Ronald Reagan

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Ronald Reagan was one of the most influential presidents in American history; yet he is one of the least talked about in present day history books. President Reagan was not an Ivy League rich-kid or raised in a politically motivated family. He was a midwestern boy who played football and worked his way through college. President Reagan had visions for the future of this country. Reagan realized he wanted to lead the country during his time working in California, in the Screen Actor's Guild. He was bothered by the spread of communism in Hollywood. He took over the Presidency in 1980 after four years of the most awful leadership this country has ever had. Just as he swore in his campaign, he lowered taxes, got control of oil prices and suppressed the paper tiger of the East. For the next eight years were some of the best times this country had ever seen. The 1980s is now a time of economic conditions leaders still try to attain today. The standard of living in the United States improved, along with the feeling of national pride. After four repugnant years under Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan took this country to the standard that it was capable of. As promised during his campaign, the first thing Ronald Reagan completed after taking office was ending the price control on gasoline and oil which had been in effect for ten years. The price controls were promoted as a response to the energy crisis instead they accelerated it by interfering with the market forces of supply and demand. Reagan then abolished the Council on Wage and Price Stability against the oppositions will. "Not many people knew it at the time, but with two strokes of his pen, Reagan had ended the energy crises." (D'Souza 89) Reagan predicted the oil p... ... middle of paper ... ...Dinesh Ronald Reagan: How an ordinary Man Became an Extraordinary Leader. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1997 Donaldson, Sam Hold On, Mr. President. New York: Random House, 1987 Johnson, Haynes Sleepwalking Through History: America in the Reagan Years. New York: Norton, 1991 Krugman, Paul The Age of Diminished Expectations: U.S. Economic Policy in the 1990s. Cambridge: MIT Press, 1990 Samuelson, Paul and Nordhaus, William Economics. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1985 Schaller, Michael Reckoning with Reagan. America and Its President in the 1980s. New York: Oxford University Press, 1992 Schweizer, Peter Victory. New York: Atlantic Monthly Press, 1994 Spielvogel, Jackson J Western Civilization: Comprehensive Volume 5th Edition. Belmont: Wadsworth Thomson 2003 U.S. Bureau of the Census Statistical Abstract of the United States. Washington D.C., 1995

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