Political positions of Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan was the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. Previously, he was the 33rd governor of California from 1967 to 1975 and acted in Hollywood films from 1937 to 1964, the same year he energized the American conservative movement. Reagan's basic foreign policy was to equal and surpass the Soviet Union in military strength, and put it on the road to what he called "the ash heap of history". By 1985, he began to cooperate closely with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, whom he became friends and negotiated large-scale disarmament projects with. The Cold War was fading away and suddenly ended as the Soviets lost control of Eastern Europe almost overnight in October 1989, nine months after Reagan was replaced in the White House by his vice president, George H. W. Bush, who was following Reagan's policies. The dissolution of the Soviet Union took place in December 1991. In terms of the Reagan Doctrine, he promoted military, financial, and diplomatic support for anti-communist insurgencies in Afghanistan, Nicaragua, and numerous other countries. For the most part, local communist power collapsed when the Soviet Union collapsed.
"Reaganism" redirects here. For his economic policies, see Reaganomics.In domestic affairs, at a time of stagflation with high unemployment and high inflation, Reagan took dramatic steps. They included a major tax cut and large-scale deregulation of business activities. He took steps to weaken labor unions and found a bipartisan long-term fix to protect the Social Security system. Although Reagan had support from the religious right, he generally avoided or downplayed social issues such as abortion, homosexuality, and racial integration. Reagan spoke out for prayers in public schools, but did not promote a constitutional amendment to allow it. Fighting drugs was a high priority. He also appointed the first woman to the Supreme Court. Reagan became an iconic figure who has been praised by later Republican presidential candidates.
Social policy[edit]
Environment[edit]
In 1980, Reagan lamented regulations on air pollution.[57] In 1981, Reagan pledged to abolish the United States Department of Energy.[58] Reagan dismissed acid rain and proposals to halt it as burdensome to industry.[59] In the early 1980s, pollution had become an issue in Canada, and Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau objected to the pollution originating in U.S. factory smokestacks in the midwest.[60] The Environmental Protection Agency implored Reagan to make a major budget commitment to reduce acid rain, but Reagan rejected the proposal and deemed it as wasteful government spending.[60] He questioned scientific evidence on the causes of acid rain.[60]
Abortion[edit]
Reagan was opposed to abortion, except in cases of rape, incest, or threats to mother's life.[61] He was quoted as saying: "If there is a question as to whether there is life or death, the doubt should be resolved in favor of life". In 1982, he stated: "Simple morality dictates that unless and until someone can prove the unborn human is not alive, we must give it the benefit of the doubt and assume it is (alive). And, thus, it should be entitled to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness".[61]
As Governor of California, Reagan signed into law the Therapeutic Abortion Act in May 1967 to reduce the number of "back-room abortions" performed in California.[62] It was one of the most liberal abortion laws in the country and allowed for pregnancy terminations if the mother was in physical or mental distress as a result, or if the pregnancy was a product of rape or incest.[63] As a result, approximately one million abortions would be performed and Reagan blamed this on doctors, arguing that they had deliberately misinterpreted the law.[61] Just when the law was signed, Reagan stated that had he been more experienced as Governor, he would not have signed it.[64] Reagan then declared himself to be opposed to abortion rights.[61]
During his presidency Reagan never introduced legislation to Congress regarding abortion.
However, he continued to state his stance against abortion as president, as in 1983, when he endorsed a bill in Congress that was introduced by Henry Hyde that would prohibit federal funds for abortion.[65]
In 1985, he took the side of pro-lifers over the conclusion of a legal case regarding aborted fetuses in California.[66][67]
In one way, he played a role in protecting legalized abortion after he left office.[63] His first judicial appointee for the Supreme Court, Sandra Day O’Connor, led the effort to uphold Roe v. Wade in a 1992 case over restrictive abortion laws in Pennsylvania.[63]
Abstinence[edit]
In 1987, Reagan stated that abstinence should be a method to avoid getting the AIDS virus.[68][69]
Crime and capital punishment[edit]
Reagan was a supporter of capital punishment. As California's Governor, Reagan was beseeched to grant executive clemency to Aaron Mitchell, who had been sentenced to death for the murder of a Sacramento police officer, but he refused.[70] Mitchell was executed the following morning.[70] It was the only execution during his eight years as Governor—he had previously granted executive clemency to one man on death row who had a history of brain damage.[70] He also stayed the execution of convicted murderer Robert Lee Massie in 1967 because he wanted Massie to attend the trial of his alleged accomplice. Massie would be executed over three decades later for a separate murder in 2001.[71]
He approved the construction of three new prisons as President in 1982 as recommended by Attorney General William French Smith.[70]
Drugs[edit]
Reagan firmly sought opposition to illegal drugs.[72] He and his wife sought to reduce the use of illegal drugs through the Just Say No Drug Awareness campaign, an organization Nancy Reagan founded as first lady.[72] In a 1986 address to the nation by Ronald and Nancy Reagan, the President said: "[W]hile drug and alcohol abuse cuts across all generations, it's especially damaging to the young people on whom our future depends ... Drugs are menacing our society. They're threatening our values and undercutting our institutions. They're killing our children."[73]
Reagan also reacted to illegal drugs outside Just Say No as the Federal Bureau Investigation added five hundred drug enforcement agents, began record drug crackdowns nationwide and established thirteen regional anti-drug task forces under Reagan.[72] In the address with the first lady, President Reagan reported on the progress of his administration, saying:
Civil rights[edit]
Women[edit]
While running for President, Reagan pledged that if given the chance, he would appoint a woman to the U.S. Supreme Court.[83] In 1981, he appointed Sandra Day O'Connor as the first female justice of the Supreme Court. As President, Reagan opposed the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) because he thought that women were already protected by the 14th Amendment, although he had supported the amendment and offered to help women's groups achieve its ratification while serving as Governor of California.[84] Reagan pulled his support for the ERA shortly before announcing his 1976 candidacy for President. The 1976 Republican National Convention renewed the party's support for the amendment, but in 1980 the party qualified its 40-year support for ERA. Despite opposing the ERA, Reagan did not actively work against the amendment, which his daughter Maureen (who advised her father on various issues including women's rights) and most prominent Republicans supported.
Reagan established a "Fifty States Project" and councils and commissions on women designed to find existing statutes at the federal and state levels and eradicate them, the latter through a liaison with the various state governors. Elizabeth Dole, a Republican feminist and former Federal Trade Commissioner and advisor to Presidents Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford (who would go on to become Reagan's Transportation Secretary) headed up his women's rights project.
Black people[edit]
Reagan dismissed all attacks relating to racism which were aimed at him as attacks on his character and integrity.[85]
Reagan opposed racial segregation.[86]
Reagan opposed many civil rights bills throughout the years on a federal level.[85] He opposed the Civil Rights Act of 1964[87] on the grounds that specific provisions of the law infringed upon the individual's right to private property and to do business with whomever they chose, and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 on constitutional grounds, but some have speculated that his position involved "an element of political calculation".[85] In 1965 however, Reagan switched positions and stated that he favors the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and that "it must be enforced at gunpoint, if necessary".[88] In 1980, Reagan said the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was "humiliating to the South", but in 1982 he signed a bill extending it for 25 years after a grass-roots lobbying and legislative campaign forced him to abandon his plan to ease that law's restrictions.[89] In 1988, he vetoed the Civil Rights Restoration Act, but his veto was overridden by Congress.[90] This was especially notable as it was the first Civil Rights bill to be both vetoed and to be overridden since President Andrew Johnson vetoed the Civil Rights Act of 1866 followed by Congress overriding the veto and making it law. Reagan had argued that the legislation infringed on states' rights and the rights of churches and small business owners.[91] Reagan's Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, as well as his Justice Department, prosecuted fewer civil rights cases per year than they had under his predecessor, President Jimmy Carter.[92]
In 1967, Reagan signed the Mulford Act into law which banned the carrying of loaded weapons in public in the state of California. While California was an open-carry state, when the Black Panther Party began lawfully open-carrying and monitoring law enforcement for police brutality, bipartisan calls for increased gun control came from the California State Legislature. The law was controversial, as it was retaliatory against the Black Panthers, but Reagan defended the law, saying that he saw "no reason why on the street today a citizen should be carrying loaded weapons".[93]
Critics have claimed that Reagan gave his 1980 presidential campaign speech about states' rights in Philadelphia, Mississippi in a calculated attempt to appeal to racist southern voters.[94] This location is near the place where three civil rights workers were killed in 1964.[95] However, supporters have pointed out that Reagan had given it at the Neshoba County Fair a few miles away from where the murders took place. They also said that the vast majority of his speech had nothing to do with "states' rights" and that the fair was a popular campaigning spot. Presidential candidates John Glenn and Michael Dukakis both campaigned there as well years later.[96][97] While campaigning in Georgia, Reagan mentioned Confederate President Jefferson Davis as an example of someone who used the line-item veto, which Reagan supported.[98] However, Reagan was offended that some accused him of racism.[99]
Reagan initially opposed Fair Housing legislation in California (specifically the Rumford Fair Housing Act),[100] however in 1988 he signed a law expanding the Fair Housing Act of 1968. While signing the expanding of the Fair Housing Act of 1968, he said, among other things, that "[the bill was a] step closer to realizing Martin Luther King's dream", "[the bill was the] most important civil rights legislation in 20 years", and "[the passage of the Civil Rights of 1968 bill] was a major achievement, one that many members of Congress, including a young Congressman named George Bush, had to show enormous courage to vote for". Congressman John Lewis stated that Reagan "dramatized in a very open fashion that he is supportive of efforts to end discrimination in housing" and that Reagan's statements were blatantly meant for political gain as it was an election year.[101] Reagan had previously stated in 1966 that, "If an individual wants to discriminate against Negroes or others in selling or renting his house, he has a right to do so [...] even though such prejudice is morally wrong."[102] Nevertheless, Reagan supported the statute which prohibits racial discrimination on public accommodations and facilities, promised that he would use the "power and prestige" of the governor's office to ensure civil rights for everyone and sought to put an end to "the cancer of racial discrimination".[102]
Reagan engaged in a policy of Constructive engagement with South Africa despite apartheid due to the nation being a valuable anti-communist ally. He opposed pressure from Congress and his party for tougher sanctions until his veto was overridden.[103] South African Archbishop and anti-apartheid activist Desmond Tutu called Reagan's policy as "immoral, evil, and un-Christian" as Nazism and lamented that the president's administration was overall "an unmitigated disaster" for black people.[104][105]
Reagan opposed the Martin Luther King holiday at first, despite noting that King should be honored for freeing the United States from "the burden of racism",[106] however, he accepted and signed it after an overwhelming veto-proof majority (338 to 90 in the House of Representatives and 78 to 22 in the Senate) voted in favor of it.[107]
In July 2019, newly unearthed tapes were released of a 1971 phone call between Reagan, then Governor of California, and President Richard Nixon. Angered by African delegates at the United Nations siding against the U.S. in the vote to expel Taiwan from the UN and recognize the People's Republic of China, Reagan stated, "To see those, those monkeys from those African countries - damn them, they're still uncomfortable wearing shoes!"[108] Reagan's son-in-law, Dennis C. Revell, responded that Reagan’s remarks reflected the attitudes of his era and that some African nations had only recently gained independence from European countries when Reagan spoke with Nixon.[109] Revell also noted that Reagan enjoyed a great relationship with his oldest daughter’s adopted girl from Uganda and also with several African politicians, such as Samora Machel and Yoweri Museveni.[109]
Gay rights[edit]
Reagan publicly opposed the 1978 California Proposition 6, which sought to ban gays and lesbians from working in California's public schools. He issued an informal letter of opposition to the initiative, answered reporters' questions about the initiative by saying he was against it, and, a week before the election, wrote an editorial in the Los Angeles Herald-Examiner opposing it.[110][111] According to a 2004 IGF Culture Watch article by Dale Carpenter:[112]
Education[edit]
School prayer[edit]
Reagan was a supporter of prayer in U.S. schools, as in 1982, he sent Congress a proposed constitutional amendment to allow it, but stating it wouldn't be manadatory.[115][116][117]
On February 25, 1984, in his weekly radio address, he said: "Sometimes I can't help but feel the first amendment is being turned on its head. Because ask yourselves: Can it be true that the first amendment can permit Nazis and Ku Klux Klansmen to march on public property, advocate the extermination of people of the Jewish faith, and the subjugation of blacks, while the same amendment forbids our children from saying a prayer in school?".[118]
The next month, it was reported the Reagan was pressuring Senators to pass legislation regarding prayer in schools.[119][120]
By 1988, Reagan largely stopped talking about school prayer.[121]
Reagan was particularly opposed to the establishment of the Department of Education, which had occurred under his predecessor, President Jimmy Carter. This view stemmed from his anti-government intervention views.[122] He had pledged to abolish the department, but did not pursue that goal as President.[122]
Student Loans[edit]
In 1985, Reagan proposed student loan cuts for students from families earning above a certain income level.[123]
Energy and oil[edit]
As President, Reagan removed controls on oil prices, resulting in lower prices and an oil glut.[124] He did not reduce U.S. dependency on oil by imposing an oil-importing fee because of his opposition to taxation.[124] He trusted the free marketplace.[124] Lower global oil prices had the effect of reducing the income that the Soviet Union could earn from its oil exports.