Reagan, a conservative resurgence, and the end of the Cold War

Ronald Reagan, elected in 1980, led a conservative resurgence. He cut income taxes, reduced some regulations and domestic spending, and greatly increased military spending, arguing that smaller government would unleash economic growth; supporters credit his policies with a long economic expansion, while critics point to rising budget deficits and growing inequality. His administration was damaged by the Iran-Contra affair, in which officials secretly sold arms to Iran and used the profits to fund Contra rebels in Nicaragua despite a congressional ban. Reagan took a hard line against the Soviet Union, calling it an "evil empire," but later negotiated with reformist Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, and they signed the INF Treaty in 1987, eliminating a whole class of nuclear missiles. The Berlin Wall fell in 1989, and the Soviet Union dissolved in 1991, ending the Cold War. That same year, President George H. W. Bush led an international coalition that drove Iraqi forces out of Kuwait in the Persian Gulf War.

This explanation is AI-generated and can occasionally be wrong. 🚩 Report