The Presidencies of Harry Truman and Ronald Reagan - Essay Example

Introduction Harry S. Truman, born on May 8, became the 33rd President of the United States on 1945 after the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt. Ronald Wilson Reagan was the president of United States from 1981 to 1989. Both served the two constitutional terms in office. Their presidencies are comparable, especially on the bold steps they took in regards to involvement in foreign affairs and changes that they introduced domestically through various policies and legislations. Harry Truman’s policies Harry Truman is known to have effected numerous foreign policies that had various effects both internally and outside the United States. The 1947 National Security Act enacted through Truman’s administration allowed significant reorganization and realignment of the United States foreign policy as well as the intelligent agencies and the Armed Forces. The Act resulted creation of the Department of Defense after the merging of the Department of the Navy and the Department of War, and the creation of the Department of Air Force. Moreover, due to this legislation, the National Security Council was established. This Act was instrumental in the United States’ involvement in the Cold War, besides the Marshall Plan and the Truman Doctrine. The Truman Doctrine and the Marshal plan The Truman Doctrine was created on 1947 as a foreign policy that allowed President Truman to support Europe militarily and economically, and in particular, Greece and Turkey, with the aim of countering the Soviet Union and communism influence on these nations. After its declaration the tripartism, or rather the coalition governments including communists, ended. In this regard, the doctrine was able to contain communism and promoted democracy in Europe. Similarly, the Marshal plan that was established on 5th June 1945 entailed assistance to the European countries that were devastated by the World War II. It was also aimed at containing communism (Holsti, 1996). In addition to these policies, Truman supported strongly the establishment of the United Nations. These attempts were made after the Soviet Union went against the agreements commonly known as the Potsdam Convections that it had entered with the United States. The Potsdam Convention The Potsdam convention aimed at democratization of the nations that the three superpower had control over as well as the demilitarization of the three nations. The Soviet Union, however, went against the agreements prompting the United States under Truman agreement to initiate policies that would lead the U.S. together with the United Kingdom to a Cold War with the Soviet and denouncement of communism. Berlin Airlift The Berlin Airlift is a remarkable achievement in the administration of Truman. The event involved airlifting of cargo meant to supply food and other essential to the Western side of Berlin, which was under the control of the American allies. Through the combined effort of the British government, U.S. managed to bypass the blockade that the Soviet Union had put on the useful autobahn that West Berlin. This strategy left the Soviet Union authority with no options but to remove the access. This event was significant in preventing the spread of Soviet Union influence on West Germany; it is worth to note that the success of this operation promoted Truman’s election campaign (Giangreco, 1988). Truman’s domestic policies Faced with great challenges in domestic matters, Truman vetoed the Taft-Hartley Act that saw civil worker maintain order in their work place. Initially, his administration had experienced frequent workers strikes in the main and functional sectors of the economy, acute shortages and general disorder in public workplaces. The Taft-Hartley Act, however, allowed gave the President powers to take action against the striking workers by either substituting the workers with military service men or by compulsory enrolling these worker to the military. This strategy contained the striking workers and discouraged further strikes (Frum, 2000). Truman is also credited with the loyalty checks system that was aimed at eliminating proponents of communism from the government office, and the desegregation of the United States armed forces. However, the loyalty check strategy was soft on containing communism because Truman opposed its being mandatory. Ronald Reagan’s foreign policies The foreign policies implemented under the Reagan administration were eventful and remarkably opposed communism. First, his administration ended the détente, an initiative that was meant to reduce the Cold War tension existing between the United States and the Soviet Union. This action resulted to an escalation of the Cold War (The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, 2002). Furthermore, through the “peace through strength” policy, Reagan allowed a massive build up of the United States military strength (Bartels, 1991). In a bid to check the communism influence, the Reagan Doctrine was established. Through this, the United States supported the anti-communism movements through covert and overt means. Although some of the events, such as the Iran Contra Affair, that occurred because of this strategy were damaging to some the Reagan administration, the doctrine reduced Soviets Unions communist influence. It is during the Reagan administration that the Cold War ended through such efforts that were steered by his policies. He ratified an agreement with the Soviet Union under the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty that resulted to the ultimate decrease in nuclear weapons and other military weapons for the two world powers. It is argued that this event contributed immensely to the end of the Cold War (Freidel, & Hugh, 1995). Reagan’s domestic economic policies and legislations Ronald Reagan, unlike Truman, adopted the supply-side economics with the aim of reviving the United States economy. These policies, which are generally referred to as the Reaganomics, featured considerable tax cuts and deregulation with little government interference and financial intervention on businesses and other establishments (Karaagac, 2000). His administration effected various legislations that resulted to low taxes. One notable legislation was the 1981’s Economic Recovery Tax Act (or the Kemp-Roth Tax Cut) that sought to reduce the federal rates of income tax. Although there are contentions to the real effects of this economic policy in regards to the growth of the economy, it is undoubted that the U.S. economy grew significantly after its enactment. The recovery of the actual gross domestic product (GDP) was remarkable. What is more, the GDP grew at a robust rate after the recession of 1982, and continued to do so at an annual average rate of 3.4% for the rest of his office term (Bureau of Economic Analysis, 2007). Moreover, after a high percentage (10.8%) of unemployment in 1982, several employments opportunities emerged that led to about 16 billion people securing jobs (Appleby, Alan & James, 2003). At the same time, inflation decrease significantly to the benefit of the U.S. economy (Microsoft Corporation, 2009). Reagan also reviewed the existing tax code through the 1986 Tax Reform Act. Furthermore, he revoked the Windfall tax and enabled less reliance on external oil energy. According to the United States Department of the Treasury (2003), the net implication of the total bills implemented during Reagan presidency was a decrease of 1% in the government revenues. Reagan administration also resulted to less intervention on various establishments. He allowed budget cuts that led to reduced government financial support for programs such as food stamps, Environmental Protection Agency, Medicaid, and education programs; nonetheless, he safeguarded entitlement initiatives such as Medicare and Social Security programs (Reagan Presidential Foundation. The government’s failure to intervene in the Savings and Loan industry led to its crisis (Ely, 2009). It is also argued that this stance contributed to the crash of the equity market in 1987 (Bergsten, 2007). However, his liberalization of the domestic oil prices ended the 1970s energy crisis and contributed to the reduced oil prices (Lieberman, 2005). Elections and re-elections Harry Truman and Ronald Reagan entry into their role as Presidents of t he United States was remarkably contrasting for their first term. Truman was not elected directly as the president in his first term in office but assumed duty as the President of U.S. in 1945 after the death of the then incumbent President, Franklin D. Roosevelt; the formality of the country’s constitution is that the Vice President would assume the position during such circumstances. Nonetheless, Truman faced the electorates in 1945 to be elected for a second term in the office. It was widely perceived that Harry would not win the presidential election for his second term; his public approval ratings had declined significantly (Burnes, 2003). Against all odds, Truman won with 303 electoral votes, which was almost twice to that of his closest rivals. The rise of Ronald Reagan to the presidency, on the other hand, was not as smooth as Harry’s. Reagan lost two bids for the Presidency of the United States before he won the presidential nomination and election in 1980. Initially, Reagan sought the presidential nomination in the Republican in 1968 but lost. His second bid in 1976 for nomination of the same position did not succeed and he had to concede to Gerald Ford who won with a close margin of 1,187 delegates against Reagan's 1,070. In spite of that, Ronald chose to go to the election as an independent, but which the Democratic Party’s contender, Jimmy Carter, won. Reagan re-ran for presidential nomination and election in 1980 and won. The two former Presidents of the United States can be compared as highly successful in their elections that approved them their presidential positions in the respective years. Truman defeated his challenger by almost half of the electoral votes. Ronald won the election for his first presidency by 489 electoral votes against Carter who had only 49. What is more, Ronald’s popular vote was 50.7% against carters 41%. His re-election for the second term was, also, marked by a landslide win, where he garnered 525 electoral votes –a significant victory in the U.S. election history- and a 58.8% popular vote. It is worth to note that Reagan won all the 49 of the 50 states. Although Truman outcomes of the election for his bid for the second term was not as groundbreaking in terms of electoral votes as Reagan’s, both had impressive ratings for the election outcomes that led them to becoming presidents again. References Appleby, J., Alan B. & James M. M. 2003. The American journey, Glencoe and McGraw-Hill, Woodland Hills, California. Bartels, L. M. 1991. Constituency opinion and congressional policy making - The Reagan defense build up, The American Political Science Review, vol. 85, no. 2, pp. 457– 474. Bergsten, C. F. 2009. Strong dollar, weak policy, The International Economy, retrieved on 7th April 2009 from http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2633/is_4_15/ai_76994290/pg_3. 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