Ronald Reagan Ronald Reagan example essay topic

Reagan: A True American Hero"We will continue our quest in space. There will be more flights and more space shuttle crews. And, yes, more volunteers". -Ronald Reagan Ronald Reagan, viewed by some as a true American hero, was as stupendous as presidents can be. His dramatic speeches and down-to-earth personality made people proud to be American. Ronald Reagan seemed more then American.

He was patriot. Ronald Reagan cared deeply for the American people as well at their values. Our nation now felt, with Reagan's assistance, united. After a nation torn apart by the specter or war, Ronald brought the people together again. However, disaster can unite or divide a country. At a difficult time, when the Challenger exploded, Ronald Reagan inspired his nation to realize that we are modern day explorers, and disaster may be the price that must by paid.

Certain elements in Ronald's life prepared him to be an effective ruler at a critical time. Reagan did not start out as a man of politics. In fact, he made his debut as an actor. Although he never made it to Hollywood, he would often appear in grade "B" romance films (Fox V. 73-80.) In his early years of politics, 1964 to be exact, Ronald supported and rallied for Barry Goldwater, a republican presidential candidate.

It was a strange twist of irony, because at the time, Reagan was an ultraliberal. This may have come from the preposterous fact that Reagan knew very little about politics. It was said that Barry Goldwater drew Reagan to the more conservative side of politics. When Reagan finally began to get enthralled with politics, he ran for governor of California. He got elected in 1966 (Fox V 90-103.) Since Reagan was very liberal in a turbulent time, he used superfluous police force in events which he deemed "riots".

Because of this, he was an outcast by the minority community. Since Ronald Reagan was very liberal, he had an open mind to influences. In his early acting years, he was a member of the Screen Actors Guild, where he learned small-scale government procedures (Fox V. 73-80.) Reagan was also a supporter of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who helped Reagan to be more conservative. Nancy, Reagan's wife, also heavily influenced Reagan, especially on anti-drug matter.

Another huge impact on Reagan was Nixon. First, Reagan helped him to get into presidency. Then, when Nixon's term was over, Reagan ran against him (Brown 47.) When Ronald got into office, he set a number of primary goals for his campaign. One of his biggest goals was to put a stop to terrorism. When a bomb exploded in a U.S. soldiers' barracks in Lebanon, 1983, Reagan became enraged.

Hew as bent on stopping the suspected culprit, Mammal al-Quddadafi, a Lybiandictator. He never succeeded in doing this. In addition, he wanted to put a stop to the ongoing violence in Israel, especially when Israel invaded Lebanon. ("Ronald Reagan" 236.) Many may say that Ronald Reagan's ideals were far out of reach. Some saw his goals as "chameleon-like", often changing his opinions to appeal to a particular group. In addition, he caused a great amount of tension between the US and the Soviet Union by ordering to replenish the U.S. nuclear arsenal by 25%.

Overall, middle-class and upper-class people agreed with him. His orders to increase the arsenal sent the national debt down to 3 trillion dollars, one of the worst amount of debt to be drained by one president. All of the extra nuclear weapons and debt were because of his almost paranoid fear of the Soviets. (Fox M. Virginia 88-11.) Overall, Ronald was the right person at a critical time because his choices always seemed right. At the time of Reagan's prominence, the attention of the country was focused on the Challenger explosion. On the highly public mission, a civilian school teacher was the first to be in space.

In effect, this mission was to have a huge impact on NASA. Little did NASA know, it would have a bigger effect then they had hoped. While the cause of the crash is officially unknown, there are two main theories of why it suddenly exploded. One theory is there was a faulty oxygen tank, which in turn ignited.

It is thought that a spark caused by static electricity caused the tank to explode. Another theory states that there was a loose ceramic tile on the side of the shuttle. This loose tile fell off, causing massive air resistance, essentially shaking the shuttle to pieces (Brown 34.) In addition, political tension may have contributed to the explosion. Increased NASA spending lead to a quantity vs. quality situation. Nasa chose quantity. Ronald Reagan wanted to launch the flight ahead of schedule to prove a point to the Soviets.

Many safety and inspection procedures were bypassed (Fox V 58-60.) To make the matter more tragic, every person in America saw the challenger explode. As a result of this problem, some effects occurred. Because of the explosion, no more space shuttles were commissioned. Also, the real odds of disaster were realized.

Every shuttle has a 1/24 chance of disaster. NASA's public appeal was crushed, and it lost funding (Ronald Reagan 284.) Reagan postponed the next shuttle flight in December to 1986 (Fox V. 138) Overall, at the time that Reagan spoke to the country, the nation was facing a tremendous loss. In his speech, given on Jan 28, 1986, Ronald Reagan illuminated the value of patriotism for his countrymen. Reagan sympathized with the nations' loss, keeping in mind that we have just begun space exploration.

"We will never forget them nor the last time we saw them this morning as they prepared for their journey", his speech read with a tone of strength, but a hint of regret. Ronald Reagan proved that we must have a cost for what we accomplish. Patriotism is soaked in his speech. He continues mentioning how the nation must mourn their loss. Reagan acknowledges the obstacles and the challenges the crew overcame. He then mentions the names of the perished crew to commemorate their death.

He then gives an apology to all the school children who witnessed the tragedy on live TV. He assumes his people from the space program have nothing to hide, and will continue to thrive in the public. I feel the president prescribed the remedy of patriotism in his speech. He wants America to be proud even in the face of danger. The people ate this up and generally agreed with it. (Speech) Reagan's speech was to go down as one of history's best.

Ironically, it wasn't written by him. It was composed by Peggy Noonan, one of the White House's best speech writers. On a personal note, I feel this speech gave a beacon of hope to a nation in need. It captivates the nation's disaster and made the burden seem less. Inthe end, Regan was one of the most influential leaders of the 20th century. Even when hes not with us anymore, the effects that he left, both positive and negative, will dwell in the belly of our nation.