...not necessarily reflect the views of the Department of Defense or any of its agencies. This document may not be released for open publication until it has been cleared by the appropriate military service or government agency. STRATEGY RESEARCH PROJECT •» BE THE REAGAN WAY: USING LEADERSHIP SKILLS FOR STRATEGIC SUCCESS BY LIEUTENANT COLONEL WILLIAM E. COBURN United States Air Force Reserve DISTRIBUTION STATEMENT A: Approved for Public Release. Distribution is Unlimited. USAWC CLASS OF 2000 U.S. ARMY WAR COLLEGE, CARLISLE BARRACKS, PA 17013-5050 " ■ "■"" "" 20000320 086 USAWC STRATEGY RESEARCH PROJECT THE REAGAN WAY: USING LEADERSHIP SKILLS FOR STRATEGIC SUCCESS by Lieutenant Colonel William E. Coburn U. S. Air Force Reserve Dr. Robert Murphy Project Advisor The views expressed in this academic research paper are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the U.S. Government, the Department of Defense, or any of its agencies. U.S. Army War College CARLISLE BARRACKS, PENNSYLVANIA 17013 DISTRIBUTION STATEMENT A: Approved for public release. Distribution is unlimited. ABSTRACT AUTHOR: TITLE: FORMAT: DATE: William E. Coburn The Reagan Way: Using Leadership Skills for Strategic Success Strategy Research Project 10 April 2000 PAGES: 22 CLASSIFICATION: Unclassified In spite of many critics who belittled his style and his presidency, Ronald Reagan is increasingly viewed as a heroic President...
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...Ronald Reagan’s influence in the collapse of the Soviet Union I. Economic Policy Economic Recovery Plan After the U.S celebrated the victory and end of WWII, two of the world’s greatest superpowers would compete to be the biggest and the greatest of all time. It would prove to be the greatest struggle of political, social, economic, and ideological polices and plans, between the U.S and the USSR, the world had ever seen. This would soon be known as the inevitable Cold War. Amongst the major struggles of the war, one man would prove to have a great influence in collapsing the Soviet empire, Ronald Reagan. Ronald Reagan directly contributed to the collapse of the Soviet Union through his economic, political, and military polices. (Dobson, 2005, p. 4). During Reagan’s administration, the Soviet Union was facing serious economic growth and policy issues. One of the more major issues the Soviets had was in economic manufacturing. The Soviet Union dictated how many factories people could own, as well as...
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...2. The Actions of Ronald Reagan Learning Objectives 1. To develop a k&u of the aims and actions of Reagan. 2. To assess the Strategic Defensive Initiative. * Reagan’s anti-communist rhetoric heralded the Second Cold War which saw a deliberate attempt to undermine the forces of communism. * Reagan’s actions/policies were described as a militarised counter-revolution. They were much more aggressive than those of Carter including extensive re-arming and providing convert help to those fighting against communist forces or governments. Action | Aim | Key Features | 1. Increasing Nuclear Arms | * Regain American military supremacy * Cripple the USSR financially – to compete they would face bankruptcy * Supremacy in arms would therefore grant the USA strength in all areas & force the Soviet leadership to make concessions | * An unprecedented increase in military spending – defence spending was increased by 13% in 1982 and over 8% in each of the following two years * New methods of deploying nuclear missiles developed e.g. Stealth bomber & Trident submarines * Strategic Defense Initiative – SDI – or ‘Star Wars’ est. 1983. The deployment of anti-ballistic missile systems in space | Source A – The SDI Concept Online Explanation - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B62n953nQ4o * Advantages of SDI… * Disadvantages of SDI… Source A David Painter, The Cold War: An International History, 1999 SDI was a technologically...
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...Ronald Wilson Reagan was the President of the United State from 1981 to 1989. During his presidency, the Cold War was still occurring. Beginning in 1947, the Cold War was a states of political and military tension, primarily between the United States and the Soviet Union, a communist country. The war lasted for forty-four years, ending in 1991. President Ronald Reagan was instrumental in ending the Cold war because of his build-up of the United States military, implementation of the Reagan Doctrine and his strong diplomatic position with Mikhail Gorbachev. Early in Reagan’s Presidency, he gave a speech deeming the Soviet Union an “evil empire” and told the U.S. citizens that he would keep an aggressive campaign against communism (Cold War...
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...Ronald Wilson Reagan, born February 6th, 1911, was the son of Nelle and John Reagan. He was born in Tampico, Illinois, but moved repeatedly throughout his childhood. His mother was very religious, while his father was an alcoholic. Ronald Reagan’s religious views and acting skills were developed during these years as he participated in church activities, along with maintaining a relationship with the pastor’s daughter. He attended high school in Dixon, eventually enrolling at Eureka College as a freshman in 1928 (Thill, Scott). Ronald Reagan attended Eureka College in Eureka, Illinois. Although he was active in the drama society and played gridiron football, he only received passing grades. He was elected class president his senior year due...
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...Essay #5 – Reagan Administration POL 313 August 12, 2015 Former Hollywood actor Ronald Reagan becomes the 40th president of the United States at the ripe old of 69 in a time when both, the popularity and the faith among the American people in the office of the president was greatly impaired. Reagan’s predecessor, Jimmy Carter`s tenure concluded with many unsolved domestic and international issues that in turn presented a great opportunity for Ronald Reagan to establish himself as a transformative president who shall restore the power to the presidency. In fact it would not be incorrect to state that, Reagan capitalized on America`s desperate desire to change the status quo during his presidency. 1970s was a chaotic decade for the United States of America; stagflation, unemployment, stubborn bureaucracy, ineffective congress, and most importantly, soviet expansion and loss of Vietnam war had demoralized the public. Nixon` Watergate scandal and the overall weakening of America`s image on the international platform only added more to America`s misfortune. By the beginning of the 1980s the government was almost entirely non functional before the eyes of the public; some go as far as to say that, Carter administration was a perfect example of how America could function without a president (Milkins, 2013). It is evident that in the beginning of 1980s America mainly needed three things; reclaim its title as a powerful nation in the world, a sense of...
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...scandal that took place during the second term of Ronald Reagan. The involved government officials facilitated the sale of arms to Iran with the hope of releasing the American hostages held in Lebanon by a group of Hezbollah terrorists. Ronal Reagan was in support of the cause though what initially began as a strategic opening to Iran was reduced to a trade of arms for hostages. The hostages was eventually reduced and it was not until 1986 that the word had gotten out about the secret transactions. The foreign policy of the Reagan administration resulted to The Soviet Union being brought down. Reagan depressed the value of Soviet commodities, hence intensifying economic pressure, he decreased soviet access to high technology and also diminished their resources. When Mikhail Gorbechev became leader, he reformed both political and economic factors, therefore easing the tension between the Soviet Union and the US. He agreed to withdraw most of the nuclear arsenals and troops to withdraw from Afghanistan and Reagan abandoned hi Strategic Defense Initiative plans. This reforms led to Soviet Union collapsing and disintegrated into individual states. This effectively ended the world war. Advantages that US draws for Reagan’s policies, is that the Soviet Union went down and the cold war also ended. The US military was also reformed and there was a massive build up. During this time, Americans feared that the Strategic Defense Initiative would only lead to war and hence they rallied against...
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...Before becoming the 40th President of the United States, Ronald Reagan was a famous actor and then became involved in politics not long after. This is a biography of Ronald Reagan’s term as President and his impact to the country. Becoming governor of California in 1966 and winning a second term in 1970, Reagan seemed to be a pretty good politician. His career, however didn’t end there. After his success as governor, Reagan tried for the presidency. In 1980, he ran for office and won as the Republican nomination. The future president George Bush would be his running mate. Reagan won by an crushing landslide to Jimmy Carter almost beating his vote count by 10 times. With this, Reagan took the office in January of 1981 and claimed the...
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...Assignment 1: Compare and Contrast Effective and Ineffective Leaders Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan; (February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was an American actor and politician. He was the 40th President of the United States (1981–89). Prior to his presidency, he served as the 33rd Governor of California (1967–75). Reagan had many achievements throughout his presidency. Two of which, are as listed: 1. Ending the Cold War: The Cold War had raged since World War II and communism‘s quest for world domination remained an existential threat to the United States when President Reagan took office. Reagan reversed the policy of detente and stood firm against the Soviet Union, calling it the Evil Empire and telling Mikhail Gorbachev to “tear down this wall” in Berlin. He was relentless in pushing his Strategic Defense Initiative and gave aid to rebels battling Soviet-backed Marxists from Nicaragua to Angola. Those efforts were critical in the ultimate collapse of the Soviet empire and essentially ended the Cold War. 2. Reaganomics: Reagan’s mix of across-the-board tax cuts, deregulation, and domestic spending restraint helped fuel an economic boom that lasted two decades. Reagan inherited a misery index (the sum of the inflation and unemployment rates) of 19.99%, and when he left office it had dropped to 9.72%. President Obama take note: Under Reaganomics, 16 million new jobs were created. “In his lifetime, Ronald Reagan was such a cheerful and invigorating presence that it was...
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...Not only was Ronald Reagan a tremendous president of America, but he was also a great man and actor. From his birth in 1911 to his death in 2004, Reagan was loved for his charisma and smooth talking. His ability to make you feel as if everything was just going to be alright satiated the American citizens. During one of the tensest times in American history, he formulated a relationship with the Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. Furthermore, he was able to diffuse many situations similar to that. Ronald Reagan was a phenomenal president who turned America back into a world power by upgrading our military to match that of those around us. Ronald Reagan’s life began in the town of Tampico, Illinois, on the sixth of February in 1911. He was born into a poor family that moved around a considerable amount, but they finally settled down in Dixon, Illinois. In high school, Reagan was as popular as you would think he would be. He was a star athlete, student body president, and the main character in a numerous amount of high school...
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...between the U.S. and the Soviet Union. The Cold War defined the U.S. foreign policy since the end of WWII. The Cold War was the first time that the U.S. went at war after the Vietnam war, which they had lost. Impeach: Impeach means to formally charge a public official with misconduct in office. Bill Clinton was impeached, he had an affair with another member Reaganomics: To stimulate the economy, Ronald Reagan, adopted a new philosophy called supply side economic; the theory that steep tax cuts, particularly, for the wealthy, will encourage more saving investment. Also known as trickle down posterity. The theory was that if businesses were unhindered by the high taxes, then, the wealth would trickle down to the people...
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...Introduction In 1980s, the US government faced difficult economic issues. It was also during this time that President Ronald Reagan was tested. In his campaign against Jimmy Carter, he promised America that the government will implement strategies that will support the people. This earned him a landslide victory over Jimmy Carter. From stagflation to recession, the whole country had the worst economic period trailing the Great Depression. On his first term, President Reagan’s main objective was to address different economic problems through tax cut, decreased nondefense spending, increased defense spending and balanced budget. His policies brought success in stimulating the economy. He was able to improve the lives of the people and certain concerns during those times such as recession, unemployment and inflation. In 1985, while efforts have been made by President Reagan to uplift the economy, the US government was still beset by unbalanced budget due to deficits. Thus in his second term, he focused more in addressing this problem. However, the economic policies he implemented appeared to have created a setback in the country’s budget. In addition to the existing deficits prior to his term, deficits continued to increase. Objectives This paper aims to give an analysis on the cause and effect of the deficit problem Reagan faced in his second term and an analysis of the strategies he implemented in solving it. This paper also offers alternative strategies that would allow...
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...Ronald Reagan was the 40th president of the United States. He served two terms from 1981 to 1989. Before he became, President, Reagan served two terms as governor of California. During his presidency, Reagan revitalized the military, created an efficient economic system and ended the Cold War. His impact on the country during his term makes him one of the best presidents the United States has ever had. As a result of the previous president, Jimmy Carter, the U.S military was at its worst. Soldiers were underpaid and weaponry was outdated and worn out from the events that occurred in Vietnam. When Reagan came into office, improving the military was one of his first priorities. The first change he made was increasing military pay. By increasing...
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...creation, nuclear warfare. The Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), the first of such proposals, a constellation of space- and ground-based systems that was ‘envisioned by President Ronald Reagan’ would render nuclear weapons ‘impotent and obsolete’. In March 1983, President Reagan gave a speech announcing the program, suggesting that research conducted under SDI “could pave the way for arms control measures to eliminate the weapons themselves”. He believed that, if SDI could make the nation physically invulnerable to ballistic missiles, and if the United States shared this technology with other countries, including the Soviet Union, the groundwork would be laid for a stable, nuclear-free world. Earlier concepts had offered only to control the threat, this presidential initiatives aspired to escape from the cage of...
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...Hand: The Untold Story of the Cold War Arms Race and its Dangerous Legacy, Hoffman focuses on the arms race during the Cold War, and the events that led up to finally bringing it to an end. Hoffman’s book also goes into detail about the secret decisions and motives the United States and the Soviet Union had during the Cold War. Hoffman also draws in top secret documents deep within Kremlin, interviews, and memoirs from both the Soviet Union and the United States, which he introduces the soldiers, scientist, diplomats, and spies all witnessed the world going towards what was thought as a complete disaster. From this, the author draws in the official leaders and their influence in the Cold War during that time, telling stories of President Ronald Reagan, Mikhail Gorbachev, and others who fought to bring the arms race and the Cold War to an end. The author’s purpose for writing this book was that he wanted to deliver a narrative how the arms race during the Cold War officially came to an end, along with explaining the...
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