Dave Matthews
American singer-songwriter and musician
Ronald Reagan was an American politician and actor who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He is considered one of the most prominent conservative figures in American history and his presidency constituted the Reagan era.
Table of Contents
Neil Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reaganwas an American politician and actor who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. A member of the Republican Party, he became an important figure in the American conservative movement, and his presidency is known as the Reagan era.
Born and raised in northern Illinois, Reagan graduated from Eureka College in 1932 and worked as a sports broadcaster for several regional radio stations. In 1937, he moved to California and became a well-known film actor. During his acting career, Reagan twice served as the president of the Screen Actors Guild from 1947 to 1952 and from 1959 to 1960. In the 1950s, he began working on television and became a spokesman for General Electric. Reagan’s “A Time for Choosing” speech during the 1964 presidential campaign launched his rise as a prominent conservative figure. After being elected governor of California in 1966, he raised taxes, turned the state budget deficit into a surplus, and implemented harsh crackdowns on university protests. Following his loss to Gerald Ford in the 1976 Republican Party presidential primaries, Reagan won the 1980 Republican nomination and then proceeded to a landslide victory over President Jimmy Carter in the 1980 U.S. presidential election.
During his presidency, Reagan implemented “Reaganomics”, which involved economic deregulation and cuts in both taxes and government spending during a period of stagflation. On the world stage, he escalated the arms race and transitioned Cold War policy away from the policies of detente with the Soviet Union. In 1983, Reagan ordered the U.S. invasion of Grenada which led to the overthrow of the communist regime that had recently taken power. Reagan’s first term was also marked by an attempted assassination, confrontations with public-sector labor unions, a significant expansion of the war on drugs, and a slow government response to the growing U.S. AIDS epidemic. In the 1984 presidential election, he defeated Carter’s former vice president Walter Mondale in another landslide victory. Foreign affairs dominated Reagan’s second term, including the 1986 bombing of Libya, the secret and illegal sale of arms to Iran to fund the Contras, and a more conciliatory approach in talks with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev that culminated in the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty.
Reagan left the presidency in 1989 with the American economy having seen a significant reduction of inflation, the unemployment rate having fallen, and the U.S. having entered its then-longest peacetime expansion. At the same time, the national debt had nearly tripled since 1981 as a result of his cuts in taxes and increased military spending, despite cuts to domestic discretionary spending. Reagan’s policies also contributed to the end of the Cold War and the end of Soviet communism. Alzheimer’s disease hindered Reagan post-presidency, and his physical and mental capacities gradually deteriorated, ultimately leading to his death in 2004. Historians and scholars have typically ranked him among the upper tier among American presidents, and his post-presidential approval ratings by the general public are usually high.
Before becoming president, Ronald Reagan graduated from Eureka College and worked as a sports broadcaster on several regional radio stations. He later moved to California and became a well-known film actor, serving as the president of the Screen Actors Guild.
Ronald Reagan was elected president in 1980, defeating incumbent Democratic president Jimmy Carter in a landslide victory.
During his presidency, Ronald Reagan implemented Reaganomics, which involved economic deregulation and cuts in taxes and government spending. He also escalated the arms race with the Soviet Union and ordered the U.S. invasion of Grenada in 1983.
Reagan transitioned Cold War policy away from the policies of détente with the Soviet Union, and his more conciliatory approach in talks with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev culminated in the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty.
During Ronald Reagan’s presidency, the American economy saw a significant reduction of inflation and the unemployment rate fell, but the national debt had nearly tripled since 1981 as a result of his cuts in taxes and increased military spending.
Historians and scholars have typically ranked Ronald Reagan above average among American presidents, and his post-presidential approval ratings by the general public are usually high.
Alzheimer’s disease hindered Ronald Reagan’s post-presidency, and his physical and mental capacities gradually deteriorated, ultimately leading to his death in 2004.
Within the covers of the Bible are the answers for all the problems men face.
president of the United States from 1981 to 1989 and actor
Latinos are Republican. They just don’t know it yet.
president of the United States from 1981 to 1989 and actor
Politics I supposed to be the second-oldest profession. I have come to realize that it bears a very close resemblance to the first.
president of the United States from 1981 to 1989 and actor
Each generation goes further than the generation preceding it because it stands on the shoulders of that generation. You will have opportunities beyond anything we’ve ever known.
president of the United States from 1981 to 1989 and actor
While I take inspiration from the past, like most Americans, I live for the future.
president of the United States from 1981 to 1989 and actor
Entrepreneurs and their small enterprises are responsible for almost all the economic growth in the United States.
president of the United States from 1981 to 1989 and actor
There are no great limits to growth because there are no limits of human intelligence, imagination, and wonder.
president of the United States from 1981 to 1989 and actor
Man is not free unless government is limited.
president of the United States from 1981 to 1989 and actor
Going to college offered me the chance to play football for four more years.
president of the United States from 1981 to 1989 and actor
The thought of being President frightens me and I do not think I want the job.
president of the United States from 1981 to 1989 and actor
The best minds are not in government. If any were, business would steal them away.
president of the United States from 1981 to 1989 and actor
There are no constraints on the human mind, no walls around the human spirit, no barriers to our progress except those we ourselves erect.
president of the United States from 1981 to 1989 and actor
Trust, but verify.
president of the United States from 1981 to 1989 and actor
No mother would ever willingly sacrifice her sons for territorial gain, for economic advantage, for ideology.
president of the United States from 1981 to 1989 and actor
Let us be sure that those who come after will say of us in our time, that in our time we did everything that could be done. We finished the race; we kept them free; we kept the faith.
president of the United States from 1981 to 1989 and actor
No government ever voluntarily reduces itself in size. Government programs, once launched, never disappear. Actually, a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we’ll ever see on this earth!
president of the United States from 1981 to 1989 and actor
The taxpayer – that’s someone who works for the federal government but doesn’t have to take the civil service examination.
president of the United States from 1981 to 1989 and actor
Mr Gorbachev, tear down this wall!
president of the United States from 1981 to 1989 and actor
History teaches that war begins when governments believe the price of aggression is cheap.
president of the United States from 1981 to 1989 and actor
Surround yourself with the best people you can find, delegate authority, and don’t interfere as long as the policy you’ve decided upon is being carried out.
president of the United States from 1981 to 1989 and actor
I am not worried about the deficit. It is big enough to take care of itself.
president of the United States from 1981 to 1989 and actor
I favor the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and it must be enforced at gunpoint if necessary.
president of the United States from 1981 to 1989 and actor
Today, if you invent a better mousetrap, the government comes along with a better mouse.
president of the United States from 1981 to 1989 and actor
No matter what time it is, wake me, even if it’s in the middle of a Cabinet meeting.
president of the United States from 1981 to 1989 and actor
Protecting the rights of even the least individual among us is basically the only excuse the government has for even existing.
president of the United States from 1981 to 1989 and actor
Government always finds a need for whatever money it gets.
president of the United States from 1981 to 1989 and actor
How can a president not be an actor?
president of the United States from 1981 to 1989 and actor
I have wondered at times what the Ten Commandments would have looked like if Moses had run them through the US Congress.
president of the United States from 1981 to 1989 and actor
One picture is worth 1,000 denials.
president of the United States from 1981 to 1989 and actor
The most terrifying words in the English language are: I’m from the government and I’m here to help.
president of the United States from 1981 to 1989 and actor
Government’s first duty is to protect the people, not run their lives.
president of the United States from 1981 to 1989 and actor
You know, if I listened to Michael Dukakis long enough, I would be convinced we’re in an economic downturn and people are homeless and going without food and medical attention and that we’ve got to do something about the unemployed.
president of the United States from 1981 to 1989 and actor
Some people wonder all their lives if they’ve made a difference. The Marines don’t have that problem.
president of the United States from 1981 to 1989 and actor
Of the four wars in my lifetime, none came about because the U.S. was too strong.
president of the United States from 1981 to 1989 and actor
Thomas Jefferson once said, ‘We should never judge a president by his age, only by his works.’ And ever since he told me that, I stopped worrying.
president of the United States from 1981 to 1989 and actor
Government’s view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.
president of the United States from 1981 to 1989 and actor
I’ve never been able to understand why a Republican contributor is a ‘fat cat’ and a Democratic contributor of the same amount of money is a ‘public-spirited philanthropist’.
president of the United States from 1981 to 1989 and actor
Peace is not absence of conflict, it is the ability to handle conflict by peaceful means.
president of the United States from 1981 to 1989 and actor
Recession is when a neighbor loses his job. Depression is when you lose yours.
president of the United States from 1981 to 1989 and actor
If the Soviet Union let another political party come into existence, they would still be a one-party state, because everybody would join the other party.
president of the United States from 1981 to 1989 and actor
To sit back hoping that someday, some way, someone will make things right is to go on feeding the crocodile, hoping he will eat you last – but eat you he will.
president of the United States from 1981 to 1989 and actor
To paraphrase Winston Churchill, I did not take the oath I have just taken with the intention of presiding over the dissolution of the world’s strongest economy.
president of the United States from 1981 to 1989 and actor
You can tell alot about a fellow’s character by his way of eating jellybeans.
president of the United States from 1981 to 1989 and actor
We must reject the idea that every time a law’s broken, society is guilty rather than the lawbreaker. It is time to restore the American precept that each individual is accountable for his actions.
president of the United States from 1981 to 1989 and actor
When you can’t make them see the light, make them feel the heat.
president of the United States from 1981 to 1989 and actor
It’s silly talking about how many years we will have to spend in the jungles of Vietnam when we could pave the whole country and put parking stripes on it and still be home by Christmas.
president of the United States from 1981 to 1989 and actor
People do not make wars; governments do.
president of the United States from 1981 to 1989 and actor
My fellow Americans, I am pleased to tell you I just signed legislation which outlaws Russia forever. The bombing begins in five minutes.
president of the United States from 1981 to 1989 and actor
There are no easy answers’ but there are simple answers. We must have the courage to do what we know is morally right.
president of the United States from 1981 to 1989 and actor
Welfare’s purpose should be to eliminate, as far as possible, the need for its own existence.
president of the United States from 1981 to 1989 and actor
If the federal government had been around when the Creator was putting His hand to this state, Indiana wouldn’t be here. It’d still be waiting for an environmental impact statement.
president of the United States from 1981 to 1989 and actor
Politics is not a bad profession. If you succeed there are many rewards, if you disgrace yourself you can always write a book.
president of the United States from 1981 to 1989 and actor
Life is one grand, sweet song, so start the music.
president of the United States from 1981 to 1989 and actor
Status quo, you know, is Latin for ‘the mess we’re in’.
president of the United States from 1981 to 1989 and actor
A people free to choose will always choose peace.
president of the United States from 1981 to 1989 and actor
We’re in greater danger today than we were the day after Pearl Harbor. Our military is absolutely incapable of defending this country.
president of the United States from 1981 to 1989 and actor
Let us not forget who we are. Drug abuse is a repudiation of everything America is.
president of the United States from 1981 to 1989 and actor
Concentrated power has always been the enemy of liberty.
president of the United States from 1981 to 1989 and actor
Inflation is as violent as a mugger, as frightening as an armed robber and as deadly as a hit man.
president of the United States from 1981 to 1989 and actor
Above all, we must realize that no arsenal, or no weapon in the arsenals of the world, is so formidable as the will and moral courage of free men and women. It is a weapon our adversaries in today’s world do not have.
president of the United States from 1981 to 1989 and actor
If we love our country, we should also love our countrymen.
president of the United States from 1981 to 1989 and actor
I know in my heart that man is good. That what is right will always eventually triumph. And there’s purpose and worth to each and every life.
president of the United States from 1981 to 1989 and actor
Unemployment insurance is a pre-paid vacation for freeloaders.
president of the United States from 1981 to 1989 and actor
I never drink coffee at lunch. I find it keeps me awake for the afternoon.
president of the United States from 1981 to 1989 and actor
They say the world has become too complex for simple answers. They are wrong.
president of the United States from 1981 to 1989 and actor
It’s true hard work never killed anybody, but I figure, why take the chance?
president of the United States from 1981 to 1989 and actor
How do you tell a communist? Well, it’s someone who reads Marx and Lenin. And how do you tell an anti-Communist? It’s someone who understands Marx and Lenin.
president of the United States from 1981 to 1989 and actor
We will always remember. We will always be proud. We will always be prepared, so we will always be free.
president of the United States from 1981 to 1989 and actor
We might come closer to balancing the Budget if all of us lived closer to the Commandments and the Golden Rule.
president of the United States from 1981 to 1989 and actor
We should measure welfare’s success by how many people leave welfare, not by how many are added.
president of the United States from 1981 to 1989 and actor
Government is like a baby. An alimentary canal with a big appetite at one end and no sense of responsibility at the other.
president of the United States from 1981 to 1989 and actor
Republicans believe every day is the Fourth of July, but the democrats believe every day is April 15.
president of the United States from 1981 to 1989 and actor
We have the duty to protect the life of an unborn child.
president of the United States from 1981 to 1989 and actor
If we ever forget that we are One Nation Under God, then we will be a nation gone under.
president of the United States from 1981 to 1989 and actor
But there are advantages to being elected President. The day after I was elected, I had my high school grades classified Top Secret.
president of the United States from 1981 to 1989 and actor
Don’t be afraid to see what you see.
president of the United States from 1981 to 1989 and actor
Before I refuse to take your questions, I have an opening statement.
president of the United States from 1981 to 1989 and actor
What we have found in this country, and maybe we’re more aware of it now, is one problem that we’ve had, even in the best of times, and that is the people who are sleeping on the grates, the homeless, you might say, by choice.
president of the United States from 1981 to 1989 and actor
One way to make sure crime doesn’t pay would be to let the government run it.
president of the United States from 1981 to 1989 and actor
Information is the oxygen of the modern age. It seeps through the walls topped by barbed wire, it wafts across the electrified borders.
president of the United States from 1981 to 1989 and actor
All the waste in a year from a nuclear power plant can be stored under a desk.
president of the United States from 1981 to 1989 and actor
The problem is not that people are taxed too little, the problem is that government spends too much.
president of the United States from 1981 to 1989 and actor
Heroes may not be braver than anyone else. They’re just braver five minutes longer.
president of the United States from 1981 to 1989 and actor
A tree’s a tree. How many more do you need to look at?
president of the United States from 1981 to 1989 and actor
We are never defeated unless we give up on God.
president of the United States from 1981 to 1989 and actor
Government does not solve problems; it subsidizes them.
president of the United States from 1981 to 1989 and actor
We should declare war on North Vietnam. We could pave the whole country and put parking strips on it, and still be home by Christmas.
president of the United States from 1981 to 1989 and actor
It’s difficult to believe that people are still starving in this country because food isn’t available.
president of the United States from 1981 to 1989 and actor
Politics is just like show business. You have a hell of an opening, coast for a while, and then have a hell of a close.
president of the United States from 1981 to 1989 and actor
I’ve often said there’s nothing better for the inside of a man than the outside of a horse.
president of the United States from 1981 to 1989 and actor
Today we did what we had to do. They counted on America to be passive. They counted wrong.
president of the United States from 1981 to 1989 and actor
It doesn’t do good to open doors for someone who doesn’t have the price to get in. If he has the price, he may not need the laws. There is no law saying the Negro has to live in Harlem or Watts.
president of the United States from 1981 to 1989 and actor
Government exists to protect us from each other. Where government has gone beyond its limits is in deciding to protect us from ourselves.
president of the United States from 1981 to 1989 and actor
All great change in America begins at the dinner table.
president of the United States from 1981 to 1989 and actor
Democracy is worth dying for, because it’s the most deeply honorable form of government ever devised by man.
president of the United States from 1981 to 1989 and actor
Violence has been Nicaragua’s most important export to the world.
president of the United States from 1981 to 1989 and actor
Facts are stubborn things.
president of the United States from 1981 to 1989 and actor
It has been said that politics is the second oldest profession. I have learned that it bears a striking resemblance to the first.
president of the United States from 1981 to 1989 and actor
Freedom prospers when religion is vibrant and the rule of law under God is acknowledged.
president of the United States from 1981 to 1989 and actor
We can not play innocents abroad in a world that is not innocent.
president of the United States from 1981 to 1989 and actor
We can’t help everyone, but everyone can help someone.
president of the United States from 1981 to 1989 and actor
My philosophy of life is that if we make up our mind what we are going to make of our lives, then work hard toward that goal, we never lose – somehow we win out.
president of the United States from 1981 to 1989 and actor
Approximately 80% of our air pollution stems from hydrocarbons released by vegetation, so let’s not go overboard in setting and enforcing tough emission standards from man-made sources.
president of the United States from 1981 to 1989 and actor
Governments tend not to solve problems, only to rearrange them.
president of the United States from 1981 to 1989 and actor
Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same.
president of the United States from 1981 to 1989 and actor
The greatest security for Israel is to create new Egypts.
president of the United States from 1981 to 1989 and actor
Without God, democracy will not and cannot long endure.
president of the United States from 1981 to 1989 and actor
I call upon the scientific community in our country, those who gave us nuclear weapons, to turn their great talents now to the cause of mankind and world peace: to give us the means of rendering these nuclear weapons impotent and obsolete.
president of the United States from 1981 to 1989 and actor