Short Program: The Presidency of Ronald Reagan June 29 - July 2, 2016

Thirty-five years ago, Ronald Reagan was elected president of the United States. In his inaugural address, Reagan laid out the basic principles of what would come to be known as the Reagan Revolution. Announcing a departure from the liberal political order embodied in Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal or Lyndon Johnson's Great Society, Reagan told the American people: "In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem." The revolution extended to foreign policy as well. Rejecting both containment and détente, Reagan promised to end the Cold War with the Soviet Union by winning it.

Reagan's legacy and the success of the Reagan Revolution is hotly contested. For some, he is a hero whose economic policy rescued the American economy from the twin scourges of inflation and stagnation by freeing capital from the shackles of liberal economic and social policy. On the world stage, Reagan revived the nation's reputation from the Vietnam disaster, projected American strength abroad, and finally ended the Cold War, as he had promised. Others, however, point to less salutary aspects of the Reagan legacy. The campaign against stagflation and the liberal state came at a cost. Poverty rates spiked in the 1980s, economic inequality widened, the urban crisis worsened and even working- and middle-class families faced greater economic insecurity. Victory in the Cold War likewise carried a heavy price. Rising defense expenditures, in combination with massive tax cuts, led to unprecedented deficits and spiraling debt. The Reagan Doctrine, which abandoned any human rights principles, tied the United States to brutal regimes throughout the world. The AIDS epidemic grew unchecked, and the drug war arguably increased international instability and widened economic and racial inequality at home.

In this Alumni College, we'll analyze Reagan's presidency in both domestic and foreign policy and seek to understand the long-term legacy of the Reagan Revolution. While the majority of the lectures will focus on the 1980s, we'll also examine Reagan's career before the White House and analyze Reagan's relationship to broader political, social, and economic phenomena- including transatlantic neo-liberalism, deindustrialization, and political polarization-at home and abroad.

Among the W&L faculty serving this program are Molly Michelmore, associate professor of history; Bob Strong, William Lyne Wilson Professor of Politics; and emeritus politics professor Wayne Thompson. Tom Blanton, director of the National Security Archive at George Washington University and the Archive's Cold War expert Svetlana Savranaska will also join us.

Above: image from U.S. National Archives and Records Administration