Welcome to the first article of "The Horrible Legacy of American Presidents" series. In the wake of the fiercely reactionary Trump administration, it can be difficult for many Americans to exit the false dichotomy of "MAGA" versus "orange man bad", as this encompasses a very right-authoritarian boundary of mainstream political discourse. In fact, relegating discourse to largely the discussion of Trump's actions has in many ways benefitted the reactionary right over liberals or leftists. From 2017 through 2021, political discourse and corporate media was dominated by stories concerning billionaire-turned-president Donald Trump, both the person and the overall administration. While I do not wish to undermine the damage the Trump administration did–especially concerning human rights violations, the encouragement of far-right organizations and individuals to organize, further transfer of wealth and power to large corporations and fellow ultra-wealthy individuals, and further deregulation that enabled the acceleration of climate change–too many of us have forgotten about previous administrations who laid the groundwork for politicians such as Trump and were sometimes even more destructive to the American people–as well as those outside American borders. In this article, we will be looking back at the legacy of one of those politicians, the United States' 40th president, Ronald Reagan.
While I primarily intend to focus on his presidential career, I would like to touch briefly on Ronald Reagan's background. Reagan was born in Tampico, Illinois in 1911 and obtained a degree from Eureka College, generally considered to have been a modest student while double-majoring in sociology and economics at the private institution. One thing that stands out to me is that Reagan is still the only former professional actor to become an American president. He starred in Hollywood films such as Love Is on the Air (1937), Knute Rockne, All-American (1940), and Kings Row (1942). Reagan served in the military for several years leading up to and through World War II. During wartime, he utilized his acting skills, producing over 400 military training films. Later, during an era the steeped in rabid anti-communism via McCarythism and The Red Scare, Reagan performed his best possible George Orwell impression, outing fellow actors to the FBI and the reactionary House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) as supposed communist sympathizers based on "hearsay" during his position as president of the Screen Actors Guild. He aided in the ruining of many actors' careers, most of whom had nothing to do with communism. Even if some did indeed profess communist proclivities or were members of a communist-affiliated party, the First Amendment supposedly protects the right to freedom of speech, right?
Once viewing previous president Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR) as "a true hero", Reagan gradually drifted further to the right as he became further entrenched in the ultra-conservative public and private spheres, working for organizations such as the Independent Citizens Committee of the Arts, Sciences and Professions (HICCASP) and General Electric. Unsurprisingly, his speeches frequently derided parties such as the "government" and Medicare, even going so far as to deem the healthcare program "the end of individual freedom in the United States." As is commonplace with grifters, it is very unlikely that Reagan believed everything he was saying on behalf of the company at the time. But what did it matter to him personally as long as he received a nice compensation?
In 1967, Reagan was elected governor of California, preluding Trump by proclaiming himself a "political outsider" throughout the campaign to distinguish himself from other candidates, which was clearly dishonest given his previous experience in politics and government. As governor, his administration bowed to big business and the ultra-wealthy, using property tax cuts to fund the former groups and reducing state spending on crucial social welfare programs.
Despite Reagan's portrayal among the modern-day Right as a staunch supporter of the 2nd Amendment and its "right of the people to keep and bear arms", Reagan did not want to extend this right to everyone. His administration approved the Mulford Act, which banned the public carrying of loaded firearms, the strongest piece of gun control legislation still known to the State of California. This act was designed to silence the cop-watching and other activist practices (a response to systemic police violence against their communities) of the Black Panther Party, an influential organization at that time advocating Black Power, anti-imperialism, and Marxism-Leninism, among other stances starkly at odds with the American state and elites. Even the National Rifle Association (NRA), which is thought to exist to advocate for the right to bear arms and other firearm-related causes, endorsed this piece of legislation along with Reagan.
Reagan was not afraid to use state-sanctioned violence to achieve his political goals. Students at UC Berkeley had been staging demonstrations on campus in order to improve land use, and Reagan would not tolerate anything challenging his regime or the status quo. Against the university administration's wishes, the governor escalated the situation by ordering the California Highway Patrol and local city police to the park, which became a site of confrontation between protestors and police. A bystander not involved in the protest was murdered by police. Dozens, if not hundreds of others were injured, suffering head trauma, gunshot wounds, and other injuries. For seventeen days, National Guard troops occupied the city to discourage further protests. Perhaps Reagan's violent tendencies are best encapsulated in the following phrase, which was uttered in response to the student protests: "If it takes a bloodbath, let's get it over with. No more appeasement." I find it ironic that a politician who frequently criticized nations who refused to participate in American/Western hegemony (i.e. Cuba or the Soviet Union) as "authoritarian" would openly voice his dedication to violence and limitation of freedom to meet his political goals. This hypocrisy is a good example of psychological projection, in which one mistakenly blames those on the outside for circumstances they are personally responsible for. These repressive tactics would continue later in his presidency, both domestically and abroad.
In November 1980, Reagan defeated incumbent Jimmy Carter to become president. This new administration would continue the domination of US politics by the capitalist class, but lacked "even the faint liberalism of the Carter presidency." (Zinn p. 573, A People's History of the United States) In his inaugural address, Reagan used a quote that would define his approach in the new role: "In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem, government is the problem." Yet, the seemingly endless tax breaks allocated to large corporations and the ultra-wealthy that would further financially burden everyday Americans, the drastic growth in military spending, and many other Reagan-era policies would beg to differ. Furthermore, the new administration would further socioeconomically deprive the poor via austerity policies and proliferation of the prison industrial complex, "stack the Court" with reactionary judges (the Reagan and Bush administrations would fill a majority of the 837 federal judgeships by 1991), and further export American state violence abroad.
Perhaps one of the most egregious stances that Reagan took regarded the burgeoning AIDS epidemic of the 1980's. Early on, Reagan and his advisors downplayed the severity of the medical condition and its concerning spread. Later, the administration purposely fear-mongered and spread misinformation regarding AIDS, labeling it "a gay plague", even though a vast majority of those worldwide (i.e. Africa) contract it while in heterosexual relationships. The claim that AIDS could spread through means such as saliva exchange was one piece of misinformation that was distributed to the public, which stirred unnecessary panic and homophobia. As one of the key figures of the religious right, or the "Moral Majority", Baptist pastor Jerry Falwell was one of Reagan's greatest supporters and allies. Regarding the AIDS epidemic, Falwell asserted that, "AIDS is the wrath of God upon homosexuals." Reagan's communications director, Pat Buchanan, voiced his opinion on the matter as well, arguing that AIDS is "nature's revenge on gay men." It must be stated that this statement is absurd considering that thousands of animal species display homosexuality in nature. It was not until 1987, nearly at the end of his second term, that Reagan even addressed the AIDS crisis, but not after over 20,000 Americans had died. Despite warnings from medical professionals and activists, Reagan's indifference, inaction, and stigmatization of the condition likely resulted in the death of thousands of excess people affected by AIDS.
To speak further on economic issues, Reagan saw one of the greatest transfers of wealth from the working class to the ruling class/big business in American history. "The economy" that the Reagan administration frequently bragged about translated to corporate profits, rather than the welfare of the American people. Along with help from both corporate political parties, Reagan lowered the top tax rate on the ultra-wealthy to 50 percent, and then further to 28 percent. A similar reduction occurred with the Social Security tax, making it even more difficult for the working class to secure proper retirement, survivor, or disability benefits. What did the people think of these developments? In 1984, an Internal Revenue Service (IRS) survey found that 80 percent of those polled agreed with the following statement: "The present tax system benefits the rich and is unfair to the ordinary working man and woman." Unsurprisingly, the wealth of the elite tripled from 1978 to 1990, while the government lost $70 billion per year in revenue. Wealth inequality hit the highest level seen in decades. "In the dozen years from 1977 to 1989, the before-tax income of the richest 1 percent rose 77 percent; meanwhile, for the poorest two-fifths of the population, there was no gain at all, indeed a small decline." (Zinn 581) This figure does not even account for inflation, and these losses to the working class, as always, disproportionately affected already marginalized groups–African-Americans, Hispanics, and women to name a few. Unemployment naturally grew during the Reagan era. In 1982, 30 million people were unemployed all or part of the year, but this figure is likely much higher. 16 million Americans lost medical insurance during these eight years as well. Infant mortality and food insecurity increased during this time, directly as a result of draining funding to initiatives such as the free lunch programs and Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC). Social Security benefits were eliminated for 350,000 people. The Reagan administration, along with fellow Republicans and many Democrats, manufactured a culture war of sorts against welfare that is still used today, frequently utilizing the racist trope of "welfare queens" and other tactics that demonize those left out (a permanent underclass is required under capitalism to drive down the price of wages, especially in the neoliberal variant) by "the economy" to justify their policies. This harsh attitude towards the poor and marginalized groups was championed by Reagan-appointed Chief Justice William Rehnquist, who believed that education was not a "fundamental right", brought back the death penalty, defended segregation and promoted voter suppression of minorities, increased policing powers, and prevented doctors from even giving women information on abortions in government-supported family planning clinics. Even fellow Republican Kevin Phillips noted that, during the Reagan years, "Less and less wealth was going to people who produced something . . . disproportionate rewards to society's economic, legal and cultural manipulators–from lawyers to financial advisors."
Reagan was a sworn enemy of labor and thus the working class. Reagan undermined the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) by making explicitly pro-business appointments. (Trump would do more of the same with multiple federal agencies that he did not care for during his administration later) Among the first acts of the Reagan administration was to dismiss 11,345 striking air traffic controllers from their positions, who had been campaigning for a shorter work week, improved pay, and more favorable work conditions. Not only were they fired, they were in fact dismissed for life. Consequently, it would take nearly a decade before air traffic staffing levels nationwide returned to normal. While what the strikers did was technically illegal, as it violated a horrendous section of U.S. law preventing federal workers from striking (which is a very "pro-business" law), the decision to enforce laws such as these is often a political one. Reagan overtly displayed no concern for the workers and their livelihood, clearly prioritizing corporate profits over safety and socioeconomic stability, as demonstrated time and time again. For one, he appointed Thorne Auchter, a man diametrically opposed to the mere existence of the Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA). A business owner himself (and thus being de facto opposed to stronger labor power by virtue of his class), his construction firm under his leadership "had repeatedly been fined by OSHA in the past." During his time under Reagan, Auchter embarked on a campaign of aggressive deregulation (i.e. the Regulatory Relief program), leaving most workers in a more hazardous condition than before. Reagan's actions against labor and workers deflated an already pummeled union environment, spurred by the decline of American manufacturing in areas such as the Rust Belt as capitalists sought cheaper, more docile and exploitable labor elsewhere in the world.
Reagan accelerated the American state tradition of excessively funding the military and exporting violence abroad. In an unprecedented buildup of nuclear and more conventional weaponry, dubbed "Star Wars", the administration provoked further conflict with the Soviet Union, the antithesis of "free-market" American capitalism. "President Reagan proposed the largest peacetime military build-up in US history, a 180 billion dollar expansion over a six year period." Even George Kennen, a former ambassador to the USSR and well-known advocate of the policy of "containment", noted that this buildup was completely unjustified. But nevertheless, the Reagan administration hemorrhaged taxpayer money on useless nuclear weapons such as the Trident submarine, which cost a hefty $1.5 billion. For perspective, that funding could have been used for a five-year international child immunization program against deadly diseases and thus prevented five million deaths. (Ruth Sivard, World Military and Social Expenditures 1987-1988) The intention of the Star Wars program was to build a shield in space to halt a theoretical enemy nuclear attack before it came close to ground. However, the technology did not even fulfill its purpose, failing all four trials, but Caspar Weinberger, Reagan's Secretary of Defense, allowed fake results to demonstrate a success. The former CIA agent who was once the director of espionage operations against the USSR, Harry Rositzke, vehemently disagreed with the direction Reagan was taking. "In all of my years of government and since I have never seen an intelligence estimate that shows how it would be profitable to Soviet interests to invade Western Europe or attack the United States."
The Reagan administration faced especially hot water during the Iran-Contra Affair. It was discovered that they had been directing the CIA to organize a counterrevolutionary force, the Contras, to fight against the Sandinistas in Nicaragua. The Sandinistas, a leftist coalition, had previously overthrown the Somoza family (which had ruled the nation for decades under a crippling dictatorship) and distributed land to peasants, while providing education and healthcare to the poor. The Reagan administration of course denounced this and gave masses of funding to the Contras for weapons, training, and more. During this period, the CIA distributed a propaganda piece to the Contras titled Psychological Operations in Guerrilla Warfare, which explicitly rationalized the murder of innocent civilians, an action that violated international humanitarian law. Furthermore, the US planted underwater mines to blow up ships under the port of Corinto, which was declared illegal by the International Court of Justice. The Contras had no popular support in Nicaragua, so they based their operations in the neighboring countries of Honduras and Costa Rica. The American people also refused to lend popular support, and thus Congress made it illegal for the US to support "directly or indirectly, military or paramilitary operations in Nicaragua." The Reagan administration ignored this and secretly solicited funds from allies including Saudi Arabia, Guatemala, Israel, and most importantly, Iran. Unlike the others, Iran was a clear geopolitical enemy of Uncle Sam and caused serious turmoil within the American political establishment, as well as the general public. Reagan and others repeatedly lied during the affair about important details, but ultimately, the trial of Colonel Oliver North did nothing to expose the US empire's evil affairs or hold the Reagan administration accountable.
The Reagan administration spread violence abroad just as other administrations had done, but arguably even more so. In El Salvador, American funds proliferated to the right-wing junta dictatorship, which routinely killed citizens and deprived them of basic rights. The same happened in countries such as Guatemala (in which the UD funded a government that committed genocide of hundreds of thousands of Maya people) and Chile. In Libya, at least forty civilians were killed in Tripoli by a bomb dropped from an American plane. In Grenada, the US violated international law again by invading the country to secure the 118 offshore banks that operated in the country and display American "strength" in the wake of the embarrassing defeat in Vietnam and other conflicts. The US killed 24 civilians in Grenada, including 18 at a mental hospital that was mistakenly bombed by the Navy. Unsurprisingly, the Reagan administration embarked on this invasion without Congressional consent. Even Saturday Night Live would poke fun at the administration during this time.
Reagan tacitly supported the apartheid South African government, refusing to allow the African National Congress to gain power, as they would not give in to American demands and capital like the ruling white government at the time. Fortunately, Congress overrode Reagan's veto and imposed economic sanctions against the apartheid government towards the end of Reagan's stint in 1986. At home, Reagan attempted to force Congress to eliminate a crucial portion of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which secured the right of African-Americans to vote in Southern states. Reagan's administration was staunchly against black liberation.
Under the Reagan administration, the prison industrial complex would explode, with massive funding going towards building more prisons and incarcerating more citizens. This development was well-received by the ruling class, as they would profit greatly from the artificially cheap cost of prison labor. The continued War on Drugs would help accomplish this, as this policy criminalized drug use instead of treating its causes–poverty, alienation, and other implications of capitalism. Additionally, the D.A.R.E program of the Just Say No campaign would exacerbate the school to prison pipeline. Under Reagan, the prison population effectively doubled thanks to many pieces of legislation and his overall heavy-handed approach to criminal justice. This explosion of the carceral population would continue under successive administrations as well. Reagan would work intimately with ALEC (American Legislative Exchange Council), a conservative lobbyist group that represents many major corporations, which seeks to develop model legislation and write bills that would help them achieve greater profits. ALEC is still very influential today, despite its incredibly undemocratic methods of achieving public policy goals.
Finally, it should be noted that Reagan was not elected democratically; only 28% of the voting eligible-population for Reagan during his two terms. Most people seemed to dislike both candidates, refusing to take a "lesser of two evils" approach that is particularly lauded in more liberal circles. Statistics like these demonstrate the futility of so-called "liberal democracies", which will never represent the will of the people under the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie. This reality will persist whether the president is Reagan or Obama, blue or red, and so on.
That will be all for the Reagan administration, even though there is so much more I could cover. Stay tuned for the next president in the series!
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