Felicia Alsbrooks
His/145
May 4, 2015
Justin Horton
Reagan: Overrated or Underrated?
Ronald Reagan, born on February 6, 1911, became an actor, governor, and President and shaped the foreign policy, American economics, and military and space advancement in this country during his 8 year reign as POTUS.
Ronald Reagan was raised in Illinois and after attending Eureka College and studying economics and sociology, he became a Hollywood actor in 1937.Reagan had always said that he was a Democrat but after the controversy of political party platform change, he changed to be a Republican in 1962 before he retired from his acting career. He was an actor for almost thirty years, when he began working …show more content…
Members of this group were responsible for many deaths and were thought to be members of Nicaragua government. When Reagan came to office in 1981, a policy he put in place was to create a group known as Contras who would help over throw the Nicaragua government in an attempt to stop the spread of Communism, but Reagan was misinformed and later found out that the deaths were the product of guerilla men. When this information was exuded, the CIA but an end to aiding Contra affiliation. During this time there were numerous American hostages in Lebanon taken by Islamic extremist, and Reagan used illegal bargaining to retrieve them. Because Iran was an ally with the Islamic activist, bargaining with them was not foreign policy procedure. With Iran on the brink of war with Iraq, they needed weapons and Reagan needed money to continue funding the Contras, so Reagan illegally traded weapons with Iran for money and the American …show more content…
Over the next 3 years these leaders enforced the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Force Treaty (INF) which “called for the destruction of the entire class of intermediate-range nuclear missiles...and put in place an unprecedented verification regime in which U.S. and Soviet officials would have the authority to inspect each other 's nuclear facilities. The INF Treaty was the greatest foreign policy accomplishment of the Reagan administration and was a major first step in disarming the Cold War.” (2008) These talks between Reagan and Gorbachev lead to the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, which was argued and compromised over those years. Reagan left office in 1989 with the treaty in place. With the fall of the Soviet Union evident, n July 31, 1991 Bush and Gorbachev signed the treaty officially ending the Cold War.
Conclusion
Reagan was the 40th President of the United States and is considered “The Great Communicator” for many reasons well explained. Reagan explained policies simply and he related with many American citizens equally. Reagan faced many trials, such as losing the first presidential candidate run and being shot less than two months in office, but he stood tall and took his duties straight on. Being responsible and a hard working president while dealing with foreign and domestic issues is a difficult position but Reagan overcame adversity and played