The Great Communicator” in these affairs.
Starting talks with Mikhail Gorbachev, Reagan initiated to have the Berlin wall be torn down as a start of a peace process and a new era to begin. Reagan has noticed that the arms of the Soviet Union was technologically advanced and had initiated defense projects that would enable the nation’s defense systems to be at par or much superior than others. The space program boomed in that decade with the “Space Race” competing with the Soviet Union starting a “Star Wars” program that would rival any nation’s capabilities.
