and prevention was reduced. Funds given to the Department of Education were cut from $14 million to $3 million from 1981 to 1984 (Alexander 33). Reagan employed a Southern Strategy where he promised tax cuts to the rich and punishment for the crack users (DuVernay). In his speech to the Nation on the campaign against abuse, Ronald Reagan gives a rundown of the drug war (Reagan 1). Reagan addresses the American public as a concerned parent, grandparent and neighbor, declaring drugs an enemy concerning the young people who their future demands on (Regan 2). Reagan stated that drugs are killing the children, menacing the society, and threatening their values (Reagan 2). Reagan announces smokeable cocaine, or crack as the new epidemic that must…
A year after the stock market crashed, 1930, and president Hoover is in office, America is in a state of existential crisis and people are looking for answers and distractions. The Treasury Department created the Federal Bureau of Narcotics under Harry J. Anslinger who directed the agency until 1962 “and molded America’s drug policy” (The United States War on Drugs). Anslinger who was also a prohibitionist, who believed progress could only be achieved by controlling each individual’s impulses and thought that if enough people were put in jail that America would rid itself of drugs. Nonetheless, with these same beliefs, Anslinger, used these to fight the war on drugs. Armed with a Depression snug budget, and an uphill battle Anslinger tried and failed to get state governments involved with the war effort.…
In 1968, Richard Nixon gave his acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention(Doc A). He said that it was time for a new leadership for the United States of America, and that new leadership was him. Nixon won in a very close election against Hubert Humphrey and promised to restore law and order to the nation’s cities. What everyone didn’t know was that for him to achieve his future accomplishments, he would destroy the nation’s trust.…
Nixon’s Vietnamization strategy that made way for the safe return of thousands of US soldiers such as POW Lt. Col. John Dramesi (DOC. 3) helped the US government to garner support from its citizens once again. The 80,000 telegrams and letters sent to the White House (DOC.4) further reveal the successes of Nixon’s foreign policy that united the nation with a common goal of ending the war. Furthermore, the decreasing numbers of US troops sent to war each year (DOC. 6) bolstered public support for the government in the early 1970s. Along with Vietnamization, Nixon’s policies inspired by détente such as the SALT I proved to be popular to the Americans of the late 1900s. The accomplishments of the Nixon administration in reducing the damages imposed by US involvement in war were undoubtedly successful.…
The apparent untouchability of Nixon became apparent to the people of America and made them frightened as to what Nixon’s next move would…
After taking office, President Nixon is striving to end the nation’s involvement in the Vietnam War. However, the final years will yield more bloodshed and turmoil, as well as a growing cynicism in the minds of Americans about the honesty and effectiveness of the United States government. Nixon’s first step in ending the war is appointing Harvard professor Henry Kissinger as a special assistant for national security affairs and giving him wide authority to use diplomacy to end the conflict. Kissinger introduced a policy called linkage, which meant improving relations with the Soviet Union and China so that he could persuade them to cut back on their aid. Nixon also began to reduce the number…
Ronald Reagan made combating drug use one of his most important issues. He said that drug use was “one of the gravest problems facing America,” and “winning the war against drug abuse is one of the most important, the most urgent issues confronting us today. ”(2) During Reagan’s term, the Office of Director of National and International Drug Operations and Policy was formed by Congress to further combat the drug problem.(4) Two laws were passed in 1984, the Comprehensive Crime Act and the Narcotics Act of 1984.(4)…
Although Richard Nixon first declared a “war on drugs” in 1971, the war escalated during the Reagan presidency and shifted its focus from treatment toward incarceration and law enforcement. As George Moss and Evan Thomas explain, Reagan came to Washington “committed to waging a war on drugs and bringing the international drug trade under control” in 1981. Thanks to the rise of the Medellin Cartel in Colombia and other cartels in Latin America during the 1980s, illegal drug trade networks flourished, and America became “the world’s major consumer of illicit drugs.” This increased usage of drugs led to many social crises, including heightened urban crime and health problems, which encouraged both the Reagan administration and private groups…
In 1972, he reopened America's relations with China, which was necessary to acquiring the goods our country needed. Secondly, Nixon played a major role in the detente(a period of time characterized by improved relations between the Soviet Union and the US). Finally, he made many beneficial national domestic changes, such as largely ending segregated classes in the…
Nixon was a president during the late 60’s early 70’s. He was a president who had good private morality, but not so much public morality. This flaw made him quite paranoid and Nixon felt he needed information to be on top. Nixon also made great world changing decisions without the advice or interference of Congress. When Nixon went the extremes of using government to wiretap without the congress’s or court’s approval Congress was not happy. This was the beginning of bad…
The phrase “sex, drugs, and rock and roll” held true to its well-earned spot in 1970’s and 1980’s society. With a new, looser culture, explicit music, raunchy and rambunctious movies as well as a societal focus on many things immoral, it was an era of challenging social norms. As the use of recreational and psychoactive drugs, as well as alcohol, increased, a new problem arose; how does law enforcement and the government undo the damage being made by this new society? Laws were passed, bureaus and commissions were formed, and the President of the United States began what he called “The War on Drugs”. Over the years, some of these solutions have proven to make some impact. The initiation, tactics, and attempts at dealing a major blow to drug abuse have all affected the way America sees drugs today. A new type of warfare had made its way into the country, and after all these years, it has made its fair share of positive and negative effects.…
This online article talks about the similarities between the prohibition and the War on Drugs. It offers theories about why the war on drugs continues to be waged and states that it is primarily due to the stubbornness of the United States government. They bring up the fact that many high profile individuals and politicians have used illegal drugs yet they still support the war. They also bring up the financial burden that came along with prohibition and point out that the same burden is being placed on us nearly 80 years later yet…
The history associated with drug criminalization in America contains more political motivators than concerns for public health and safety. The biggest politically motivated aspect to drug deterrence comes from Richard Nixon’s s war on drugs in 1971 which has created a system that discriminates against minority groups and has had little effect on deterring drug use. The war on drugs has thus far been notoriously noted for discriminating against people of color by pumping drugs into their communities and then imposing severe criminal consequences for drug possession, use, or distribution. In fact, one of Nixon’s aides John Ehrlichmen stated that the war on drugs was intended for the following:…
The war on drugs utilized “tough on crime” rhetoric to create legislation that kept African-American men in a second-class role in American society. In the late 60’s, the Nixon administration was the first presidency to vocally declare a “war on drugs”: targeting drug use and distribution with new “tougher” policies and legislation punishing drug users. Although at the time many Americans praised the war on drugs for bringing awareness of drug use and its impact on crime, the war on drugs has been criticized for its annihilation of black communities. In an interview, Nixon aide John Ehrlichmann confessed that, "The Nixon campaign in 1968, and the Nixon white house after that, had 2 enemies: the antiwar left and black people...by getting the…
Furthermore, drugs will continue to be used regardless of the cost so distributors had an incentive to raise prices while increasing production. Manufactures will always find a way to distribute their merchandise regardless of law enforcement intervention, and this exactly is what makes the supply of drugs around the country constant. At the point the United States of America managed to regulate enough chemicals to finally get the production of drugs under control, a third party was introduced. Mexico had better quality of drugs and experience with smuggling, so once again, the supply of drugs is the United States stayed the same as it was illegally brought into the country and distributed. In the end, this caused far more potent drugs and no decrease in…