mid+20th+centruy+group+5+a+Ronald+Reagan+elected+president+(+1980)

=Ronald Reagan elected president (1980)=

Overview
Ronald Reagan won the Republican Presidential nomination in 1980 and chose as his running mate former Texas Congressman and United Nations Ambassador George Bush. Voters troubled by inflation and by the year-long American involvement in Iran swept the Republican ticket into office. Reagan won in a landslide against Jimmy Carter and became the 40th and oldest president to be elected. On January 20, 1981, Reagan took office and throughout his two terms as president he did much to improve economic growth, curb inflation, increase employment, and strengthen national defense. Reagan led a conservative revolution that set the economic and cultural tone of the 1980s, hastened the end of the Cold War and revitalized the Republican Party.

Critical Issue
Ronald Reagan embarked upon a course of cutting taxes and Government expenditures, refusing to deviate from it when the strengthening of defense forces led to a large deficit. A renewal of national self-confidence by 1984 helped Reagan and Bush win a second term with an unprecedented number of electoral votes. Their victory turned away Democratic challengers Walter F. Mondale and Geraldine Ferraro. In 1986 Reagan obtained an overhaul of the income tax code, which eliminated many deductions and exempted millions of people with low incomes. At the end of his administration, the Nation was enjoying its longest recorded period of peacetime prosperity without recession or depression.

Conclusion/Historical Significance
At the end of his two terms in office, Ronald Reagan viewed with satisfaction the achievements of his innovative program known as the Reagan Revolution, which aimed to give new life to the American people and reduce their reliance upon Government. He felt he had fulfilled his campaign pledge of 1980 to restore "the great, confident roar of American progress and growth and optimism."Overall, the Reagan years saw a restoration of prosperity, and the goal of peace through strength seemed to be within grasp.