Show
Ronald Reagan 40th President of the United StatesIn officeJanuary 20, 1981 – January 20, 1989Vice PresidentGeorge H. W. BushPreceded byJimmy CarterSucceeded byGeorge H. W. Bush33rd Governor of CaliforniaIn office January 2, 1967 – January 6, 1975LieutenantRobert Finch[1] Edwin Reinecke[2] John L. Harmer[3]Preceded byPat BrownSucceeded byJerry Brown[4]9th and 13th President of the Screen Actors GuildIn office November 16, 1959 – June 12, 1960Preceded byHoward KeelSucceeded byGeorge ChandlerIn office November 17, 1947 – November 9, 1952Preceded byRobert MontgomerySucceeded byWalter Pidgeon Personal detailsBorn Ronald Wilson Reagan (1911-02-06)February 6, 1911 Tampico, Illinois, U.S.DiedJune 5, 2004(2004-06-05) (aged 93) Los Angeles, California, U.S.Resting placeRonald Reagan Presidential Library and MuseumPolitical partyRepublican (from 1962)Other political affiliationsDemocratic (until 1962)Spouses
Nelle Wilson (mother)RelativesNeil Reagan (brother)EducationEureka College (BA)Occupation
Ronald Wilson Reagan (/ˈreɪɡən/ RAY-gən; February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was an American politician who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. A member of the Republican Party from 1962 onward, he also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 to 1975 after having a career as a Hollywood actor and union leader. Reagan was born in Tampico, Illinois. He graduated from Eureka College in 1932 and began to work as a radio sports commentator in Iowa. In 1937, Reagan moved to California, where he found work as an actor and appeared in several major productions. From 1947 to 1952, Reagan served as president of the Screen Actors Guild, during which time he worked to root out alleged communist influence within it. In the 1950s, he moved to a career in television and became a spokesman for General Electric. From 1959 to 1960, he again served as president of the Screen Actors Guild. In 1964, his speech "A Time for Choosing"—a campaign speech on behalf of Republican presidential nominee Barry Goldwater—earned him national attention as a new conservative figure. Building a network of supporters, Reagan was elected as governor of California in 1966. During his governorship, he raised taxes, turned the state budget deficit into a surplus, challenged protesters at UC Berkeley, and ordered in National Guard troops during a period of protest movements. After failed presidential bids in 1968 and 1976, challenging and nearly defeating sitting president Gerald Ford in the latter's Republican primaries, Reagan easily won the Republican nomination in the 1980 presidential election and went on to defeat incumbent Democratic president Jimmy Carter. At 69 years, 349 days of age at the time of his first inauguration, Reagan was the oldest person to assume the U.S. presidency.[a] Reagan ran for reelection in the 1984 presidential election, in which he was opposed by the Democratic nominee Walter Mondale, who had previously served as vice president under Carter. Reagan defeated him in an electoral landslide, winning the most electoral votes of any U.S. president: 525 (97.6% of the 538 votes in the Electoral College). It was one of the most lopsided presidential elections in U.S. history.[5] Early in his presidency, Reagan began implementing new political and economic initiatives. His supply-side economics policies—dubbed "Reaganomics"—advocated tax reduction, economic deregulation, and reduction in government spending. In his first term, he survived an assassination attempt, spurred the War on Drugs, invaded Grenada, and fought public-sector labor unions. Over his two terms, the economy saw a reduction of inflation from 12.5% to 4.4% and an average real GDP annual growth of 3.6%. Reagan enacted cuts in domestic discretionary spending, cut taxes, and increased military spending, which contributed to a near tripling of the federal debt. Foreign affairs dominated his second term, including the bombing of Libya, the Iran–Iraq War, the Iran–Contra affair, and the ongoing Cold War. In a speech in June 1987 at the Brandenburg Gate, four years after he publicly described the Soviet Union as an "evil empire", Reagan challenged Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev to open the Berlin Wall. He transitioned Cold War policy from détente to rollback by escalating an arms race with the USSR while engaging in talks with Gorbachev. The talks culminated in the INF Treaty, which shrank both countries' nuclear arsenals. When Reagan left office in 1989, he held an approval rating of 68%, matching those of Franklin D. Roosevelt and, later, Bill Clinton as the highest ratings for departing presidents in the modern era.[6] His tenure constituted a realignment toward conservative policies in the United States known as the Reagan Era, and he is often considered a conservative icon. Evaluations of his presidency among historians and the general public place him among the upper tier of American presidents. Although he had planned an active post-presidency, Reagan disclosed in November 1994 that he had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease earlier that year. His public appearances became more infrequent as the disease progressed. Reagan died at his home in Los Angeles on June 5, 2004.
Early lifeRonald Reagan's boyhood home in Dixon, IllinoisRonald Wilson Reagan was born on February 6, 1911, in an apartment on the second floor of a commercial building in Tampico, Illinois. He was the younger son of Nelle Clyde (née Wilson) and Jack Reagan.[7] Jack was a salesman and storyteller whose grandparents were Irish Catholic emigrants from County Tipperary,[8] while Nelle was of English and Scottish descent.[9] Ronald's older brother, Neil Reagan, became an advertising executive.[10] Reagan's father nicknamed his son "Dutch", due to his "fat little Dutchman" appearance and Dutch-boy haircut; the nickname stuck with him throughout his youth.[11] Reagan's family briefly lived in several towns and cities in Illinois, including Monmouth, Galesburg, and Chicago.[12] In 1919, they returned to Tampico and lived above the H. C. Pitney Variety Store until finally settling in Dixon, Illinois.[7] After his election as president, Reagan lived in the upstairs White House private quarters, and he would quip that he was "living above the store" again.[13] For that period, which was long before the civil rights movement, Reagan's opposition to racial discrimination was unusual. He recalled the time when his college football team was staying at a local hotel that would not allow two black teammates to stay there, and he invited them to his parents' home 15 miles (24 kilometers) away in Dixon. His mother invited them to stay overnight and have breakfast the next morning.[14] Reagan's father was strongly opposed to the Ku Klux Klan due to his Catholic heritage, but also due to the Klan's anti-semitism and anti-black racism.[15] After becoming a prominent actor, Reagan gave speeches in favor of racial equality following World War II.[16] Later, as a politician, Reagan was often accused of appealing to white racial resentment and backlash against the civil-rights movement; one example was during his first campaign for Governor of California, Reagan's platform included a promise to repeal legislation barring housing discrimination. Certain in his own lack of prejudice, Reagan responded resentfully to claims he was racist while defending his position, arguing: "If an individual wants to discriminate against Negroes or others in selling or renting his house, it is his right to do so."[14] He believed that "the right to dispose of and control one's own property is a basic human right".[17] ReligionRonald Reagan wrote that his mother "always expected to find the best in people and often did".[18] She attended the Disciples of Christ church regularly and was active, and very influential, within it; she frequently led Sunday school services and gave the Bible readings to the congregation during the services. A firm believer in the power of prayer, she led prayer meetings at church and was in charge of mid-week prayers when the pastor was out of town.[19] She was also an adherent of the Social Gospel movement.[15] Her strong commitment to the church is what induced her son Ronald to become a Protestant Christian rather than a Roman Catholic like his Irish father.[9] He also stated that she strongly influenced his own beliefs: "I know that she planted that faith very deeply in me."[20] Reagan identified himself as a born-again Christian.[21] In Dixon, Reagan was strongly influenced by his pastor Ben Hill Cleaver, whom he considered "a wonderful man." Cleaver was the father of Reagan's fiancée. Reagan saw him as a second father. Stephen Vaughn says:
According to Paul Kengor, Reagan had a particularly strong faith in the goodness of people; this faith stemmed from the optimistic faith of his mother[23] and the Disciples of Christ faith,[23] into which he was baptized in 1922.[24] During his years at Hollywood, Reagan became a member of the Hollywood-Beverly Christian Church[21] and attended its services infrequently. Subsequently, from 1964 onwards, Reagan began to attend church services at Bel Air Presbyterian Church, where he became acquainted with Donn Moomaw.[25] Reagan scaled down his church attendance while serving as president, citing the inconvenience that his large Secret Service entourage would bring to other churchgoers and the potential danger (to others) from his presence due to possible terrorism.[26][27] After leaving office, Reagan officially joined Bel Air as its member and regularly attended services there.[28] Formal educationReagan attended Dixon High School, where he developed interests in acting, sports, and storytelling.[29] His first job involved working as a lifeguard at the Rock River in Lowell Park in 1927. Over six years, Reagan performed 77 rescues.[30] In 1928, he attended Eureka College. He was an indifferent student, majored in economics and sociology and graduated with a C average.[31] He developed a reputation as a "jack of all trades", excelling in campus politics, sports, and theater. He was a member of the football team and of the swim team. He was elected student body president and participated in student protests against the college president.[32] Entertainment careerRadio and filmAfter graduating from Eureka in 1932, Reagan took jobs in Iowa as a radio announcer at several stations. He moved to WHO radio in Des Moines as an announcer for Chicago Cubs baseball games. His specialty was creating play-by-play accounts of games using only basic descriptions that the station received by wire as the games were in progress.[33] Dark Victory (1939) The Bad Man (1941)While traveling with the Cubs in California in 1937, Reagan took a screen test that led to a seven-year contract with Warner Bros. studios.[34] He spent the first few years of his Hollywood career in the "B film" unit, where, Reagan joked, the producers "didn't want them good; they wanted them Thursday".[35] He earned his first screen credit with a starring role in the 1937 movie Love Is on the Air, and by the end of 1939, he had appeared in 19 films,[36] including Dark Victory with Bette Davis and Humphrey Bogart. Before the film Santa Fe Trail with Errol Flynn in 1940, he played the role of George Gipp in the film Knute Rockne, All American; from it, he acquired the lifelong nickname "the Gipper".[37] In 1941, exhibitors voted him the fifth most popular star from the younger generation in Hollywood.[38] Reagan played his favorite acting role in 1942's Kings Row,[39] where he plays a double amputee who recites the line "Where's the rest of me?"—later used as the title of his 1965 autobiography. Many film critics considered Kings Row to be his best movie,[40] though the film was condemned by The New York Times critic Bosley Crowther.[41][42] Kings Row made Reagan a star—Warner immediately tripled his salary to $3,000 a week. Shortly afterward, he received co-star above-the-title billing with Flynn – who was still a huge star at the time – in Desperate Journey (1942). In April 1942, Reagan was ordered to military active duty in San Francisco and never quite became a big first-rank film star despite playing the lead in numerous movies.[43] After his wartime military service he co-starred in such films as The Voice of the Turtle, John Loves Mary, The Hasty Heart, Bedtime for Bonzo, Cattle Queen of Montana, Tennessee's Partner, Hellcats of the Navy (the only film in which he appears with Nancy Reagan), and his one turn at playing a vicious villain, in the 1964 remake The Killers (his final film) with Lee Marvin and Angie Dickinson. Throughout his film career, Reagan's mother answered much of his fan mail.[44] Military serviceCapt. Ronald Reagan at Fort Roach, 1943 or 1944.After completing 14 home-study Army extension courses, Reagan enlisted in the Army Enlisted Reserve and was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Officers' Reserve Corps of the Cavalry on May 25, 1937.[45] On April 18, 1942, Reagan was ordered to active duty for the first time. Because of severe nearsightedness,[46]he was classified for limited service only, which excluded him from serving overseas.[47] His first assignment was at the San Francisco Port of Embarkation at Fort Mason, California, as a liaison officer of the Port and Transportation Office.[48] Upon the approval of the U.S. Army Air Forces (AAF), he applied for a transfer from the cavalry to the AAF on May 15, 1942, and was assigned to AAF Public Relations and subsequently to the 18th AAF Base Unit (Motion Picture Unit) at Culver City, California.[48] On January 14, 1943, he was promoted to first lieutenant and was sent to the Provisional Task Force Show Unit of This Is the Army at Burbank, California.[48] He returned to the 18th AAF Base Unit after completing this duty and was promoted to captain on July 22, 1943.[49] In January 1944, Reagan was ordered to temporary duty in New York City to participate in the opening of the Sixth War Loan Drive, which campaigned for the purchase of war bonds. He was reassigned to the 18th AAF Base Unit on November 14, 1944, where he remained until the end of World War II.[49] By the end of the war, his units had produced some 400 training films for the Air Force, including cockpit simulations for B-29 crews scheduled to bomb Japan. He was separated from active duty on December 9, 1945, as an Army captain.[50] While he was in the service, Reagan obtained a film reel depicting the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp; he held on to it, believing that doubts would someday arise as to whether the Holocaust had occurred.[51] Screen Actors Guild presidencyGuest stars for the premiere of The Dick Powell Show, 1961. Reagan can be seen wearing a ten-gallon hat on the far left.Reagan was first elected to the Board of Directors of the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) in 1941, serving as an alternate member. After World War II, he resumed service and became third vice president in 1946.[52] When the SAG president and six board members resigned in March 1947 because of the union's new bylaws on conflict of interest, Reagan was elected president in a special election. He was subsequently reelected six times, in 1947, 1948, 1949, 1950, 1951 and 1959. He led the SAG through implementation of the 1947 Taft–Hartley Act, various labor-management disputes and the Hollywood blacklist era.[52] First instituted in 1947 by studio executives who agreed that they would not employ anyone believed to be or to have been communists or sympathetic with radical politics, the blacklist grew steadily larger during the early 1950s as Congress continued to investigate domestic political subversion.[53] Reagan was instrumental in securing residuals for television actors when their episodes were rerun, and later for motion picture actors when their studio films aired on television.[54] FBI informantIn 1946, Reagan served on the national board of directors for the Independent Citizens Committee of the Arts, Sciences and Professions (ICCASP) and had been a member of its Hollywood chapter (HICCASP). His attendance at a July 10, 1946 meeting of HICCASP brought him to the attention of the FBI, which interviewed him on April 10, 1947 in connection with its investigation into HICCASP.[55][56][57] Four decades later, it was revealed that during the late 1940s, Reagan (under the code name T-10) and his wife Jane Wyman provided the FBI with the names of actors within the motion picture industry whom they believed to be communist sympathizers. Even so, he was uncomfortable with the way in which the SAG was being used by the government, asking during one FBI interview, "Do they (i.e. the House Un-American Activities Committee) expect us to constitute ourselves as a little FBI of our own and determine just who is a Commie and who isn't?"[58][59] HUAC's Hollywood hearingsReagan testifying before the House Un-American Activities Committee, October 1947In October 1947 during HUAC's Hollywood hearings, Reagan testified as president of the Screen Actors Guild:[60]
Regarding a "jurisdictional strike" going on for seven months at that time, Reagan testified:
However, Reagan also opposed measures soon to manifest in the Mundt–Nixon Bill in May 1948 by opining:
Further, when asked whether he was aware of Communist efforts within the Screen Writers Guild, Reagan would not play along, saying, "Sir, like the other gentlemen, I must say that that is hearsay."[60] TelevisionReagan landed fewer film roles in the late 1950s and moved into television.[35] He was hired as the host of General Electric Theater,[61] a series of weekly dramas that became very popular.[35] His contract required him to tour General Electric (GE) plants 16 weeks out of the year, which often demanded that he give 14 talks per day.[35] He earned approximately $125,000 (equivalent to $1.1 million in 2021) in this role. The show ran for ten seasons from 1953 to 1962, which increased Reagan's national profile.[62] On January 1, 1959, Reagan was the host and announcer for ABC's coverage of the Tournament of Roses Parade.[63] In his final work as a professional actor, Reagan was a host and performer from 1964 to 1965 on the television series Death Valley Days.[64] Following their marriage in 1952, Ronald and Nancy Reagan, who continued to use the stage name Nancy Davis, acted together in three TV series episodes, including a 1958 installment of General Electric Theater titled "A Turkey for the President".[65] Marriages and childrenReagan and his first wife Jane Wyman, 1942In 1938, Reagan co-starred in the film Brother Rat with actress Jane Wyman (1917–2007). They announced their engagement at the Chicago Theatre[66] and married on January 26, 1940, at the Wee Kirk o' the Heather church in Glendale, California.[67] Together they had two biological daughters, Maureen (1941–2001) and Christine (born prematurely, and died on June 26, 1947), and adopted a son, Michael (b. 1945).[68] After the couple had arguments about Reagan's political ambitions, Wyman filed for divorce in 1948,[69] citing a distraction due to her husband's Screen Actors Guild union duties; the divorce was finalized in 1949.[37] Wyman, who was a registered Republican, also stated that their breakup stemmed from a difference in politics (Reagan was still a Democrat at the time).[70] When Reagan became president 32 years later, he became the first divorced person to assume the nation's highest office.[71] Reagan and Wyman continued to be friends until his death; Wyman voted for Reagan in both his runs, and on his death she said, "America has lost a great president and a great, kind, and gentle man."[72] Wedding of Ronald and Nancy Reagan, 1952. Matron of honor Brenda Marshall (left) and best man William Holden (right) were the sole guests.Reagan met actress Nancy Davis (1921–2016)[73][74] in 1949 after she contacted him in his capacity as president of the Screen Actors Guild. He helped her with issues regarding her name appearing on a Communist blacklist in Hollywood; she had been mistaken for another Nancy Davis. She described their meeting by saying, "I don't know if it was exactly love at first sight, but it was pretty close."[75] They were engaged at Chasen's restaurant in Los Angeles and were married on March 4, 1952, at the Little Brown Church in the Valley (North Hollywood, now Studio City) San Fernando Valley.[76] Actor William Holden served as best man at the ceremony. They had two children: Patti (b. 1952) and Ronald "Ron" (b. 1958). The couple's relationship was close, authentic and intimate.[77] During his presidency, they often displayed affection for each other; one press secretary said, "They never took each other for granted. They never stopped courting."[75][78] He often called her "Mommy", and she called him "Ronnie".[78] He once wrote to her, "Whatever I treasure and enjoy ... all would be without meaning if I didn't have you."[79] In 1998, while he was stricken by Alzheimer's, Nancy told Vanity Fair, "Our relationship is very special. We were very much in love and still are. When I say my life began with Ronnie, well, it's true. It did. I can't imagine life without him."[75] Nancy Reagan died on March 6, 2016, at the age of 94.[80] Early political careerNancy and Ronald Reagan aboard a boat in California, 1964Reagan began as a Hollywood Democrat, and Franklin D. Roosevelt was "a true hero" to him.[81] He moved to the right-wing in the 1950s, became a Republican in 1962, and emerged as a leading conservative spokesman in the Goldwater campaign of 1964.[82] In his early political career, he joined numerous political committees with a left-wing orientation, such as the American Veterans Committee. He fought against Republican-sponsored right-to-work legislation and supported Helen Gahagan Douglas in 1950 when she was defeated for the Senate by Richard Nixon. It was his belief that Communists were a powerful backstage influence in those groups that led him to rally his friends against them.[83] At rallies, Reagan frequently spoke with a strong ideological dimension. In December 1945, he was stopped from leading an anti-nuclear rally in Hollywood by pressure from the Warner Bros. studio. He would later make nuclear weapons a key point of his presidency when he specifically stated his opposition to mutual assured destruction. Reagan also built on previous efforts to limit the spread of nuclear weapons.[84] In the 1948 presidential election, Reagan strongly supported Harry S. Truman and appeared on stage with him during a campaign speech in Los Angeles.[85] In the early 1950s, his relationship with actress Nancy Davis grew,[86] and he shifted to the right when he endorsed the presidential candidacies of Dwight D. Eisenhower (1952 and 1956) and Richard Nixon (1960).[87] Reagan was hired by General Electric in 1954 to host the General Electric Theater, a weekly TV drama series. He also traveled across the country to give motivational speeches to over 200,000 GE employees. His many speeches—which he wrote himself—were non-partisan but carried a conservative, pro-business message; he was influenced by Lemuel Boulware, a senior GE executive. Boulware, known for his tough stance against unions and his innovative strategies to win over workers, championed the core tenets of modern American conservatism: free markets, anticommunism, lower taxes, and limited government.[88] Eager for a larger stage, but not allowed to enter politics by GE, Reagan quit and formally registered as a Republican.[89] He often said, "I didn't leave the Democratic Party. The party left me."[90] When the legislation that would become Medicare was introduced in 1961, he created a recording for the American Medical Association (AMA) warning that such legislation would mean the end of freedom in America. Reagan said that if his listeners did not write letters to prevent it, "we will awake to find that we have socialism. And if you don't do this, and if I don't do it, one of these days, you and I are going to spend our sunset years telling our children, and our children's children, what it once was like in America when men were free."[91][92] Other Democratic initiatives he opposed in the 1960s included the Food Stamp Program, raising the minimum wage, and the establishment of the Peace Corps.[15] He also joined the National Rifle Association (NRA) and would become a lifetime member.[93] Reagan gained national attention in his speeches for conservative presidential contender Barry Goldwater in 1964.[94] Speaking for Goldwater, Reagan stressed his belief in the importance of smaller government. He consolidated themes that he had developed in his talks for GE to deliver his famous speech, "A Time for Choosing":
This "A Time for Choosing" speech was not enough to turn around the faltering Goldwater campaign, but it was the crucial event that established Reagan's national political visibility. David Broder of The Washington Post called it, "the most successful national political debut since William Jennings Bryan electrified the 1896 Democratic convention with his Cross of Gold speech".[97][98][99] Governor of California (1967–1975)External audioSpeech to the National Press Club Reagan's speech on June 16, 1966 (starts at 06:16; finishes at 39:04)[100]California Republicans were impressed with Reagan's political views and charisma after his "Time for Choosing" speech,[101] and in late 1965 he announced his campaign for governor in the 1966 election.[102][103] He defeated former San Francisco mayor George Christopher in the Republican primary. In Reagan's campaign, he emphasized two main themes: "to send the welfare bums back to work", and, in reference to burgeoning anti-war and anti-establishment student protests at the University of California, Berkeley, "to clean up the mess at Berkeley".[104] In 1966, Reagan accomplished what both U.S. senator William Knowland in 1958 and former vice president Richard Nixon in 1962 failed to do: he was elected, defeating Pat Brown, the Democratic two-term governor. Reagan was sworn in on January 2, 1967. In his first term, he froze government hiring and approved tax hikes to balance the budget.[105] In 1966, Reagan was elected governor of California with 57.5 percent of the vote.[106]Reagan: 50–59% 60–69% 70–79% Brown: 50–59% Shortly after assuming office, Reagan ran as an unannounced candidate in the 1968 Republican Party presidential primaries as part of a "Stop Nixon" movement, hoping to cut into Nixon's southern support,[107] and was the conservative's compromise candidate [108] were there a brokered convention. By the time of the Republican convention, however, Nixon had 692 delegate votes, 25 more than he needed to secure the nomination. Reagan finished in third place, behind Nixon and Nelson Rockefeller; his only primary victory came in California, where his was the only name on the ballot.[107] Reagan was involved in several high-profile conflicts with the protest movements of the era, including his public criticism of university administrators for tolerating student demonstrations at the Berkeley campus. On May 15, 1969, during the People's Park protests at the university's campus (the original purpose of which was to discuss the Arab–Israeli conflict), Reagan sent the California Highway Patrol and other officers to quell the protests. This led to an incident that became known as "Bloody Thursday", resulting in the death of student James Rector and the blinding of carpenter Alan Blanchard.[109][110] In addition, 111 police officers were injured in the conflict, including one who was knifed in the chest. Reagan then called out 2,200 state National Guard troops to occupy the city of Berkeley for two weeks to crack down on the protesters.[109] The Guard remained in Berkeley for 17 days, camping in People's Park, and demonstrations subsided as the university removed cordoned-off fencing and placed all development plans for People's Park on hold.[109][111] One year after the incident, Reagan responded to questions about campus protest movements saying, "If it takes a bloodbath, let's get it over with. No more appeasement."[112] When the Symbionese Liberation Army kidnapped Patty Hearst in Berkeley and demanded the distribution of food to the poor, Reagan joked to a group of political aides about a botulism outbreak contaminating the food.[113] Early in 1967, the national debate on abortion was starting to gain traction. In the early stages of the debate, Democratic California state senator Anthony Beilenson introduced the Therapeutic Abortion Act in an effort to reduce the number of "back-room abortions" performed in California.[109] The state legislature sent the bill to Reagan's desk where, after many days of indecision, he reluctantly signed it on June 14, 1967.[114] About two million abortions would be performed as a result, mostly because of a provision in the bill allowing abortions for the well-being of the mother.[114] Reagan had been in office for only four months when he signed the bill and later stated that had he been more experienced as governor, he would not have signed it. After he recognized what he called the "consequences" of the bill, he announced that he was anti-abortion.[114] He maintained that position later in his political career, writing extensively about abortion.[115] The Reagans meet with President Richard Nixon and First Lady Pat Nixon, July 1970In 1967, Reagan signed the Mulford Act, which repealed a law allowing the public carrying of loaded firearms (becoming California Penal Code 12031 and 171(c)). The bill, which was named after Republican assemblyman Don Mulford, garnered national attention after the Black Panthers marched bearing arms upon the California State Capitol to protest it.[116][117] Despite an unsuccessful attempt to force a recall election on Reagan in 1968,[118] he was re-elected governor in 1970, defeating Jesse M. Unruh. He chose not to seek a third term in the following election cycle. One of Reagan's greatest frustrations in office was the controversy of capital punishment, which he strongly supported.[39] His efforts to enforce the state's laws in this area were thwarted when the Supreme Court of California issued its People v. Anderson decision, which invalidated all death sentences issued in California before 1972, though the decision was later overturned by a constitutional amendment. The only execution during Reagan's governorship was on April 12, 1967, when Aaron Mitchell's sentence was carried out by the state in San Quentin's gas chamber.[119] In 1969, Reagan signed the Family Law Act, which was an amalgam of two bills that had been written and revised by the California State Legislature over more than two years.[120] It became the first no-fault divorce legislation in the United States.[121] Years later, he told his son Michael that signing that law was his "greatest regret" in public life.[122][123] Reagan's terms as governor helped to shape the policies he would pursue in his later political career as president. By campaigning on a platform of sending "the welfare bums back to work", he spoke out against the idea of the welfare state. He also strongly advocated the Republican ideal of less government regulation of the economy, including that of undue federal taxation.[124] 1976 presidential campaignReagan and President Ford shake hands on the podium after Reagan narrowly lost the nomination at the 1976 Republican National ConventionReagan's 1976 campaign relied on a strategy crafted by campaign manager John Sears of winning a few primaries early to damage the inevitability of Gerald Ford's likely nomination. Reagan won North Carolina, Texas, and California, but the strategy failed, [125] as he ended up losing New Hampshire, Florida, and his native Illinois.[126] The Texas campaign lent renewed hope to Reagan when he swept all 96 delegates chosen in the May 1 primary, with four more awaiting at the state convention. Much of the credit for that victory came from the work of three co-chairmen, including Ernest Angelo, the mayor of Midland, and Ray Barnhart of Houston, whom Reagan as president would appoint in 1981 as director of the Federal Highway Administration.[127] However, as the GOP convention neared, Ford appeared close to victory. Acknowledging his party's moderate wing, Reagan chose moderate senator Richard Schweiker of Pennsylvania as his running mate if nominated. Nonetheless, Ford prevailed with 1,187 delegates to Reagan's 1,070.[126] Reagan's concession speech emphasized the dangers of nuclear war and the threat posed by the Soviet Union. Though he lost the nomination, he received 307 write-in votes in New Hampshire, 388 votes as an independent on Wyoming's ballot, and a single electoral vote from a faithless elector in the November election from the state of Washington.[128] 1978: Opposition to the Briggs InitiativeIn 1978, conservative state legislator John Briggs, sponsored a ballot initiative for the November 7, 1978 California state election (the Briggs Initiative) that sought to ban gays and lesbians from working in California's public schools.[129] Officially, California Proposition 6 was a ballot initiative put to referendum on the state ballot.[130] Early opposition was led by LGBT activists and a few progressive politicians, but to many people's surprise, Reagan moved to publicly oppose the measure. He issued an informal letter of opposition to the initiative, told reporters that he was opposed, and wrote an editorial in the Los Angeles Herald-Examiner opposing it.[131][132] The timing of Reagan's opposition was significant, and surprised many, because he was then preparing to run for president, a race in which he would need the support of conservatives and those moderates who were uncomfortable with homosexual teachers. At that very moment, he was actively courting leaders from the religious right, including Jerry Falwell, who would go on to form the Moral Majority to fight out such culture war issues the following year.[133] As Reagan biographer Lou Cannon puts it, Reagan was "well aware that there were those who wanted him to duck the issue" but nevertheless "chose to state his convictions".[134] Cannon reports that Reagan was "repelled by the aggressive public crusades against homosexual life styles which became a staple of right wing politics in the late 1970s".[134] Reagan's November 1 editorial stated, in part, "Whatever else it is, homosexuality is not a contagious disease like the measles. Prevailing scientific opinion is that an individual's sexuality is determined at a very early age and that a child's teachers do not really influence this."[131] 1980 presidential campaign1980 electoral vote resultsThe 1980 presidential election featured Reagan against incumbent president Jimmy Carter and was conducted amid a multitude of domestic concerns as well as the ongoing Iran hostage crisis. Reagan's campaign stressed some of his fundamental principles: lower taxes to stimulate the economy,[135] less government interference in people's lives,[136] states' rights,[137] and a strong national defense.[138] Ronald Reagan, moderator Jon Breen, and Bush participate in the Nashua, New Hampshire presidential debate, 1980Reagan launched his campaign with an indictment of a federal government that he believed had "overspent, overstimulated, and overregulated". After receiving the Republican nomination, Reagan selected one of his opponents from the primaries, George H. W. Bush, to be his running mate. His relaxed and confident appearance during the televised Reagan–Carter debate on October 28 boosted his popularity and helped to widen his lead in the polls.[139][140] On November 4, Reagan won a decisive victory over Carter, carrying 44 states and receiving 489 electoral votes to Carter's 49 in six states plus D.C. He also won the popular vote, receiving 50.7 percent to Carter's 41.0 percent, with independent John B. Anderson garnering 6.6 percent. Republicans also won a majority of seats in the Senate for the first time since 1952, though Democrats retained a majority in the House of Representatives.[140][141][142] Presidency (1981–1989)During his presidency, Reagan pursued policies that reflected his personal belief in individual freedom, brought economic changes, expanded the military and contributed to the end of the Cold War.[143] Termed the "Reagan Revolution", his presidency would boost American morale,[144][145] reinvigorate the U.S. economy and reduce reliance upon government.[143] As president, Reagan kept a diary in which he commented on daily occurrences of his presidency and his views on the issues of the day. The diaries were published in May 2007 in the bestselling book The Reagan Diaries.[146] First termPresident and Mrs. Reagan at the 1981 inauguration paradeReagan was 69 years, 349 days of age when he was sworn into office for his first term on January 20, 1981, making him the oldest first-term president at the time. He held this distinction until 2017, when Donald Trump was inaugurated at age 70 years, 220 days, though Reagan was older upon being inaugurated for his second term.[147] In his inaugural address, he addressed the country's economic malaise, arguing: "In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problems; government is the problem."[148] Prayer in schools and a moment of silenceReagan campaigned vigorously to restore organized prayer to the schools, first as a moment of prayer and later as a moment of silence.[149] In 1981, Reagan became the first president to propose a constitutional amendment on school prayer.[150] Reagan's election reflected an opposition[150] to the 1962 Supreme Court case Engel v. Vitale that had prohibited state officials from composing an official state prayer and requiring that it be recited in the public schools.[151] Reagan's 1981 proposed amendment stated: "Nothing in this Constitution shall be construed to prohibit individual or group prayer in public schools or other public institutions. No person shall be required by the United States or by any state to participate in prayer." In 1984, Reagan again raised the issue, asking Congress, "why can't [the] freedom to acknowledge God be enjoyed again by children in every schoolroom across this land?"[152] In 1985, Reagan expressed his disappointment that the Supreme Court ruling still banned a moment of silence for public schools, and said that efforts to reinstitute prayer in public schools were "an uphill battle".[153] In 1987, Reagan renewed his call for Congress to support voluntary prayer in schools and end "the expulsion of God from America's classrooms".[154] Assassination attemptOn March 30, 1981, Reagan, his press secretary James Brady, Washington police officer Thomas Delahanty, and Secret Service agent Tim McCarthy were struck by gunfire from would-be assassin John Hinckley Jr. outside the Washington Hilton hotel. Although "close to death" upon arrival at George Washington University Hospital, Reagan was stabilized in the emergency room, then underwent emergency exploratory surgery.[155] He recovered and was released from the hospital on April 11, becoming the first U.S. president to survive being shot in an assassination attempt while in office.[156] The attempt had a significant influence on Reagan's popularity; polls indicated his approval rating to be around 73 percent.[156] Reagan believed that God had spared his life so that he might go on to fulfill a higher purpose.[157] Sandra Day O'ConnorSupreme Court justice-nominee Sandra Day O'Connor talks with Reagan outside the White House, July 15, 1981.On July 7, 1981, Reagan announced that he planned to nominate Sandra Day O'Connor as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, replacing the retiring Justice Potter Stewart. He had pledged during his 1980 presidential campaign that he would appoint the first woman to the Court.[158] On September 21, O'Connor was confirmed by the U.S. Senate with a vote of 99–0.[159] Air traffic controllers' strikeIn August 1981, PATCO, the union of federal air traffic controllers, went on strike, violating a federal law prohibiting government unions from striking.[160] Declaring the situation an emergency as described in the 1947 Taft–Hartley Act, Reagan stated that if the air traffic controllers "do not report for work within 48 hours, they have forfeited their jobs and will be terminated".[161] They did not return, and on August 5, Reagan fired 11,345 striking air traffic controllers who had ignored his order and used supervisors and military controllers to handle the nation's commercial air traffic until new controllers could be hired and trained.[162] A leading reference work on public administration concluded, "The firing of PATCO employees not only demonstrated a clear resolve by the president to take control of the bureaucracy, but it also sent a clear message to the private sector that unions no longer needed to be feared."[163] "Reaganomics" and the economyReagan outlines his plan for Tax Reduction Legislation in a televised address from the Oval Office, July 1981Reagan implemented neoliberal policies based on supply-side economics, advocating a laissez-faire philosophy,[164] and seeking to stimulate the economy with large, across-the-board tax cuts.[165][166] He also supported returning the United States to some sort of gold standard and successfully urged Congress to establish the U.S. Gold Commission to study how one could be implemented. Citing the economic theories of Arthur Laffer, Reagan promoted the proposed tax cuts as potentially stimulating the economy enough to expand the tax base, offsetting the revenue loss due to reduced rates of taxation, a theory that entered political discussion as the Laffer curve. Reaganomics was the subject of debate with supporters pointing to improvements in certain key economic indicators as evidence of success, and critics pointing to large increases in federal budget deficits and the national debt.[167] His policy of "peace through strength" resulted in a record peacetime defense buildup including a 40 percent real increase in defense spending between 1981 and 1985.[168] During Reagan's presidency, federal income tax rates were lowered significantly with the signing of the Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981,[169] which lowered the top marginal tax bracket from 70 percent to 50 percent over three years (as part of a "5–10–10" plan),[170] and the lowest bracket from 14 percent to 11 percent. Other tax increases passed by Congress and signed by Reagan ensured, however, that tax revenues over his two terms were 18.2 percent of GDP as compared to 18.1 percent over the 40 years of 1970–2010.[171] The 1981 tax act also required that exemptions and brackets be indexed for inflation starting in 1985.[170] Conversely, Congress passed and Reagan signed into law tax increases of some nature in every year from 1981 to 1987 to continue funding such government programs as Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 1982 (TEFRA), Social Security, and the Deficit Reduction Act of 1984 (DEFRA).[172][173] TEFRA was the "largest peacetime tax increase in American history".[173][174][175][176] Gross domestic product (GDP) growth recovered strongly after the early 1980s recession ended in 1982, and grew during his eight years in office at an annual rate of 7.9 percent per year, with a high of 12.2 percent growth in 1981.[177] Unemployment peaked at 10.8 percent monthly rate in December 1982—higher than any time since the Great Depression—then dropped during the rest of Reagan's presidency.[178] Sixteen million new jobs were created, while inflation significantly decreased.[179] The Tax Reform Act of 1986, another bipartisan effort championed by Reagan, simplified the tax code by reducing the number of tax brackets to four and slashing several tax breaks. The top rate was dropped to 28 percent, but capital gains taxes were increased on those with the highest incomes from 20 percent to 28 percent. The increase of the lowest tax bracket from 11 percent to 15 percent was more than offset by the expansion of personal exemption, standard deduction, and earned income tax credit. The net result was the removal of six million poor Americans from the income tax roll and a reduction of income tax liability at all income levels.[180][181] The net effect of all Reagan-era tax bills was a 1 percent decrease in government revenues when compared to Treasury Department revenue estimates from the administration's first post-enactment January budgets.[182] However, federal income tax receipts increased from 1980 to 1989, rising from $308.7 billion to $549 billion[183] or an average annual rate of 8.2 percent (2.5 percent attributed to higher Social Security receipts), and federal outlays grew at an annual rate of 7.1 percent.[184][185] Reagan addresses Congress on the Program for Economic Recovery, April 28, 1981 (a few weeks after surviving the assassination attempt)Reagan's policies proposed that economic growth would occur when marginal tax rates were low enough to spur investment, which would then lead to higher employment and wages. Critics labeled this "trickle-down economics"—the belief that tax policies that benefit the wealthy will create a "trickle-down" effect reaching the poor.[186] Questions arose whether Reagan's policies benefited the wealthy more than those living in poverty,[187] and many poor and minority citizens viewed Reagan as indifferent to their struggles.[187] These views were exacerbated by the fact that Reagan's economic regimen included freezing the minimum wage at $3.35 an hour, slashing federal assistance to local governments by 60 percent, cutting the budget for public housing and Section 8 rent subsidies in half, and eliminating the antipoverty Community Development Block Grant program.[188] Along with Reagan's 1981 cut in the top regular tax rate on unearned income, he reduced the maximum capital gains rate to 20 percent.[189] Reagan later set tax rates on capital gains at the same level as the rates on ordinary income like salaries and wages, with both topping out at 28 percent.[190] Reagan is viewed as an anti-tax hero despite raising taxes eleven times throughout his presidency, all in the name of fiscal responsibility.[191] According to Paul Krugman, "Over all, the 1982 tax increase undid about a third of the 1981 cut; as a share of GDP, the increase was substantially larger than Mr. Clinton's 1993 tax increase."[192] According to historian and domestic policy adviser Bruce Bartlett, Reagan's tax increases throughout his presidency took back half of the 1981 tax cut.[193] Reagan was opposed to government intervention, and he cut the budgets of non-military[194] programs[195] including Medicaid, food stamps, federal education programs[194] and the EPA.[196] He protected entitlement programs such as Social Security and Medicare,[197] but his administration attempted to purge many people with disabilities from the Social Security disability rolls.[198] The administration's stance toward the savings and loan industry contributed to the savings and loan crisis. A minority of the critics of Reaganomics also suggested that the policies partially influenced the stock market crash of 1987,[199] but there is no consensus regarding a single source for the crash.[200] To cover newly spawned federal budget deficits, the United States borrowed heavily both domestically and abroad, causing the national debt to nearly triple from $997 billion to $2.85 trillion.[201][202][203][204] Reagan described the new debt as the "greatest disappointment" of his presidency.[179] He reappointed Paul Volcker as Chairman of the Federal Reserve, and in 1987 he appointed monetarist Alan Greenspan to succeed him. Reagan ended the price controls on domestic oil that had contributed to the energy crises of 1973–1974 and the summer of 1979.[205][206] The price of oil subsequently dropped, and there were no fuel shortages like those in the 1970s.[206] Reagan also fulfilled a 1980 campaign promise to repeal the windfall profits tax in 1988, which had previously increased dependence on foreign oil.[207] Some economists, such as Nobel Prize winners Milton Friedman and Robert Mundell, argue that Reagan's tax policies invigorated America's economy and contributed to the economic boom of the 1990s.[208] Other economists, such as Nobel Prize winner Robert Solow, argue that Reagan's deficits were a major reason his successor, George H. W. Bush, reneged on his campaign promise and resorted to raising taxes.[208] During Reagan's presidency, a program was initiated within the United States Intelligence Community to ensure America's economic strength. The program, Project Socrates, developed and demonstrated the means required for the United States to generate and lead the next evolutionary leap in technology acquisition and utilization for a competitive advantage—automated innovation. To ensure that the United States acquired the maximum benefit from automated innovation, Reagan, during his second term, had an executive order drafted to create a new federal agency to implement the Project Socrates results on a nationwide basis. However, Reagan's term came to an end before the executive order could be coordinated and signed, and the incoming Bush administration, labeling Project Socrates as "industrial policy", had it terminated.[209][210] Civil rightsThe Reagan administration was often criticized for inadequately enforcing, if not actively undermining, civil rights legislation.[211][212] In 1982, he signed a bill extending the Voting Rights Act for 25 years after a grassroots lobbying and legislative campaign forced him to abandon his plan to ease that law's restrictions.[213] He also signed legislation establishing a federal Martin Luther King holiday, though he did so with reservations.[214] In March 1988, he vetoed the Civil Rights Restoration Act of 1987, but his veto was overridden by Congress. Reagan had argued that the legislation infringed on states' rights and the rights of churches and business owners.[215] Escalation of the Cold WarAs the first U.S. president invited to speak before the British Parliament (June 8, 1982), Reagan predicted Marxism–Leninism would end up on the "ash heap of history".[216]Reagan escalated the Cold War, accelerating a reversal from the policy of détente that began during the Carter administration, following the Afghan Saur Revolution and subsequent Soviet invasion.[217] He ordered a massive buildup of the United States Armed Forces[168] and implemented new policies that were directed towards the Soviet Union; he revived the B-1 Lancer program that had been canceled by the Carter administration, and he produced the MX missile.[218] In response to Soviet deployment of the SS-20, Reagan oversaw NATO's deployment of the Pershing missile in West Germany.[219] In 1982 Reagan tried to cut off Moscow's access to hard currency by impeding its proposed gas line to Western Europe. It hurt the Soviet economy, but it also caused ill will among American allies in Europe who counted on that revenue. Reagan retreated on this issue.[220][221] In 1984, journalist Nicholas Lemann interviewed Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger and summarized the strategy of the Reagan administration to roll back the Soviet Union:
Lemann noted that when he wrote that in 1984, he thought the Reaganites were living in a fantasy world. But by 2016, Lemann stated that the passage represents "a fairly uncontroversial description of what Reagan actually did".[222] Reagan and the United Kingdom's prime minister Margaret Thatcher both denounced the Soviet Union in ideological terms.[223] In a famous address on June 8, 1982, to the Parliament of the United Kingdom in the Royal Gallery of the Palace of Westminster, Reagan said, "the march of freedom and democracy will leave Marxism–Leninism on the ash heap of history."[216][224][225] On March 3, 1983, he predicted that communism would collapse, stating, "Communism is another sad, bizarre chapter in human history whose last pages even now are being written."[226] In a speech to the National Association of Evangelicals on March 8, 1983, Reagan called the Soviet Union "an evil empire".[227] Meeting with leaders of the Afghan Mujahideen in the Oval Office, 1983After Soviet fighters downed Korean Air Lines Flight 007 near Moneron Island on September 1, 1983, carrying 269 people, including Georgia congressman Larry McDonald, Reagan labeled the act a "massacre" and declared that the Soviets had turned "against the world and the moral precepts which guide human relations among people everywhere".[228] The Reagan administration responded to the incident by suspending all Soviet passenger air service to the United States and dropped several agreements being negotiated with the Soviets, wounding them financially.[228] As a result of the shootdown, and the cause of KAL 007's going astray thought to be inadequacies related to its navigational system, Reagan announced on September 16, 1983, that the Global Positioning System would be made available for civilian use, free of charge, once completed in order to avert similar navigational errors in the future.[229][230] Under a policy that came to be known as the Reagan Doctrine, Reagan and his administration also provided overt and covert aid to anti-communist resistance movements in an effort to "rollback" Soviet-backed communist governments in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.[231] However, in a break from the Carter administration's policy of arming Taiwan under the Taiwan Relations Act, Reagan also agreed with the communist government in China to reduce the sale of arms to Taiwan.[232] Reagan with actress Sigourney Weaver and King Fahd of Saudi Arabia in 1985. The U.S. and Saudi Arabia supplied money and arms to the anti-Soviet fighters in Afghanistan.Reagan deployed the CIA's Special Activities Division to Afghanistan and Pakistan. They were instrumental in training, equipping and leading Mujahideen forces against the Soviet Army.[233][234] President Reagan's Covert Action program has been given credit for assisting in ending the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan,[235] though some of the United States funded armaments introduced then would later pose a threat to U.S. troops in the 2001 War in Afghanistan.[236] The CIA also began sharing information with the Iranian government which it was secretly courting. In one instance, in 1982, this practice enabled the government to identify and purge communists from its ministries and to virtually eliminate the pro-Soviet infrastructure in Iran.[237] In March 1983, Reagan introduced the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), a defense project[238] that would have used ground- and space-based systems to protect the United States from attack by strategic nuclear ballistic missiles.[239] Reagan believed that this defense shield could make nuclear war impossible.[238][240] There was much disbelief surrounding the program's scientific feasibility, leading opponents to dub SDI "Star Wars" and argue that its technological objective was unattainable.[238] The Soviets became concerned about the possible effects SDI would have;[241] leader Yuri Andropov said it would put "the entire world in jeopardy".[242] For those reasons, David Gergen, a former aide to President Reagan, believes that in retrospect, SDI hastened the end of the Cold War.[243] Though supported by leading American conservatives who argued that Reagan's foreign policy strategy was essential to protecting U.S. security interests, critics labeled the administration's foreign policy initiatives as aggressive and imperialistic, and chided them as "warmongering".[241] The administration was also heavily criticized for backing anti-communist leaders accused of severe human rights violations, such as Hissène Habré of Chad[244] and Efraín Ríos Montt of Guatemala.[245][246] During the 16 months (1982–1983) Montt was President of Guatemala, the Guatemalan military was accused of genocide for massacres of members of the Ixil people and other indigenous groups. Reagan had said that Montt was getting a "bum rap",[247] and described him as "a man of great personal integrity".[248] Previous human rights violations had prompted the United States to cut off aid to the Guatemalan government, but the Reagan administration appealed to Congress to restart military aid. Although unsuccessful with that, the administration was successful in providing nonmilitary assistance such as USAID.[247][249] Lebanese Civil WarReagan (far left) and First Lady Nancy Reagan pay their respects to the 17 American victims of the April 18 attack on the U.S. embassy by Hezbollah in Beirut, 1983With the approval of Congress, Reagan sent forces to Lebanon in 1983 to reduce the threat of the Lebanese Civil War. The American peacekeeping forces in Beirut, a part of a multinational force during the Lebanese Civil War, were attacked on October 23, 1983. The Beirut barracks bombing killed 241 American servicemen and wounded more than 60 others by a suicide truck bomber.[250] Reagan sent in the USS New Jersey battleship to shell Syrian positions in Lebanon. He then withdrew all the Marines from Lebanon.[251] Invasion of GrenadaOn October 25, 1983, Reagan ordered U.S. forces to invade Grenada (codenamed "Operation Urgent Fury") where a 1979 coup d'état had established a Soviet-Cuban supported Marxist–Leninist government led by Maurice Bishop. A week before the invasion, Bishop was overthrown and executed following a coup d'état by Bernard Coard. A formal appeal from the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) led to the intervention of U.S. forces; President Reagan also cited a regional threat posed by a Soviet-Cuban military build-up in the Caribbean nation and concern for the safety of several hundred American medical students at St. George's University as adequate reasons to invade. Operation Urgent Fury was the first major military operation conducted by U.S. forces since the Vietnam War. Several days of fighting commenced, resulting in a U.S. victory,[252] with 19 American fatalities and 116 wounded American soldiers.[253] In mid-December, after a new government was appointed by the governor-general, U.S. forces withdrew.[252] 1984 presidential campaign1984 presidential electoral votes by state. Reagan (red) won every state except Mondale's home state of Minnesota; Mondale also carried the District of Columbia.Reagan accepted the Republican nomination in the Republican convention in Dallas, Texas. He proclaimed that it was "morning again in America", regarding the recovering economy and the dominating performance by the American athletes at the 1984 Summer Olympics on home soil, among other things.[35] He became the first U.S. president to open an Olympic Games.[254] Previous Olympics taking place in the United States had been opened by either the vice president (three times) or another person in charge (twice). Reagan's opponent in the 1984 presidential election was former vice president Walter Mondale. Following a weak performance in the first presidential debate, Reagan's ability to win another term was questioned.[255] Reagan rebounded in the second debate; confronting questions about his age, he quipped: "I will not make age an issue of this campaign. I am not going to exploit, for political purposes, my opponent's youth and inexperience". This remark generated applause and laughter, even from Mondale himself.[256] That November, Reagan won a landslide re-election victory, carrying 49 of the 50 states. Mondale won only his home state of Minnesota and the District of Columbia.[140] Reagan won 525 of the 538 electoral votes, the most of any presidential candidate in U.S. history.[257] In terms of electoral votes, Franklin D. Roosevelt's 1936 victory over Alf Landon, in which he won 98.5 percent or 523 of the then-total 531 electoral votes, was the most-lopsided presidential election.[5] Reagan won 58.8 percent of the popular vote to Mondale's 40.6 percent. His popular vote margin of victory—nearly 16.9 million votes (54.4 million for Reagan to 37.5 million for Mondale)[258][259]—was exceeded only by Richard Nixon in his 1972 victory over George McGovern.[140] Second termReagan is sworn in for a second term as president by Chief Justice Burger in the Capitol rotundaReagan was sworn in as president for the second time on January 20, 1985, in a private ceremony at the White House. At the time, the 73-year-old Reagan was the oldest person to take the presidential oath of office; this record was later surpassed by Joe Biden, who was 78 at his inauguration in 2021.[147] Because January 20 fell on a Sunday, a public celebration was not held but took place in the Capitol rotunda the following day. January 21 was one of the coldest days on record in Washington, D.C.; due to poor weather, inaugural celebrations were held inside the Capitol. In the weeks that followed, Reagan shook up his staff somewhat, moving White House Chief of Staff James Baker to Secretary of the Treasury and naming Treasury Secretary Donald Regan, a former Merrill Lynch officer, Chief of Staff.[260] War on drugsIn response to concerns about the increasing crack epidemic, Reagan began the war on drugs campaign in 1982, a policy led by the federal government to reduce the illegal drug trade. Though Nixon had previously declared war on drugs, Reagan advocated more aggressive policies.[261] He said that "drugs were menacing our society" and promised to fight for drug-free schools and workplaces, expanded drug treatment, stronger law enforcement and drug interdiction efforts, and greater public awareness.[262][263] In 1986, Reagan signed a drug enforcement bill that budgeted $1.7 billion (equivalent to $4.2 billion in 2021) to fund the war on drugs and specified a mandatory minimum penalty for drug offenses.[264] The bill was criticized for promoting significant racial disparities in the prison population,[264] and critics also charged that the policies did little to reduce the availability of drugs on the street while resulting in a tremendous financial burden for America.[265] Defenders of the effort point to success in reducing rates of adolescent drug use which they attribute to the Reagan administrations policies:[266] marijuana use among high-school seniors declined from 33 percent in 1980 to 12 percent in 1991.[267] First Lady Nancy Reagan made the war on drugs her main priority by founding the "Just Say No" drug awareness campaign, which aimed to discourage children and teenagers from engaging in recreational drug use by offering various ways of saying "no". Nancy Reagan traveled to 65 cities in 33 states, raising awareness about the dangers of drugs, including alcohol.[268] Response to AIDS epidemicAccording to AIDS activist organizations such as ACT UP and scholars such as Don Francis and Peter S. Arno, the Reagan administration largely ignored the AIDS crisis, which began to unfold in the United States in 1981, the same year Reagan took office.[269][270][271][272] They also claim that AIDS research was chronically underfunded during Reagan's administration, and requests for more funding by doctors at the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) were routinely denied.[273][274] By the time President Reagan gave his first prepared speech on the epidemic, six years into his presidency, 36,058 Americans had been diagnosed with AIDS, and 20,849 had died of it.[274] By 1989, the year Reagan left office, more than 100,000 people had been diagnosed with AIDS in the United States, and more than 59,000 of them had died of it.[275] Reagan administration officials countered criticisms of neglect by noting that federal funding for AIDS-related programs rose over his presidency, from a few hundred thousand dollars in 1982 to $2.3 billion in 1989.[276] In a September 1985 press conference, Reagan, answering a related question, said: "This is a top priority with us, yes, there's no question about the seriousness of this and the need to find an answer."[277] Gary Bauer, Reagan's domestic policy adviser near the end of his second term, argued that Reagan's belief in cabinet government led him to assign the job of speaking out against AIDS to his Surgeon General of the United States and the United States Secretary of Health and Human Services.[278] Addressing apartheidFrom the late 1960s onward, the American public grew increasingly vocal in its opposition to the apartheid policy of the white-minority government of South Africa, and in its insistence that the U.S. impose economic and diplomatic sanctions on South Africa.[279] The strength of the anti-apartheid opposition surged during Reagan's first term in office as its component disinvestment from South Africa movement, which had been in existence for quite some years, gained critical mass following in the United States, particularly on college campuses and among mainline Protestant denominations.[280][281] President Reagan was opposed to divestiture because, as he wrote in a letter to Sammy Davis Jr., it "would hurt the very people we are trying to help and would leave us no contact within South Africa to try and bring influence to bear on the government". He also noted the fact that the "American-owned industries there employ more than 80,000 blacks" and that their employment practices were "very different from the normal South African customs".[282] As an alternative strategy for opposing apartheid, the Reagan Administration developed a policy of constructive engagement with the South African government as a means of encouraging it to move away from apartheid gradually. It was part of a larger initiative designed to foster peaceful economic development and political change throughout southern Africa.[279] This policy, however, engendered much public criticism and renewed calls for the imposition of stringent sanctions.[283] In response, Reagan announced the imposition of new sanctions on the South African government, including an arms embargo in late 1985.[284] These sanctions were, however, seen as weak by anti-apartheid activists, and as insufficient by the president's opponents in Congress.[283] In August 1986, Congress approved the Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act, which included tougher sanctions. Reagan vetoed the act, but the veto was overridden by Congress. Afterward, Reagan reiterated that his administration and "all America" opposed apartheid, and said, "the debate ... was not whether or not to oppose apartheid but, instead, how best to oppose it and how best to bring freedom to that troubled country." Several European countries as well as Japan also imposed their sanctions on South Africa soon after.[285] Libya bombingBritish Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher (here with Reagan in 1986) granted the U.S. use of British airbases to launch the Libya attack.Relations between Libya and the United States under President Reagan were continually contentious, beginning with the Gulf of Sidra incident in 1981; by 1982, Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi was considered by the CIA to be, along with USSR leader Leonid Brezhnev and Cuban leader Fidel Castro, part of a group known as the "unholy trinity" and was also labeled as "our international public enemy number one" by a CIA official.[286] These tensions were later revived in early April 1986, when a bomb exploded in a Berlin discothèque, resulting in the injury of 63 American military personnel and death of one serviceman. Stating that there was "irrefutable proof" that Libya had directed the "terrorist bombing", Reagan authorized the use of force against the country. In the late evening of April 15, 1986, the United States launched a series of airstrikes on ground targets in Libya.[287][288] British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher allowed the U.S. Air Force to use Britain's air bases to launch the attack, on the justification that the UK was supporting America's right to self-defense under Article 51 of the United Nations Charter.[288] The attack was designed to halt Gaddafi's "ability to export terrorism", offering him "incentives and reasons to alter his criminal behavior".[287] The president addressed the nation from the Oval Office after the attacks had commenced, stating, "When our citizens are attacked or abused anywhere in the world on the direct orders of hostile regimes, we will respond so long as I'm in this office."[288] The attack was condemned by many countries. By a vote of 79 in favor to 28 against with 33 abstentions, the United Nations General Assembly adopted resolution 41/38 which "condemns the military attack perpetrated against the Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya on April 15, 1986, which constitutes a violation of the Charter of the United Nations and of international law".[289] ImmigrationReagan signed the Immigration Reform and Control Act in 1986. The act made it illegal to knowingly hire or recruit illegal immigrants, required employers to attest to their employee's immigration status, and granted amnesty to approximately three million illegal immigrants who entered the United States before January 1, 1982, and had lived in the country continuously. Upon signing the act at a ceremony held beside the newly refurbished Statue of Liberty, Reagan said, "The legalization provisions in this act will go far to improve the lives of a class of individuals who now must hide in the shadows, without access to many of the benefits of a free and open society. Very soon, many of these men and women will be able to step into the sunlight and, ultimately, if they choose, they may become Americans."[290] Reagan also said, "The employer sanctions program is the keystone and major element. It will remove the incentive for illegal immigration by eliminating the job opportunities which draw illegal aliens here."[290] Iran–Contra affairReagan (center) receives the Tower Commission Report regarding the Iran-Contra affair in the Cabinet Room with John Tower (left) and Edmund Muskie (right)The Iran–Contra affair became a political scandal in the United States during the 1980s.[291] The scandal stemmed from the use of proceeds from covert arms sales to Iran during the Iran–Iraq War to fund the Contra rebels fighting against the government in Nicaragua, funding which had been specifically outlawed by an act of Congress.[292][293] The International Court of Justice, whose jurisdiction to decide the case was disputed by the United States,[294] ruled that the United States had violated international law and breached treaties in Nicaragua in various ways.[295][296] Reagan later withdrew the agreement between the United States and the International Court of Justice.[297] President Reagan professed that he was unaware of the plot's existence. He opened his own investigation and appointed two Republicans and one Democrat, John Tower, Brent Scowcroft and Edmund Muskie, respectively, to investigate the scandal. The commission could not find direct evidence that Reagan had prior knowledge of the program, but criticized him heavily for his disengagement from managing his staff, making the diversion of funds possible.[298] A separate report by Congress concluded that "If the president did not know what his national security advisers were doing, he should have."[298] Reagan's popularity declined from 67 percent to 46 percent in less than a week, the most significant and quickest decline ever for a president.[299] The scandal resulted in eleven convictions and fourteen indictments within Reagan's staff.[300] Many Central Americans criticize Reagan for his support of the Contras, calling him an anti-communist zealot, blinded to human rights abuses, while others say he "saved Central America".[301] Daniel Ortega, Sandinistan and president of Nicaragua, said that he hoped God would forgive Reagan for his "dirty war against Nicaragua".[301] In 1988, near the end of the Iran–Iraq War, the U.S. Navy guided-missile cruiser USS Vincennes accidentally shot down Iran Air Flight 655 killing 290 civilian passengers. The incident further worsened already tense Iran–United States relations.[302] Decline of the Soviet Union and thaw in relationsChallenging Gorbachev to "tear down this wall" at the Brandenburg Gate, June 12, 1987 Gorbachev and Reagan sign the INF Treaty at the White House, December 1987Until the early 1970s, the United States had relied on the qualitative superiority of its weapons to offset the Soviet superiority in number of weapons possessed, but Soviet technological advances had narrowed that advantage by the time Reagan took office in 1981.[303] Although the Soviet Union did not accelerate military spending in response to Reagan's military buildup,[304] their enormous military expenses, in combination with collectivized agriculture and inefficient planned manufacturing, were a heavy burden for the Soviet economy. At the same time, oil prices in 1985 fell to one third of the previous level; oil was the primary source of Soviet export revenues. These factors contributed to a stagnant Soviet economy during Mikhail Gorbachev's tenure.[305] Meanwhile, Reagan escalated the rhetoric. In his famous 1983 speech to the National Association of Evangelicals, he outlined his strategy for victory. First, he labeled the Soviet system an "Evil Empire" and a failure—its demise would be a godsend for the world. Second, Reagan explained his strategy was an arms buildup that would leave the Soviets far behind, with no choice but to negotiate arms reduction. Finally, displaying optimism, he praised liberal democracy and promised that such a system eventually would triumph over Soviet communism.[306][307] Reagan's foreign policy towards the Soviet Union entailed both carrots and sticks.[308] Reagan appreciated the revolutionary change in the direction of the Soviet policy with Mikhail Gorbachev, and shifted to diplomacy, intending to encourage the Soviet leader to pursue substantial arms agreements.[309] He and Gorbachev held four summit conferences between 1985 and 1988: the first in Geneva, Switzerland, the second in Reykjavík, Iceland, the third in Washington, D.C., and the fourth in Moscow.[310] Reagan believed that if he could persuade the Soviets to allow for more democracy and free speech, this would lead to reform and the end of Communism.[311] The critical summit was at Reykjavík in October 1986, where they met alone, with translators but with no aides. To the astonishment of the world, and the chagrin of Reagan's most conservative supporters, they agreed to abolish all nuclear weapons. Gorbachev then asked the end of SDI. Reagan said no, claiming that it was defensive only, and that he would share the secrets with the Soviets. No deal was achieved.[312] Speaking at the Berlin Wall on June 12, 1987, five years after his first visit to West Berlin as president, Reagan challenged Gorbachev to go further, saying "General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization, come here to this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!" [313] Later, in November 1989, the fall of the Berlin Wall and the complete fall of the inner German border took place, caused by the Peaceful Revolution in East Germany. Authorities began allowing citizens to pass freely through border checkpoints,[314][315] and began dismantling the Wall the following June;[316][317] its demolition was completed in 1992.[316][317] At Gorbachev's visit to Washington in December 1987, he and Reagan signed the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF Treaty) at the White House, which eliminated an entire class of nuclear weapons.[318] The two leaders laid the framework for the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, or START I; Reagan insisted that the name of the treaty be changed from Strategic Arms Limitation Talks to Strategic Arms Reduction Talks.[319] When Reagan visited Moscow for the fourth summit in 1988, he was viewed as a celebrity by the Soviets. A journalist asked the president if he still considered the Soviet Union the evil empire. "No," he replied, "I was talking about another time, another era."[320] At Gorbachev's request, Reagan gave a speech on free markets at the Moscow State University.[321] HealthWith Jay Leno and their wives in 1987Early in his presidency, Reagan started wearing a custom-made, technologically advanced hearing aid, first in his right ear[322] and later in his left ear as well.[323] His decision to go public in 1983 regarding his wearing the small, audio-amplifying device boosted their sales.[324] On July 13, 1985, Reagan underwent surgery at Bethesda Naval Hospital to remove a section of his colon due to colorectal cancer.[325] He relinquished presidential power to the vice president for eight hours in a similar procedure as outlined in the 25th Amendment, which he specifically avoided invoking.[326] The surgery lasted just under three hours and was successful.[327] Reagan resumed the powers of the presidency later that day.[328] In August of that year, he underwent an operation to remove skin cancer cells from his nose.[329] In October, more skin cancer cells were detected on his nose and removed.[330] In January 1987, Reagan underwent surgery for an enlarged prostate that caused further worries about his health. No cancerous growths were found, and he was not sedated during the operation.[331] In July of that year, aged 76, he underwent a third skin cancer operation on his nose.[332] On January 7, 1989, Reagan underwent surgery at Walter Reed Army Medical Center to repair a Dupuytren's contracture of the ring finger of his left hand. The surgery lasted for more than three hours and was performed under regional anesthesia.[333] On September 8, 1989, Reagan underwent surgery in Rochester, Minnesota to remove fluid from his brain due to an injury from falling off a horse on the Fourth of July earlier that year. The procedure was done by doctors from the Mayo Clinic, lasted just over an hour, and was performed under general anesthesia.[334] JudiciaryDuring the 1980 presidential campaign, Reagan pledged that he would appoint the first female Supreme Court Justice if given the opportunity.[335] That opportunity came during his first year in office when Associate Justice Potter Stewart retired; Reagan selected Sandra Day O'Connor, who was confirmed unanimously by the Senate. In his second term, Reagan had three opportunities to fill a Supreme Court vacancy. When Chief Justice Warren E. Burger retired in September 1986, Reagan nominated incumbent Associate Justice William Rehnquist to succeed Burger as Chief Justice (the appointment of an incumbent associate justice as chief justice is subject to a separate confirmation process). Then, following Rehnquist's confirmation, the president named Antonin Scalia to fill the consequent associate justice vacancy.[336] Reagan's final opportunity to fill a vacancy arose in mid-1987 when Associate Justice Lewis F. Powell Jr. announced his intention to retire. Reagan initially chose Conservative jurist Robert Bork to succeed Powell. Bork's nomination was strongly opposed by civil and women's rights groups, and by Senate Democrats.[337] That October, after a contentious Senate debate, the nomination was rejected by a roll call vote of 42–58.[338] Soon afterward, Reagan announced his intention to nominate Douglas Ginsburg to the Court. However, before his name was submitted to the Senate, Ginsburg withdrew himself from consideration.[339] Anthony Kennedy was subsequently nominated and confirmed as Powell's successor.[340] Along with his four Supreme Court appointments, Reagan appointed 83 judges to the United States courts of appeals, and 290 judges to the United States district courts. Early in his presidency, Reagan appointed Clarence M. Pendleton Jr. of San Diego as the first African American to chair the United States Commission on Civil Rights. Pendleton tried to steer the commission into a conservative direction in line with Reagan's views on social and civil rights policy during his tenure from 1981 until his sudden death in 1988. Pendleton soon aroused the ire of many civil rights advocates and feminists when he ridiculed the comparable worth proposal as being "Looney Tunes".[341][342][343] Post-presidency (1989–2004)Public speakingThe Reagans in Los Angeles, 1992After leaving office in 1989, the Reagans purchased a home in Bel Air, Los Angeles, in addition to the Reagan Ranch in Santa Barbara. They regularly attended Bel Air Church[344] and occasionally gave speeches and made appearances on behalf of the Republican Party; Reagan delivered a well-received speech at the 1992 Republican National Convention.[345] Previously, on November 4, 1991, the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library was dedicated and opened to the public. Five presidents and six first ladies attended the dedication ceremonies, marking the first time that five presidents were gathered in the same location.[346] On November 15, 1990, Reagan's autobiography, An American Life, was released. Reagan continued to speak publicly in favor of the Brady Bill;[347] a constitutional amendment requiring a balanced budget; and the repeal of the 22nd Amendment, which prohibits anyone from serving more than two terms as president.[348] In 1992 Reagan established the Ronald Reagan Freedom Award with the newly formed Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation.[349] His final public speech occurred on February 3, 1994, during a tribute to him in Washington, D.C.; his last major public appearance was at the funeral of Richard Nixon on April 27, 1994. AssaultOn April 13, 1992, Reagan was assaulted by an anti-nuclear protester during a luncheon speech while accepting an award from the National Association of Broadcasters in Las Vegas.[350] The protester, Richard Springer, smashed a two-foot-high (61 cm), 30-pound (14 kg) crystal statue of an eagle that the broadcasters had given the former president. Flying shards of glass hit Reagan, but he was not injured. Using media credentials, Springer intended to announce government plans for an underground nuclear weapons test in the Nevada desert the following day.[351] Springer was the founder of an anti-nuclear group called the 100th Monkey. Following his arrest on assault charges, a Secret Service spokesman could not explain how Springer got past the federal agents who guarded Reagan's life at all times.[352] Later, Springer pleaded guilty to reduced charges and said he had not meant to hurt Reagan through his actions. He pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor federal charge of interfering with the Secret Service, but other felony charges of assault and resisting officers were dropped.[353] Alzheimer's diseaseAnnouncement and reaction (1994)The Reagans with a model of USS Ronald Reagan, May 1996In August 1994, at the age of 83, Reagan was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease,[354] an incurable neurodegenerative disease which destroys brain cells and ultimately causes death.[354][355] In November of that year, he informed the nation of the diagnosis through a handwritten letter,[354] writing in part:
After his diagnosis, letters of support from well-wishers poured into his California home.[357] However, there was also speculation over how long Reagan had demonstrated symptoms of mental degeneration.[358] At a June 1981 reception for mayors, not long after the assassination attempt, Reagan greeted his Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Samuel Pierce by saying "How are you, Mr. Mayor? How are things in your city?",[359][360] although he later realized his mistake.[361] In a 2011 book titled My Father at 100, Reagan's son Ron said he had suspected early signs of his father's dementia as early as 1984;[362][363] an allegation that sparked a furious response from his brother, Michael Reagan, who accused him of "selling out his father to sell books".[364] Ron would later temper his claims, telling The New York Times he did not believe his father was actually inhibited by Alzheimer's while in office, only that "the disease was likely present in him", for years prior to his 1994 diagnoses.[365] In her book Reporting Live, former CBS White House correspondent Lesley Stahl recounted that in her final meeting with the president in 1986, Reagan did not seem to know who she was. Stahl wrote that she came close to reporting that Reagan was senile, but by the end of the meeting, he had regained his alertness.[366] Lay observations that Reagan suffered from Alzheimer's while still in office have been widely refuted by medical experts, however, including the many physicians who treated Reagan both during and after his presidency.[367][368][369] Regarding his mental competency while in office, all four of Reagan's White House doctors maintained they never had any concerns "even with the hindsight of" the former president's diagnosis.[369] Neurosurgeon Daniel Ruge, who served as Physician to the President from 1981 to 1985, said that he never detected signs of the disease while speaking almost every day with Reagan.[370] John E. Hutton, who served from 1985 to 1989, said the president "absolutely" did not "show any signs of dementia or Alzheimer's".[369] Though all were familiar with the disease, none of Reagan's White House physicians was an expert in Alzheimer's specifically; an outside specialist who reviewed both Reagan's public and medical records agreed with the conclusion that he displayed no signs of dementia during his presidency.[367] Reagan's doctors said that he first began exhibiting overt symptoms of the illness in late 1992[371] or 1993,[369] several years after he had left office. An example of which may include when Reagan repeated a toast to Margaret Thatcher, with identical words and gestures, at his 82nd-birthday party on February 6, 1993.[372] Lawrence Altman (M.D.) of The New York Times, while noting that "the line between mere forgetfulness and the beginning of Alzheimer's can be fuzzy",[369] upon reviewing Reagan's medical records and interviewing his doctors agreed that no signs of dementia appear to have been present while he was in office.[368] Other staff members, former aides, and friends said they saw no indication of Alzheimer's while he was president. Reagan did experience occasional memory lapses, though, especially with names.[369] Reagan suffered an episode of head trauma in July 1989, five years before his diagnosis. After being thrown from a horse in Mexico, a subdural hematoma was found and surgically treated later in the year.[354][355] Nancy Reagan, citing what doctors told her, asserted that her husband's 1989 fall hastened the onset of Alzheimer's disease,[355] although acute brain injury has not been conclusively proven to accelerate Alzheimer's or dementia.[373][374] Ruge said it was possible that the horse accident affected Reagan's memory.[371] Progression (1994–2004)As the years went on, Alzheimer's disease slowly destroyed Reagan's mental capacity.[369] He was able to recognize only a few people, including his wife, Nancy.[369] He remained active, however; he took walks through parks near his home and on beaches, played golf regularly, and until 1999 he often went to his office in nearby Century City.[369] Reagan suffered a fall at his Bel Air home on January 13, 2001, resulting in a broken hip.[375] The fracture was repaired the following day,[376] and the 89-year-old Reagan returned home later that week, although he faced difficult physical therapy at home.[377] On February 6, 2001, Reagan reached the age of 90, becoming only the third U.S. president after John Adams and Herbert Hoover to do so.[378] Reagan's public appearances became much less frequent with the progression of the disease, and as a result, his family decided that he would live in quiet semi-isolation with his wife Nancy. She told CNN's Larry King in 2001 that very few visitors were allowed to see her husband because she felt that "Ronnie would want people to remember him as he was."[379] After her husband's diagnosis and death, Nancy Reagan became a stem-cell research advocate, asserting that it could lead to a cure for Alzheimer's.[380] Death and funeralReagan lying in state in the Capitol rotundaReagan died of pneumonia, complicated by Alzheimer's disease,[381] at his home in the Bel Air district of Los Angeles, California, on the afternoon of June 5, 2004.[382] A short time after his death, Nancy Reagan released a statement, saying: "My family and I would like the world to know that President Ronald Reagan has passed away after 10 years of Alzheimer's disease at 93 years of age. We appreciate everyone's prayers."[382] Speaking in Paris, France, President George W. Bush called Reagan's death "a sad hour in the life of America".[383] He also declared June 11 a national day of mourning.[384] Reagan's body was taken to the Kingsley and Gates Funeral Home in Santa Monica, California, where well-wishers paid tribute by laying flowers and American flags in the grass.[385] On June 7, his body was transferred to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, where a brief family funeral, conducted by Pastor Michael Wenning, was held. Reagan's body lay in repose in the Library lobby until June 9; over 100,000 people viewed the coffin.[386] On June 9, Reagan's body was flown to Washington, D.C., where he became the tenth U.S. president to lie in state in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol;[387] in thirty-four hours, 104,684 people filed past the coffin.[388] On June 11, a state funeral was conducted in the Washington National Cathedral, presided over by President George W. Bush. Eulogies were given by former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher,[389] former Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, and both former President George H. W. Bush and President George W. Bush. Also in attendance were Mikhail Gorbachev and many world leaders, including British Prime Minister Tony Blair; Prince Charles, representing his mother Queen Elizabeth II; German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder; Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi; and interim presidents Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan and Ghazi al-Yawer of Iraq.[390] After the funeral, the Reagan entourage was flown back to the Ronald W. Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California, where another service was held, and President Reagan was interred.[391] At the time of his death, Reagan was the longest-lived president in U.S. history, having lived 93 years and 120 days (2 years, 8 months, and 23 days longer than John Adams, whose record he surpassed). He was also the first U.S. president to die in the 21st century. Reagan's burial site is inscribed with the words he delivered at the opening of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library: "I know in my heart that man is good, that what is right will always eventually triumph and that there is purpose and worth to each and every life."[392] Cultural and political image
According to columnist Chuck Raasch, "Reagan transformed the American presidency in ways that only a few have been able to."[395] Reagan's "avuncular style, optimism, and plain-folks demeanor" also helped him turn "government-bashing into an art form".[188] He redefined the political agenda of the times, advocating lower taxes, novel and controversial economic policies, and a stronger military.[396] When Reagan left office in 1989, a CBS poll indicated that he held an approval rating of 68 percent. This figure equaled the approval rating of Franklin D. Roosevelt (and was later matched by Bill Clinton), as the highest rating for a departing president in the modern era.[6] Gallup polls in 2001, 2007 and 2011 ranked him number one or number two when correspondents were asked for the greatest president in history.[397] Reagan ranked third of post-World War II presidents in a 2007 Rasmussen Reports poll, fifth in a 2000 ABC poll, ninth in another 2007 Rasmussen poll, and eighth in a late-2008 poll by British newspaper The Times.[398][399][400] In a Siena College survey of over 200 historians, however, Reagan ranked sixteenth out of 42.[401][402] The 2021 Annual C-SPAN Survey of Presidential Leaders ranked Reagan the ninth-greatest president, an improvement from eleventh out of 41 in 2000.[403][404] Approval ratings for President Reagan (Gallup)In 2011, the Institute for the Study of the Americas released the first-ever British academic survey to rate U.S. presidents. This poll of British specialists in U.S. history and politics placed Reagan as the eighth-greatest U.S. president.[405] Reagan's ability to talk about substantive issues with understandable terms and to focus on mainstream American concerns earned him the laudatory moniker "The Great Communicator".[406][407][408] Of it, Reagan said, "I won the nickname the great communicator. But I never thought it was my style that made a difference—it was the content. I wasn't a great communicator, but I communicated great things."[409] His age and soft-spoken speech gave him a warm grandfatherly image.[410][411][412] Reagan also earned the nickname "the Teflon President", in that public perceptions of him were not tarnished by the controversies that arose during his administration.[413] According to Colorado congresswoman Patricia Schroeder, who coined the phrase, the epithet referred to Reagan's ability to "do almost anything and not get blamed for it".[414] Reagan was the oldest president up to that time and was supported by young voters, an allegiance that shifted many of them to the Republican Party.[415] Reagan did not fare well with minority groups in terms of approval, especially African Americans. He emphasized family values in his campaigns and during his presidency, although he was the first president to have been divorced.[416] The combination of Reagan's speaking style, unabashed patriotism, negotiation skills, as well as his savvy use of the media, played an important role in defining the 1980s and his future legacy.[417] Reagan was known to joke frequently during his lifetime, displayed humor throughout his presidency,[418] and was famous for his storytelling.[419] His numerous jokes and one-liners have been labeled "classic quips" and "legendary".[420] Among the most notable of his jokes was one regarding the Cold War. As a microphone test in preparation for his weekly radio address in August 1984, Reagan made the following joke: "My fellow Americans, I'm pleased to tell you today that I've signed legislation that will outlaw Russia forever. We begin bombing in five minutes."[421] Reagan's sense of humor was also observed by hundreds of Americans at Tempelhof U.S. Air Base June 12, 1987. While giving a speech celebrating the 750th anniversary of Berlin, a balloon popped in the front row. Without missing a beat, Reagan quipped "missed me", a reference to his previous assassination attempt in 1981.[422] Former aide David Gergen commented, "It was that humor ... that I think endeared people to Reagan."[243] Reagan also had the ability to offer comfort and hope to the nation as a whole at times of tragedy. Following the disintegration of the Space Shuttle Challenger on January 28, 1986.[423] On the evening of the disaster, Reagan addressed the nation, saying:
LegacyA bronze statue of Reagan standing in the National Statuary Hall CollectionSince Reagan left office in 1989, substantial debate has occurred among scholars, historians, and the general public surrounding his legacy.[425] Supporters have pointed to a more efficient and prosperous economy as a result of Reagan's economic policies,[426] foreign policy triumphs including a peaceful end to the Cold War,[427] and a restoration of American pride and morale.[145] Proponents say that he had an unabated and passionate love for the United States which restored faith in the American Dream[428] after a decline in American confidence and self-respect under Jimmy Carter's perceived weak leadership, particularly during the Iran hostage crisis, as well as his gloomy, dreary outlook for the future of the United States during the 1980 election.[429] Critics point out that Reagan's economic policies resulted in rising budget deficits,[179] a wider gap in wealth, and an increase in homelessness,[188] and that the Iran–Contra affair lowered American credibility.[430] Opinions of Reagan's legacy among the country's leading policymakers and journalists differ as well. Edwin Feulner, president of The Heritage Foundation, said that Reagan "helped create a safer, freer world" and said of his economic policies: "He took an America suffering from 'malaise' ... and made its citizens believe again in their destiny."[431] However, Mark Weisbrot, co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, contended that Reagan's "economic policies were mostly a failure"[432] while Howard Kurtz of The Washington Post opined that Reagan was "a far more controversial figure in his time than the largely gushing obits on television would suggest".[433] Despite the continuing debate surrounding his legacy, many conservative and liberal scholars agree that Reagan has been the most influential president since Franklin D. Roosevelt, leaving his imprint on American politics, diplomacy, culture, and economics through his effective communication and pragmatic compromising.[434] As summarized by British historian M. J. Heale, since Reagan left office, historians have reached a broad consensus that he rehabilitated conservatism, turned the nation to the right, practiced a considerably pragmatic conservatism that balanced ideology and the constraints of politics, revived faith in the presidency and American exceptionalism, and contributed to victory in the Cold War.[435][436] In 2017, a C-SPAN survey of scholars ranked Reagan in terms of leadership in comparison with all 42 presidents. He ranked number nine in international relations.[437][438] Cold WarAfter 40 years of high tension, the USSR pulled back in the last years of Reagan's second term. In 1989, the Kremlin lost control of all its East European satellites. In 1991, Communism was overthrown in the USSR, and on December 26, 1991, the Soviet Union ceased to exist. As a result, this left the United States as the world’s only superpower. Reagan's exact role in the USSR’s collapse is debated, with many proponents believing that Reagan's defense policies, economic policies, military policies and hard-line rhetoric against the Soviet Union and Communism—together with his summits with General Secretary Gorbachev—played a significant part in ending the Cold War.[187][309] He was the first president to reject containment and détente and to put into practice the concept that the Soviet Union could be defeated rather than simply negotiated with, a post-Détente strategy,[309] a conviction that was vindicated by Gennadi Gerasimov, the Foreign Ministry spokesman under Gorbachev, who said that the Strategic Defense Initiative was "very successful blackmail. ...The Soviet economy couldn't endure such competition."[439] Reagan's aggressive rhetoric toward the USSR had mixed effects; Jeffery W. Knopf observes that being labeled "evil" probably made no difference to the Soviets but gave encouragement to the East-European citizens opposed to communism.[309] President Reagan and Soviet General Secretary Gorbachev, 1985General Secretary Gorbachev said of his former rival's Cold War role: "[He was] a man who was instrumental in bringing about the end of the Cold War",[440] and deemed him "a great president".[440] Gorbachev does not acknowledge a win or loss in the war, but rather a peaceful end; he said he was not intimidated by Reagan's harsh rhetoric.[441] Margaret Thatcher, former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, said of Reagan, "he warned that the Soviet Union had an insatiable drive for military power ... but he also sensed it was being eaten away by systemic failures impossible to reform."[442] She later said, "Ronald Reagan had a higher claim than any other leader to have won the Cold War for liberty and he did it without a shot being fired."[443] Said Brian Mulroney, former Prime Minister of Canada: "He enters history as a strong and dramatic player [in the Cold War ]."[444] Former President Lech Wałęsa of Poland acknowledged, "Reagan was one of the world leaders who made a major contribution to communism's collapse."[445] Professor Jeffrey Knopf has argued that Reagan's leadership was only one of several causes of the end of the Cold War.[309] President Harry S. Truman's policy of containment is also regarded as a force behind the fall of the USSR, and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan undermined the Soviet system itself.[446] Domestic and political legacyReagan in 1982Reagan reshaped the Republican Party, led the modern conservative movement, and altered the political dynamic of the United States.[447] Since Reagan's presidency, conservatism has been the dominant ideology of the GOP, displacing the party's "liberal-moderate faction".[448] More men voted Republican under Reagan, and Reagan tapped into religious voters.[447] The so-called "Reagan Democrats" were a result of his presidency.[447] After leaving office, Reagan became an iconic influence within the Republican Party.[449] His policies and beliefs have been frequently invoked by Republican presidential candidates since 1988.[35] The 2008 Republican presidential candidates were no exception, for they aimed to liken themselves to him during the primary debates, even imitating his campaign strategies.[450] Republican nominee John McCain frequently said that he came to office as "a foot soldier in the Reagan Revolution".[451] Reagan's most famous statement regarding the role of smaller government was that "Government is not a solution to our problem, government is the problem."[452] Washington Post reporter Carlos Lozada noted Donald Trump's praising of Reagan in a book he published during his 2016 presidential campaign.[453] The period of American history most dominated by Reagan and his policies that concerned taxes, welfare, defense, the federal judiciary and the Cold War is known today as the Reagan Era. This time period emphasized that the conservative "Reagan Revolution", led by Reagan, had a permanent impact on the United States in domestic and foreign policy. The Bill Clinton administration is often treated as an extension of the Reagan Era, as is the George W. Bush administration.[454] Historian Eric Foner noted that the Obama candidacy in 2008 "aroused a great deal of wishful thinking among those yearning for a change after nearly thirty years of Reaganism".[455] HonorsReagan received several awards in his pre- and post-presidential years. After his election as president, Reagan received a lifetime gold membership in the Screen Actors Guild, was inducted into the National Speakers Association Speaker Hall of Fame,[456] and received the United States Military Academy's Sylvanus Thayer Award.[457] In 1981, Reagan was inducted as a Laureate of The Lincoln Academy of Illinois and awarded the Order of Lincoln (the state's highest honor) by the governor of Illinois in the area of government.[458] In 1982 he was given the "Distinguished Service Medal" by the American Legion because his highest priority was the national defense.[459] In 1983, he received the highest distinction of the Scout Association of Japan, the Golden Pheasant Award.[460] In 1989, Reagan was made an honorary knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath, one of the highest British orders. This entitled him to the use of the post-nominal letters "GCB" but, as a foreign national, not to be known as "Sir Ronald Reagan". Only two U.S. presidents have received this honor since attaining office: Reagan and George H. W. Bush;[461] Dwight D. Eisenhower received his before becoming president in his capacity as a general after World War II. Reagan was also named an honorary Fellow of Keble College, Oxford. Japan awarded him the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Chrysanthemum in 1989; he was the second U.S. president to receive the order and the first to have it given to him for personal reasons as Eisenhower received it as a commemoration of U.S.–Japanese relations.[462] Former President Reagan returns to the White House to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Bush, 1993On September 3, 1990, Reagan was awarded the Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany. In November 1992, on the third anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, he received honorary citizenship of Berlin to commemorate his famous speech in front of the Wall in 1987 and his policies that contributed significantly to the end of the Cold War. On January 18, 1993, Reagan received the Presidential Medal of Freedom (awarded with distinction), the highest honor that the United States can bestow, from President George H. W. Bush, his vice president and successor.[463] Reagan was also awarded the Republican Senatorial Medal of Freedom, the highest honor bestowed by Republican members of the Senate.[464] On Reagan's 87th birthday in 1998, Washington National Airport was renamed Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport by a bill signed into law by President Bill Clinton. That year, the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center was dedicated in Washington, D.C.[465] He was among 18 included in Gallup's most admired man and woman poll of the 20th century, from a poll conducted in the U.S. in 1999; two years later, USS Ronald Reagan was christened by Nancy Reagan and the United States Navy. It is one of few Navy ships christened in honor of a living person and the first aircraft carrier to be named in honor of a living former president.[466] In 1998 the U.S. Navy Memorial Foundation awarded Reagan its Naval Heritage award for his support of the U.S. Navy and military in both his film career and while he served as president.[467] Congress authorized the creation of the Ronald Reagan Boyhood Home in Dixon, Illinois in 2002, pending federal purchase of the property.[468] On May 16 of that year, Nancy Reagan accepted the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest civilian honor bestowed by Congress, on behalf of the president and herself.[469] After Reagan's death, the United States Postal Service issued a President Ronald Reagan commemorative postage stamp in 2005.[470] Later in the year, CNN, along with the editors of Time magazine, named him the "most fascinating person" of the network's first 25 years;[471] Time listed Reagan one of the 100 Most Important People of the 20th century as well.[472] The Discovery Channel asked its viewers to vote for The Greatest American in June 2005; Reagan placed in first place, ahead of Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King Jr.[473] In 2006, Reagan was inducted into the California Hall of Fame, located at The California Museum.[474] Every year from 2002, California governors Gray Davis and Arnold Schwarzenegger proclaimed February 6 "Ronald Reagan Day" in the state of California in honor of their most famous predecessor.[475] In 2010, Schwarzenegger signed Senate Bill 944, authored by Senator George Runner, to make every February 6 Ronald Reagan Day in California.[476] In 2007, Polish President Lech Kaczyński posthumously conferred on Reagan the highest Polish distinction, the Order of the White Eagle, saying that Reagan had inspired the Polish people to work for change and helped to unseat the repressive communist regime; Kaczyński said it "would not have been possible if it was not for the tough-mindedness, determination, and feeling of mission of President Ronald Reagan".[477] Reagan backed the nation of Poland throughout his presidency, supporting the anti-communist Solidarity movement, along with Pope John Paul II;[478] the Ronald Reagan Park, a public facility in Gdańsk, was named in his honor. On June 3, 2009, Nancy Reagan unveiled a statue of her late husband in the United States Capitol rotunda. The statue represents the state of California in the National Statuary Hall Collection. After Reagan's death, both major American political parties agreed to erect a statue of Reagan in the place of that of Thomas Starr King.[479] The day before, President Obama signed the Ronald Reagan Centennial Commission Act into law, establishing a commission to plan activities to mark the upcoming centenary of Reagan's birth.[480] On Independence Day 2011 a statue to Reagan was unveiled outside the U.S. embassy in London. The unveiling was supposed to be attended by Reagan's wife Nancy, but she did not attend; former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice took her place and read a statement on her behalf. President Reagan's friend and British prime minister during his presidency, Margaret Thatcher, was also unable to attend due to frail health.[481] In November 2018, a feature film named Reagan received funding from TriStar Global Entertainment with Dennis Quaid portraying Reagan.[482][483] This would be the second time Quaid portrayed a U.S. president.[484] Reagan was scheduled to begin filming in May 2020, but was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[485] Gallery
See also
Citations
General sources
Further readingPrimary sources
Historiography
External linksRonald Reagan at Wikipedia's sister projects
Official sites
Media
News coverage
Essays and historiographies
Other
Page 2
The Twenty-second Amendment (Amendment XXII) to the United States Constitution limits the number of times a person is eligible for election to the office of President of the United States to two, and sets additional eligibility conditions for presidents who succeed to the unexpired terms of their predecessors.[1] Congress approved the Twenty-second Amendment on March 21, 1947, and submitted it to the state legislatures for ratification. That process was completed on February 27, 1951, when the requisite 36 of the 48 states had ratified the amendment (neither Alaska nor Hawaii had yet been admitted as states), and its provisions came into force on that date. The amendment prohibits anyone who has been elected president twice from being elected again. Under the amendment, someone who fills an unexpired presidential term lasting more than two years is also prohibited from being elected president more than once. Scholars debate whether the amendment prohibits affected individuals from succeeding to the presidency under any circumstances or whether it applies only to presidential elections. Until the amendment's ratification, the president had not been subject to term limits, but both George Washington and Thomas Jefferson (the first and third presidents) decided not to serve a third term, establishing the two-term tradition. In the 1940 and 1944 presidential elections, Franklin D. Roosevelt became the only president to win third and fourth terms, giving rise to concerns about a president serving unlimited terms.[2] Text
BackgroundThe Twenty-second Amendment was a reaction to Franklin D. Roosevelt's election to an unprecedented four terms as president, but presidential term limits had long been debated in American politics. Delegates to the Constitutional Convention of 1787 considered the issue extensively (alongside broader questions, such as who would elect the president, and the president's role). Many, including Alexander Hamilton and James Madison, supported lifetime tenure for presidents, while others favored fixed terms. Virginia's George Mason denounced the life-tenure proposal as tantamount to elective monarchy.[4] An early draft of the U.S. Constitution provided that the president was restricted to one seven-year term.[5] Ultimately, the Framers approved four-year terms with no restriction on how many times a person could be elected president. Though dismissed by the Constitutional Convention, term limits for U.S. presidents were contemplated during the presidencies of George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. As his second term entered its final year in 1796, Washington was exhausted from years of public service, and his health had begun to decline. He was also bothered by his political opponents' unrelenting attacks, which had escalated after the signing of the Jay Treaty, and believed he had accomplished his major goals as president. For these reasons, he decided not to run for a third term, a decision he announced to the nation in his September 1796 Farewell Address.[6] Eleven years later, as Thomas Jefferson neared the halfway point of his second term, he wrote,
Since Washington made his historic announcement, numerous academics and public figures have looked at his decision to retire after two terms, and have, according to political scientist Bruce Peabody, "argued he had established a two-term tradition that served as a vital check against any one person, or the presidency as a whole, accumulating too much power".[8] Various amendments aimed at changing informal precedent to constitutional law were proposed in Congress in the early to mid-19th century, but none passed.[4][9] Three of the next four presidents after Jefferson—James Madison, James Monroe, and Andrew Jackson—served two terms, and each adhered to the two-term principle;[1] Martin Van Buren was the only president between Jackson and Abraham Lincoln to be nominated for a second term, though he lost the 1840 election and so served only one term.[9] At the outset of the Civil War the seceding States drafted the Constitution of the Confederate States of America, which in most respects resembled the United States Constitution, but limited the president to a single six-year term. Ulysses S. Grant is shown surrendering to James A. Garfield after losing the 1880 Republican presidential nomination to him, in this satirical Puck cartoon.In spite of the strong two-term tradition, a few presidents before Roosevelt attempted to secure a third term. Following Ulysses S. Grant's reelection in 1872, there were serious discussions within Republican political circles about the possibility of his running again in 1876. But interest in a third term for Grant evaporated in the light of negative public opinion and opposition from members of Congress, and Grant left the presidency in 1877 after two terms. Even so, as the 1880 election approached, he sought nomination for a (non-consecutive) third term at the 1880 Republican National Convention, but narrowly lost to James Garfield, who won the 1880 election.[9] Theodore Roosevelt succeeded to the presidency on September 14, 1901, following William McKinley's assassination (194 days into his second term), and was handily elected to a full term in 1904. He declined to seek a third (second full) term in 1908, but did run again in the election of 1912, losing to Woodrow Wilson. Wilson himself, despite his ill health following a serious stroke, aspired to a third term. Many of his advisers tried to convince him that his health precluded another campaign, but Wilson nonetheless asked that his name be placed in nomination for the presidency at the 1920 Democratic National Convention.[10] Democratic Party leaders were unwilling to support Wilson, and the nomination went to James M. Cox, who lost to Warren G. Harding. Wilson again contemplated running for a (nonconsecutive) third term in 1924, devising a strategy for his comeback, but again lacked any support; he died in February of that year.[11] Franklin D. Roosevelt, elected to four terms, was president from 1933 until his death in 1945.Franklin Roosevelt spent the months leading up to the 1940 Democratic National Convention refusing to say whether he would seek a third term. His Vice President, John Nance Garner, along with Postmaster General James Farley, announced their candidacies for the Democratic nomination. When the convention came, Roosevelt sent a message to the convention saying he would run only if drafted, saying delegates were free to vote for whomever they pleased. This message was interpreted to mean he was willing to be drafted, and he was renominated on the convention's first ballot.[9][12] Roosevelt won a decisive victory over Republican Wendell Willkie, becoming the first (and to date only) president to exceed eight years in office. His decision to seek a third term dominated the election campaign.[13] Willkie ran against the open-ended presidential tenure, while Democrats cited the war in Europe as a reason for breaking with precedent.[9] Four years later, Roosevelt faced Republican Thomas E. Dewey in the 1944 election. Near the end of the campaign, Dewey announced his support of a constitutional amendment to limit presidents to two terms. According to Dewey, "four terms, or sixteen years (a direct reference to the president's tenure in office four years hence), is the most dangerous threat to our freedom ever proposed."[14] He also discreetly raised the issue of the president's age. Roosevelt exuded enough energy and charisma to retain voters' confidence and was elected to a fourth term.[15] While he quelled rumors of poor health during the campaign, Roosevelt's health was deteriorating. On April 12, 1945, only 82 days after his fourth inauguration, he suffered a cerebral hemorrhage and died, to be succeeded by Vice President Harry Truman.[16] In the midterm elections 18 months later, Republicans took control of the House and the Senate. As many of them had campaigned on the issue of presidential tenure, declaring their support for a constitutional amendment that would limit how long a person could serve as president, the issue was given priority in the 80th Congress when it convened in January 1947.[8] Proposal and ratificationProposal in CongressThe House of Representatives took quick action, approving a proposed constitutional amendment (House Joint Resolution 27) setting a limit of two four-year terms for future presidents. Introduced by Earl C. Michener, the measure passed 285–121, with support from 47 Democrats, on February 6, 1947.[17] Meanwhile, the Senate developed its own proposed amendment, which initially differed from the House proposal by requiring that the amendment be submitted to state ratifying conventions for ratification, rather than to the state legislatures, and by prohibiting any person who had served more than 365 days in each of two terms from further presidential service. Both these provisions were removed when the full Senate took up the bill, but a new provision was, however, added. Put forward by Robert A. Taft, it clarified procedures governing the number of times a vice president who succeeded to the presidency might be elected to office. The amended proposal was passed 59–23, with 16 Democrats in favor, on March 12.[1][18] On March 21, the House agreed to the Senate's revisions and approved the resolution to amend the Constitution. Afterward, the amendment imposing term limitations on future presidents was submitted to the states for ratification. The ratification process was completed on February 27, 1951, 3 years, 343 days after it was sent to the states.[19][20] Ratification by the statesA map of how the states voted on the Twenty-second Amendment The Twenty-Second Amendment in the National ArchivesOnce submitted to the states, the 22nd Amendment was ratified by:[3]
Conversely, two states—Oklahoma and Massachusetts—rejected the amendment, while five (Arizona, Kentucky, Rhode Island, Washington, and West Virginia) took no action.[18] EffectBecause of the grandfather clause in Section 1, the amendment did not apply to Harry S. Truman, the incumbent president at the time it was submitted to the states by the Congress. Without this full exemption, Truman would not have been eligible to run again in 1952. He had served nearly all of Franklin Roosevelt's unexpired 1945–1949 term and had been elected to a full four-year term beginning in 1949.[13] But with his job approval rating at around 27%,[21][22] and after a poor performance in the 1952 New Hampshire primary, Truman chose not to seek his party's nomination. Since becoming operative in 1951, the amendment has been applicable to six presidents who have been elected twice: Dwight D. Eisenhower, Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama. Interaction with the Twelfth AmendmentAs worded, the focus of the 22nd Amendment is on limiting individuals from being elected to the presidency more than twice. Questions have been raised about the amendment's meaning and application, especially in relation to the 12th Amendment, ratified in 1804, which states, "no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of President shall be eligible to that of Vice-President of the United States."[23] While the 12th Amendment stipulates that the constitutional qualifications of age, citizenship, and residency apply to the president and vice president, it is unclear whether someone who is ineligible to be elected president due to term limits could be elected vice president. Because of the ambiguity, a two-term former president could possibly be elected vice president and then succeed to the presidency as a result of the incumbent's death, resignation, or removal from office, or succeed to the presidency from another stated office in the presidential line of succession.[9][24] Some argue that the 22nd Amendment and 12th Amendment bar any two-term president from later serving as vice president as well as from succeeding to the presidency from any point in the presidential line of succession.[25] Others contend that the original intent of the 12th Amendment concerns qualification for service (age, residence, and citizenship), while the 22nd Amendment concerns qualifications for election, and thus a former two-term president is still eligible to serve as vice president. Neither amendment restricts the number of times someone can be elected to the vice presidency and then succeed to the presidency to serve out the balance of the term, although the person could be prohibited from running for election to an additional term.[26][27] The practical applicability of this distinction has not been tested, as no twice-elected president has ever been nominated for the vice presidency. While Hillary Clinton once suggested she considered former President Bill Clinton as her running mate,[28] the constitutional question remains unresolved.[1] Attempts at repealOver the years, several presidents have voiced their antipathy toward the amendment. After leaving office, Harry Truman described the amendment as stupid and one of the worst amendments of the Constitution with the exception of the Prohibition Amendment.[29] A few days before leaving office in January 1989, President Ronald Reagan said he would push for a repeal of the 22nd Amendment because he thought it infringed on people’s democratic rights.[30] In a November 2000 interview with Rolling Stone, President Bill Clinton suggested that the 22nd Amendment should be altered to limit presidents to two consecutive terms but then allow non-consecutive terms, because of longer life expectancies.[31] Donald Trump questioned presidential term limits on multiple occasions while in office, and in public remarks talked about serving beyond the limits of the 22nd Amendment. During an April 2019 White House event for the Wounded Warrior Project, he suggested he would remain president for 10 to 14 years.[32][33] The first efforts in Congress to repeal the 22nd Amendment were undertaken in 1956, five years after the amendment's ratification. Over the next 50 years, 54 joint resolutions seeking to repeal the two-term presidential election limit were introduced.[1] Between 1997 and 2013, José E. Serrano, Democratic representative for New York, introduced nine resolutions (one per Congress, all unsuccessful) to repeal the amendment.[34] Repeal has also been supported by Representatives Barney Frank and David Dreier and Senators Mitch McConnell[35] and Harry Reid.[36] See also
References
External links
|