Who Is Ronald Reagan A Controversial President?

Ronald Reagan is one of the most controversial historical figures and presidents of all time, depending on which perspective one looks at him. Some historians say he was the best president of the 20th century but others say he was one of the worst presidents. Although there are many negative things President Reagan did, there are also many positive things he did, including the end to the Cold War between The United States of America, and what was then called The Soviet Union (present time Russia). Also, he was able to cut taxes by an immense amount. In addition, Reagan was able to free the hostages in Iran in just an hour of being sworn in to his presidency. President Reagan's infamous speech telling Mr. Gorbachev to "tear down this wall"
Starting in 1985, Reagan was supplying weapons to Iran, a country who was supposed to be a sworn enemy of the U.S. Reagan hoped that by doing this, the American hostages in Lebanon would be released securely. Reagan and the U.S. took millions of dollars from the weapons sale and guns, and gave it to the Contras in Nicaragua. In July of 1985, Reagan sent 508 anti-tank missiles from Israel to Iran in exchange for Reverend Benjamin Weir, who happened to be a hostage. After this, in November 1985, Israel sent 500 air missiles to Iran for the remaining American hostages. "In 1985, while Iran and Iraq were at war, Iran... terrorists violated Reagan's campaign promise never to do so" (PBS 1). What Reagan did was highly illegal because Congress never approved of these actions. When this was brought to Court, Reagan denied everything and got away with it. It was not until 1992, when President George H.W. Bush indicted everyone who was convicted and the affair was over, that Reagan admitted to his
Those who were infected by the puzzling disease, were mostly gay men. These men found themselves being targeted and had a lot of hostility because of it. As the months passed, more and more fatalities occurred because no one could stop this ravaging disease. By February 1, 1983, 1,025 people had AIDS and 394 of them had died from AIDS. President Reagan did and said nothing as he thought this was not a serious matter. Just over a year later, on April 23, 1984, it was reported that 4,177 people now have AIDS and 1,807 people have now died. Once again, Reagan did and said nothing, proving he was pushing this serious cause to the side. According to Allen White, " It is surprising that the president could remain silent as 6,000 Americans died, that he could fail to acknowledge the epidemic's existence. Perhaps his staff felt he had to, since many of his New Right supporters have raised money by campaigning against homosexuals”(1). President Reagan did address the problem of Aids during his presidency but it was not until May 31, 1987, which happened to be the end of his second term. By the time he spoke about it, it was too late, already 36,058 had been diagnosed with AIDS and 20,849 people had died from AIDS. Because Reagan neglected AIDS, the disease spread to 113 countries and had more than 50,000 cases. If Reagan chose to, he could have ended the talk that