Today we live in a world without a wall in the middle of Berlin, separating loved ones. A world not sentenced to a great depression. A world with America as a leading superpower in the world. Without Ronald Reagan, some of these things may not be. The President’s strive to end the Cold War drastically changed the world, saving lives, liberties, and possibly even the American way of life. Reagan’s efforts have sent America soaring, becoming a leading world power, militaristically, economically, and governmentally. President Ronald Reagan is, by every measure, the most influential person in history because of his impact on ending the Cold War, leaving America as the sole world superpower, creating a global economic boom lasting even until today, and his contribution toward anti-communist efforts. (The Reagan Administration; “New”).
II. Biography
On February 6, 1911, Ronald Reagan was born to John Edward Reagan and Nellie Wilson Reagan in Tampico, Illinois. In high school, Ronald was interested in drama, and student government, performing in school plays, and took the role of student body president. After high school, Reagan attended Eureka College in Illinois and majored in economics and sociology. There he participated in many athletic activities, drama performances, and served as student council president. Reagan went into a career in radio, which led to the beginning of his career in film. During his time in Hollywood, Ronald Reagan took the role of the president of the Screen Actors Guild, a labor union that represented actors and actresses (Sutherland).
As Ronald Reagan’s film career started to lessen, he became the host of a weekly television show, The General Electric Theater. He toured the united states as a public rel...
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...e” under a traditional liberal banner.” Reagan had a greater impact on his own party though. He brought republicans back into control of the Senate with his election in 1980. (Lou)
V. Conclusion
Ronald Reagan is best known as U.S. president during the end of the Cold War with the Soviet Union, but he had so much more of a lasting impression on the world. Not only did Ronald Reagan end the Cold War, he increased the size and power of the military, he created a lasting western economic boost, creating a better world economy and created relative peace during a time of war. Ronald Reagan came from a small town in Illinois, and went on to be a renowned actor, governor, and, of course, president. Ronald Wilson Reagan has affected this world in monumental ways, and left a more peaceful, and fruitful world than he was born into. Ronald Reagan. The Power of One… Drops mic.
Killing Reagan is a book written by Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard. The book’s focus is to take readers behind the scenes, through the life and times of Ronald Reagan. From his Hollywood days to his days in presidency, near-death experience, and the nearly impossible obstacles he had to overcome in order to carry out the duties as a man and as President of the United States. The authors wanted to create a portrait of a “great man operating in violent times”, and that they did.
The presidencies of George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton both exemplify a desire to reshape world affairs after the ending of the Cold War in 1991 and the subsequent dissolution of the Soviet Union. Although the United States had unrivalled economic and power after the war, neither president sought to adopt the aggressive rhetoric of predecessor Ronald Reagan, as it was feared that this may impair relations with nations that the U.S. wanted to maintain. Both Bush and Clinton considered the fostering of positive relationships around the world hugely important on the basis that it was hoped former Soviet states in Europe and countries in East Asia would adopt a democratic political system and laissez-faire neoliberal economy much like the U.S., thereby ensuring the
"American President: Ronald Wilson Reagan: Impact and Legacy." Miller Center. University of Virginia, n.d. Web. 10 Nov. 2013.
Reagan rose into power after years of turmoil and the American pride was dipping. About a decade before he became president, the war in Viet-Nam was winding down and the troops were returning home to negative demonstrations towards their duty. Then, during the Carter years, America transitioned into a détente policy, which meant that the United States would try to ease the tensions with the Soviet Union by not expanding the military, but not doing anything to acting ease the tension. The idea behind this became known as MAD, mutually assured destruction, (Hannaford) which meant that both the United States and Soviet Union would maintain and even number of nuclear weapons so that if one would fire, the other would be able to fire back equally. Reagan completely disagreed with this philosophy and created a whole new policy when he became president. The foreign policy he established was to create the Reagan Doctrine. According to a speech by Peter Hannaford, the Reagan Doctrine was that America would support democratic movements in any Communist country until that country could enjoy the fruits of freedom (Hannaford). This meant that the United States would help any country who wanted to leave the influence of the Soviet Union and create their own democracy. Also, to counter the Soviet Union and end the Cold War, a race between the United State and Soviet Union to create the best technology and become the world powerhouse, Reagan increased military spending. Ronald Reagan knew that the Soviet Union was unable to keep up the United States in military spending and still having enough funds to fund their own economy to keep it stable. Reagan used this knowledge to convince Congress to increase military budget to build up technology, causing the Soviets decide on what to do. The United States had the funds to continue, but the Soviet Union could not keep up. The breaking point
The election of 1980 brought the re-nominated Democratic candidate, Jimmy Carter, against the newly nominated Republican candidate, Ronald Reagan. While Carter ran a rather “gloom and doom” campaign, Reagan came into the election upbeat and with high hopes of rebuilding the military. Americans, weary of the liberal government, elected Ronald Reagan. Reagan came into the Presidency wanting to restore United States leadership in world affairs w...
Ronald Reagan grew up with an alcoholic father, Jack Reagan (“Life Before the”). After his death, Ronald’s mother, Nelle, nurtured and encouraged him and his brother, Neil (“Life Before the”). Nelle taught her sons that alcoholism is a disease and she did not want her boys to blame their father for the bad habit (“Life Before the”). Growing up with an alcoholic father made Ronald take a different path and become the well rounded man that he was. In his high school years, Reagan excelled on both the football and basketball teams. Reagan even acted in plays, and he was also a writer for the school newspaper (“Life Before the”). Reagan was also an excellent swimmer, he worked as a lifeguard and according to newspaper reports, he rescued 77 people from drowning (“Life Before the”). He had lots of integrity and he had the commitment to do what is right regardless of the impact. Reagan was even the student body president which shows his early leadership qualities.
He used his glasnost (openness to public debate) policy and perestroika. restructuring to help the Russian economy. Both leaders wanted a "margin of safety". Reagan took a tough stand. against Russia and its allies.
curb inflation. President Reagan was able to sign into law a tax cut in late
...s of economic and political initiatives that became known as "the Reagan revolution." His accomplishments of winning the Cold War without firing a shot, recovering the American economy known as Reaganomics and his “Star Wars” predicament, his two terms during presidency did not go unseen. He restored the traditional spirit of can-do optimism to the American people, making him a President that cannot be forgotten.
A couple of the heroic values that Reagan possessed were strength and courage. Most people would agree that it took an agglomeration of strength and courage during the cold war era to make his ever famous, “Tear Down This Wall Speech” in Berlin. Ramesh Jaura explains how many people believe this speech made a positive effect toward ending the cold war:
Introduction Reagan, Ronald Wilson (1911- ),the 40th president of the United States (1981-1989), enforced the policies that reversed a general direction of movement toward greater government involvement in economic and social regulation. Reagan as the younger of two sons, was born in Tampico, Illinois and spent most of his childhood in Dixon, Illinois. After studying at Eureka College,a small Disciples of Christ college near Peoria, Illinois, he majored in economics, and became the president of the student body, a member of the football team, and captain of the swimming team. He had special drawings toward acting, but after the graduation in 1932 the only job available related to show business was as a local radio sportscaster. In 1936 he became a sportscaster for station WHO in Des Moines, Iowa. A year latter, Reagan went to Hollywood and began an acting career that spanned more than 25 years. He played in more than 50 films, including "Knute Rockne"-All American (1940), "King's Row" (1942), and "Bedtime for Bonzo" (1951). Early political career Reagan's first political activities were associated with his responsibilities as a union leader. As union president, Reagan tried to remove suspected Communists from the movie industry. When the U.S. House Committee. Began an investigation in 1947 on the influence of Communists in the film industry, Reagan took a strong anti-Communist stand testifying before the committee. Reagan emerged on the national political scene in 1964 when he made fervent television speech supports for the Republican presidential candidate, United States Senator Barry Goldwater from Arizona. Although the election was lost, Reagan's speech brought in money and admiration from Republicans around the country. After the speech a group of Republicans in California persuaded Reagan to run for governor of California in 1966. Reagan appealed to traditional Republican voters. He defeated Edmund G. (Pat) Brown, Sr., Democrat, by almost a million votes. The election of 1980 Reagan spent years making political friends at party fund-raising dinners around the country. In the election of 1980 for the president, the candidates were Carter and Reagan. The contrast between the television personalities of two candidates was very important to people. Carter’s nervous manner had never been popular to people, while Reagan’s charm and happy face was a call for return to patriotism, which appealed to the public. Many voters believed that Reagan was forceful leader who could get their lives in shape and who could restore prosperity at home.
Reagan’s ethos was created throughout his two terms but solidified in his second and final one. Reagan presents his ethos throughout his rhetoric by stating facts with authority and also in a way that made him credible to the audience. One of the parts in his speech is headlined with a cold and awakening fact directed at the Soviet Union. In a 1956 speech given by Soviet Union leader Nikita Khrushchev, the statement “We will bury you,” was aimed at Western ambassadors who stood for freedom. In Reagan’s speech at the Brandenburg Gate, he specifically calls out the previously stated notion that the Soviets would essentially, “bury the free world.” Reagan profoundly proclaims this: “In the 1950s, Khrushchev predicted: "We will bury you." But in the West today, we see a free world that has achieved a level of prosperity and well-being unprecedented in all human history. In the Communist world, we see failure, technological backwardness, declining standards of health, even want of the most basic kind--too little food. Even today, the Soviet Union still cannot feed itself. After these four decades, then, there stands before the entire world one great and inescapable conclusion: Freedom leads to prosperity. Freedom replaces the ancient hatreds among the nations with comity and peace. Freedom is the victor.” The great appeal this presented to the
We are going to first look at President Reagan's vision, the plan that he used to fulfill his vision, and the leadership involved in moving his vision forward. Next, we are going to look at his ethics and what influenced them. Additionally, we will look at the impacts that his vision and his ethics had on bringing down the Berlin wall. Finally, we are going to look at how he impacted the world that we live in today, his impacts upon me, and my leadership skills. We know that President Reagan was a visionary leader, and ethical, we will now examine his vision.
Ronald Reagan was born February 6, 1911 in Tampico, Illinois. His father was John Edward “Jack” Reagan, and his mother was Nelle Wilson Reagan. He was born into a happy, well-disciplined family, and had a very happy childhood. Before Reagan held office, Reagan was a radio announcer, and became the voice of Major League Baseball in 1932. Reagan also had a 7-year contract with Warner Brothers, and made about fifty movies. Reagan then put all the fun and games aside, and joined the Army Reserve and was called to active duty shortly after Pearl Harbor. “ He was in the Army from 1942-45 rising to the level of Captain. However, he never took part in combat and stated stateside. He narrated training films and was in the Army Air Force First Motion Picture Unit.” (Martin Kelly, n...
I have given you a little background on Ronald W. Reagan the man and a leader. Then I explained to you, two areas that I feel that make Reagan an effective visionary leader. The first area was how he effectively uses of Transformation Leadership style through his vision, thinking, charisma and caring approach inspired a nation to embrace and move forward after a decade of hardship. Seconded area I covered was how he fully embraced Cognitive/Behavioral and Demographic Diversity in accomplishing his vision of promoting world peace and setting the foundation to ending the Cold War. In closing I would like to leave you with this closing remake for Reagan: "What I'd really like to do is go down in history as the President who made Americans believe in themselves again.”