The Ronald Reagan Legacy at 100
Why is Ronald Reagan so important after leaving office nearly 22 years ago? The short answer is that his actions and legacy are barely relevant nearly a generation later. But due to a few vocal pundits who figure the masses will believe whatever is said, he seems to have become the patron saint of the modern conservative movement. Never mind that today he may be considered a moderate if not a liberal . It is time to set the record straight on former President Ronald Reagan. While much is written about Reagan’s presidency, it is time to sort through the facts on his presidency and judge him for what really took place during that time.
What was the real legacy that Ronald Regan left behind during the time he occupied the White House and what, if any lasting effect did it have on today’s economy, society, and political climate?
Ronald Reagan beat Jim Carter in the 1980 general election after Jimmy Carter served a single term in office. He succeeded Gerald R. Ford who himself took over for Richard Nixon and was the only unelected president in US history. With the 1970’s being one of the most politically tumultuous periods since World War II the country’s morale and economy was still reeling from Watergate. While Carter had moved forward the mid east peace process, he was unable to stimulate a lack-luster economy. During the national election in 1979 – 1980, Carter faced the Iranian hostage crisis and a botched rescue attempt. He retreated into the White House and Reagan won the election easily.
Americans were eager for a clean sheet of paper putting Watergate, a stagnate economy and the 1970’s behind them.
Reagan put together a conservative dream team many of whom were from his home state of California. They included James Baker, Edwin Meese and Michael Deaver. While in office he also brought in heavy weights Casper Weinberger as Secretary of Defense and George Schultz as Secretary of State both with extensive business and conservative think tank experience. Some of these individuals held different positions during the two terms Reagan spent in office. Baker, Deaver and Meese spent the first four years as Regan’s closest advisors in the White House.*
In a precursor to his two terms in office, and just months into his presidency President Reagan addressed a serious labor dispute between the US Government and the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Association founded in 1968 by F. Lee Bailey. In August 1981 after a work stoppage, Reagan declared their strike a violation of law even though other government agencies had struck for higher wages in the past. He required them to return to their positions within 48 hours or be fired. Just 10% of the 13,000 responded to the president’s order and returned to work. As a result Reagan made good on his threat and the rest were fired. Reagan had successfully broken the union. While claiming that it would take just two years to re-staff the control towers and FAA flight control centers, it took nearly 10 years to restore the experience that former controllers held. Previous controllers were able to re apply for their positions but not before 1986, five years after they were let go from their prior positions. The great irony in all this was that during the election, less than a year earlier, PATCO refused to endorse Jimmy Carter because of their ongoing labor dispute and his unwillingness to respond to their work demands. As a result, they threw their support behind Reagan, who at the time showed support for the controllers. The Teamsters and other labor organizations also broke ranks with the Democratic Party and Carter who they viewed as unfriendly to labor. One year later over 11,000 air traffic controllers were out of a job and the flying public was without experienced personnel controlling US airspace.
Another mess that Reagan ultimately claimed full responsibility for but said he had no knowledge of was the Iran Contra scandal. Simply put this affair had the US selling arms to Iran illegally and taking some of the proceeds from the sale to illegally fund Contra (anti communist) rebels in Nicaragua. Both actions were forbidden by US law. It was just nine years before that that Iranian “students” held US Embassy personnel in the embassy with the endorsement of the Iranian Revolutionary government. At the time of the scandal and to this day, we have no formal relations with Iran. Direct funding of the Nicaraguan rebels was also made illegal by several legislative bills know as the Boland Amendment during the early 1980’s. But that did not seem to matter to Reagan’s people. Colonel Oliver North, a member of the National Security Council, operated a clandestine operation from the basement of the White House to sell arms to Iran and fund a secret guerilla war in Central America. 14 would be charged with crimes associated with Iran Contra including North and 11 would be convicted. But no one would implicate the president. Casper Weinberger, Reagan’s friend and Secretary of Defense was also implicated and convicted. North’s conviction was overturned on appeal by a technicality. All were later pardoned by then president George H.W. Bush who served as Vice President under Ronald Reagan. Similar to Watergate, this enormous breach of US law was swept under the rug as a result of some of its instigators being within the highest levels of the government.
Unless you were an air traffic controller or somehow involved with Iran or the Contras neither of these two events changed your lives. But while showing ruthlessness for organized labor and a total disregard for US law should not be taken lightly, it does begin to paint a picture of the Reagan policies where ideology does not seem to get in the way of the rule of law.
What was to come next was the vaunted Tax Reform Act of 1986. Sold to Americans as a tax neutral piece of legislation supported by both parties, it was one of two tax bills passed during the Reagan administration. While driving down the tax rate of the highest income wage earners, one of the corner -stones of the legislation was the phasing out of the deduction of consumer debt. This was a tax increase on the poor and working class. So if you were to have the means to pay by cash, you would not be hurt by this legislation. But for those who carried a balance on their credit cards or purchased vehicles by borrowing, those loans were no longer deductable. So while the rich had their tax rates lowered, the working poor and middle class had their taxes increased. Conservative talk show pundits and some historians point to this legislation as a landmark in lowering the taxes of Americans. They say that the result of this legislation was economic stimulation that proves that tax cuts are the answer to stimulating the economy and increased tax revenue. They say that as the Result of the Tax Reform Act of 1986 revenue grew shortly after the Act was implemented. While that may be true, it was done by collecting billions of dollars from the poor and middle classes who were no longer able to write off consumer debt and was in fact a tax increase. Even with the additional tax revenue, the Reagan administration left the American people in 1989 with record deficits.
The Tax Reform Act was just part of Reagan’s overall thoughts regarding the economy. He and his economic advisors, led in part by Budget Director David Stockman were big believers in “Supply Side Economics” which was really a cover for the term “trickle-down economics.” Stockman himself later renounced supply side economics. Trickle-down economics was the theory that if you primed the pump, appropriating money at the top of the economic spectrum, it would trickle down to those at the middle class. Therefore many of the tax breaks Reagan believed in were directed toward the top wage earners. Along with the democratically controlled congress, Reagan signed legislation that moved the highest tax bracket from 70% to 28% (the democrats had it both ways too). During the primary elections in 1980 Reagan touted his theory of supply side economics. His opponent and later Vice President George H.W. Bush called this “voodoo economics.” The result being that to this day, the wealthy pay a lower, disproportionate amount of taxes compared to that of the middle class. During the 1980’s the top income gains went to 1 to 2 percent of the wealthiest in the population.
As a result of the Reagan era tax strategy and out of control spending much of it on military spending, the US had the slowest economic growth decade since the end of World War II. But that was not all. National debt as a percentage of the overall economy, doubled under his presidency. The damage would not cleared up for a decade, and done so under democrat president Bill Clinton.
America changed dramatically under Ronald Reagan; but not necessarily for the better. Some want to deify him. It is certainly true that a lot has been named after him. A large government office building in Washington D.C. that was conceived during his time in office (and was completed late and over budget) was named after him. Shortly after leaving office the airport in Washington D.C. was named after Reagan. Since he was the Commander and Chief he has had an aircraft carrier named after him. But that is not all. Others want his picture on US currency. In California, someone is trying to rename a 4,000 ft. peak after him crowning it Mt. Reagan. Of course he has his library and one of two jets used as Air Force One while he was president as a featured attraction.
So what is the real Reagan legacy? The term “plausible deniability” was coined from the Iran Contra scandal. It meant that if subordinates operated a clandestine mission and did not tell the boss about it, the chief executive could claim that he had no knowledge of the operation itself. This, knowing all along that it furthered policy supported by the chief executive himself. It was also an era where public relations coined terms that were the opposite of was really being done. The Tax Reform Act of 1986 was really a tax hike on the poor and middle classes. But before anyone really realized what was happening they were all too happy to have their taxes cut. Too bad it just was not for most of them. “The Patriot Act” was a similar term coined by George W. Bush. It allowed sweeping reforms on our claims to privacy and walked right up to the line in terms of protections guaranteed us by the Constitution of this country. All of us wanted to be considered patriots. Little did we know it was little more than a give-back of our personal freedoms. The terminology of re-badging bad as good was not originated by Reagan, but he added to it use and helped perfect this phraseology which is all too commonplace today.
So while there was a great military build-up during Reagan, there was also a great consolidation of military facilities. Much of the consolidation decisions were made for political reasons leaving intact bases and installations that resided in conservative districts. This consolidation economically devastated many communities across the country. To this day these cities and towns are struggling to recover from Reagan era base closures. While we bankrupted the Soviet Union ending Soviet communism which culminated during the Reagan era, we nearly bankrupted ourselves in the process. But if you were a defense contractor, the 1980’s where the good old days. Parts and tools such as screws, wrenches and even toilet seats were being billed to the government at rates hundreds if not thousands of times their cost with nearly no oversight from military procurement officials. While the few benefited greatly from Reagan’s economic policies and military build up, many more were left with less.
Throughout history there have been haves and have not’s. But the United States had always been the land where someone could make it with hard work and determination. The playing field had largely been leveled and a relative peace had been reached between labor and management. Each had carved out a comfort zone for themselves in the decades following World War II. It was not until Reagan became president and supply side economics had given one side an advantage over another had this tentative detente between labor and management been broken. Setting conservatives up against liberals and playing their ideologies against each other became a Reagan trademark that has reached new heights today. That may be the great legacy left by President Ronald Reagan.
*James Baker went on to spend the second term as Secretary of the Treasury. Michael Deaver left public service to start his own lobbying firm and was known to have the ear of the first lady. Edwin Meese became Attorney General.
