Ronald Reagan
Government is the problem
Tax cuts, deregulation, and morning in America.
Rooted NeoliberalOne of 729 ideologies · enter the Neoliberal hall →- Role
- President
- Era
- 1911–2004
- Region
- United States
- Social band
- Rooted
- Placement
- +34 · +4 · −28
§ Where Ronald Reagan stands
3 axesReagan's Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981 cut the top income-tax rate from 70 to 50 per cent, the Tax Reform Act of 1986 lowered it to 28 per cent, and in 1981 he broke the air traffic controllers' strike. Yet he signed tax increases from 1982 onward and the 1983 Social Security rescue, and left Social Security and Medicare intact, stopping well short of dismantling the New Deal state.
Reagan preached limited government and promised to return power to the states, but he expanded federal power in defence and policing: military spending rose steeply and the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986 introduced mandatory minimum sentences for drug offences. The Iran–Contra affair, in which his aides evaded a congressional ban on aid to the Contras, became the period's defining test of presidential accountability.
Reagan allied with the religious right, proposed a constitutional amendment to permit voluntary prayer in public schools and in 1983 published the essay Abortion and the Conscience of the Nation. But as governor he had signed California's liberalising Therapeutic Abortion Act of 1967, and as president he appointed Sandra Day O'Connor as the first woman on the Supreme Court and signed the 1986 immigration law legalising about 2.7 million people.
How close are you to Ronald Reagan?
Three statements, one per axis. Answer them and we’ll drop you on the compass next to them.
§ The story
LivingRonald Wilson Reagan (1911–2004) was the 40th president of the United States, serving from 1981 to 1989. Raised in small-town Illinois, he became a radio sports announcer and then a Hollywood actor, and twice led the Screen Actors Guild. A New Deal Democrat in his youth, he moved right while touring for General Electric in the 1950s, registered as a Republican in 1962 and won national attention with a televised 1964 speech for Barry Goldwater. He was governor of California from 1967 to 1975 and defeated Jimmy Carter in 1980.
Reagan's presidency fused tax cuts, deregulation and anti-communism into a lasting conservative coalition. He cut income-tax rates sharply in 1981 and 1986, presided over a long expansion after the deep recession of 1981–82, and paired a military build-up with arms-control summits with Mikhail Gorbachev. Critics point to a federal debt that nearly tripled, widening inequality, cuts to social programmes and a slow response to AIDS. In the Iran–Contra affair, proceeds of secret arms sales to Iran were diverted to Nicaragua's Contra rebels in defiance of a congressional ban, the gravest scandal of his presidency.
Notable for
- 01Reaganomics tax cuts
- 02Deregulation drive
- 03Cold-War military buildup
Key works & moments
- 1964Delivers A Time for Choosing, a televised speech for Barry Goldwater that launches his political career.
- 1967–75Serves two terms as governor of California.
- 1981Signs the Economic Recovery Tax Act and fires more than 11,000 striking air traffic controllers.
- 1983Calls the Soviet Union an evil empire and launches the Strategic Defense Initiative.
- 1986Signs the Tax Reform Act; the Iran–Contra affair comes to light in November.
- 1987Urges Gorbachev to tear down the Berlin Wall and signs the INF Treaty with him.
In their own words
“In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem.”
“Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!”
§ Minds closest to Ronald Reagan
All minds →
§ Also in the Neoliberal hall
Enter the hall →§ Common questions
4 answersWhat was Ronald Reagan's political ideology?
Ronald Reagan was a conservative Republican whose economics defined the neoliberal era in the United States: on the 99ideologies three-axis compass, a Rooted Neoliberal. Economically he sat moderately on the market side (+34), cutting the top income-tax rate from 70 to 28 per cent while leaving Social Security and Medicare intact. On governance he was close to the centre (+4), preaching small government while expanding defence and the war on drugs, and socially he leaned traditional (−28), allied to the religious right but more pragmatic in office than in rhetoric.
Was Ronald Reagan left-wing or right-wing?
Right-wing, and the defining figure of modern American conservatism. Reagan cut taxes, attacked big government, built up the military against the Soviet Union and courted evangelical voters. But his record was more pragmatic than his rhetoric: he signed tax increases from 1982 onward, agreed the 1983 payroll-tax rise to rescue Social Security, legalised about 2.7 million undocumented immigrants in 1986 and negotiated the INF Treaty with Mikhail Gorbachev, which some conservatives opposed at the time.
Was Ronald Reagan ever a Democrat?
Yes. Reagan was a Democrat for the first half of his adult life and admired Franklin Roosevelt, for whom he voted four times. He campaigned for Harry Truman in 1948 and, as president of the Screen Actors Guild, was a liberal anti-communist. His views shifted in the 1950s, when as a touring spokesman for General Electric he spoke against high taxes and government regulation; he backed the Republicans Dwight Eisenhower and Richard Nixon while still a registered Democrat and formally switched parties in 1962.
Which minds are closest to Ronald Reagan?
On the 99ideologies three-axis compass, the minds closest to Ronald Reagan are Margaret Thatcher (97% alike), Harold Macmillan (95% alike) and John McCain (94% alike). The furthest is Emma Goldman (22% alike).