Ronald Reagan, president of the United States from 1981 to 1989, made profound and lasting changes to the country--and arguably, to the world. We can still feel his influence today in three key areas, detailed below: economic policy, communication, and foreign policy.

1. Economic policy
Ronald Reagan was the first conservative president of the United States in the period following World War II (1939-1945). Although other Republican presidents--Dwight D. Eisenhower and Richard M. Nixon--occupied the White House before him, these presidents were considered moderates rather than conservatives. Neither Eisenhower nor Nixon challenged the basic assumptions of the New Deal policies put in place by former Democratic president Franklin D. Roosevelt. These policies, largely a response to the Great Depression, maintained that the federal government should provide a social safety net for its citizens to protect them from economic ruin, while also helping to regulate the economy and the business practices of corporations. (See also History of United States Business).

Ronald Reagan challenged these assumptions as the leader of the conservative wing of the Republican Party. "Government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem," Reagan famously remarked in his first inaugural address. And in this simple declarative statement, he set the overriding theme of his presidency. For Reagan and other conservatives, government had grown too big, it meddled in people's lives and businesses, and it interfered with an economy that they believed was better left free and unfettered by government regulation. Reagan's primary economic goals were to reduce taxes and government spending in order to leave more money in the hands of citizens. As part of his plan to cut government spending, he also sought to roll back the institutions and policies of the New Deal. Reagan's beliefs clearly struck a chord with many Americans. His antigovernment message went from being viewed as far right to being accepted as mainstream. Even Democratic president Bill Clinton would later echo Reagan in pronouncing the end of "big government."

Reagan was one of the most popular presidents in United States history. Known as the Great Communicator, he possessed an ability to connect with the public that few political leaders have enjoyed. His earlier career as a Hollywood actor allowed him to appear comfortable before television cameras and large audiences. Even before he ran for president, Reagan was a familiar figure to Americans, having starred in more than 50 motion pictures and having hosted, from 1954 to 1962, the popular television program GE Theater.

During the 1980 presidential debates, Reagan easily disarmed his opponent, incumbent Democratic president Jimmy Carter, with the remark, "There you go again," shaking his head in despair as he charged Carter with misrepresenting his positions. Reagan easily defeated Carter, taking 489 votes in the Electoral College to Carter's 49 (Reagan won 51 percent of the popular vote to Carter's 41 percent). After an initial dip in his approval ratings early in his first term, Reagan's popularity began to rise. By the time he sought a second term, he was virtually unbeatable, and in the 1984 elections, he carried every state but one.

By 1985, the media was referring to the "Teflon presidency" because bad news never seemed to stick to Reagan. Despite numerous political scandals involving members of his Cabinet and despite a historically high unemployment rate of 10.8 percent early in his presidency, most people did not blame Reagan for these failings. His image was only slightly tarnished by the Iran-Contra Affair, the worst scandal of his administration. The scandal involved the secret sale of arms to Iran in an attempt to obtain the release of hostages. Profits from the arms sales were then used to skirt a congressional ban on arming the contra guerrillas in Nicaragua.

In a 1987 television address Reagan called the arms sales to Iran, a nation known as a supporter of terrorism, a "mistake," but he denied knowing about the diversion of funds to the contras. This admission left the public with the impression that Reagan either was asleep at the wheel or had, in fact, known about it all along.

But Reagan still left office with strong approval ratings, in part because of his self-deprecating manner and in part because of the aura of unshakable optimism he projected. While few political leaders have communicated as effortlessly or as effectively as Reagan, many American politicians in the post-Reagan era have sought--with varying degrees of success--to emulate his relaxed good humor and his sense of a personal connection with the people.

For many people the Reagan presidency may one day be best known for helping end the Cold War and bringing about the dissolution of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). "Ronald Reagan had a higher claim than any other leader to have won the Cold War for liberty, and he did it without a shot being fired," according to former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher. Here again, Reagan broke with previous presidents, including former president Nixon, who had urged a policy of détente with the Soviet Union.

In a 1983 speech, Reagan labeled the Soviet Union an "evil empire," injecting a strong moral component into U.S. foreign policy. In the same speech Reagan proposed building a missile defense system, dubbed the Star Wars system, or Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), to protect the United States from a long-range ballistic missile attack and potentially giving the United States a first-strike capability against the Soviets. (See also Reagan on the Strategic Defense Initiative).

Many political observers credit Reagan's foreign policy and massive military spending with the eventual demise of the Soviet Union in 1991. They argue that the strains placed on the Soviet Union by its effort to match the U.S. military buildup under Reagan caused the Soviet economy to implode, hastening the collapse of the Soviet government. Other observers, however, assert that the fall of the Soviet Union was due mainly to massive internal contradictions, rather than an external threat. (See also History of United States Foreign Policy).

Scholars will undoubtedly debate this issue for decades to come. The debate notwithstanding, the emergence of the United States as the world's sole superpower has posed the key challenge for the presidents who succeeded Ronald Reagan. In leading the United States through the turbulent decade of the 1980s, the Reagan presidency set the stage for the history being made today, and in many ways, it set the parameters for the debate on how the United States should proceed along the road ahead.