President Jimmy Carter And President Ronald Reagan example essay topic

The Presidency as an institution Both the administration of Carter and Reagan were shaped by the Cold War in the aftermath of Watergate. Watergate created cynicism of the government, which in turn made governing difficult both intentionally as well as improvisational because the institution of the President was seen as acting in the best interest of itself. President Jimmy Carter and President Ronald Reagan both had their difficulties as President. Carter had terrible problems with economics as our country underwent high unemployment as well as many other economic problems.

Reagan was one of the unfortunate Presidents that had to deal with assassination attempts. Both Presidents had great accomplishments both foreign and domestic. Carter ran as an anti-Washington establishment candidate. Reagan was elected four years later on a mandate for less government. The Carter and Reagan administrations are the start of an institutional evolution of the Presidency. Reagan was good at the institutional end of the Presidency because of his belief in limited government and his ability to communicate what many in the country were feeling during the poor economy of the late 1970's.

Reagan was able to efficiently adapt to situations by using immediate change to his advantage-surviving an assassination to garner support for his tax plan and understanding the circumstances in the former Soviet Union that, with proper engagement in this "fog" of the Cold War, help bring about the demise of communism as a major power in Europe. Page 2 Reagan's success in changing to adapt to the political terrain, yet staying on his limited core intentions, can be used as a benchmark for change in the institution of the Presidency. With excellent communication skills and intuition for reading the changes inherent in politics, Reagan was able to not only gain support for his plans and reactions, but also become the "Teflon President". President Jimmy Carter had trouble with the intention of his Presidency because he alienated his own political party, and received little assistance from the Republicans. Carter shunned Speaker of the House Thomas O'Neill offer to advise him on congressional relations. Carter also made fellow Democrats angry when he dropped a controversial tax rebate that he and other Democrats had worked on, right from under their noses.

However, 1978 was a successful year for President Carter, he personally negotiated a peace agreement between Israel and Egypt. Carter went against his aides advice to stay out of the negotiations between the nations, and decided to put his prestige on the line. He invited Sadat the Prime Minister of Egypt and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin to meet with him at Camp David in an effort to reconcile the two nations. Carter helped secure an agreement between the sides and won national as well as world wide praise for helping the sides come together in peace.

This success was near forgotten when in 1979, a mob of Iranian students stormed the American embassy in Tehran, taking ninety hostages. On top of this Muslim fundamentalists seized power in Iran, cutting off oil supply to the United States. This only worsened economics in America, and Carter was blamed for the economic problems Page 3 of the United States. The economy dipped so much that inflation rose to an astronomical figure of 18%. Inflation rates stuck around in double figures for most of the time during the end of the Carter Presidency. High unemployment rates as well as high interest rates were put on the back burner as Carter tried to solve the Iranian hostage crisis as well as the shortage of fuel, which is one of the reasons why the economy spiraled downhill.

As far as improvisational, Carter struggled in dealing with the Iranian Hostage Crisis. No plan was ever developed for the release of the hostages on a diplomatic level. This lead to a disaster of sorts in rescue attempts. Carter ended up never resolving the crisis, and it didn't end until President Reagan took office in 1981, that the crisis ended.

Carter also had difficulty with the improvisational part of his administration because he couldn't adapt to changing circumstances like the Iranian hostage crisis situation and dealing with the economy. Reagan was good at the institutional end of the Presidency because of his belief in limited government and his ability to communicate. He was President when America was under economic hardship. Reagan's Presidential plans were to cut taxes to try and help the lagging economy, as well fight communism. His plans however, were overshadowed by the fact that an attempt to take his life had put his health at risk. Reagan got approval from congress for his tax plan to restructure America and help regain some sort of economic base.

Reagan had a very acute leadership and historical impact during his Presidency. Page 4 He had strong general convictions, he set his administrations overall priorities early on. He obviously placed his defensive buildup and his economic programs a head of everything else. He was very tactically flexible; he often showed no regret when he had to adjust to political opposition or to changed circumstances. He was also a great negotiator, setting his demands higher than the minimum, and accepting what he could get, making his decisions easily and promptly. His intentions were to increase military spending, knowing that the Soviet Union was slowly falling apart, especially on the eastern front.

He took the Cold War into space, by setting up a system that he thought would save the world from Cold War. Improvisation ally, the Iran-Contra affair was two-fold. Americans were being kidnapped in the Middle East. Members of the Reagan administration sold weapons to Iran to persuade them to intervene with a group of Islamic militants who were holding a number of Americans hostage in Lebanon. They then used the money made from arms sales to aid the rebel Contra guerillas seeking to overthrow the left-leaning government of Nicaragua.

This was almost a disaster for the Reagan administration, as Reagan wasn't fully informed by his staff of what was going on. His staff took blame for what happened and Reagan was off the hook. As far as intentional Presidencies, Reagan and Carter both had many times where they did things they felt necessary to do, no matter what was required of them or not, whether their administration recommended it; such as when Carter helped negotiate a peace agreement between Israel and Egypt, which was tearing apart the Middle East at the time. Carter gained praises not only from Americans, but also from people world-Page 5 wide. Reagan had to deal with economics when he became President. He realized that something needed to be done for our struggling economic structure.

Intentionally, Reagan had to do something about the economic structure and did so by proposing a tax cut that was passed by congress and in turn helped our economy get back on its feet. Both the administration of Carter and Reagan were shaped by the Cold War in the aftermath of Watergate. Carter and Reagan suffered many difficulties during their Presidencies in which they fought through and helped re-shape the Presidency during the Cold War and the aftermath of Watergate.