Why was Reagan's presidency so significant?
About this video
John Dickerson explains Ronald Reagan's significance in two areas. At home, he broke with the New Deal and Great Society by arguing that government was the problem, not the solution; abroad, his defense build-up and hard line against the Soviet Union, combined with willingness to negotiate, helped end the Cold War.
You'll be able to
- explain how Reagan's view of government broke with the New Deal and Great Society.
- describe Reagan's foreign policy toward the Soviet Union.
- explain how Reagan helped bring about the end of the Cold War.
Key words
- New Deal
- Franklin D. Roosevelt's programs that expanded the federal government's role in helping Americans.
- Great Society
- Lyndon Johnson's programs to fight poverty and expand government help.
- inaugural address
- The speech a president gives when taking office.
- Cold War
- The long rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union, without direct full-scale war.
- ideological
- Based on a set of strong ideas or beliefs about how things should work.
Transcript
- [Narrator] Why Ronald Reagan's presidency so significant?
- Ronald Reagan plays an important role in the modern presidency for two big things that he did. One on the domestic front, he broke considerably with the kind of way of doing things in Washington. He basically in response to the New Deal, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and the Great Society from Lyndon Johnson, President Reagan came in and said no longer is government your friend in American life.
The government is actually the problem. This is the message of his inaugural address. And he broke with the idea that the federal government through the application of its resources, could help American life, which was a very stark ideological break with the way the American government had been going since the mid 40s.
And then on foreign policy, his increased defense spending and his very strong position against the Soviet Union coupled with a willingness to actually negotiate with the Soviet Union, which got him a lot of grief from conservatives in his party, that both hard line and ability to negotiate helped usher in the end of the Cold War.
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