Reagan Administration Accomplishments 1981-1989
By Editorial Staff
Published December 1988
1. President Reagan’s economic policies stimulated the economy, creating 17 million new jobs. One-fourth of the new jobs were created in 68 consecutive months. Black unemployment was cut in half.
2. We were given incentives to save our money, to work, and to invest because of Reagan’s tax reforms.
3. The inflation rate decreased to less than 4.4%. Family income rose 12%.
4. We are now experiencing the longest and strongest peacetime prosperity in the history of the nation.
5. We are experiencing the best peacetime relationship with the Soviet Union in our history. We have also seen the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan.
6. We are now keeping the peace. We drew the line in Grenada, Libya, Afghanistan, and the Persian Gulf, and no countries have fallen to communism during the Reagan era.
7. The U.S. military was refurbished and strengthened.
8. There is now a call for prayer in schools. The Republican adminstration has been lobbying to give this deserved religious freedom.
9. We have seen a return to traditional values. Under Reagan, we have seen a cut in federal funding of abortions; emphasis on a strong family unit; and the development of family-oriented public policy.
10. Educational leaders are now working to sustain moral values and reestablish a clear understanding of right and wrong. The need for values in the curriculum has been trumpeted by the Reagan administration.
11. People from other nations are flocking to America to follow our example. Our principles of civil and economic freedom are now being copied all over the world.
America Just Prior to the Reagan Administration
1. Seven million Americans were unemployed.
2. We were told to live on less, to buckle our belts and to prepare for scarcity.
3. Americans went through two of the worst years of inflation in 60 years. There was a 13% inflation rate. Family income dropped and we had the highest tax bill in our history.
4. We were on the verge of a major recession.
5. With our cold wars during the ’70s, we inspired our enemies not to be afraid of us. The Soviets refused to come to the bargaining table. Cultural exchanges between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. came to a halt.
6. Disarmament was considered a noble goal. We did not know where to draw the line in our negotiations with the Soviets. Three countries fell to communism under the Carter administration: Benin (1977), Nicaragua (1979), and Zimbabwe (1980).
7. Guns and tanks that did not even work were being sent to battle.
8. Young Americans were not allowed to pray in school … even though Congress, every state house, and the Supreme Court begins business with prayer.
9. Progressive values became fashionable. Social policies emulated the values of a small, vocal minority.
10. Education did not sustain moral values. Educational curricula began to promote “alternative lifesyles,” such as homosexuality.
11. America wore a “kick me” sign on its back. We lost our edge in technology and in global markets due to excessive government regulation, and high taxes which devoured capital.
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Your comments are welcome!
he did some useful stuff but also gets a lot of credit for things that are tall tales.
The best thing he actually DID do.. was cheer lead.. Improve some people’s attitude’s form the attitude we got from Carter.. who made us feel like losers.
Posted by Jeff L on 01/29/2009 09:39 PM #
He was also the catalist for the fall of the soviet union.
Posted by Gerald Nottingham on 03/12/2009 01:47 AM #
You have a couple of glaring errors in your article. #1 The Marxist faction took control of Benin in 1972. That was nearly five years before Carter was sworn in as president. #2 Zimbabwe was and has always been a parlimentary democracy since 1980.
You got Nicaraugua right, but Marxist leaders continued to govern due to free elections until 1990. One out of three ain’t bad.
Your labor and economic stats are cherry picked as well. For example your “peace time prosperity” timeline following the massive Reagan tax cuts does not account for the crippling rrecession of 1982 when unemployment peaked well above seven million. Also unemployment under Carter was less than 5% but when Reagan left office after 8 years of raging prosperity unemployment was higher than 5%.
I can’t speak on the moral progress made under Reagan, but at best he only delayed the inevitable.
Posted by Samuel Thomas on 07/21/2009 12:35 AM #
Well, If we only had him now? Contrary to popular belief. He was a Christian and we moved threw a fight aganst a communisum.If there were more people who were active christians I know life would be better (economy less murder greater happiness)
If you were God would you be happy with us?
less christians than ever before. This belief is what we were founded by. Since we have a Government who does not believe. We have a loss of morals , ethics and integrity. This down ward spiral began in 1960’s when we allowed the removal of prayer and the pledge of alegiance. It has only been one generation since this took place.
Posted by dude on 12/06/2009 10:05 PM #
I was looking Reagan up for a history Project I’m doing on the 80’s and as I read the post-Reagan conditions I kind of realized that we seem to be back in the 70’s… recession, unemployment, prayer is dicouraged in schools, “alternative lifestyles”… anyone else notice this?
Posted by Addie on 05/21/2010 01:45 PM #
May I remind you all…Reagan’s words and deeds regarding immigration were expansive. At a ceremony at Ellis Island in 1982, he spoke movingly of immigrants who “possessed a determination that with hard work and freedom, they would live a better life and their children even more so.” Reagan’s record on immigration was mixed. He signed the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986, which included stepped up border enforcement and sanctions against employers who knowingly hire illegal workers. But that legislation also legalized 2.8 million undocumented workers. More immigrants entered the United States legally under President Reagan’s watch than under any previous U.S. president since Teddy Roosevelt. This is why, when Reagen died, so many of the people that you saw waiting in line for hours to pay their respects, had brown faces.
Reagan had the good sense and compassion to see illegal immigrants not as criminals but as human beings striving to build better lives through honest work. In a radio address in 1977, he noted that apples were rotting on trees in New England because no Americans were willing to pick them. “It makes one wonder about the illegal alien fuss. Are great numbers of our unemployed really victims of the illegal alien invasion or are those illegal tourists actually doing work our own people won’t do?” Reagan asked. “One thing is certain in this hungry world; no regulation or law should be allowed if it results in crops rotting in the fields for lack of harvesters.”
I found nothing in his accomplishments to help the poor, the sick, the downtrodden.
Posted by JohnDobbyn on 02/06/2011 11:05 AM #
The poor were helped by lower unemployment, assuming that’s how they wanted to get out of povery—by working. Helping the sick and the downtrodden, you and me, as much as the President or anyone else, can help them in more ways that the government is capable of doing.
Posted by Wayne Harmon on 05/11/2011 12:57 PM #
You all did not do a very good job of cleaning up the mess and tears left behind in Vietnam and Laos
Posted by Jonathan on 06/25/2011 02:00 AM #
I am always doing research on this era and the time just prior. I find conflicting data all the time. That is, on unemployment rates, inflation, whether or not tax cuts worked or did not. I know this, when Carter was President, things seemed very negative (some of this was residual of the Nixon/ Watergate/ Viet Nam condition. I was 17 when Reagan won his first term and it seemed in just a few short months that this country’s attitude about itself greatly improved. It was a good time, following years of negative feelings. Reagan was a breath of fresh air for this nation, no question about it.
Posted by Robert on 08/26/2011 03:23 PM #
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Posted by Eric Wood on 12/15/2008 05:07 AM #