Ronald Reagan started his long career in politics as a long standing Hollywood actor turned Governor of the state of California, with his first term as Governor beginning in 1967, and was re-elected in 1971. Reagan declined to run for a third term as Governor of California in 1975 and began to focus his political career towards the presidency, where in 1980 Ronald Reagan was elected the 40th President of the United States of America, with his presidential term running from 1981 to 1989.
Ronald Reagan left behind various legacies throughout his tenure as President, which included drastic reductions of taxes, and stricter control of government spending, allowing him to succeed in managing inflation and stimulate the growth of the American economy. Reagan was known as the president who implemented the modern war on drugs, pioneering the “just say no” campaign and enacting the greatest expansion of zero tolerance legislation in history. Reagan was also known for being harsh against labor unions, with the most significant act being in 1981 with the blanket termination of professional air traffic controller organization (PATCO) members, who despite federal law, walked off the job and refused to end their strike and return to work. But Reagan may be most notably remembered for being the president who ended the cold war.
President Reagan adopted an economic strategy known as “stagflation” in which he implemented drastic cuts of income taxes from approximately 70% to 28%, which effected the upper most income tax rate, and the corporate tax rate. These cuts, combined with reductions in government spending, allowed him to help control the supply of money and overall inflation. These policies became commonly known as “reaganonmics” where many of his economic theories focused on the supply side of the economic ladder, relying on tax cuts for citizens and government to