Reagan in the 80's - Did He Help or Hurt America

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English 12 September 10, 2013 Reagan in the 80’s – Did he help or hurt America? In 1980, troubled by an unstable economy, a hostage crisis overseas, and the end of prior administrations that were not trusted, America elected Ronald Reagan by a landslide margin of victory over Jimmy Carter. At sixty-nine years old, he was the oldest President to be elected. He was born in a small town in Illinois and served two terms as California governor starting in 1966. Reagan's track record proved to be very strong and included welfare cuts, decreasing the number of state employees, and halting radical student protesters. Like other GOP members, Reagan came into office promising to limit the power of government and to strengthen American military power overseas. "In this present crisis," Reagan said in his inaugural address, "government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem."(Reaganomics). On March 30, 1981, only a few short months after being sworn in, President Reagan was leaving the Washington Hilton Hotel from giving a speech to a group of trade unionists at the National Conference of Building and Construction Trades Department, when he was shot by John Hinckley, Jr. Six shots were fired from a .22-caliber revolver, one hitting the President in the torso, just under his left arm. President Reagan was very lucky that the bullet didn’t explode and it missed his heart. Despite it all, Mr. President remained in good spirits throughout the 12 days in the hospital and made some now famous, humorous comments to his wife, such as “Honey, I forgot to duck.” (Reagan Assassination Attempt) John Hinckley, Jr. was arrested for the attempted assassination of President Reagan and was found “not guilty by reason of insanity” on all 13 counts against him on June 21, 1982. Once he recovered from the shooting, the President wasted
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