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US History – The Presidency of Ronald Reagan, 1981-89
In this course, Dr James Cooper (York St John University) explores the presidency of Ronald Reagan (1981-89). After a brief introduction in which we think about Reagan’s legacy today, the subsequent five modules explore five key questions relating to his presidency: (1) How successful were Reagan’s economic policies? To what extent were the benefits spread fairly across American society?; (2) To what extent did Reagan reduce ‘big government’?; (3) What was the nature and extent of social change during Reagan’s presidency?; (4) To what extent did Reagan ‘revitalise’ the presidency and US politics in general?; and (5) How successful was Reagan’s foreign policy?
Introduction
In this module, we provide a brief introduction to Ronald Reagan and his legacy. Where does Reagan rank in the Presidential Hall of Fame?
Hello. My name is James Cooper.
00:00:05I'm senior lecturer in American history at York ST John University.
00:00:07And today we're gonna be talking about Ronald Reagan and his legacy.
00:00:11So who was Ronald Reagan? Well, for Reagan, Um, he was a transformative president.
00:00:15Most historians do agree on that point for his proponents,
00:00:20Ronald Reagan reversed American decline
00:00:24and ended or even won the Cold War for his opponents.
00:00:26So people who do not like Ronald Reagan,
00:00:31he left behind a legacy of income inequality, huge national debt,
00:00:33the feminisation of poverty
00:00:38and really kind of saddled America with such debt that almost social programmes and
00:00:40all sorts of like universal healthcare and some off the table for a generation.
00:00:45But was Ronald Reagan a dunce as often as critics claim he was,
00:00:51or was he actually quite smart?
00:00:54Was he actually an effective, smart executive? Well, I think he was a bit of both.
00:00:56I think for me, Ronald Reagan is best seen.
00:01:01The real Ron Reagan is best seen or been in an exaggerated
00:01:03sense in the Saturday Night Live sketch from the 19 eighties.
00:01:06111, the one hand rake.
00:01:10It is kind of the bumbling grandfather of America,
00:01:12engaging and talking to a Girl Scouts congratulate and selling
00:01:15a record number of Girl Scout cookies whilst actually,
00:01:19then go behind to another room
00:01:22and meeting all the all of his advisers, then being the idiots.
00:01:24They're not knowing what's going on and only him
00:01:28really knowing the master plan for world domination.
00:01:29But where does Reagan stand in the pantheon of American presidents?
00:01:33Well, I think for life historians,
00:01:36there are three great presidents. There's George Washington, of course.
00:01:38He was the first.
00:01:41Abraham Lincoln, the man who won the Civil War, saved the union and free the slaves.
00:01:42And Franklin Delano Roosevelt,
00:01:48the guy who saved capitalism from itself of his new deal in the 19 thirties and,
00:01:49of course, won the Second World War.
00:01:54But Reagan probably ranks ever in the second tier of American presence.
00:01:58Where, what Reagan does, he changes the direction of American politics.
00:02:01It changed the discourse around American politics.
00:02:06It changed what people think America should be about. That's where Reagan falls
00:02:09
Cite this Lecture
APA style
Cooper, J. (2019, November 17). US History – The Presidency of Ronald Reagan, 1981-89 - Introduction [Video]. MASSOLIT. https://massolit.io/courses/the-presidency-of-ronald-reagan-1981-89
MLA style
Cooper, J. "US History – The Presidency of Ronald Reagan, 1981-89 – Introduction." MASSOLIT, uploaded by MASSOLIT, 17 Nov 2019, https://massolit.io/courses/the-presidency-of-ronald-reagan-1981-89