The Reagan administration’s revolution that was expected to gain popularity in during the 1980s sought to bring considerable changes in the attitudes of the Americans with regard to governance in their country and leadership around the globe. The entry of Ronald Reagan in the White House in the beginning of 1981 brought hope to the Americans with the promise of a new revolution. The citizens were hopeful that Reagan’s administration would not just bring commendable changes to the fundamental policies affecting their lives such the economic policies among others (Ronald Reagan’s Inaugural address, 1981).
President Reagan’s administration stepped up his efforts against the liberalism associated with the great society to the extent that the ideas and activities defeatists and rebels were negatively affected. Burns (2009), maintains that the foreign and economic policies adopted Reagan’s administration largely failed in constituting a revolution. Despite making declarations with regard to revolutionizing the foreign and economic dockets, there were few or no significant changes by the time he left office. Reagan’s administration did not leave up to the revolution promises made in relation to curbing the influence and the powers held by the federal establishment. Further, there were no revolutionary enhancements or improvements to the new deal or state of during the reign or Reagan.
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Neither the economic perspective of the Medicare nor the systems of social security were overhauled or dismantled. They all remained intact throughout Reagan’s term in office. Reagan’s presidency could not be credited with economic achievement based on policy formulation and implementation. This is because his reign saw an increase in the budgets associated with some of the federal agencies that he had promised to abolish. Notably, several successes and achievements could be linked to Reagan’s administration such as managing to control the level of inflation to as well as stimulating and sustaining a peaceful environment for carrying out economic activities. These achievements together with a treaty concerning nuclear disarmament and efforts towards lighting and encouraging freedom around Europe caused the soviet communism to collapse (Niskanen and Cato Institute, 2008)
This move by Reagan’s government ensured that the Democratic Party remained on the defensive and a new deal of liberalism was created. Some of the tax policies introduced by Reagan only served to widen the gap that existed between the poor and the rich. The widened gap ended up creating considerable deficits in the budget, which also affected the subsequent administrations with regard to the actualization of some of their economic policies. Most scholars have been able to acknowledge that president Reagan may not have succeeded in revolutionizing the foreign and economic policies during his reign but he managed to make certainly commendable achievements that were commensurate with his responsibilities and nobilities. In this regard, Reagan’s administration ensured the existence of appropriate frameworks that supported the delivery of peace, patriotism, and prosperity in certain aspects. These achievements and developments led to the revival of the American pride as well as the collapse of the Soviet domination (President Reagan, Speech to the Nation, 1983).
Critics have continued to view the reactions of Reagan’s revolution as something that undermined some of the major gains made by the liberals that had lasted for more than fifty years as well as humanized and democratized America. These critics claim that the economic and foreign policies introduced by Reagan only served to threaten the accomplishments made by the civil rights as well as well as encouraged greed. The observations made by Kennedy and Cohen (2013) indicate that the administration led by President Reagan made key achievement towards addressing most of the economic issues and problems that affected Americans in the 1970s. During that time, the foreign relations of the Americans appeared adrift following the aftermath of the Vietnam War. Moreover, the Americans were demoralized by the inflation menace, soviet expansion and disrespect from third world dictators to the extent that there was an urgent need for policy formulation and implementation process. These policies would play a critical role in causing a revolution within and beyond America with regard to foreign engagement and economic wellbeing (Cooper, 2012).
By the time Reagan’s two-term reign was ending and there was nothing to show for the kind of revolution that he had promised the Americans during his inauguration, him together with his conservative associates apportioned blame to institutional bureaucracy. They argued that most initiatives by the Americans were crushed following the unwarranted actions of the bureaucrats, which also resulted in economic turbulence, and mismanagement of foreign relations. The key objective of the foreign policies of the Reagan administration was to ensure a rollback with regard to the spread of communism as well as emerging victorious following the Cold War. The achievement of these objectives was seen following the ending of the Soviet Union. However, most critics of the Reagan administration have continued to maintain that such achievements could not be credited to the Ronald Reagan’s revolution promises on foreign policies. Instead, they believe that these achievements resulted from effective logistics and controls established and enforced by subsequent administrations (Carlisle and Golson, 2008).
In summing up, several indications and arguments seem to suggest that the economic and foreign policies established by President Reagan were not effective enough to constitute a meaningful revolution. Clearly, Reagan was more concerned with the promotion of other issues such as domestic agenda at the expense of aggressively pursuing a revolution that would lead to an overhaul of the system based on the America’s economic and foreign policies.
References
Burns, R. N. P. J. (2009). Global economic crisis and potential implications for foreign policy and national security: The global economic crisis and potential implications . Bookbaby.
Carlisle, R. P., & Golson, J. G. (2008). The Reagan era from the Iran crisis to Kosovo . Santa Barbara, Calif: ABC-CLIO.
Cooper, J. (2012). Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan: A very political special relationship . Palgrave Macmillan.
Document C: Ronald Reagan’s Inaugural address, 1981
Document D: President Reagan, Speech to the Nation, March 23, 1983
Kennedy, D. M., & Cohen, L. (2013). The American pageant: A history of the American people . Australia: Wadsworth Cengage Learning.
Morley, M. H. (2008). Crisis and confrontation: Ronald Reagan's foreign policy . Totowa, N.J: Rowman & Littlefield.
Niskanen, W. A., & Cato Institute. (2008). Reaganomics: An insider's account of the policies and the people . New York: Oxford University Press.
