Ronald Reagan Day

Of the 45 presidents of the United States, it is certainly impossible not to mention the tough, optimistic and decisive president that has brought a positive influence to the United States, President Ronald Reagan. In honor and memory of him, February 6 of each year is celebrated as Ronald Reagan Day, this date is taken after his birth date, February 6, 1911.

On March 30, 1981, just 69 days after President Reagan took office, there was an incident that shocked the world - he was assassinated.

The position of President of the United States is a glorious honor, but not an easy one. America only has more than 200 years of history, through 45 presidents, 9 presidents were assassinated, of which 4 were killed and 5 survived. President Ronald Wilson Reagan was one of those lucky survivors.

Compared to another American president who was assassinated, President Reagan was very lucky. He was also the first president in the history of the United States to be shot and survived, and he recovered extremely quickly. On the 2nd day after the surgery, he was able to meet the visitors and was discharged on the 13th day.

For American leaders during the Cold War, the worst and most serious thing was that the two countries opened fire.

Although the US has applied and implemented emergency measures well after the assassination of the leader, the assassination of the president is nonetheless a heavy blow to this "world hegemon".

At 2:27 p.m. on March 30, 1981, President Reagan was about to get in his car to leave the hotel. John Hinckley shuffled through the crowd and found a gap and fired six shots, but fortunately did not hit the president directly. One of the bullets after hitting the armored vehicle and rebounding hit President Reagan's armpit, and the bullet was 3 cm from his heart.

The first reaction of the people after the incident was that this was an assassination plan by Soviet spies, and the entire United States was on emergency alert for several hours. People have begun to worry about whether hundreds of nuclear bombs are flying overhead.

Fortunately, war was not in the Soviet plan, and Reagan also announced that he was safe a few hours later. If President Reagan was assassinated and lost his life, perhaps a "third world war" would break out, then America would now be a different form.

When President Reagan took office, the United States had just experienced the great impact of the Vietnam War, and the United States he took power was experiencing its worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.

During the crisis, industrial production in the United States fell by 13.8%, gross national product fell by 7.8%, and the country's unemployed population reached 8.5 million, with an unemployment rate is 8.9%. In addition, the US consumer price index increased by 15.3%. After the peak of the crisis in 1975, the US economy continued to grow slowly, with severe inflation, by 1980 it fell into an economic crisis again, the unemployment rate reached 10.8%, the number of unemployed up to more than 12 million people, inflation hit double digits.

The American people at this time hope that the new president can make a heroic feat.

President Reagan certainly did. Before Reagan came to power, the people persisted in Keynesianism, believing that as long as government needs and fiscal deficits continued to widen, unemployment and inflation could be reduced.

But in fact, on the contrary, in order to expand the demand, releasing a large amount of currency into the market has caused severe inflation, causing great volatility, even stalling the entire market.

After Reagan came to power, he changed his previous method of "adjusting supply to demand", using economic theory of "supply science" and implementing Reagan economics.

Simply put, it is to curb inflation by controlling government spending and issuing currency. Through an increase in the economy and wealth can increase the national tax income under the premise of low tax rate, while increasing the wealth of the people.

Reagan economics successfully pulled America out of the quagmire, and a series of economic policies began to bear fruit in late 1982.

In August 1983, the index of US industrial production rose for nine consecutive months and was very close to its pre-crisis high. GDP grew 4.5% that year, and economic growth in some quarters was as high as 8%. A total of 3.5 million jobs were added in 1983, and this trend continued into the 1984 US presidential election year.

President Ronald Reagan overcame Lincoln and George Washington in the 4-term poll of the American television program "The Greatest American" hosted by Matt Lauer in 2005. This may indicate the position of President Reagan in the eyes of the American people.

President Reagan's influence on the US economy and subsequent strategic layout also directly changed the world model.

At that time, the dominant view of the West towards the Soviet Union was: the era of the Soviet Union is coming, and the Western world must cooperate with them. However, Reagan, who had always held strong anti-communist beliefs, believed that the worst thing in the Soviet Union was "to go against the tide of human history and wipe out the freedom and dignity of the people". Therefore, he spared no effort to resolutely oppose communism, and he was also the first world-class leader to believe that communism would collapse.

To achieve this goal, President Reagan advocated taking advantage of the Soviet Union, which was in a serious economic crisis, cutting off scientific and technological exchanges between the Soviet Union and the West, making the crisis even worse, pull it down. He even did not hesitate to spend several times the defense budget to expand armament and increase nuclear threat force, including the implementation of the Star Wars program that made the Soviet Union spend heavily in the arms race with the US. On the issue of relations with China, President Reagan praised the "Taiwan Cooperation Act" and affirmed to continue selling arms to Taiwan.

In 1983, Reagan announced a strategic anti-ballistic missile plan, the "Star Wars Plan", which directly drew the Soviet Union into the bottomless pit of space competition. Therefore, Reagan was called the "gunner" to dissolve the Soviet Union.

Reagan firmly believed in the value and power of freedom, and he clearly recognized the "cliché of great lies" of communism. In two election campaigns and many speeches, he mentioned: "The march towards freedom and democracy will bury Marxism-Leninism in the dust of history". He also took the lead in calling the Soviet Union the "Evil Empire" and the "Center of Evil of the Modern World".

Following President Reagan's unwavering anti-communist convictions, communism was now subject to unprecedented constraints and the Berlin Wall, which symbolized the separation of the democratic world from the communists, was also abandoned before his eight-year term was about to expire and he left the White House, following the end of the cold war.

Reagan went from an unknown schoolboy with no family background to becoming an American hero in the eyes of the American people, not only thanks to his bright appearance and outstanding eloquence, but also his outstanding political ability and personal charm had a profound influence on the generation of Americans at that time

Observing Ronald Reagan Day

To celebrate Ronald Reagan Day, take the time to learn more about the life of this 40^th president of the United States. Give solemn words to his memory. Or head to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Museum to broaden your horizons. Share to everyone with the hashtag #RonaldReaganDay.