Presidency of Ronald ReaganW
Presidency of Ronald Reagan

The presidency of Ronald Reagan began at noon EST on January 20, 1981, when Ronald Reagan was inaugurated as the 40th President of the United States, and ended on January 20, 1989. Reagan, a Republican from California, took office following a landslide victory over Democratic incumbent President Jimmy Carter in the 1980 presidential election. Four years later, in the 1984 election, he defeated Democrat Walter Mondale to win re-election in a landslide. Reagan was succeeded by his Vice President, George H. W. Bush, who won the 1988 presidential election with Reagan's support. Reagan's 1980 election resulted from a dramatic conservative shift to the right in American politics, including a loss of confidence in liberal, New Deal, and Great Society programs and priorities that had dominated the national agenda since the 1930s.

1980 United States presidential electionW
1980 United States presidential election

The 1980 United States presidential election was the 49th quadrennial presidential election. It was held on Tuesday, November 4, 1980. Republican nominee Ronald Reagan defeated incumbent Democrat Jimmy Carter in a landslide victory. This was the second consecutive election in which the incumbent president was defeated after Carter himself defeated Gerald Ford four years earlier in 1976. Additionally, it was only the second time, and the first in nearly 100 years that a Republican candidate defeated an incumbent Democrat. Due to the rise of conservatism following Reagan's victory, some historians consider the election to be a political realignment that marked the start of the Reagan Era.

1984 United States presidential electionW
1984 United States presidential election

The 1984 United States presidential election was the 50th quadrennial presidential election. It was held on Tuesday, November 6, 1984. Incumbent Republican President Ronald Reagan defeated former Vice President Walter Mondale, the Democratic candidate.

Robert Bork Supreme Court nominationW
Robert Bork Supreme Court nomination

On July 31, 1987, President Ronald Reagan nominated Judge Robert Bork for Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States to succeed Lewis Powell, who had earlier announced his retirement. At the time of his nomination, Bork was a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, a position to which he was appointed by President Reagan in 1982.

Commercial Space Launch Act of 1984W
Commercial Space Launch Act of 1984

Commercial Space Launch Act of 1984 is a United States federal law authored to facilitate the private enterprise of the commercialization of space and space technology. The Act of Congress set forth the quest to acquire innovative equipment and services offered by entrepreneurial ventures from the information technology services, remote sensing technology, and telecommunications industries. The Act recognized the United States private sector as having the capability to develop commercial launch vehicles, orbital satellites, and operate private launch sites and services. The Act also assigned the duties of overseeing and coordinating commercial launches, issuing of licenses and permits, and promotion of safety standards to the Secretary of Department of Transportation.

Comprehensive Crime Control Act of 1984W
Comprehensive Crime Control Act of 1984

The Comprehensive Crime Control Act of 1984 was the first comprehensive revision of the U.S. criminal code since the early 1900s. It was sponsored by Strom Thurmond (R-SC) in the Senate and by Hamilton Fish IV (R-NY) in the House and was eventually incorporated into an appropriations bill that passed with a vote of 78-11 in the Senate and 252-60 in the House. It was then signed into law by President Ronald Reagan. Among its constituent parts and provisions were:Armed Career Criminal Act Sentencing Reform Act which created the United States Sentencing Commission, intended to standardize sentencing extension of the United States Secret Service's jurisdiction over credit card fraud and computer fraud increased federal penalties for cultivation, possession, or transfer of marijuana a new section in the criminal code for hostage taking abolished parole for federal prisoners convicted after November 1, 1987 made several new offenses federal crimes, including arson, murder-for-hire, trademark violations, credit card fraud, and computer crime Stipulations about using civil forfeiture to seize assets of organized crime, establishing "equitable sharing."

Early 1980s recession in the United StatesW
Early 1980s recession in the United States

The United States entered recession in January 1980 and returned to growth six months later in July 1980. Although recovery took hold, the unemployment rate remained unchanged through the start of a second recession in July 1981. The downturn ended 16 months later, in November 1982. The economy entered a strong recovery and experienced a lengthy expansion through 1990.

Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981W
Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981

The Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981 (ERTA) was a major tax cut designed to encourage economic growth. Also known as the "Kemp–Roth Tax Cut", it was a federal law enacted by the 97th United States Congress and signed into law by President Ronald Reagan. The Accelerated Cost Recovery System (ACRS) was a major component, and was amended in 1986 to become the Modified Accelerated Cost Recovery System (MACRS).

First inauguration of Ronald ReaganW
First inauguration of Ronald Reagan

The first inauguration of Ronald Reagan as the 40th president of the United States was held on Tuesday, January 20, 1981, at the West Front of the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C. This was the first inauguration to be held on the building's west side. This was the 49th inauguration and marked the commencement of the first term of Ronald Reagan as President and of George H. W. Bush as Vice President. Chief Justice Warren E. Burger administered the presidential oath of office to Reagan, who placed his hand upon a family Bible given to him by his mother, open to 2 Chronicles 7:14. Associate Justice Potter Stewart administered the vice-presidential oath to Bush.

Second inauguration of Ronald ReaganW
Second inauguration of Ronald Reagan

The second inauguration of Ronald Reagan as President of the United States was held in a small televised ceremony on Sunday, January 20, 1985, at the Grand Foyer of the White House, and was to be repeated the following day, January 21, 1985 at the West Front of the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C., before being moved to the Capitol's rotunda. This was the 50th inauguration and marked the commencement of the second and final four-year term of both Ronald Reagan as President and of George H. W. Bush as Vice President. At 73 years, 349 days of age on Inauguration Day, Reagan was the oldest U.S. president to date to be sworn in.

Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces TreatyW
Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty

The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty was an arms control treaty between the United States and the Soviet Union. US President Ronald Reagan and Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev signed the treaty on 8 December 1987. The United States Senate approved the treaty on 27 May 1988, and Reagan and Gorbachev ratified it on 1 June 1988.

List of international presidential trips made by Ronald ReaganW
List of international presidential trips made by Ronald Reagan

This is a list of international presidential trips made by Ronald Reagan, the 40th president of the United States. Ronald Reagan made 25 international trips to 26 different countries on four continents during his presidency, which began on January 20, 1981 and ended on January 20, 1989.

Land Remote-Sensing Commercialization Act of 1984W
Land Remote-Sensing Commercialization Act of 1984

The Land Remote-Sensing Commercialization Act of 1984 is a United States statute establishing a system to further the utilization of satellite imagery data obtained from Earth observation satellites located in a geocentric orbit above the atmosphere of Earth.

A Nation at RiskW
A Nation at Risk

A Nation at Risk: The Imperative for Educational Reform is the 1983 report of the U.S. National Commission on Excellence in Education. Its publication is considered a landmark event in modern American educational history. Among other things, the report contributed to the ever-growing assertion that American schools were failing, and it touched off a wave of local, state, and federal reform efforts.

Packard CommissionW
Packard Commission

The President's Blue Ribbon Commission on Defense Management, informally known as the Packard Commission, was a federal government commission by President Ronald Reagan, created by Executive Order 12526 to study several areas of management functionality within the US Department of Defense. The commission was chaired by David Packard.

Reagan coalitionW
Reagan coalition

The Reagan coalition was the combination of voters that Republican Ronald Reagan assembled to produce a major political realignment with his electoral landslide in the 1980 United States presidential election. In 1980, the Reagan coalition was possible because of Democrat Jimmy Carter's losses in most social-economic groups. In 1984, Reagan confirmed his support by winning nearly 60% of the popular vote and carried 49 of the 50 states.

Reagan DoctrineW
Reagan Doctrine

The Reagan Doctrine was stated by United States President Ronald Reagan in his State of the Union address on February 6, 1985: "We must not break faith with those who are risking their lives--on every continent from Afghanistan to Nicaragua--to defy Soviet-supported aggression and secure rights which have been ours from birth." It was a strategy implemented by the Reagan Administration to overwhelm the global influence of the Soviet Union in the late Cold War. The doctrine was a centerpiece of United States foreign policy from the early 1980s until the end of the Cold War in 1991.

ReaganomicsW
Reaganomics

Reaganomics, or Reaganism, refers to the neoliberal economic policies promoted by U.S. President Ronald Reagan during the 1980s. These policies are commonly associated with and characterized as supply-side economics, trickle-down economics, or voodoo economics by opponents, while Reagan and his advocates preferred to call it free-market economics.

Shamrock SummitW
Shamrock Summit

The Shamrock Summit was the colloquial name given to the 18 March 1985 meeting between Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and US President Ronald Reagan in Quebec City. It gained this nickname because of the Irish background of the two leaders and because the meeting was held the day after St. Patrick's Day. The summit was capped by a televised gala, which ended with Mulroney, Reagan and their wives singing When Irish Eyes are Smiling, which publicly exemplified the camaraderie between the two leaders.

Statue of Christopher Columbus (Baltimore)W
Statue of Christopher Columbus (Baltimore)

The Christopher Columbus Monument was a marble statue of the explorer Christopher Columbus in the Little Italy neighborhood of Downtown Baltimore, Maryland. The monument was brought down by protesters and dumped into the Inner Harbor on July 4, 2020, one of numerous monuments removed during the George Floyd demonstrations.

Strategic Defense InitiativeW
Strategic Defense Initiative

The Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), nicknamed the "Star Wars program", was a proposed missile defense system intended to protect the United States from attack by ballistic strategic nuclear weapons. The concept was first announced on March 23, 1983 by President Ronald Reagan, a vocal critic of the doctrine of mutually assured destruction (MAD), which he described as a "suicide pact", and called upon American scientists and engineers to develop a system that would render nuclear weapons obsolete.

Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 1982W
Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 1982

The Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 1982, also known as TEFRA, is a United States federal law that rescinded some of the effects of the Kemp-Roth Act passed the year before. Between summer 1981 and summer 1982, tax revenue fell by about 6% in real terms, caused by the dual effects of the economy dipping back into recession and Kemp-Roth's reduction in tax rates, and the deficit was likewise rising rapidly because of the fall in revenue, and the rise in government expenditures. The rapid rise in the budget deficit created concern among many in Congress. TEFRA was created in order to reduce the budget gap by generating revenue through closure of tax loopholes, introduction of tougher enforcement of tax rules, rescinding some of Kemp-Roth's reductions in marginal personal income tax rates that had not yet gone into effect, and raising some rates, especially corporate rates. TEFRA was introduced November 13, 1981 and was sponsored by Representative Pete Stark of California. After much deliberation, the final version was signed by President Ronald Reagan on September 3, 1982.

Tax Reform Act of 1986W
Tax Reform Act of 1986

The Tax Reform Act of 1986 (TRA) was passed by the 99th United States Congress and signed into law by President Ronald Reagan on October 22, 1986.

Tear down this wall!W
Tear down this wall!

"Tear down this wall", also known as the Berlin Wall Speech, was a speech delivered by United States President Ronald Reagan in West Berlin on June 12, 1987. Reagan called for the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev, to open the Berlin Wall, which had separated West and East Berlin since 1961. The name is derived from a key line in the middle of the speech: "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!"

File:Reagan Brandenburg Gate speech.oggW
File:Reagan Brandenburg Gate speech.ogg