Reagan & Iran-Contra Scandal
Tatum Hausmann
Reagan’s Political Rise
Reagan grew up in Dixon Illinois. After graduating from Eureka College in 1932, Reagan worked as a sports broadcaster at an Iowa radio station. In 1937 he took a Hollywood screen test and won a contract from a movie company. Over the next 25 years he made over 50 movies. When he was a broadcaster and actor, Reagan learned how to speak publicly and how to project, skills that proved valuable when he entered politics. In 1947 Reagan became president of the actors union. By 1964 Reagan had become such a popular national speaker that Berry Goldwater asked him to make a political speech on behalf of Goldwater’s presidential campaign. His speech impressed wealthy entrepreneurs in California. They convinced him to run for governor of California in 1966. Reagan won the election and was reelected in 1970. Ten years later, he won the Republican presidential nomination.
Reagan’s Domestic Policies
Ronald Reagan believed that the key to restoring the economy and overcoming problems in society was to get Americans to believe in society was to get Americans to believe in themselves again. He expressed this idea in his Inaugural Address.
Reagan's Domestic Policies
Iran Contra Scandal
Policy of Nuclear Weapons
Despite Reagan's decision to deploy missiles in Europe, Reagan generally disagreed with the military strategy known as nuclear deterrence, sometimes called mutual assured destruction. Reagan believed that mutual assured destruction was immoral because it depended on the threat to kill massive numbers of people. He also felt that if nuclear war did begin, there would be no way to defend the US. In March 1983, Reagan proposed the Strategic Defense Initiative. This plan, Nicknamed Star Wars, called for the development of weapons that could intercept and destroy incoming missiles.